From the very beginning of the production, we knew that building a strong team would be essential to bringing The Alchemy of a Storm to life. That process started early on, with establishing a solid production structure built around three main pillars: Creative Direction, Director’s Support, and Recruitment & Outreach.

These areas were divided between the project’s three main Producers, @Rebekah Hartwig, @Fernanda Nevitiv da Costa, and @Ines Coimbra, each taking ownership of a different part of the production. While every pillar comes with its own responsibilities and challenges, the production team remains closely connected every single day, assuring a shared creative vision for the show. This structure allowed the team to collaborate more efficiently and ensured that every aspect of the project received the focus and attention it needed throughout production.

Here’s a closer look at how that process unfolded throughout the pre-production of The Alchemy of a Storm.

Rebekah - Creative Producer

During the pre-production phase of The Alchemy of a Storm, my primary focus was on story development, coordinating the delivery of rigs and assets to @Goodbye Kansas (TAOS’ motion capture partner) and establishing clear systems of communication and production tracking.

The story was initially conceived before the formation of the production team, so a priority of mine was to make sure everyone unified around a shared vision. The biggest hurdle was incorporating our layout team’s previsualization into a cohesive edit. Building the edit was crucial, because it allows the team to see the shots and assets in context, helping us quickly identify what was and wasn’t working. The edit also was a keystone for our motion capture shoot, because it helped determine what actions and dialogue to capture. Once we had the first pass, we went straight into review and iteration, breaking the edit down and sculpting it into something better. This process included candid reactions during review calls, late-night discussions about character dialogue and getting input from outside perspectives. Thanks to people’s honesty and collaboration, our direction and writing teams were able resolve many issues and strengthen the narrative. Of course, refinement and polish will continue throughout production, but establishing the foundation was a central focus of pre-production.

Another significant component of pre-production was coordinating our delivery to Goodbye Kansas. Our team assembled character rigs, prop rigs and environments to support their motion capture stage setup ahead of the shoot. This effort required collaboration not only among the producers, but also the supervisors, who helped navigate the more detailed technical requirements of the rigs and environments. Because this delivery ran in parallel with story development, flexibility was needed. As the edit evolved, certain story elements were cut, which meant some assets our team already built were no longer needed. In spite of these changes, the previs and asset teams were exceptional and adapted quickly. With motion capture now complete, the artists have moved into layout and are starting to build our final assets for the project!

During pre-production, a considerable amount of our effort went into developing strong communication systems such as documentation, calendars, tracking tools, meetings and onboarding processes. Given that our team is globally distributed and includes both senior and junior artists, we prioritized clear, accessible written communication. Since not everyone is able to meet synchronously nor share the same level of knowledge and experience with our pipeline, having well-documented information was essential. My goal is to ensure that the team remains aligned on our objectives, timeline and priorities. This is an area of production I continue to actively refine and improve!

Key Insight: Be open to critique and feedback. Humility and being servant-hearted is often an overlooked quality in a team leader, but it can make all the difference!

Fernanda - Project Producer

I was one of the first people to join the project, and from the beginning I felt excited by the opportunity to work alongside the THU community and grateful for the trust placed in me to help shape something so ambitious.

One of the most rewarding parts of production is seeing how naturally things start to move when you bring together the right people. There is something almost magical about creating an environment where talented artists and creators feel supported enough to collaborate openly, share ideas, and build momentum together.

This project also came with a unique challenge: every person joining the team is at a different stage in their career and driven by different motivations. Part of my role has been understanding what inspires each individual, while creating space for them to learn, contribute, and shine in their own way. The goal of this project is to create a final product that truly reflects what a community can achieve together, and it is important that everyone feels their contribution helped bring the project to a stronger place. We believe productions become stronger when people feel that their voice and growth matter as much as the final result.

Since the project brings together people from different countries, disciplines, and levels of experience, one of the biggest challenges was creating a workflow that felt both organized and welcoming. Production became a balance between structure and flexibility: building communication systems, onboarding new collaborators, tracking progress, and making sure people always understood both the creative vision and how their work connected to it. Watching the team slowly find its rhythm together has been one of the most fulfilling parts of the experience.

Another layer of complexity - and also one of the most rewarding aspects of the project - has been the open approach of sharing the development process in real time with a worldwide community. Building a production while simultaneously making the process accessible to others requires an extra level of organization, communication, and adaptability. Seeing more people engage, learn from the process, and eventually become part of the project has made that challenge incredibly meaningful.

Key Insight: Strong production is not only about organization and schedules, it is about creating an environment where people feel supported, connected to the vision, and empowered to contribute their best work.

Inês - Recruitment & Community Producer

Taking on the opportunity to produce another THU project was an easy decision for me. Having already worked with @Delcio Gomes and the THU Team before, I understood all too well from the very beginning, the challenges that would come with producing a second short.

While @Everlasting taught me what it means to carry the weight of a large-scale team, The Alchemy of a Storm made me completely change the way I approached my production work. In Everlasting, I was the main producer of a team of more than 80 artists, which was an intense and incredibly rewarding experience at the same time. On TAOS however, I have the chance to share that responsibility with Fernanda and Rebekah, which has changed everything. Not only did it create a stronger support system within production, but it also allowed us to learn, adapt, and problem-solve much faster as a team. Dividing the workload meant each of us could actually focus more deeply on specific areas of the production.

In my case, I have been focusing my time mainly on recruitment, which quickly became one of the most rewarding aspects of the project for me. Most of my time has been spent networking and having 1-1 conversations with very talented artists from around the globe, and learning about their work, their goals, and how they would like to contribute towards TAOS. While recruitment at this scale can feel overwhelming due to the big volume of applications, I strongly believe it’s important to personally connect with everyone who shows genuine interest in joining this project and try to include everyone that has applied. I also feel very blessed that some of those connections have now grown far beyond the work on the project, turning them into close colleagues and friends.

Alongside recruitment, I also oversee the THU platform and its content on the TAOS space. Building the project’s dedicated space has become a major part of the film’s marketing and outreach strategy, so it’s an essential part of this huge machine we are trying to build together. It’s designed not only as a place to share information about the short, but also as a living archive of the project itself, highlighting the artists behind it, documenting key production milestones, and publishing in-depth articles like this one. As the team continues to grow and the scope of the project expands, building and maintaining the platform space has become increasingly more complex, requiring constant coordination between the THU team, production, marketing and the artists, through many meetings and constant ongoing communication, to put together all the content.

I’m incredibly proud of what this team has accomplished so far and of how much bigger and bolder this production has become. More than anything, The Alchemy of a Storm reflects the strength of the global artistic community, and how artists from completely different backgrounds and skillsets can come together to create something far greater than themselves.

Key Insight: Sharing responsibilities across the team is essential on a project of this scale, to allow artists to focus more effectively, collaborate more efficiently, and maintain a sustainable production pipeline in the long run.