Algo Habrán Hecho

“Algo Habrán Hecho por la Historia de Chile” (in English “Something they’ve done”) was the Chilean adaptation of the successful Argentinian counterpart: a documentary television miniseries that narrates the history of Chile, from the Spanish colonisation by Pedro de Valdivia and the beginning of the Arauco War, to the Centennial of Chile in 1910.

Following the success of my work for another TVN project based on a British series of similar connotations called “Grandes Chilenos” (in English “Great Chileans”), FeelsTV called me again to coordinate the animation team and oversee the general art direction of this project for Televisión Nacional de Chile.

Daily Coordination and Art Direction

The series features actor Francisco Melo guided by historian Manuel Vicuña, who narrate the history alternating recordings in the contemporary era. My job was basically to have a short meeting every day with a producer to understand what was the brief, how animations would be placed in each episode, and what were the basic storylines to be animated.

Art direction is an essential stage where the visual style of the entire project is defined, establishing the visual direction, colour palette, and overall aesthetic for the animation.The challenge with historical content is balancing accuracy with the ironic, surrealistic tone the series demanded. We needed animations that could shift from serious historical moments to absurdist comedy within seconds.

Workflow and Resource Management

The client would provide some difficult, high-resolution historical material, but I would then have to figure out how to come in with the rest. This meant constantly sourcing, creating, or adapting visual elements that could maintain historical authenticity whilst supporting the series’ distinctive comedic approach.

I would create a brief script and, depending on the complexity of the animation, a storyboard to provide enough information for two art directors and two animators. Storyboarding is about creating a series of sequential images in a comic book-like strip to illustrate the shot composition, flow, look, and feel of your animated video, and in our case, it also served as the primary communication tool between my vision and the execution team.

Production Scale and Timeline

After six hard months of work, we delivered more than 180 minutes of animation at an almost perfect pace that allowed the production house to complete the episodes simultaneously together with live action footage. The production pipeline is generally broken up into three key stages that include pre-production, production and post-production, and we had to execute all three stages in compressed timeframes for each episode.

The simultaneous production model meant animations couldn’t afford delays. Each piece needed to integrate seamlessly with live action, match the episode’s tone, and meet broadcast quality standards, all whilst maintaining the throughput necessary to feed the editorial team their required assets on schedule.

Collaborative Production Houses

This integrated project involved coordination between FeelsTV, Zumbastico, and TVN, each bringing different expertise to the production. FeelsTV managed overall production, Zumbastico handled specific segments, and TVN provided the broadcast platform and historical research support. My role bridged these entities, ensuring visual consistency across all animated segments regardless of which house was producing the live action.

The series became part of Chile‘s Bicentennial celebrations, adding cultural significance to an already demanding production schedule. We weren’t just making entertaining television; we were contributing to how Chileans understood and engaged with their own history during a major national milestone.

Project Vitals

Project: Algo Habrán Hecho por la Historia de Chile
Client: TVN (Televisión Nacional de Chile)
Production Houses: FeelsTV, Zumbastico
Role: Animation Coordinator, Art Director
Country: Chile
Year: 2010
Animation Delivered: 180+ minutes
Duration: 6 months
Team: 2 art directors, 2 animators
Tools: Adobe Creative Suite