SYFY short 'Space Laboratory' creator on importance of 'independence and self-sufficiency' for women

In honor of Women's History Month 2021, SYFY and Tongal, a global community of content creators, invited three women animators and filmmakers to create video shorts that represent their experiences through the lens of science fiction and fantasy.

Starting March 1, these three shorts will premiere on the SYFY network throughout the month — and beyond. To further celebrate these original shorts, SYFY WIRE got in touch with the creators in order to break down their work and take a closer look at what inspires them. Next up is Marianna Rudakova, creator of "Space Laboratory."

Tell us about yourself!

I am a stop motion and motion graphic animator from Minsk, Belarus. When I studied at the Economic University I was interested in animation. I studied animation and illustration by myself, from books, online courses, websites, and animation examples. 

Tell us about your piece. What inspired you and what does it mean to you?

I am inspired by animation such as frame-by-frame animation and stop-motion. The results of these two styles are magic for me. I like to look at the screen of Dragonframe and see the movements of the objects. I like repeating some movements with objects to show some physical forces: weight, wind, etc. It means for me that I can create beauty and show it to people, inspire them, make them feel something.

What and/or who inspired you to become an artist?

I always liked drawing. My grandpa taught me to draw paintings and inspired me with some art journals. But getting into animation came later. When I studied at university I found one Russian animation TV series The BO’s store (Магазинчик БО). It was short and was made in Macromedia Flash. It was so simple and deep — full of ideas and funny stuff — that I loved it at once. I thought “I must try to do the same!” And I started learning how to work in Flash.

What do you love about genre? Tell us about some of your favorite works and why you love them. 

I love all stop-motion, including Aardman, Wes Anderson, Jan Švankmajer, and some early authors of animation. I'm fond of Chech, Polish, and Russian stop-motion animation, too. But the loveliest is Fantastic Mr. Fox, I suppose. It is stylish, full of humor, and unusual, beautiful, deep.

What does being a woman mean to you?

It means to be kind, interesting, and easy-going, to find extra time for developing, for reading, to be strong and destroy the templates in your head about cleaning, about possibilities, about childcare — to tend to independence and self-sufficiencу.

Check out Marianna Rudakova and our two other creators' work below, as well as on SYFY.

SYFY and Tongal Invite Women Animators to Create Video Shorts for Women's History Month