A small team from Latvia created an animation film that has been garnering attention since its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. What started with a single developer, his laptop, and free software has now become a multiple award-nominated and winning animation film that will soon be shown in Germany.
What is Flow as a film project? The wordless animation film tells the story of the journey of a black cat trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world without humans along with a group of various animals. Together, they travel through forests, across water, and forgotten monuments, learning to coexist peacefully.
Gints Zilbalodis, the director of the film, explains in an interview with Fast Company how he managed to develop a project with a low budget of 3.5 million euros and a manageable team that seems to succeed despite the simple resources.
Here you can see the trailer of the animation film:
From a One-Man Project to a Film Festival Surprise
How was the development in Blender? One of the reasons for the low budget was the use of the free program Blender. The 3D modeling software is freely accessible, runs on almost all laptops, and has become an industry standard alongside similar programs like Maya.
The team developed their own tools that advanced the development both technically and visually. For example, they were able to better control the animation of water, which represents an important metaphor in the story of the film.
Blender also offered the team the opportunity to work with a real-time rendering engine. This means that one does not have to wait for the fully rendered image, but can see all textures, effects, and lights directly while working.
How many people were ultimately involved in the project? While Zilbalodis worked alone in the early years, additional 2D, 3D, and sound artists, as well as other production staff, joined the project over time.
The core production team consisted of about 20 people, with additional temporary staff totaling around 50. According to Zilbalodis, usually only 2 to 3 people were actively working in the studio with him.
How were the stylistic decisions made? To create a closer connection between the film and the audience, the team opted for a graphic and abstract art style.
With a simpler design, they want to give audiences the opportunity to project themselves or their pets onto the characters and the story. It also allowed the team to implement more expressive facial and movement animations, which can be quite advantageous in a film without spoken words.
The environments are relatively endowed with significantly more details, which makes them appear particularly real and lively despite the painted style.
Animation films dominated theaters in the previous year 2024, primarily driven by children’s and family films. One movie was particularly successful with its numbers, overshadowing other films like Dune 2 or Deadpool and Wolverine: One film was bigger than Dune and Deadpool in 2024, and your kids will love it
