February 13, 2025

By Rick Pezzullo—

A 2020 Dobbs Ferry High School graduate has been nominated for the Television Academy Foundation’s 44^th College Television Awards.

Erika Totoro, who majored in animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design, which she graduated from last year, was nominated in the Animation Series category for an animated film she wrote, produced and directed titled Le Charade while attending the Savannah College of Art and Design. The project was selected from more than 200 entries by Television Academy members.

“In summer of 2021, while working as a film counselor at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, I created a live-action mockumentary with my campers about a mime with claustrophobia,” said Totoro. “The film was incredibly fun and silly; but it stuck with me, inspiring the pitch for my senior thesis. I realized the character of a mime was perfect for stop-motion [animation] as you’re able to get a more exaggerated performance. I loved the idea of disrupting a peaceful setting like a midnight diner and inserting such an aggressively cartoonish character in it.”

Le Charade is a jazzy, stop-motion* animation piece about an unemployed mime who is grappling with his future. Struggling to break free from his ingrained routine and feeling like an outcast, the mime must navigate the psychosis of his mind as he scouts for a new profession in the city.

“While the time frame of 30 weeks for 3 minutes and 20 seconds of filming [for Le Charade] might not sound too crazy to anyone unfamiliar with animation production, in stop motion it’s an incredible challenge,” said Totoro. “Shooting at 24 frames per second, that’s 4,800 frames, or 4,800 individual physically taken photos. It would often take several days to shoot only 10 seconds of animation. On top of that, we’re also physically creating all the puppets, props and set pieces.”

Winners in the competition will be announced by television stars at the red carpet awards ceremony on April 5, at the Television Academy in North Hollywood, California. Designed to emulate the Emmy^® Awards, student entries are judged by Television Academy members.

“It is such an unbelievable honor [to be nominated for a College Television Award],” Totoro said. “One of my biggest goals as a student at SCAD was to bring more awareness to the incredible work coming from the stop-motion department at our school. Part of the reason I co-founded the stop-motion club at SCAD was to get people interested in what I firmly believe to be the most incredible art medium. I know so many people who are intimidated by it or consider it to be a ‘dying medium,’ and I’ve always wanted to change that stigma. So, I am so grateful for this nomination for shining more light on stop-motion projects, and I hope that can inspire more people to invest in stop-motion college programs.”

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