Recently, the Animation Research Institute and School of Animation Art at Jilin Animation Institute (JAI) invited Tim Webb - senior professor at the Royal College of Art, animation director and educator - to lead an International Expert Studio on the Pre‑production of Animated Short Films. The 6‑week immersive workshop concluded successfully. Centered on animated documentary as a distinctive creative form, the studio guided students through intensive teaching and hands‑on creation, and successfully incubated 10 outstanding student animation projects, injecting international creative vitality into the “JAI Produced” brand.

 

Group photo

       With his extensive experience in animation creation and education, Tim Webb formed a professional mentoring team with faculty from the School of Animation Art and led 30 animation students in an in-depth creative exploration. He used classic works from around the world to deliver comprehensive and in-depth guidance on core story construction, precise emotional expression, cinematic language, and sound‑image design, greatly broadening students’ international vision and stimulating diverse creative thinking.

Workshop's site

       Focused on creative incubation and practical ability development, the mentoring team provided full‑process supervision. From 30 original student ideas, 10 high-quality concepts were selected. Students were divided into 10 groups to focus on pre‑production work including script refinement, character design, and storyboard planning. Within a limited time, all teams collaborated efficiently and pursued excellence, finally presenting their creative achievements in the form of animatics, demonstrating solid professional skills and strong creative passion.

Final presentation

       At the final presentation, the 10 groups showcased works including Moonflower, The Bottle, and Inside and Outside the Window. Through vivid animatics, they presented coherent narratives with distinct creative personalities and diverse artistic styles.

       The success of this international expert studio marks an important practice for JAI in deepening global academic exchanges and innovating its talent development model. Moving forward, the university will continue to focus on cultivating high‑end creative talents, promote the full animation production of the outstanding pre‑production works from this studio, and integrate Tim Webb’s teaching philosophy and the studio’s successful experience into daily teaching and creation. JAI will further improve its elite incubation system for “JAI Produced” projects.

       JAI will continue to build international education platforms, empower creative growth through diverse cooperation, and help more high‑quality animations go global, continuing the brilliant legacy of “JAI Produced”.

Student Comments:

"The month‑long studio made me realize that animated storytelling does not require grand narratives. Often, the subtlest emotions are enough to touch people’s hearts. We must learn to capture and convey those easily overlooked details and let them shine quietly on the screen." (By Bi Jianliang from Class One of 2023 Animation)

"When I begin a storyboard, I never rush into fancy shot design. Instead, I focus on clarifying my core intention: What exactly do I want to communicate? With this core clearly anchored, the subsequent visual design gains direction, and the whole structure becomes clear. Compared with technical showmanship, precise thematic conception and delicate emotional capture are the real keys to storyboarding." (By Tian Kailing from Class One of 2023 Animation)

"True creation is freedom of thought: the courage to build a world with a new logic and to express emotion in one’s own voice." (By Guo Yu from Class One of 2023 Animation)