Relebogile Mabotja shares her experience as voice director of Disney+ animation

Multifaceted media personality Relebogile Mabotja puts on the cap of voice director in a 10-part collection of original animated short films Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire by Disney+.

“As the voice director, I have to take the film director’s vision and help the actor deliver what the director needs,” Relebogile Mabotja tells The Citizen.

The animated anthology draws on the continent’s rich and diverse histories and cultures to present 10 sci-fi and fantasy stories featuring bold and brave new worlds of advanced technology, aliens, spirits, and monsters.

The creators of the 10 short-stories are from different parts of Africa and Mabotja worked on five of the 10 films as voice director.

Being a voice director

“It really requires the skill of getting as much as you can out of an actor. It’s not always specific because it’s not like you’re watching an actor deliver a performance, we have to kind of imagine what you might see because the animation comes later,” shares the Radio 702 jock.

“Of the 10 films, I was able to work on five of them. The role of the voice director is [that] you direct the voice actors in terms of their performance in line and with what each director [of the film] envisioned for their particular film.”

Part of her role as voice director also saw Mabotja included in the casting process. She was included in this process earlier for a selection of the films because some of the voice actors needed guidance.

“This was more of the upskilling part. Helping to see in sessions prior to some of the call backs, particularly with the child actors, how much range we can get out of them before they decide who gets the role. You had some voice actors that are completely experienced and don’t need as much guidance,” explains Mabotja.

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The five films Mabotja worked on include Enkai by Kenyan Ng’endo Mukii, Surf Sangoma by South Africans Nthato Mokgata and Catherine Green, and Moremi by Nigeria’s Shofela Coker.

“I think the project has been about three years in the making. Because the films are short, they are about 10 minutes long; we could possibly nail a lead character’s voices anywhere between three hours and five hour sessions.”

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is executive produced by Peter Ramsey, co-director of the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, alongside Tendayi Nyeke and Anthony Silverston from Triggerfish, the lead studio on this anthology.

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Animation in South Africa

This was Mabotja’s first time stepping into such a role, despite having proved her skill in broadcasting, voice-over work, music and acting.

She says there’s a disparity in voice directing a project like this one and voice directing a radio drama or a commercial.

“In South Africa, we don’t have many voice directors that do animation because the space is not big yet,” says Mabotja.

“So if I were to ask you to name me three South African animations you’d probably struggle to name me one. Yes it’s [animation] used in digital content, in commercials but for this type of specific animation, there isn’t much of that around.”

The 37-year-old says she was roped into the project by executive producer Nyeke who had worked with her previously when Mabotja was directing music performers on stage and television.

“She also knows that I’ve been a voice-over artist for many years. So when she reached out to me to say ‘we are looking to develop some local voice directors’… she took from me having these skills.”

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Juggling responsibilities

Mabotja came into the Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire project about a year and two months ago and had to juggle this big project, her broadcasting as well as being a mom.

“I kind of worked out perfectly because of the times zones we were all operating in. Sometimes there would be people joining from the UK, or joining from the US and all the different places on the continent,”she says.

“So, it was usually scheduled after my radio show. I won’t lie; there was a time when it became a lot of work because you still have to prep. Every time people say to me ‘how’re you able to do all the things that you do?’ – it’s because I really have an amazing support system,” says Mabotja.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire will debut globally on 5 July 2023, exclusively on Disney+.

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