11/11/2024
Generation
After four successful editions, Next Lab Generation opens the call for projects for the fifth edition of its workshop. Focusing on the incorporation of innovative tools to streamline animation production processes, the event is once again sponsored by the Government of Madrid, through the Council of Culture, Tourism and Sports, with the aim of discovering new talent and promoting new ways of producing animation with state-of-the-art technological tools.
With a deadline of December 14th, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. (Mexican time), the call is open for animation projects that intend to experiment with the use of VR, XR and AR tools along with the use of real-time rendering engines and AI tools for animation prototyping and production. Fiction works with an emphasis on animation or VFX are also eligible. The proposals submitted may be headed by an individual or by a team, and projects of any nationality will be accepted. Projects must have a minimum visual development. Each selected project will be able to participate in Next Lab Generation’s workshop free of charge (regular participation costs 6,000 euros per person).
In this edition, the call will give special consideration to video game related projects, including intros and game trailers; as well as projects whose IP has originated in a video game. Aiming at expanding the workshop in each edition and keeping the approach of taking advantage of the most innovative technologies, the tools used during the workshop will be mainly Quill and Blender Eevee, not being necessary previous knowledge of them, as they will be taught during Next Lab Generation. The workshop will be conducted in Spanish.
In response to the sector’s need for accessible and free training in these emerging technologies, this edition will feature a new free online course on Quill, which will be temporarily available on the Next Lab Ágora training platform. This is a way of keeping the commitment to promoting these new technologies both within and outside the event.
Registration for the workshop is also free of charge and can be done through the event’s website. Two high quality images without text or watermarks and a dossier of the project are required. The dossier must include a brief history of the candidate, indicating his/her role in the project, and his/her motivation to attend the workshop. A committee made up of professionals from the sector will evaluate the applications and select a group of up to 10 projects, whose creators will receive advice on how to produce their projects, applying R&D&I, extensive knowledge of the market and the latest technology.
Led by industry professionals and experts, the workshop will maintain the structure of past editions with an online module from January 7th to February 23rd; and a second in-person module to be held in Madrid from February 24th to March 1st. Only six projects will be selected for the in-person portion, based on their performance during the online module and the assessment of its pitch and audiovisual piece. To participate in the second module, all deliverables from the first module must have been completed.
During the workshop, participants will have a few weeks to create a teaser for their projects, which they will have the opportunity to present at the Next Lab Generation event in Madrid on February 28th and March 1st, 2025. A jury made up of professionals from the audiovisual sector will choose three winners, who will receive professional registration for Annecy MIFA 2025 as well as the opportunity to pitch their projects at the Next Lab Generation conference.
Next Lab Generation 2025 has the main sponsorship of the Government of Madrid, through the Council of Culture, Tourism and Sports, as well as support from the Ministry of Culture, Madrid Film Office, the ICAA, Enisa, Annecy Festival, Madrid’s Audiovisual Cluster, FOM and Weird Market.