Lasbrey Akamike, the Nigerian-born animator and the founder of Kedu TV, brings over a decade of storytelling passion to his work. In an exclusive interview with TheCable Lifestyle’s PELUMI BOLAWA, he discusses the cultural inspiration for his short film ‘Aja’, how he integrates AI tools into his animation process, and his vision for the future of Nigeria’s film industry in the digital age. He also shares his approach to fusing Nigerian narratives with global influences and teases upcoming projects that aim to redefine animation.
TheCable Lifestyle: What was the initial inspiration behind your short film ‘Aja’?
Lasbrey Akamike: Without my skills, I would not be where I am today. One of the reasons why I decided to come to the United States was to study animation. And unfortunately, I did not get into the animation school because part of their criteria is that you should have studied Fine Arts.
So, I did not qualify to the school. And the school I applied for was the same that was behind the animation of ‘Transformers’, the movie, the CGI making of the movie. I was given the opportunity to get into the school.
But when they now reviewed all my courses, they did not see Fine Arts. So, due to that fact, I did not get the chance to go to the school.
Since 2009, I have always wanted to make a movie about ‘Aja’ (dog).
At that time, it was not animation that was on my mind. It was a special movie. And being able to get the cast and crew, the budget, and all those things, it would have probably been extremely expensive.
And at that time, I was not really interested in filmmaking or anything like that. I was still basically learning. I did a couple of short films while I was in the States with my friend. And it gave me a little bit of insight of experience on different types of camera angles. That was the thing that ignited my passion for the movie. The movie is actually about my dog.
Because the name of my dog was ‘Bishop’. A very fearful local dog. But I created it after I trained the dog.
What inspired me was wanting to do an animation. But I did not know what story I was going to go with. I can not talk about my personal story because people might not relate. The story that I used was not meant to be the original story. Because the original story would have probably caused tribalistic discrimination.
TheCable Lifestyle: What led to the decision to tell this story as a short film rather than a full-length feature?
Lasbrey Akamike: The reason why I made it short was because at that time, my animation skills were not prolific. I was still learning.
So, being able to write prompts and things like that was challenging because it took me three and a half months to learn how to do what I did. But I was learning.
If I was able to create more prompts, the story would have been longer than that. There should have been parts in which it should have shown how the guy and his relationship with the dog merged. Show his own personal story, because he is a barber.
All those characters had their own personal stories, but I could not have all that done in that period of time that I wanted. And I wanted to get it out as quick as I could, and at least let me see how good my skills are. It did not give me enough time to pull off a long storyline for people to know more about what they did at that point.
TheCable Lifestyle: The film explores the relationship between people and pets, which is not always a common theme in Nigerian narratives. How did you blend your personal experiences with broader cultural perspectives?
Lasbrey Akamike: Over the period of time that I have been travelling back and forth between Nigeria and the US, I started to notice that girls started to like dogs. They are starting to like all these fluffy dogs.
And there are a lot of Western movies that do a lot of dog-related movies. And some people tend to like them. I think, it is just like the way I travel with the dog, and at the same time, and trying to figure out what exactly it is about dog.
I have seen in real life how Americans, British people relate to their animals.
And that is how I got to know, because when I was back home, when I was still with my dog, I treated my animal practically the same way they did.
So, it made it easy for me to connect, and it was easy for me to now focus on the story and then bring African style and European style, yes, it was an influence.
TheCable Lifestyle: Are there any new projects you are currently working on?
Lasbrey Akamike: Maybe over time, I might redo the movie, but not use real people. Because the project I am working on right now is going to be more of an animation than trying to be realistic images.
And it is going to be more of a mature manga animation. It is going to be a combination of manga and reality. You are going to love it because I am combining about almost eight to nine AI software animation tools to be able to pull it off. Like this one I did (Aja), I combined six animation tools to pull it off.
I used a few to be able to pull off certain motions and emotions, and I used a different one to be able to pull off the movement and the reactions. So, I was using a lot of numerous animations.
I learned everything on YouTube. I kept on going to YouTube to learn different types of animations, see how much I can push the engine and generate whatever I wanted.
TheCable Lifestyle: The production blends real-life footage with AI. Can you walk us through that process of merging the human element with computer generation?
Lasbrey Akamike: I own a media company, Kedu TV. The majority of the people that cast were staff members. We got a lot of insults from online trolls. Some of them were saying this is AI and it is not real.
I was able to pull this off within three, six months. I need people to give me more time. I am happy enough to be able to experience it as it started and it is improving. I have gotten a lot of calls from people that they want me to work with them.
TheCable Lifestyle: Which specific AI tools were most critical in the production of ‘Aja’?
Lasbrey Akamike: One of the tools I use is called Kling AI. Another tool I use is Lumley. Another tool I used was Luma Labs.
I found within those three months, for my movement, emotions, planning, environment view. So, using those AI tools, you have to pay subscriptions. You have to enrol in credit.
TheCable Lifestyle: How do you see AI tools influencing the future of filmmaking in Nigeria?
Lasbrey Akamike: I think they should start embracing the idea to improve our movie. There was a movie I was watching; I think it was ‘The Waiter’. I noticed that they used some sort of VFX for the movie and but it still showed VFX.
So, maybe this kind of storytelling might be an opportunity for someone that believes to come across it and then say, “I want us to take our own story and accept it.” I will give you an example: one of my childhood friends, who is also in the media industry, came down to shoot a movie where my team went to shoot the behind-the-scenes. He did a good job and everything was well spent, and things like that.
But while I was there, I did not have much time. He noticed that I had a lot to say, but he told me that I should not say it because of the already established names in the industry. He said, ‘Hey, that is me, this is the guy that took it and established it. This thing is coming to stay. I see you guys getting used to embracing it, and you can go and learn it on your own time. I am not going to stop you from doing what I am doing by myself. I need to share my talents with others.
On collaboration on using AI tools that is something I noticed that is lacking in Nigeria. Being so talented, I am not here to bring my talents and help your part of your industry. I am not coming here to take over your business; I do not care about that. I only care about expanding the environment, the industry we have.
You guys are not allowing certain people because of the stigma of the idea of AI.
Just as I got 14,000 views for my first animation, God knows how many views I will get for my next one, which I know will not play like the last one. On some insights, everybody will be a new person who will leave after.
What I have learned and what we are creating right now, that we are building, everybody is going to be worried that I think some of these actors might be losing their jobs. If you think AI is going to be coming and and go, they have other things that is coming for them.
Even current movies now, because we just shot the movie, and we are implementing some AIs with some of the skills that we have improved on. We are binding AI into the movie right now. So, you will not even know the difference if it is real or if it is fake.
TheCable Lifestyle: In your view, is Nigeria embracing digitalisation in the right way, particularly within the creative industry?
Lasbrey Akamike: I have been asked something almost, I would say, quite similar. And I will tell you the same thing I told the other people as well. And it was from one of my lecturers at the University of Phoenix. Nigeria is the first African country, and the first country in the world, that did not do migration from analogue to digital.
We are already two steps ahead in our technology. And I would say in terms of technological infrastructure, we are already two steps ahead. Because of that, it makes it much more easier for Nigeria to be within the confines of technology.
But the only problem is that the cost of living does not provide accessibility to the technology. The government also is not really helping in those aspects as well.
I can tell you that we have not even scratched the surface of data migration, data analytics. We are only using it mostly in banks and a few other areas. That is why, on YouTube, content creators make more money.
Nigerians do not really embrace the ideology of using YouTube for advertising. The only people that use it the most are musicians.
Nigeria has the capacity. I am thankful for likes of Starlink coming to Nigeria, providing unlimited internet access. Although it is not cheap for certain people, the accessibility is making things move more.
A lot of my friends want to relocate back to Nigeria. They are really tired of the Western world because it is extremely expensive to live there.
So, Nigeria is ready. People are ready. But in the IT industry itself, we are not tapping into it. We are not utilising it as much as we should be. Because in the States, if you do not have any bad credit, you can just go there and borrow money or borrow whatever you want to do whatever you want. That is how it is meant to be.
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