Martyna Koleniec is an independent stop-motion animator, currently based in Warsaw, Poland. As a self-taught filmmaker, she explores the pathways of doing what one loves and how to share it with the world. She creates everything by herself from puppets through set design to post-production. Each of her films presents a new set of challenges that result in the acquisition of new skills. Not only visually appealing her characters reflect her unique artistic vision while the audience is immersed in the atmosphere of warmth and emotional vulnerability.

Martyna has an interesting observation – the audience greatly enjoys her behind-the-scenes videos which she shares via YouTube and Instagram, sometimes even more than the actual animation. This is a key point in the manner in which contemporary viewers engage with films. Rather than mystifying the process of filmmaking, Martyna opens up her studio by sharing various visual-artistic practices she incorporates, and thus letting the audience be a part of her creative journey.

Angela: Martyna, how did get involved with stop-motion animation?

Martyna: A professor showed us an Oscar-winning stop-motion animation that was made in Poland. And I thought, how nice to make an entire world from scratch. I thought it must be super easy because you don’t have to hire actors. It’s not that easy, but I was fascinated. I had this mindset that it was doable and easy, so I started making my first animation. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I did it anyway. I continued making stop-motion because it is very good for my brain. My personality is all over the place. I need a constant stimulation. In stop-motion, there are so many challenges and so many different things, and problems that you need to solve. For me, it’s really interesting, because I can’t work in an office. That would be too boring for me. In animation, there are many things to do. Each project comes with variety of challenges.

Angela: How do you decide on the materials and the proportions of the puppets?

Martyna: The proportions of the puppets are dictated by my comfort in working with them. They shouldn’t be too small, because it’s too hard to animate. But also they shouldn’t be too big, because then the scenography needs to be enormous. They are about 20 centimeters tall. This is the optimal size. It’s easy to animate them, and the scenography doesn’t have to be so big.

Angela: Yes, and you can do it in the comfort of your own home.

Martyna: Yes, many independent filmmakers do. I’ve always worked at home. I was moving very often, like every year, to a different country or city, and I used to take all of my equipment with me, which was not very comfortable. This year, I rented a studio. I mean, it’s a studio, but it’s still a flat. Therefore, I can not use super strong lamps or anything.

Angela: Your work with the lighting is impressive! I noticed it on the claymations, on the YouTube shorts. It’s very well-thought-out and build.

Martyna: Thank you! For some animations, I had some help from a D.O.P., he illuminated the sets, but I’m a quick learner, I saw what he was doing, and tried to replicate that, but I also started to learn from YouTube how to illuminate a live-action set, because it is the same. The rules are the same. Just the scale is smaller. I started to imitate that as well as play with the light. I have some illumination tricks that are comfortable for me, for example, the sets that are bright and golden. This is something that I feel comfortable with, but illuminating an indoor shot is more complex. I want to learn more about that.

Angela: What kind of lighting do you use? I noticed in your last video, that behind the heaven’s door, there was a warm light. Is it specifically designed for photography?

Martyna: No, this is an IKEA lamp with a clip. It’s very easy to attach it somewhere, it’s warm, and it works well. I also have a multi-plane with layers of glass, so I can animate on flat. Those IKEA lamps with a clip are super easy and perfect for that.

Angela: You mentioned that you made your own multi-plane from an IKEA shelf.

Martyna: Yes, I painted it black, so it’s not reflective, but yes, most of my things are very budget-friendly.

Angela: This is important because if you go to an online stop-motion store and you have to buy everything, meaning, all the supplies you need, it turns out to be very expensive type of filmmaking as well.

Martyna: And also, because I didn’t go to college, and I talk with other people who are in film schools, and I know the school gives you the equipment that you need. They give you people,space, and equipment. I didn’t have that. As a result my instinct was to search for the things that I need, but they don’t have to be expensive. They don’t have to be professional. If it works, it works.

Angela: I’ve wanted to talk with you about your approach to distribution in independent filmmaking.The way you do it is via YouTube and social media platforms. Do you find it easy to promote your work? Do you get clients from this approach to promote your films?

Martyna: I was never driven by promoting my stuff on social media, meaning, I don’t have a strategy. It’s more like, I do what I love and I share that. Whenever I make a project I love to record behind the scenes in a cozy way because I want to tell another story within the story of the project. So, I started to publish that. It seems that people are more interested in the process than in the animation itself, sometimes. I think that gave me a bigger audience, which is great and of course, more people are interested in my work. I get commissions from that as well. I was talking the other day with an animation studio and they told me that the production companies are indeed searching for people to hire through Instagram or TikTok. Because this is an easy way to find independent artists who can collaborate with you. Whenever there are some festivals or something, because like, if you go to college, you have people that you potentially gonna work with or find jobs. And I didn’t have that. For that reason I had to do something different. Social media is a thing, but also going to festivals meeting people, and being open. Because people do not hire you only for your skills, but also because they like you. Being affable is also important. If you show your energy and your positivity, even if you are at a lower level for the project, people are going to like you and want to work with you. Even if they have to teach you something during the process.

Angela: Yes, this is very nice because you’re getting your skills leveled up. It’s a sort of informal education working in the field with more experienced people. I think it’s a more realistic approach to learn filmmaking that way because after all, it’s a craft.

Martyna: I also worked on some future films as an animator. And to be honest, no one knows what they’re doing.

Angela: Really?

Martyna: I mean, depending on the project, we will encounter difficulties or problems that are new to everybody. You need to kind of think around the problem and solve it. Everyone pretends that they know what they’re doing. But in reality, some things will be new and will be challenging. You have to use your creativity and solve this problem. If the scale of the project requires a higher skill level than the one you are at, you are put into a situation that forces you to grow. One is constantly evolving and growing. The first short film that I animated was terrible. They wanted to fire me. I said I was going to try and animate the shot perfectly. It took me three times to animate it. At the end of the production, they said they were happy they kept me because they didn’t have any animators left to work with them in the end. I was the only one. My animation skills were so much better after that.

Angela: You persevered.

Martyna: Yes, because I had so much motivation to do it in a proper way, to match the quality of the production.

Angela: At what stage is your feature film?

Martyna: Early development. We are still searching for funding, but recently we got a partial one for the production part. We need some more still.

Angela: Does the funding come from the government?

Martyna: Yes, it does.

Angela: You mentioned festivals. To which ones are you submitting your films?

Martyna: I don’t have a strategy. I just apply for all free festivals on FilmFreeway.com. Some festivals are not focused on screening films, but more on networking. There are lectures on animation and workshops. This is also a good place to get in contact with like-minded people or talk with potential clients or animation studios.

Angela: Yes. This kind of bleeds into my next question which is about the importance of non-formal education in animation and filmmaking in general. We know there are many colleges and universities in Europe and around the world, offering formal education in aniamtion, mostly 3D. But Aardman opened up their studio providing courses not only in stop-motion animation but also sharing bits of their production pipeline. What kind of workshops have you been learning from?

Martyna: They are most likely very short workshops, like three days. There’s the opportunity to learn little bits from professionals. I think in longer workshops, like the one that Aardman does, it’s great. I did one workshop in Valencia, Spain. It was also one month long, and it was amazing. I learned so much. After that, I kept in contact with my teacher. He would explain what I did wrong or how to improve my animation a little bit. He gave me some tips. As long as you want to learn, you just have to practice a lot.

Angela: Yes, but since stop-motion animation is a very elaborate job, there will be very few of you left, who have the patience for it. Very specific in nature filmmakers! How many hours do you put in, let’s say, for one-minute stop-motion?

Martyna: It depends, because some shots are very easy, for example, facial expressions and I can animate three seconds in one hour. But there are some shots where you have a walk cycle or multiple characters, so probably 10 seconds of animation will take two days or even three days. For example, I finished a music video that was 5 minutes and 30 seconds, a lot. I animated 100 shots in 31 days! When I printed the storyboard and put it on the wall, I thought to myself: “This is physically impossible!”.

But then I looked at the shots again and I thought: “OK, but they are very easy shots.” So, I could animate five shots in one day, which is a lot. But they were very, very, very simple. Animation takes so much time, but it doesn’t have to be if you work wisely.

Angela: You mentioned that if clients don’t have any aesthetic requirements they allow you to create in your style. Do they have a specific vision when they come to you for example regarding the materials of the puppets and set design for example – clay, or felt?

Martyna: They usually have a basic idea and they ask what I can do with it. Because I understand not everyone knows how stop-motion works. I kind of guide them on what I can do and what is possible. But usually, when they tell me the story that they have, I create a vision in my head. I already see it how I want to do it. I like to experiment as well. I pitch the idea to the client if they agree is great. I’m so grateful that everyone is giving me so much freedom.

Angela: This is truly amazing!

Martyna: And they trust me.

Angela: How do you prepare before shooting? Do you create a storyboard?

Martyna: Yes, one needs a storyboard for sure, because otherwise it would be very hard and chaotic. And it will take even more time to animate. First the script, then storyboard and animatic. So, I can put on the timeline how long the shots would be. But I also give myself a little bit of freedom and space to improvise.

Angela: It’s not all set in stone…

Martyna: Sometimes I feel like if I add a different shot, it will tell the story better. So, I give myself a little bit of space to experiment and I can modify it a little bit.

Angela: Yes, probably ideas come to you while you are shooting, right?

Martyna: Also, if you sketch it, the puppets for example will look different. Whenever I put everything behind the camera, I see what the light looks like, and how the puppet is reflecting the light. I also love to prepare my scenography in front of the camera because our eyes see things a little bit differently than the camera.

Angela: And what about post-production, especially with the rigs? I imagine you try to hide the rigs during shooting, right? Simply reduce the amount of cleaning that you have to do in post-production.

Martyna: You erase it frame by frame. But I do it in After Effects. You can just draw a mask and then just move those points frame by frame.

Angela: How long does it take to finish with the post-production – edit, sound design? Colour grading?

Martyna: Post-production is not that long, but I am not very experienced. I just like playing around. But for the music video I did recently, that was five minutes long. The post-production process took me one week, I guess. There were a lot of shots that I needed to clean then colour grading and editing.

Angela: Do you use DaVinci Resolve for color grading?

Martyna: No, just in Adobe Premiere. I wanted to do it in DaVinci, but it’s too complicated for me now. Maybe later.

Angela: You know enough already.

Martyna: Yes, exactly. And two years ago I was beating myself up because my level was not as high as the big studios. Then I thought that I do something different.

Angela: One can’t compete with Pixar production which has 400 animators working on a project, each of them performing a limited set of tasks. You are skillful on many levels and you can bring a project from start to finish by yourself. There is no space for comparison.

Martyna: I know, but I think it’s like every artist goes through this process of beating themselves up. Now I feel very proud. I think I have a different purpose with my art. Because it’s not only the finished product but also the desire to share the process as well as the vulnerability and empathy within my art. It’s more like showing people that if you spend some time with your art, it’s healing. We need to tell our stories through art, and it’s good not only for the artists but also for the audience. It’s a pure form of humanity being vulnerable and telling a story. So, I think this is my purpose now. I don’t have to be professional.

Angela: One diploma doesn’t make a difference. And also filmmaking is for everybody. That’s why it’s appealing to all sorts of artists, and audiences, of course. Most of the huge names in film history, as we have regarded them, are not graduates of any college. It’s a socio-cultural issue.

Martyna: It’s immensely heartbreaking that so many artists and animators that I meet at festivals are struggling to find a job. But there’s always one thing that limits them. They want to work on feature films in big studios even though it’s not something they would love to do. They are not going for independence. They are not going for different ways of earning money. Especially now when we have social media and so much freedom. People talk about social media as something bad that disconnects us or that we are slaves of the algorithm. And I get that, yes. On the other hand, one has so many possibilities now. I’ve been asked questions like how can one grow such an audience. I’ve seen people trying to do popular things or to follow trends only to gain followers. I am always telling them that if you don’t love what you do, then people will feel it. Eventually, you don’t have enough motivation to continue doing what you do because it’s a struggle for you. You hate it. You are just doing it to gain followers. If you go purely with yourself and do the things that you love, then even if you don’t get followers, even if you don’t get money from what you do, you will still have so much love and passion for your work. So, that is my goal –just do what I love and don’t count likes or follows.

A great deal of Martyna’s ethos of animation coincides with many avant-garde, experimental, independent filmmakers in general, for whom the love of the film art itself is more than enough for a commitment to its many facets. In Maya Deren’s words:

“The major obstacle for amateur film-makers is their own sense of inferiority vis-á-vis professional productions. The very classification “amateur” has an apologetic ring. But that very word – from the Latin amator, “lover” – means one who does something for the love of the thing rather than economic reasons or necessity. And this is the meaning from which the amateur film-maker shouls tahe his cue. Instead of envying the script and dialoguw writers, the trained actors, the elaborate staffs and sets, the enormous production budgets of the professional film, the amateur should make use of the one great advantage which all professionals envy him, namely, freedom – both artistic and physical.” (Deren, Maya. Essential Deren. McPherson & Company, 2005, p.17)
 

Martyna Koleniec’s work:

https://www.martynakoleniec.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@MartynaKoleniec

https://www.instagram.com/martynakoleniec/

Bibliography:

Deren, Maya. Essential Deren. McPherson & Company, 2005