Santiago Carrasquilla and Jos Diaz Contreras’ visually stunning new short Awakening: The First Day combines state-of-the-art 3D animation with finished hand-painted layer. The short, which won the Best Experimental prize at this year’s Animaze Festival in Montreal, is an animated companion piece to the spectacular show at Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas.
We had a chance to interview Carrasquilla and Conteras about their show, which has been qualified to be considered for the Academy Awards.
Animation Magazine: Can you tell us a bit about the origins of the project?
Santiago Carrasquilla: Jos and I were invited to write, direct and produce a short film that had its roots in the story and mythology of the Awakening stage show, but that would stand on its own as a piece of art and storytelling.
Jos Diaz Contreras: It’s been a longstanding ambition of ours to follow in the footsteps of Fantasia and direct a short silent film inspired by classical music, a music video for an orchestral score. When we heard the soundtrack Brian Tyler created for Awakening, we felt it was a special opportunity to make something truly timeless. When we read Kelly Sue DeConnick’s mythical script for the stage show, with characters as grand as Light and Darkness, we knew we had to do it. The team at Wynn were excited by our vision for a story that takes place at the very beginning of the world, and the rest is history.
Which animation tools were used to create the images?
Santiago & Jos: On the 3D side: We used C4D and Redshift to render the final scenes. Maya was used to model, rig and animate the characters, and Substance for character textures. Marvelous to model and simulate the clothes. Rokoko Studio for motion capture. Unreal Engine and Meta Human for additional character and facial close up animations. Houdini to do all the water, smoke, fabric and fire simulations. ZBrush to model many custom objects in the scenes.
On the 2D side: We used inkjet printers to print every single frame that had been rendered in 3D at 10 frames per second, and then we used a variety of mediums to illustrate directly on top of those ink jet prints. Color pencils, black and white soft charcoal, color pastels, Conte pencils and pastels.
Can you tell us a bit about the visual inspirations and style of the short?
Santiago: To begin, a lot of our visual language was inspired by the Awakening show itself. Secondly, we were very influenced by nature and its splendor. We looked at lots of nature photography and videos as well as landscape paintings from the renaissance. We also looked at contemporary, ancient Greco-Roman architecture, and a lot of modern and contemporary installation art. The music composed by Brian Tyler for the show was also a huge ‘visual inspiration’ for us. We were moved by the epic orchestral arrangements and melodies and were guided in a very synesthetic way.
Jos: As a filmmaker, photographer and animation director, I think about Light and Darkness every day in both a literal and emotional sense. This story allowed us to focus on putting that relationship on screen very directly. Some of our guiding lights (so to speak) were the Light and Space artist Robert Irwin, filmmaker Terrence Malick and the Hudson River School of landscape painting.
What did you love best about this short?
Santiago: The process itself! Working on the short was a joy. We worked together with a group of very talented artists scattered all over the world, everyone highly committed to doing everything to make the short as compelling and beautiful as possible. In just five minutes’ length, we were able to imagine, design and execute many different spaces, environments, and worlds for our main character Light to travel through. The short is rich in details and we employed a variety of animation techniques. We were able to push our visual style towards a very painterly aesthetic, getting the closest we’ve gotten yet to achieving the experience of ‘moving paintings.’
Jos: It is rare to have an opportunity to tell a story as primordial, as simple and timeless, as that of The First Day. Creating our own mythology of Light and Darkness, and bringing them to life in a silent love story, let us contribute in our own way to the oldest human storytelling traditions (while using some of the most advanced tools created thus far).
What were your biggest challenges?
Santiago: This was by far our most ambitious film yet on a technical level. We were trying to combine all of our previous learnings from past films — simulations, character development and facial animations — into this one short film.
Jos: We knew we wanted to honor the incredible talent that went into creating the stage show, from director Baz Halpin’s 360 set pieces to the legendary Michael Curry’s puppet designs. We also had to create a world that worked on its own, was crafted around the specific story we wanted to tell, and made the most of the mediums we were using to tell it. At the same time, we were encouraged to be free with our imagination which gave our team the wings to build on their work without being tied to it.
Who are some of your animation idols?
Santiago: There are many. The story of Pixar itself is very compelling and inspiring in many ways — especially Ed Catmull’s persistence, patience and vision for the company and how it culminated in the first ever computer animated feature with Toy Story. The great contemporary Spanish director Alberto Mielgo is also a big influence and someone we look up to. Our friends and collaborators Saad Moosajee and Danae Gosset are also a big inspiration for us, as well as the directors of Fantasia who made a film that continues to inspire and delight generation after generation. And of course, the films of the great Hayao Miyazaki are amongst our favorites. All that being said, we are also highly influenced by live action, perhaps even more so than animation.
Jos: I come from a live-action film background and have learned everything I know about animation from the brilliant animators I’ve been lucky enough to work with. On this project: Steven Guas, Nathan Schmitt, Vasco Gross, Alexis Prost, Atharva Raut, Nick Apple, Britton Korbel, Jeremy Higgins, Florencia Monza, Laureano Solis, Solene Gauchie and Margaux Kempff.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the short?
Santiago & Jos: A highly visceral experience of visual and sonic beauty that allows them to forget about time and space and leaves them with a palpable optimistic energy in their heart and soul.
