The Nubes – Round One, a short animated film that was produced locally, has just been launched on Vimeo, You Tube and other social media.

The film is the final product that resulted from months of hard work for JPA Motion, the animation team behind it.

I caught up with Ivan Saliba, lead 3D artist at JPA Motion and the director of the short to explain the inspiration behind the project, the work that went into it and what essentially it is all about.

The interview takes place just a couple of hours before the launch of the short and Saliba is clearly excited about finally releasing the monsters Lee and Liu into the wild – or online, in this case.

After all, The Nubes – Round One marks a notable change from the numerous adverts, presentations and corporate videos that have heretofore formed part of the JPA animation team’s day’s work.

“In the animation industry, the animation of characters and creatures is one of the highest standards you can aim to achieve,” says Saliba, in the lead up to explaining what inspired the team to temporarily step away from advertising into storytelling.

Every single pixel was created in-house

“It’s not like animated logos or 3D objects – it is organic modelling, which involves animating organic creatures with bones, muscle, hair, fur and so much more.

“It is quite an intense process and, when I saw our team moving in that direction, I got inspired to sit down and draft a story for a short animated film, together with the team.”

Saliba wanted to create a character-based story which involved the creation of actual scenes using lighting, visuals and props.

His team – writer Chris Pace and the animators Daniel Spagnol, Sirach Borg and Mark Vincent Schembri – was clearly piqued and they immediately set to work on the story and the visuals, working out of office hours and weekends to get the project off the ground.

Once the company directors saw they were onto something good, the team then got to work on it full time. From concept to execution, The Nubes took three solid months to make, involving some very long days.

Saliba explains that this project was a challenge for the team – not only did they set out to create something based on what they had achieved so far; they also wanted to see how far they could realistically push themselves.

The work, effort and passion that went into the project are evident, as Saliba elaborated upon the exciting but clearly laborious process of making the film.

He displayed numerous sketches, designs and models that were created as the film started to come together, together with the ‘animatic’, a kind of rough draft of the movie which allowed the members of the team to visualise what the final product should look like.

As Saliba is keen to emphasise, “every single pixel was created in-house”. They even wrote intricate and detailed character biographies of the film’s protagonists.

As for the film itself, The Nubes - Round One does exactly what it is supposed to.

It introduces the characters and sets up, executes and concludes the story effectively and entertainingly in its short running time; with solid production values contributing to both story and character.

Its backdrop is the post-apocalyptic scenario so familiar in sci-fi movies – be they live action or animated (and some influences are pretty obvious).

However, this is no epic story about populations desperately trying to survive in dystopian conditions. The film focuses on the small picture, as it were, and in Lee and Liu, The Nubes has two odd-looking mutant monster protagonists.

They are the only life forms to survive extinction after an alien invasion wiped out humanity in 2025.

They are squatting in the remains of a teenager’s bedroom, what with its array of computers, game consoles, pop culture remnants, the inevitable fast-food leftovers and years of accumulated grime. Lee and Liu spend their days playing video games – which sometimes escalate into actual physical violence between the two, resulting in an action-packed, fun and funny four minutes.

The narrative is pretty straightforward and it includes an incisive twist at the end, which I shan’t say much about not to give anything away. Suffice it to say that in its brief running time, entertainment aspect aside, the film has much to say about the effects of incessant game play on behaviour (human or monster), the blurring of edges between reality – virtual and otherwise; and that junk food that survives an apocalypse surely can’t be good for us.

Pace’s story comes to life with the rather incoherent, yet expressive, grunts of the characters, voiced by Simon Grech, with original music by Mario Sammut (better known as Cygna) underscoring the action. The animation is superb, with objects as diverse as a slice of pizza, congealed cheese and all, the fur on the characters and the myriad gadgets that clutter the room excellently rendered.

The attention to detail is such that it requires multiple viewings; simply to catch the intricate visual details, some just there for design’s sake, others cleverly and very subtly dropping hints to the story’s outcome.

The film’s title may hint at the possibility of a sequel. Saliba admits that a full-length feature based on these characters is not out of the question, with a story and some stunning visuals already in place should it ever come to pass.

And, if the same concerted effort goes into that project, the filmmakers will certainly continue to make waves.