THE SEED OF JUNA
FORMAT: Animation Feature Film PRODUCTION STAGE: Pilot released. Full Screenplay in progress.
Juna is reborn after being killed by a ruling religious sect on Earth. As she tries to understand what happened to her and why she is in this unknown and frightening place, Juna makes an unexpected encounter.
![The Seed of Juna - The Story Continues - [UE4 TRAILER]](https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/1017462855-95330a69bb1b689bf461609b75a57532b0a4fb171546fdb832d393b7a03ffc15-d_1920x1080)
SYNOPSIS
Juna is reborn after being killed by a ruling religious sect on Earth. As she tries to understand what happened to her and why she is in this unknown and frightening place, Juna makes an unexpected encounter.
A mere 100 years from now, the world is not how we know it anymore, All scientific and technological knowledge has been lost, and the Earth is now overrun by religious fanatics and sects. Juna is a young rebel who was once part of the ruling religious order Three Stars. After her betrayal, she is killed by the high priest of the order, and also her own mentor: Adriel. However, she’s not exactly dead, Juna wakes up in a different part of the universe discovering she is not alone, a group of survivors are in that place too. They soon will discover that Adriel is also reborn and allied with an enigmatic alien creature: The Omkai. Juna’s blood looks like a chemical weapon against the Omkai. And she will have to decide between protecting this new humanity, or to take her personal revenge against her murderer, Adriel.
WHY THE SEED OF JUNA?
Would you sacrifice your beliefs for the survival of a group of humans? How would you build a new society if you have to start from scratch? What make us more humans, the individual resilience or the collective survival?
Juna is forced to be the hero she doesn't want to be. To hold the power of protecting others, while she is not even able to support the human cause. To abandon what she is, and become what people expect from her.
Despite being a science fiction story from a far away future, The Seed of Juna offers an honest and authentic “human” fiction and drama. The suspense and emotions are delivered through a cinematographic approach to camera work, impressionist photography style, and character-driven musical themes. Inspired by the Handmaid’s Tale camera aesthetics, The Seed of Juna will use handheld cameras and closeups to bring out the subtle changes in characters’ mimics. It will push traditional motion capture technology to articulate characters’ emotional state using mainly non-verbal queues. Similar to Roger Deakin’s photography style in Blade Runner, colour and light will be used to bring the viewer on a visual journey through uncanny Anaidea landscapes. The drama of the story will be echoed in the contrasting scenery of bizarrely shaped rocks, glowing vegetation, and three suns each emitting its own range of light. Visual storytelling will be complemented by musical leitmotifs, which will signpost characters and their feelings as they remain continuously on the edge between life and death.
MORE IN-DEPTH
The pilot of The Seed of Juna was made using traditional workflows from the VFX and 3D animation industry. This typically requires a large team, advanced technical resources, software licences and time. For example, rendering a single frame took an average of 45 minutes during pilot production. However, in the past few months, the industry has started to shift towards a new standard of content development: real-time technology.
This new way of animating and producing live action scenes is more iterative, faster, and uses ecosystems free of licencing fees. Moreover, rendering isn’t required anymore because it happens in real-time! In other words, faster, cheaper... and yes, better.
Mandalorian and the latest demos of Unreal Engine 5 are breaking the old paradigms and expose exciting new options not available before.
The Seed of Juna has been possible thanks to the effort and artistry of:
Aloke Sarkar • Alex Álvarez • Alex Fernandez Pons • Arnaud Mavoka-Isana • Iván López • Eva Barchino • Rubén Díaz Hernández • Laura Millar • Jack Brown • Chris Jestico • Fabian Nowak • Eleanor Jackson • Brian Miguel Insua • Miguel Macaya • Jay Roxas • Assumpta Campos • Jay Elbourne • María Mira • Ron O Selmour • Ingrid Gala • Josu Solano • Natasha Maksimenko • Laura Garnier • Dean Michael Gregory • John Koutselinis • Anastasiia Strutinska • Caroline Bailey
And with the support of:
Industrial Light and Magic • Epic Games Unreal Engine 4 • NVIDIA • Houdini SideFX • Noiseworks • Adobe Substance Painter • Atoms Crowds • Blender
THE CREATOR
Álvaro is an independent filmmaker and VFX artist. He grew up in Madrid and developed a passion for animation, videogames and filmmaking from an early age. He officially kicked off his career in 2010 as a 3D generalist. In 2014, Álvaro directed and produced a short animated film SUMER, which swept a number of selections and awards within the festival circuit, including an official selection at the Academy-qualifying Cleveland Film Festival.
As a VFX artist, Álvaro has worked with a number of top facilities, including MPC and ILM, where he developed visual effects for a number of box office successes, such as The Jungle Book, Ready Player One, Avengers, and Pacific Rim. More recently, Álvaro has been leading real-time solutions for DNEG and sharing his knowledge and passion for innovative technologies in filmmaking through a personal educational project. In 2020 with the release of The Seed of Juna pilot, Álvaro founded Mayhem Mirror Studios to continue with the idea of creating original content using new technologies.
In his work Álvaro uses sci-fi genre to create stories, which take the audience on a visually and emotionally captivating journey exploring human relationships with themselves and others.
CURIOSITY ABOUT THE PROJECT?
Good! I'm curious about your curiosity. Let's chat! Drop us a line to alvaro@mayhemmirror.com