Dithokwa aims to be animation wizard
Spira Tlhankane | Friday September 11, 2020 16:14
The founder of the organisation, Theo Dithokwa told Arts & Culture in an interview that he started off with the intention to produce content for the local television and film industry and the global markets.
“My motivation and passion for animation go back as far as my early years as a primary school student. I have always been passionate about art because I found it very intriguing for me to be able to create new things using my hands as well as my imagination. It was then that I realised that indeed, this was my passion,” he revealed.
At the age of 11 years, around the year 2010 Dithokwa, entered and competed in an art competition called ‘My African Dream Art competition’. The success story of it was that his drawing won the competition, beating all the other registered entries.
Later on as the years passed on, so did his passion for Arts and that’s when he went on to showcase a realistic watercolor painting that he had created in 2015 at the Livingstone Kolobeng College (LKC) Art Gallery. His work received the much needed motivation and pleasing comments.
“In the likely event of this all, it was also around this time that my father had caught on to my consistent passion for creating and creative art, that he decided to introduce me to Animation,” Ditlhokwa added.
He recalled how his father bought him the first simple computer for use for his IGCSE studies amongst other things. “My Father was an Animator himself having worked with clients like WUC on their first Animated commercial. Ditlhokwa said his father then continued on to teach him the basics of Animation.
“I shared my skills with only a few of my friends while I was still studying, this was when I was doing my Form 5 and we came up with wonderful concepts to Animate. These simple concepts have then helped pave the way for me sharpening my skills, he said.
However, Ditlhokwa also said that his animation journey came to a halt when he started tertiary studies at the University of Botswana. After spending over two years without animating because of the demanding academic work in 2019 all changed as the Head of the Media Studies Department, Dr William Lesitaokana introduced him to a module called Motion Graphics. Ditlhokwa could then relate to it because the workflow was the same as the Animation software that he had previously used.
Ditlhokwa further told Arts & Culture that he decided to expand his skills and revisited one of his previous concepts.
He then realised that there wasn't anyone who produced Animations in high quality.
“For almost 9 months, I thought and planned before I developed a product that would revolutionise the Animation Industry in this country,” he said.
Last year Ditlhokwa said he worked on an Animation movie called ‘Detective Patrick Moletsaphala’ which will be showcased before the end of the year, 2020.
He said he knew that this product had to be something that had never been attempted before and so he gave it all the attention and detail that it needed.
“I saw it fit to have selected a small group of people whom I had been watching closely from the end of last year, 2019. I looked at the way they use their voices to tell stories and I would coach them on how to voice act for animation,” he said.
Ditlhokwa further said he went on to solely do all the animation, but what he had to pioneer the look of the animation. He disclosed that all the reviews he got from those who have already seen the movie are encouraging.
“I worked with the likes of Alone Makale who plays a news reporter in the film, Boago Sephutho who is an illustrator and gentlemen, Melusi Phambuka and Moemedi Lebang,” he gladly revealed.
He said going forward what he plans to achieve with this animated movie and animation in general, is just to make people realize how nothing is impossible. “A world of dynamic sound and image can be synthesised from nothing but a single thought. We should never limit our creativity,” he stated.