Next Lab selects eight animation projects for its workshop

The profile of the participants, who have presented a total of 49 works, combines professionals from digital animation and video games with others more linked to fine arts and illustration.

Next Lab has announced the eight projects selected for its workshop that starts next January 11. This initiative that connects art and technology in the animation industry and digital content It will take place online and in person with the main sponsorship of the Community of Madrid. The support of the Community of Madrid, through the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, seeks to discover new talent and promote the most advanced animation production from a technical and narrative point of view.

The selection combines young talents and established professionals in the sector, as well as profiles from fine arts and illustration, with other more technical previews, layout, digital animation and experience in the video game sector. “A very interesting breeding ground to work on the reality of this new audiovisual paradigm,” he highlights. José Luis Farias, director de Next Lab.

The total number of aspiring candidates has risen to 49 proposals, arrivals from Argentina, Austria, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, Mexico and Portugal, with a high level predominating in all of them. The final selection stands out both for the quality of the participants and the projects they represent: Tied by Carmen Córdoba, Cockroachety by Jorge Sarria, Going Down by Joaquín Martínez, IBIS by María Burgués (with the participation of Enric Sant), The pirate grandmother by Aitor Herrero, Flambé Protocol by Rubén Fernández, Titan Tofu by María Luquero and Villa Fable by Víctor Marín (with the participation of Lucia Calvente), are the selected ones. Five works from Madrid, one from Andalusia, one from Valencia and one from Catalonia will make up this workshop.

Among the participants we find: Aitor Herrero, storyboard artist en la serie Love, Death & Robots the Netflix; Saint Henry, art director for production companies such as Dvein, Hamill Industries and Device; Carmen Cordoba, director of Roberto, a short film that has already received 40 awards and has more than 75 selections in national and international festivals; Joaquin Martinez, animator for Cbeebies, BlueZoo and Jellyfish; Maria Luquero, production coordinator in the fourth season of Pocoyo; Ruben Fernandez, with more than 20 years of experience in animation for advertising, cinema and video games; Lucia Calvente, member of Villa Fábula, a project that represented Spain in the last edition of Ventana Sur, the main Latin American film market; and Jorge Sarria, who was a preview artist for Javier Fesser's latest film (Historias lamentables).

The workshop focuses on the application of creative tools within the virtual environment to improve creative and productive processes and will have four different phases (the first two online and the following in-person) that begin on January 11.

The Argentine animation director and digital artist Federico Moreno Breser will be in charge of opening the event virtually with two weeks of workshop and group tutorials where the learning of tools, mainly Quill and Unreal, for modeling and animation in VR will be deepened.

The second part, which is included under the title Project prototyping It will focus on the development of the teaser, each participant will work on the project putting into practice what they learned in the previous phase. Again for fifteen days (from January 25), where the Spanish will join Federico Raul Colomer, with proven track record and experience in the industry.

The in-person part of the workshop will take place in Madrid starting on February 15; From that same day until the 18th, the Finishing and post-production of the project. A lighting and post-production masterclass with Unreal, along with training to successfully present the work, will be some of the key points in this phase.

On February 19 and 20 it will take place at the Talent Garden Madrid the Next Lab event where the public “pitch” of the projects participating in the workshop will be held in addition to various conferences. On Saturday, February 20, a jury made up of various professionals will decide and announce the two winning projects that will obtain accreditation to present at Annecy MIFA 2021.

This first edition of Next Lab has the main sponsorship of the Community of Madrid and the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and Annecy, Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Market (France).