Sophie Koko Gate is an animator living and working in London, who creates weird, distorted worlds, populated by troubled, bizarre characters; such as the water obsessed Gus in her graduation film Half Wet.
Half Wet from Sophie Koko Gate on Vimeo.
In September Sophie gave a talk at the wonderfully eclectic Reason’s to: Design, Code & Create conference in Brighton. In her talk she stressed how much Sally Cruikshank´s work has influenced her approach to animation. If you have a minute watch Make Me Psychic to get a taste of Cruikshank’s particular brand of humour and the characters that populate her world.
Some of the points Sophie raised about creating a character for animation are equally valid for acting. They are great pointers for an actor grappling with bringing a fictional character off the page and into performance.
Having said that, Sophie’s first suggestion was a little obvious; that we use the traits of people we know in our character creation. It is not a radical suggestion, but it is one that is easy to overlook. When building a new character it’s easy to become preoccupied with reinventing the dramatic wheel. We are all creative parasites and strangers, colleagues, friends, and family are a great supply of material. Sophie asks us to not to force things, but to let the character rest and develop naturally in our head. Pointing out that the longer we have a character for, the more rounded the character becomes.
It is easy to ignore the role that imagination plays in our working life. Imagination is something we have to nurture. Sophie highlighted a few strategies to keep our imaginations alive. Suggesting that we get into the habit of doing some creative work as soon as we wake up in the morning. For her this means doing what she calls ‘drawing warm ups’. Also try experimenting with going against the obvious in your character creation. Consciously go against the grain of what you feel is expected of you. A high risk strategy for an actor, but something worth playing with in a workshop environment.
Develop a new skill; something removed from your work practice. Sophie has taken up ceramics, finding inspiration from the ceramics of Han’s Coper. Music plays a big part in her life; she is a member of the John Dekar band.
Currently Sophie is working on a range of characters for her new film Slugs Over Men.
FICKLE RECALL 