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C/L: How and when did you start your artistic career and how did you decide to orientate yourself in this specific field? S.R: I started as an architect, and during my studying time I started sculpture. Following that, I did a postgraduate diploma at the Beaux Arts in sculpture to slowly stop/leave architecture behind. I did that craft for about 20 years before having the desire to make trailers for my exhibitions, then I started to animate my sculptures and, one thing led to another, I ended up using stop motion.
C/L: What brings, from your point of view, the short film that the feature film does not (or on the contrary, does)?
S.R: I can make alone-or almost alone my short films, the set designs. When it comes to the animation part, I work with an editor as well as someone in charge of the story boards and a musician that does the sounds. I used to sometimes collaborate with a professional that would do all the added sounds, but now I work with a musician that makes all of them, even the voices. To this day, I have been working on a short film that will last about 8 minutes, which I consider as my first long film
C/L: How to vehicle a message through short videos that only last for about a minute? What becomes a challenge for you?
S.R: Making a film is a challenge in itself. I do not feel like I have a message to vehicle through them, it is more about creating an atmosphere.
C/L: In addition of your directing practice of moving image pieces, you make your own set designs and 3D characters when they are not hand drawn. Is there a part of frustration when it comes to spending a long time on making them, when all the audience sees is the final product of your short films?
S.R: Yes and no, let’s say that the process is more interesting for me than the end goal. I like the challenge of making everything myself. Right now, I am working on a film where there are 5 different set designs, about 10 characters, 3 ducks, a swan and a seagull, which I have manufactured myself. It is really exciting to make, I use a lot of my personal objects such as my shoes (doc martens, the yellow tigers that the character in Kill Bill wears), my wardrobe, an Eames chair and a mini Elvis Presley character that I’ve made out of a peanut. I like to insert an element in each short film that was present in the last one, no one necessarily notices it, but it is more a personal pleasure. I am not necessarily waiting for the public’s feedback, I make what I do for myself, otherwise, I would have stopped a long time ago.
C/L: In the short film “Peanuts Paradise”, you tell the story of a young girl that buys for herself 40 seconds of happiness. How do you perceive that ephemeral exchange of joy and what is their importance in our everyday lives?
S.R: So, this girl buys herself a tour on a rollercoaster that will last 40 seconds, but she ends up falling in love with the guy that sells tickets and leaves with him…in his peanut drop top…so she won more than 40 seconds of joy…at least I hope so. After all, the small pleasures are the best ones, they are why we wake up every morning, right?
C/L: Finally, what advice would you give to an art student struggling with finding their own style?
S.R: To make, without looking/being in search, to try out loads of different techniques, make and produce. For me, it is a necessity. But then I don’t have the patience to make loads of files and wait on budgets…resulting in the lack of resources for me to develop, it is an odd vicious circle. But as mentioned before, I love the process.
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