Among the participants from Universidad ORT Uruguay Leonardo Cámara, Eliana Fernández, Florencia Guerra, Georgine Herbig, Natasha Kats, José Luis Lorenzo, Lucía Mostrada, and Emanuel Pérez.
Also participating were professorsDaniel Soulier and Victoria Barreiro, a professor in the School of Design, who served as animation coordinator for Progresiva Studios, one of the 12 animation studios involved in the filming.
The animation process
Barreiro was given the opportunity to work on the film’s animation through Simón Varela, animator who was working at Koatí as a product designer and who visited ORT as a visiting professor to put together an animation team and work on some scenes.
The professor accepted the challenge and invited students from ORT’s Bachelor’s Program in Animation and Video Games to participate. From that point on, she was in contact with Anabella Sosa-Dovarganes, the film’s creator and producer.
"Anabella and Rodrigo worked together to ensure that the animations turned out well; they came from all over the world: Spain, the United States, El Salvador, Uruguay, Argentina, and other countries," said Barreiro.
Progresiva Studios handled some scenes in which the main characters, Nachi (a coati) and Pako (a glass frog), are traveling, such as when they fly over a volcano.
Image from the official trailer for Coati. Source: Koati.
“I brought the lava to life, and I remember flying over the volcanoes and the clouds with Calli, a caribou bird native to the jungle around here.”
They also livened up the moment when they meetXochi, the monarch butterfly, as she lands awkwardly and falls; when they’re sleeping in a tree; and when they run away from the snake.
The film was created frame by frame, ranging from12 to 24 frames per second to double-frame rates, depending on the scene's pace. It also featured highly detailed 2D artwork, and the animators followed a lengthy process when drawing the various scenes. Additionally, the animators divided the work based on characters and colors.
Image from the official trailer for Coati. Source: Koati.
The idea was for everyone to connect with a character. One of the animators really clicked with Nachi, another really clicked with Paco, and then there were people who were faster at coloring.
“I spent a lot of time organizing things into folders because I know exactly how everything works and how to structure it. I also knew them as animators and knew which scenes suited them best.”
What is Koatí about?
Inspired by the flora and fauna of the Latin American jungle, the feature film centers on Nachi, Pako, and Xochi, three animals who fear losing their home due to the evil plans of Zaina, a coral snake. So they decide to set out on a journey in search of a solution.
Sofía Vergara, the actress who played Zaina, described the film as a "project by Latinos for Latinos." According to the Colombian actress, it was time for Latinos to be the ones to showcase Latin America’s natural ecosystem to other Latinos, as reported by the EFE News Agency.
Koatí has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) to raise awareness abouttheenvironment. According to a WWF article, the film’s message is,“Together we can save nature, and in doing so, discover that nature will save us.”
The film was released in the United States on October 15, 2021, while in Spain it was released on July 25 of this year.
Learn more about the program:
Bachelor's Degree in Animation and Video Games