We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cassie Shao. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cassie below.

Cassie, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

To me, the newest film project will always be the most meaningful project I have worked on. With each independent film project, I try to experiment with mixing in a new medium or incorporating a new stylistic choice either visually or in storytelling, while refining the visual concept and personal style I have developed so far with all of my previous films. Although I am excited for every project to feel new and different from my last project, I still think that throughout this journey, I am constructing a large building and constantly adding pieces to refind its shape, at times taking pieces off as well.

Making an independent animated short film often takes me a solo effort of two to three years. I feel that during this process, the animation inevitably extends beyond the idea with which it begins, evolves and grows with the animator herself. The animation would be constantly inspired by thoughts and changes that occurred during this time span of my life until it felt it had completed itself. My latest film is the most meaningful to me because it captures and reflects a piece of me during the last three years. It talks about something I have been thinking about even before the production years, I needed to finish this thought by completing this film and move forward to the next project, for which I will experiment with further refining my mixed-media stylistic choices, thinking a new thought and letting it silently grow with the project. Until it feels complete, and repeat the process.

Cassie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Cassie Shao and I work as an Animator across the field of independent films, music videos, explainer videos, experiential installations, and advertisements. I have always been passionate about animation since I was younger. When I stepped into the world of independent animation, I decided that it was going to be what I do for the majority of my life. Since then, I have been working on various film, video and television projects and learning from each experience, leading me to the next. I often work with a mixed-media approach that combines and mixes together 2D cel animation with 3D graphics and traditional under-the-camera animation techniques. With each project I take on, I am always excited to experiment with different themes, stories, animation methods and techniques, and try to discover a new and unique-to-this-project perspective. I think animation is not only a tool that we use to visualise the wildest imagination we might have, also it has potential. To think about why this project should be expressed through animation and how animation can passionately expand beyond itself is also important to me.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

It feels to me that art or any creative work is its own language, and it communicates with its viewers and audiences through deeper feelings and unique experiences that can hardly be expressed through words. Sometimes an animated work clearly constructs a narrative and communicates a strong, clear message; while other times, the animation is a more obscure experiment, perhaps a question without an answer yet, but its existence reminds us about possibilities other than what we know, and it would change how we approach everything else in life. I believe the language spoken between an animated work and its audience is unique to everyone, and the “target audience” of the film would be able to find what is familiar to them even though they come from various backgrounds and have different experiences. To me, the most rewarding aspect of being an animator is that if the animation I create reaches its designated audience, and they have a conversation together that might inspire a little spark in life.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think the best way society can support artists is to be interested in art. Of course, there are multiple ways to achieve this, and when speaking realistically there are a lot of factors behind why that cannot be achieved at times. But ultimately, I think in a society where people do think of art as something important and essential, they think that there are communications with life that can only be achieved through art, and they are interested in this communication and in a type of experience that perhaps can hardly be shared with others, that is only between them and the art. I think a type of society like this can best support artists and creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.karasucassie.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/karasucassie
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karasucassie/