Nano Drama on Hellofest 2025! My best efforts!

 I want to continue writing about micro journal because that is the reason I revived this blog but I really have a good news.

Yesterday, there was the 2025 Hellofest, the animation festival.  And like back in 2014 (WHAAAT), it has the 8 seconds film contest.  It's a unique and special category that only can be done in Hellofest.  There is almost no creative limitation to what can be told in just 8 seconds.

Back in 2014 I tried making a stop motion with my amigurumis. I made it through the final with my 8 seconds animation: Simalakama.  I didn't win but it was a very special moment for me, to watch my animations being screened in a big screen with a lot of audiences.  Hearing and watching the live reaction of the audiences reminded me that I made animations for the audiences, and it felt wholesome.

Fast forward to 2025, It had been quite a long time since the last Hellofest.  I am now a teacher, I teach animation and I really hoped my students would join the 8 seconds film contest.  But the deadline was at the same time as the mid exam. I couldn't be the teacher who ask them to finish their mid exam animation assignment and at the same time ask them to join the contest. As an animator, Hellofest is a very special festival so I shouldn't skip it, so if my student can't join the contest, I had to be the one joining the contest.

With only 9 days remained to submit the film, I suddenly got the idea.  I have been writing about micro drama for my academic research so I was inspired by it.  Instead of making micro drama, I made nano drama, the even shorter duration of drama.  I wasn't exaggerating if I said I made the animation with micro journal rev.4.  I wrote down the dialogue and plot on the tiny screen of rev.4.  I really had no time to make proper notes of the idea. With the deadline approaching I need to make quick decisions. And despite I need the F5 keys to make animation, I didn't have time to replace my keyboard and I used micro journal rev.4 for the whole animation compositing and editing process.  Oh I made a lot of  quick decisions I didn't have time to think about it.

Since my drawing and animation are so so, I thought I need to use an extra special technique to make it unique.  So I use embroidery.  It was stupid and crazy decision, I spent the whole week to embroider all the parts.  Luckily, I was alone at home so nobody witness how messy my room was.

I thought of using stop motion, which use over the top camera, but I am suck at photography.  So I used scanner.  The scanner is broken, and I don't know if anybody realized, there are dead pixels on the pictures.  The animation production was the most violent production I ever had.  I killed a cicak (house lizard) accidentally I don't know how exactly,  I found its body underneath the fabric and paper scraps.  I also almost killed the printer.  And yeah, the scanner was already half dead. And I ruined the rev.4's spacebar that I have to replaced its insert steam.  Not to mention it was tiring to embroider everything.  It was a huge damage to my wallet because I had to order extra embroidery threads and the shop sent the wrong colors.  There was also system failure when paying the voice actor.  

But. overall it was fun experience and I love to brag about the process to my student LOL. I would like to share the whole production process here but I might have to write it down for an academic journal as well so I would get publication point (ah the life of a faculty member).

Then it was announced yesterday. I won best effort award!! it's totally worth it :D. 

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Crazy October

September passed in a blink, and now is October.
First thing first... I have a website now!!!! So please do come visit it :)

www.dessytab.id

it's my "professional" website.  I couldn't afford a web designer so I tried to make it by myself, and I only had 3 days to make it, so it's impossible to hire a ninja designer with no budget and time.

Someday... if I finally have the budget, I will hire a web designer.  but that after I repair my laptop.

or to be precised, when I finally learn to save money. I'm terrible at saving money.

As you can see from the screenshoot, I made the web for my new animation: Pulang (Going Home).  

Pulang is officially selected by Dok Leipzig 2016 to be screened at the Kid Dok programme.  And it will be a world premiere, so if you are happen to be in Leipzig, please come watch my animation :)

Read more about the film and schedule here

Currently, a lot of people helping me so that I could go to Leipzig, so I am really thankfull.  I still need to care of my Visa right now, and the time is running out, so wish me luck so that I could go to the Dok Leipzig 2016.

in the other hand, things are not looking good with my main job, but let's not spoiled the good news with bad news :)

Leipzig 2014

So I was preparing a kebaya for some event, called my mom for a suggestion, thinking of going on a diet (NO WAY! LOL) when I got another call.  This time it was from IFI (Institut Français Indonesie),  so my proposal for an animation program got accepted.  There are 3 participant, 2 of them would be sent to Leipzig in a week, and the other one would be sent to Annecy next year.  OKAY it’s a roullete now.  It’s a win win thing. but going to German within a week could be challenging.  As you know Indonesia is a tropical country and it is Autumn in German.  I don’t even have any jacket.  So I called my mom, told her to forget about the Kebaya, I need warm clothes, just in case.

The IFI didn’t call for days, till suddenly at Wednesday I got a call: “Congratulation, you will go to Leipzig next week!”.  I can’t say that I was happy that time. I meant I haven’t prepared anything.  Of course it was exciting, and I’m happy, but I was more panic than happy.  The very next day I have to applied for a Visa.  Thanks to Katrin Sohns from Goethe Institut, the Visa application went smoothly, by Friday we already got the Visa and ticket to go to German at Sunday.  Thanks to Mbak Pia Maria who helped me making a travelling insurance.  Thanks to my Mom who especially prepared a big luggage full of warm clothes that I need even borrowed me  some euros.  Love you, Mom, I can't do anything without you :*

I went to 3 money changer on Friday, 2 of them don’t have any euros.  I wonder why.  Thankfully I got some euros, because my credit card didn’t work in German. I wonder why.

Thanks to the manager at the company, Kak Kus who allow me to take the day off in a short notice.  Cause it could be a once in a lifetime chance, there’s no way to skip it.  I kinda hope this once in a lifetime chance happens more :p

Thanks to my sister and her husband who drive me to the airport.  I met Johan Tri Handoyo at the airport.  Johan is the other participant who went to Leipzig with me.  It’s kinda funny, because it’s the third time we met at an animation event.  The first one was at Increfest, an animation and software festival in Bandung, he won the first prize, I won the best character design.  The second one was at The ASEAN Animation contest, so we both went to Bangkok together, shop together, and now went to Leipzig together again.  By the way, Johan and Me were studied at the same college but at the different year and different subject and both are from Bandung, both have “Tri” as middle name.  It’s strange to hear the recepsionist call me Miss Tri although my family name is Bambang.

Because there’s no direct flight to Leipzig, We took a plane to Abu Dabhi, then another plane to Berlin.  From Berlin we took the ICE Train to Leipzig Hopbahnhof.  It felt like a dream suddenly arrived in a very cold and different place compared to the 33 Celcius Jakarta :)

The Abu Dabhi airport roof, it's really crowded!

a picture of strangers at the Berlin train station LOL.

inside The Berlin Hopbahnhof

Thanks to Johan who is a better communicator, when we have the trouble at the hotel (check-in misscomunication), he took care of it, while me sleep peacefully, not knowing about the problem until next morning.  Thanks to Katrin Sohn again and Verene Lehmkuhl.

So basically we made it to Leipzig thanks to the help of many people :)

We were so tired as we arrived at the Hotel, we took some hours of break before going to the DokLeipzig Opening Ceremony.  

a view from the hotel's window.

OH I missed to write, that the reason we went to Leipzig was to go to 57th DokLeipzig Festival.  It’s a documentary film and animation festival.  To be honest I didn’t know anything about this festival before we go there.  Before we departed from there I was having nightmare because I read that Leipzig is a city for bycicling.  So I tried learning to bike, but failed, ended up having stiff legs.  Thankfully, we don’t have to ride a bike at all because all the venue is in walking distance.  I wanna punch Queen for singing “I want to ride my bycicle” song in my ears.

BYCICLE! BYCICLE! BYCICLE!

 before the opening ceremony of DokLeipzig

Passage Kinos, one of the Dok Leipzig Venue

Everything is amazing.  even the doors are amazingly heavy and big.  During the opening ceremony, there was a screening of Citizen Four, a documentary film about Snowden.  I rarely read news but He was on some news that I accidentaly read, something about how we lost our privacy when we used internet.  The Festival director during the speech said that the film considered ilegal, but we were so lucky to be able to watch it.  Indeed, I’m very lucky :)

The next day, we met Annegret Richter, the head of the Animation category of DokLeipzig.  She told us a lot about the program, and gave suggestion on which program to watch and join.  So, as her suggestion, we booked all of the animation screening program, and went to animaTalk to have a discussion with another animation directors.

It’s hard to pick my favorite animation on the festival because every animation is unique.  The technique and visual approach are very different to common animation in Indonesia.  it’s no longer just about 2D or 3D or stop animation. (I think I will make another post about this).

Since DokLeipzig is originally a documentary film festival, some of the animations are documentary animation.  What so special about the documentary animation is that the animation show things that no longer exist or protect the subject on the animation.  As example, the animation “Suleima” which is a documentary about a female activist in Syria, the identity is hidden and reanimated with the character called Suleima.  The other exciting thing is, this Film Festival is an international film festival, so we could see the world from various side, even the same war could be told in different story. 

The topic is not limited to heavy subject like war or politic, but also about family, love, and life.  Some are seriously funny, you didn’t even think it was actually a documentary like my favorite: Mend and Make Do.

There were also a special program called Animation by Kids. Like the title, the animations are created by Kids, I think they were 9 years old to maybe 16 years old.  The program was in German language without translation, so I don’t really understand.  The theater was full, even some of the parents had to wait outside so the children could watch it.  Me, of course watching it alone, I don’t have kids and I was so worried that they would ask me to get out because I was too old :D

The program shows that everybody could make an animation. it reminds me that animation is not just a moving picture and it’s really fun to make an animation.  I wish someday Indonesia has this kind of project, cause recently animation in Indonesia is not considered as art but more like an industrial product :(

At Saturday, we went to the screening of Jalanan by Daniel Ziv.  The movie is about 3 buskers from Indonesia.  Few months ago this movie was also screened at Chopshots Festival (held by Goethe Institut).  Back then I missed the screening because I was watching documentary animation program at Chopshot, so this time I didn’t want to miss it.  It’s really exciting to watch film about Indonesia created by foreigner and the screened in German.  The audience reaction was very good, some didn’t believe the film, even ask when was the film made, because it was too good to be true.  Because they read how Jakarta is full of violence and intolerance. So thanks to Daniel Ziv who had show a different side of Jakarta :).  I wish I could do that too.

Me, Daniel Ziv & Johan

On Sunday, there were only awarding ceremony and screening, so Johan suggested that we took the tram to sightseeing, so we did.  Leipzig is a vey tranquil and clean town.  It’s as if I was in Professor Layton’s world, except this is German, not UK.  

after 2 hours tram ride, Me and Johan decided to meet another Johann (but with double N), Johann Sebastian Bach.  We visited the Thomaskirche and then the Bach Museum.  The entry ticket was 8 Euro, but it’s really worth it.  Although I never or maybe didn’t aware of any Bach’s Composition, the Museum is really a place to visit.  I really love the interactivity, something that haven’t be applied in Indonesian Museum.  Too bad, we can’t take a picture there.  Jokowi, please send some spies there to learn how to make a fun museum.

 a miniature of Thomaskirche, but I think maybe it's more like a map for blind people, because there are some brailles on it.

Later we went to another museum.  The museum has a lot of collection from Palleolithicum Era, but somehow the English language extinct after the era, so we don’t know what is what.  Then we go upstair to the Modern Year Museum, it’s another fun and interactive museum.  It would be such a shame if the Leipziger never come to the museum since they have very fun museum to visit.

By the way I ate a lot of Sausages while we were in German (I usually living a semi-vegetarian diet in Jakarta, but nobody believe it).  I was surprised when I bought currywurst, because what they meant by curry is more like a lot of sauces, not curry like kari or something like gulai :D

 Currywurst

 umm.. this is not a sausages, I don't know what it was, it's seriously delicious :p

I was planning to buy souvenirs at the Mall after the Museum visit.  The Mall is closed at 6 PM.  That’s really odd for Indonesian or maybe Asian. Cause Asian love late night shopping.  The Mall is also closed at Friday (October 31st), so I’m really sorry that I can’t buy souvenirs for my friends.  At least for me, going abroad or out of town equals shopping time.  Sorry, I can’t do it this time.

I'm partly grateful this shop was closed.  it's too cute!

On Monday, Me and Johan leave Leipzig for Berlin.  We went to Franzoschise Straße to meet Findri, an ex-worker from Goethe Jakarta.  We have lunch at the Ritter Sport Schoko Museum.  Thanks Findri, for spending your time with us and all your help, especially on explaining how cool is Berlin.  I owe you a Nasi Padang :) Using Findri direction, we visited Bradenburgh Gate. YES. WE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY VISITED BERLIN :D

We then visited some of the monument nearby, and then go back to the Sunflower Hostel.  The Hostel is very unique.  it’s my very first time staying in a hostel, might not be my last time.  The Hostel owner is into reggae music.  I like reggae, so I kinda feel like a little bit at home, it would be a lot like home if He played dangdut, anyway :p

 there are grafitti in every parts of the hotel. Cool!

The Hostel rules:

"We can provide alarm clock of a deposit at 6 Euro, Or get our special service fo 10 Euro, a personal appearance with bucket of water, a cup of coffee and a smile!"

Earlier in the morning, we checked-out, and then went to the airport.  I have some very last minute shopping. it’s not much but I got this Picture Book about Berlin for my sister.  She loves book, books with words, this book only got pictures but I believe it’s a cool collection.  I don’t like reading but I love bookstore, I visited almost every bookstore, and of course I had to buy a knitting book cause I like knitting.  I don’t understand any words in it,  the shopkeeper (who was very kind and friendly) said “oh so you really like knitting and bla bla bla bla” (in Germany, but I only understand he said I love knitting). I just smiled.

We arrived at Jakarta at 23:08, then I took a DAMRI Bus to Gambir. it was the last bus, so Lucky I got that bus cause there are a lot of fake taxi.  The taxi drivers tried their very best to lie by saying there’s no more shuttle car or Bus.   They lied, of course. There were only 3 passanger, 1 driver and 1 vice-driver (let’s pretend that’s a real term), but I arrived at Gambir safely.  From Gambir, I still need to take the taxi or bajaj.

Bajaj was never the option.  Riding a bajaj from the train station is always more expensive than taking taxi.   They said it’s also dangerous to take a taxi at night, exspecially a random taxi, with no argometer.  Well  if I rode a killer’s vehicle, I would prefer car over bajaj.  Let me  have that luxury. 

The taxi driver tried to scam me, he asked minimum tariff which is 35000 IDR.  it’s a scam because minimum tariff is usually just 15000 IDR.  it’s past midnight, so I don’t have any choice but argued with him.  I think jetlag makes me stupid.  What am I thinking, arguing with a strangers in the middle of the night? I almost cursed him but He took the bargain at 25000 (he’s old, so I can’t really cursed him).  I don’t have 5000 so I paid him 30000 anyway with smile, he smiled too. at least he asked for rupiah not euros.  it’s really nice to be back at the sauna.  My boarding house’s room without AC.

Finally the trip is over.  There are some place that I still want to visit, but there’s no regret cause one way or another I will surely go to Leipzig again, maybe to the DokLeipzig as the participant. Wish Me Luck!

Oh right, I still have to prepare for my Kebaya.  How do I get a Kebaya. Oh My God.

Behind The Scene: Kopas The Thief

Still about the ASEAN Animation Festival 2014, this time I will share some stories about my animation project: Kopas The Thief.

So, to participate the workshop, we need to prepare an animation concept, and then the jury will pick 12 concepts, and the chosen teams will have to do some pitching.

Before we went to Bangkok, we have to prepare the slide, although we didn't know yet whether our project would be chosen or not.

Here are some slides that I prepared for the pithcing round to explain my idea.

I made the slides before the comittee sent me the template, so in the end I never used this slides (although I spent few days to design every slide). I kinda regret that I didn't use this slide and used the template because I was so afraid breaking the rule.  Lesson learned: rules are meant to be broken :p

Do whatever you think will give the best impression of your project.

And as always, I also made an amigurumi version of the character for a lucky charm.

I actually brought this amigurumi to Bangkok, but I didn't sew the eyes so I can't show it to the audience. That's the second regret.

anyway, the presentation somehow worked despite of my funny English, so I went to the next round: making the animation :)

The challenge is to finish the animation in one month, using the money they provided.  The hardest part was to look for the voice actor.  Luckily, Cak Waw introduced me to Ibnu Angga, a sound Engineer.  Mas Ibnu Angga helped me found the perfect voice actor and also edited the sound for the animation.

During that month, I still went to work at the office in the morning and working on the  animation at night.  I was very lucky it was a fasting month so I could go back from the office earlier than usual.

The animation was done like the plan, but at the same time I have a deadline from my side project.

At the night before I went to Bangkok, I barely got any sleep because I have to upload the side project with the sh*tty internet connection.  So I was in zombie mode when I went to the city tour.  I was really fun, but I was too tired to enjoy it.

There are more stories about the animation.   I will write about it again later... maybe after the November 26 ? :D

Oleh-oleh dari Seminar Asean Animation Festival di Bangkok

I want to write this post in English, so I could practice my English, cause it’s been so long since I wrote in English.  BUT…  this post is dedicated to Indonesian, especially Indonesian artist so I write this in Bahasa Indonesia.  international reader, please use the google translate :)

Pada bulan Juli 2014 di Thailand diadakan Festival Animasi Asean dengan tema Hak Cipta.  Saya beruntung menjadi salah satu dari lima orang animator Indonesia yang dikirim untuk mengikuti acara ini.  Beruntung karena tidak banyak yang tahu tentang event ini, jadi mungkin yang mengirimkan proposal pada tingkat nasional pun hanya beberapa orang.  Nah, dari beberapa orang itu dipilih 5 orang untuk mewakili Indonesia.

Jadi berangkatlah 5 orang animator ini ke Bangkok untuk mengikuti Festival Animasi Asean.  Sesuai temanya, di festival ini ada seminar mengenai hak cipta dan industri film/ animasi di ASEAN. Beberapa catatan mengenai Hak Cipta:

1.  Hak Cipta itu tidak perlu didaftarkan, otomatis dimiliki oleh yang membuat karya tersebut.

2.  Suatu karya barulah dianggap “sah” dilindungi oleh hak cipta saat karya itu “diterbitkan”.  

Diterbitkan maksudnya ada catatan yang jelas membuktikan bahwa Andalah pemilik karya tersebut.   Kalau bisa dilengkapi tanggal dan jam, serta ada saksi.  Ribet?  Tidak, contohnya bisa dengan mempostingnya di blog/ jurnal.  Tidak harus menunggu karya itu jadi, bisa juga Anda mencatat prosesnya.  Jika takut menunjukkan karya secara online kemudian dicuri, bisa juga Anda membuat catatan sendiri secara offline.  Jika kelak karya Anda dicuri, pastikan Anda punya bukti yang menunjukkan bahwa Anda yang membuat karya itu terlebih dahulu, jadi Anda bisa menuntut.  Meskipun menurut Mr. Thienchai Pinvises (sorry to call you Mr Lawyer), meng-hire pengacara bisa menambah masalah, jadi lindungilah karya Anda sejak awal.

Aturan/ hukum di tiap negara berbeda, jadi mungkin ada beberapa perbedaan.

Nah, di luar masalah Hak Cipta, yang menarik dari Festival Animasi Asean ini, kami bertemu dengan animator dari negara Asean lainnya seperti Malaysia, Filipina, Myanmar, Thailand dan Vietnam.  (Sayangnya tidak semua negara ASEAN mengirimkan perwakilan).  Kecuali Malaysia yang mungkin sudah terkenal dengan produk animasinya, dan Thailand yang industri perfilmannya cukup maju,  ternyata industri Animasi Indonesia memiliki kondisi yang hampir sama dengan negara Asean lainnya.

Dari segi kemampuan, sebenarnya animator Asean cukup baik bahkan bagus, tapi lebih banyak yang menjadi outsource bagi industri animasi di luar daripada membuat animasi yang baru.  Menurut Ms. Sopita Santitrakul hal ini bukan salah atau benar, lakukanlah apa yang Anda sukai.  

Sebagai animator mungkin Anda perlu makan dengan cara menjadi outsource, tapi sebagai artist pasti Anda ingin menghasilkan animasimu sendiri.  

Menghasilkan animasi sendiri tidak berarti membuat sendiri tapi bekerja samalah dengan orang lain.  (secara pribadi, menurutku inilah yang perlu kucoba).

Lalu pada sesi tanya jawab dibahaslah pula masalah klasik industri animasi yaitu kurangnya dukungan pemerintah, dan jawabannya klasik pula:  carilah kesempatan lain misal dengan ikut festival film, ciptakanlah "industri"mu.  Kusebut jawaban klasik karena di seminar animasi lain yang pernah kuikuti, jawabannya pun sama, padahal ngga janjian.  Tidak terbatas di industri animasi, di industri komik pun begitu.  kesimpulan: untuk maju tidak harus ada dukungan pemerintah :)

Hari kedua seminar ada penyampaian materi tentang pitching.  Jadi misalkan Anda punya ide animasi, bagaimanakah cara untuk mendapatkan dana atau memperoleh kesempatan bekerja sama.  Mungkin teman-teman yang bekerja di advertising atau marketing sudah biasa melakukan pitching, jadi lebih bisa menjelaskan arti pitching itu.  Kalau menurutku bentuk sederhana dari pitching itu  Yah… mirip-mirip dengan penjual obat, menyebutkan khasiat obat, kalau perlu demo dengan suara keras.  

Di Festival Animasi Asean ini dari 24 proposal yang terkumpul dipilihlah 12 proposal animasi untuk dipresentasikan di depan juri.  6 proposal yang lolos akan diproduksi animasinya.  Kenyataannya,  tidak semua ide (termasuk ide di luar festival ini) punya kesempatan seperti ini. jadi solusinya adalah Elevator Pitch.  Yaitu menciptakan kesempatan untuk mempresentasikan ide dengan cepat dan jelas setiap saat dan di mana saja.  Karena tidak ada yang tahu, kapan kesempatan itu ada, bisa saja suatu hari Anda bertemu sutradara favorit anda di dalam elevator yang sama.

Aku pernah lho dapat kerjaan saat sedang di mobil travel.  Kerjaan beneran dari sesama penumpang mobil travel, dan saat itu kebetulan saja aku lagi bawa portofolio. 

Istilah Bahasa Indonesianya “Kesempatan dalam Kesempitan”, mungkin kedengerannya ngga enak, seperti oportunis banget.  Tapi seperti wejangan teman saya, Indri:  “Keberuntungan adalah kesiapan yang bertemu dengan kesempatan”.  Jadi selalu bersiaplah menyongsong kesempatan :)

Next post: My Animation Proposal.

Hellofest 9

There is less than 2 months before 2014.
It's been an exciting year.  I'm still expecting a few more "fireworks" before the 2013 is over.
But last week's fireworks was so exciting that I think it's already safe to say that it's an awesome year!

I spent my last weekend at Hellofest, the biggest pop culture festival in Indonesia.
One of my animation, Lulu, was screened on a big screen by the swimming pool, with about 4000 audience.

That was a very awesome moment, I wish I made a better animation to show, cause there were 102 movies which were screened that night.  My animation just one of it, and the other movies are so good that I wanna watch them all over again.

Oh,  and there was also my 8 seconds movie, screened that night. The title was Simalakama.
Here's my ID card for the Hellofest. 

 There are also "kartu voting" or voting card, to vote the favorite animation and movie.  I didn't return the cards since I wanna keep it for souvenir. But I'm so glad that my favorite animation "Sang Suporter" and my favorite movie "Bank Note" still won. 

The day before the Hellofest, as one of the finalist, I got a free invitation to the "Hellofest Masterclass".   The contributors were Kieran Argo and Jun Awazu.  I learn and found out many things from them about movie festival and producing animation.  I feel like I found another purpose in my life as an animator.  
After being an animator for years, I thought there was nothing more that I could do, but now there is! And it's gonna be a long way, so I better start now.

A film cut from Jun Awazu's Negadon. He gave it away after the Negadon's screening as a souvenir to the audience.

Oh by the way, I didn't win, but I already feel happy for this exciting experience. It's priceless.  I hope I can do better in the future and participating again on the next hellofest. Thanks Hellofest :)