"DINO OR SOMETHING" MINISERIES BY MAGDALENA PILECKA
For more than five months, you can watch the miniseries of animated films, "Dino or something" on YouTube. We talk to the author, Magdalena Pilecka, about her idea for the series and her soft spot for dinosaurs.
"Dino or something" is a series of very short, several seconds long, animated films which show, in a humorous and often ironic way, the interactions in a group and certain social behaviour. The protagonists of the episodes are dinos - colourful, dinosaur-like creatures. Each episode is the author's brilliant commentary on various topics, such as "Evolution," "Depression" and "Waiting." Very short digressions, jokes and mini riddles create a colourful world of the series by Magdalena Pilecka. New episodes are available on the YouTube channel Dino or Something.
We had a pleasure of interviewing Magdalena shortly before the end of the year.
PA: How did you come up with the idea for the series and how did your adventure with "Dino or something" begin?
Magda Pilecka: Animation is a very time-consuming occupation, which requires preparation and patience in waiting for the results. At some point, I ran out of this patience, and I needed to do something which would not take a lot of time, would give quick results and the feeling that telling stories does make sense. I held a couple of such simple stories in my heart, but I did not know who should feature in them. In the end, Dino appeared. Timidly, I uploaded the first few episodes to YouTube, and they totally worked. Very quickly, they gained their first fans, who confirmed my belief that this is IT. At present, my greatest pleasure is making these tiny films and sharing them.
Why did you choose Dinos as the protagonists of the series?
One day, I was looking for the shape of alpaca (to make a logo for my sister who raises these cute animals) and I found Dino. Such a small dino came along and told me "animate me, and I will fulfil your three wishes." And this is exactly what happened. In the meantime, we became good friends and now we cannot live without each other!
How many episodes of the series "Dino or something" are made so far, and how many do you intend to make?
So far, I made about 25 episodes. Dinos still come to me and it seems that there is an infinite number of these episodes. However, from some time I cannot contain the story in the episodes alone, and that is why "DINNER time" was created. It is a short, occasional break for a joke or a riddle! Oh, such a little bonus. I really like jokes and riddles. And stuff! But more about it some other time ;)
What inspires you to make new episodes?
I like to be inspired by sentences which I spot somewhere on the street, in a text or song lyrics. Sentences which you can understand in some contrary way and build a story around them. I imagine then that I have some kind of micro-collaboration. It happened also that I simply closed my eyes, reflected on what I felt... and there was the idea for the episode! But mostly, the dinos themselves bring me ideas. They usually come with some props and we start our antics in search of adventure.
What do you think about distributing films online, on your own? What opportunities does YouTube provide your series with?
The channel on which the episodes appear is something I do completely as a hobby. I allow myself even to be quite irregular - I make the episodes when I want to, and they are made public only when I am satisfied with them. I avoid any kind of pressure, as it usually has a paralysing effect on me. I love making them for the sake of making. YouTube gives me the opportunity to reach out to people around the world. It is such a casual medium that it shortens all kinds of distances. People feel good in it, they react and write nice things to me ..
it is priceless and incredibly motivating.
And the last question. What are you currently working on?
I have just finished working on my official début. The film is entitled "Piórnikt," lasts almost 8 minutes and tells a bit surreal story about... paradoxical diversity. The premičre is scheduled for January 21, 2016.