Komotion Studios with a $400 dollar budget and two weeks of work has helped move Yoruba culture forward for the digital age.
Following the successes of American Gods on television and the countless super hero films from the likes of Marvel and DC, a serious case could be made for African folklore getting similar treatment.
While subjects like religion – no thanks to the ‘destructive’ work of Ajayi Crowther in helping vilify the native beliefs of Yoruba people while introducing them to the native beliefs of the Jewish people at the same time, are considered ground zero for the modern conscious Nigerian that identifies as Christian or Muslim, Nigerian deities such as Sango, Oya and Amadioha should be given pride of place in the culture.
With hopes that the project could eventually turn into a web series or a feature length movie, Dawn Of Thunder explores Sango’s childhood – where it all started, the questions he asked, the answers he was given, visions about his path and how these experiences eventually shaped his future.
Komotion Studios had this to say about the project
“[It] will look at his life from birth to his mysterious disappearance. We will explore the functionality of the civilisation that existed during his time, bringing out different key lessons. Our goal is to educate and align with the sustainable development goals while also entertaining our audience.”
Why Sango and why is it in Yoruba? Sango is one of the most recognizable and relatable deities in Africa. His first notable appearance and global debute as "Shango" was in a Marvel Thor comic in 1982, one of the Orishas, a race of extra-dimensional beings after which he was seen in a DC Firestorm Comic in 1990.
We feel that in order to feel the authenticity of the story, it needed to be told in the actual language being used at the time
How much did it cost to produce "Dawn of Thunder" A project like DAWN OF THUNDER would usually be expensive, specifically ranging in 10s of thousands of dollars. But since it was an internal passion project, we had the talent and resources to pull it off at no cost to us except for power generation. Software licences and tech support also came free from companies that believed in what we were trying to do. So DAWN OF THUNDER which would usually have costed several thousands of dollars to produce ended up costing us just $400.
Nice one, I hope this guys will get the necessary fund to make a full length animation. Sango wielding his hammer like thor will be great, awesome the sound track is also fantastic