My name is Jelle Jansen (www.jellejanssen.nl), and I'm a stop-motion animator from the Netherlands. I took part in the Story Xperiential program in the summer of 2022. I joined the program together with a good friend of mine. It was fun discussing ideas together and brainstorming ideas I worked on during the Story Xperiential program. I developed one of those further and eventually made it into a stop-motion short film at the Aardman Academy in Bristol, UK.
Could you tell us about your Story Xperiential project specifically?
When I developed my story during the Story Xperiential program, it was called Nugget. The story was about a young rooster, named Nugget, and he doesn't have a voice. Because of this, he doesn't feel like he is a true rooster, like his brother, who has a beautiful voice. In the story, Nugget finds a squeaky toy which he uses to fake that he can crow but, of course, he has to learn that it's not the right way to do it.
Over the weeks and months of development of my stop-motion at Aardman Academy, I changed the title because I felt it was more about the importance of a rooster’s crow, instead of just about one character. I changed the title to Kukuluku, which means “cock a doodle doo” in Dutch.
What challenges did you face during the program and how did you overcome them?
For me, it was quite easy to come up with new core ideas, it went quite naturally, but then going from that core idea into a full story, that was something very tricky for me, because I had to make things fit and work together.
It really helped me to write different versions and also to discuss them with other participants, and friends and family, even, to improve the story and see what is clear and what is unclear about it, and then just keep building on that.
How do you see the skills learned in Story Xperiential being applied in your current work or studies?
I think it's often easy to go for the first idea, because you think the first idea is the best idea, but during the program, I felt like I was really challenged to look further than that first idea.
We had to come up with three different “What if” ideas for a story and later, of course, I really felt like, “OK, actually, the 2nd or the 3rd idea might fit better into what I'm trying to tell with this story.”
So, just that principle of not choosing the first idea and looking further than that was something that I still use today in all my work.
Can you share how the peer feedback aspect of the program influenced your storytelling projects?
Receiving feedback from other participants was super interesting, because their ideas gave me new perspectives and kept me motivated as well. Besides that, it's also just nice to see how others are working on a story, and at the same time, how they are tackling their challenges within that story.
How did you feel about giving feedback to other people?
Of course, receiving feedback is hard, but I believe giving feedback can also be hard, because you don't want to insult someone, because it's very easy to take your project, and all the feedback that you receive on it, very personal, and you're thinking of that as well when you're giving the feedback. I think the hardest part for me was to write feedback in a way that makes it understandable and also not personal or offending in any way.
How has the program impacted you as a storyteller or what did you learn from it?
I would say, the skills of just looking further than the first ideas and just keep writing and coming up with new ideas. That's why it was also helpful for me to have weekly deadlines because often it's easy to only write when you feel inspired or motivated to do something, but having those strict deadlines to deliver something really forced me to do something.
And often that is the best way to come up with new ideas, to just be active, make new things, and to challenge yourself.
What were some unexpected benefits you gained from participating in Story Xperiential?
In the beginning, having deadlines. Nobody wants them, right? But I think they're important, not just for commercial work, but also for personal work. Having a deadline definitely helped me with keeping on track, to work on it consistently.
What I used to do, whenever I have to work on something, I’d wait for the perfect moment. I’d block out a few hours to work on it, but often that doesn't help for me because I'd always postpone it saying “I don't have enough time now” or “I have other things to do” or “I don't feel motivated”. Now, whenever I have 10 minutes or something, it's possible to achieve a lot, and that's something I realized during the program.
What role do you think storytelling plays in education and career development today?
I think storytelling is everywhere, right? It's in books, it's in games, it's in films, it's in advertising as well. But the interesting thing, I think, is to look further than this entertainment purpose, because I believe it's a great tool, for education purposes, because a lot of times, if you look at a researcher, for example, they use very complex words and theories, but most people, people like me, they don't understand those terms and those complex theories. So, I think storytelling makes it very easy to understand those things, and also more engaging in a way. I remember myself, in high school, I didn't want to learn about something I found boring, right? So, whenever there's an interesting story behind it, and you can really immerse yourself into that story, even though it's about maths or history, I think it can really impact you and make you learn easier.
What advice would you give to someone considering joining the Story experiential program?
I would definitely do it. I think it really pushes you to try new things and to come up with new ideas and new ways of working. On a personal level, for me, it really helped me to learn to not be afraid to share my stories or my progress with other participants, even when I was not fully happy with it myself, because, in the end, everybody wants to help each other and everybody wants to make the best project available. I think that's something really important to learn. Of course, that's harder than it sounds, but I think it's really important to learn that whenever you receive some feedback or comments on your work, it's only about your work and it's not about you as a person.
Just one final thing, would you like to give me a brief summary of your journey from Story Xperiential to Aardman Academy?
I developed the first version, Nugget, as it was called back then, in the Story Xperiential program. When I finished the animatic, I felt like I wanted to do more with it because I really liked the story and project, as a whole.
In 2022, I got the opportunity to pitch my idea at ANIMARKT Stop-Motion Forum 2022, in Poland. (https://www.animarkt.pl/start/). I pitched my idea there, which was really interesting, because I learned a lot about pitching. During the pitch, I also realized I wasn’t fully ready to develop it yet, because there were a lot of things still missing.
Some time went by and then I found out about the Aardman Academy program (https://academy.aardman.com/), which is a 7-month program and the application involved submitting a story idea. I was like, “I could use my storyreel for the Story Xperiential program!” And luckily, I got accepted!
During that course, I developed the story more and more, mainly on technical and visual elements, as, when I finished the storyreel with Story Xperiential, I didn't really have a visual language in mind. This was my main focus during my time at the Aardman Academy. I also did some minor story tweaks, but that was mainly to make things simpler and more direct; to make it achievable in those 7 months of production. During the Aardman Academy program, you get a lot of guidance and tutorials on how to build puppets or the sets. You do the stop-motion animation yourself and also the editing and then the music is done by somebody else. In the end, it's like a collaborative effort, but, most of it, you do yourself.
The stop-motion short film is finished now and it's been screened at several animation and film festivals. In 2024, Kukeleku was shown at StopTrik International Film Festival, ANIMA - Córdoba International Animation Festival, Animation Nation, Platforma BD - International Cluj Comics, Illustration and Animation Festival, Manchester Animation Festival, Ionian Contemporary Animation Festival ( ICONA) and Lisboa Indie Film Festival (LISBIFF). It will also be screened at Metropolis Film Festival in Italy in 2025.
I'm still interested in making more with the whole concept, because I'm happy with how everything went and also how everything developed, in terms of the story and the visual style. I feel like there is something more to get out of this idea, but that's for later. I’ll see how the audience reacts to Kukeleku at the film festivals and how people like it and then share it online at a later date.
