Continuing their quest to conquer projects beyond commissioned client work, the animation team at MAKE in Minneapolis just dropped us the trailer for their latest animated micro-short, a retro-styled action-comedy exploring “the duality of power and the thin line between good and evil.”

Joshua Schneider, animation director at MAKE: “House on the Outlands seeks to marry elements of cosmic horror/weird fiction with the playful nature of classic Saturday morning cartoons from the 80s and 90s. We aimed to make the show purely about fun and never take itself too seriously.
 

“Given the inherently stylized nature of the project, communicating to fellow artists when to embrace wild abstraction and when to maintain coherence proved challenging.”

 
“This is our fourth adventure series tailored to fit our 60-second format (micro-short), and continues to push the boundaries of our storytelling abilities. Every shot is carefully composed. There’s little time for extended reactions or transitional sequences, so we had to be clever in staging each situation to maximize impact.

“Given the inherently stylized nature of the project, communicating to fellow artists when to embrace wild abstraction and when to maintain coherence proved challenging. While guidelines were established to ensure consistency, we also embraced a degree of creative freedom.”
 
 

 
Production: MAKE
Creative Director: Danny Robashkin
Animation Director: Josh Schneider
Animator: Adam Musa Othman, Emily Cabrera, Emily Park, Josh Schneider, Menghan Wang, Rayna Buxton
Background Artist: Adam Musa Othman, Jacklyn Kim, Josh Schneider, Jun Liu, Kotta Katsuda, Menghan Wang, Rayna Buxton
Compositor: Alec Mueller, Josh Schneider, Paola Velez Miranda
Writer: Natalia Poteryakhin, Josh Schneider
Executive Producer: Matthew Notti, Oren Robashkin

Animation Partner: Demente
Executive Producers: Carlos Gaxiola, Angel Ibarra
Head of Production: Majo Calderon
Production Manager: Sandra Reyes Valle
Background Supervisor: Zartosht Soltani
Background Artist: Addi Rosales, Amaranta Huequelef, Belén Pazmiño, Citlalic Lizarraga Rodriguez, Crosby Guerrero, David Montesinos, Misael Mendez
Animation Supervisor: Mark Pecoraro
Animator: André Quintero, Andrés Toscano Ávila, Angelica Navarro Macias, Daniel Saldaña, Eduardo Perez Ambriz, Luc Rouby Germain Rodríguez, Mafer Ramírez Castellanos, Maly Díaz Domínguez, Paulina Padilla, Pedro Eduardo Yañez, Scarlett Rodríguez Garduño, Salvado Sánchez Del Real, Sandra Delgado León
Compositing Supervisor: Diana K. Samayoa Ortega
Compositor: María Fernanda Ponce González, Miguel Salazar Sedano, Santiago Tamayo Rodriguez
IT: Victor Sosa Estrada, Oscar Ibarra

Music/Sound Design: Steve Horner