Winx fairies get 3-D makeover
(ANSA) - Salerno, July 22 - The six teenage fairies that have won the hearts of girls around the globe made their first brief appearance in 3D Wednesday night ahead of a feature film scheduled for release this autumn. Audiences attending the Giffoni Film Festival in southern Italy were treated to a 20-minute preview of a second movie starring the wildly popular Winx Club fairies.
Based on an animated TV series created by cartoonist Iginio Straffi, the feature film will be Italy's first ever using the 3D technology that helped make Avatar into the highest-grossing movie worldwide.
"It would have been easy for the Winx's second adventure to create a story and put together a movie using the same techniques we used for the first film," explained Straffi.
"However, I deliberately set out to move beyond this, which is why the second movie uses stereoscopic 3D.
"As a result, we have created the first Italian three-dimensional animation, providing the public with the chance to experience the film's adventures with greater intensity, thanks to the depth of levels offered by the new technology". The 3D element brings the Winx Club in line with all the latest US big-budget animations, such as Up, Shrek Forever After and Toy Story 3.
But Straffi is confident that even without the trendy technology, the storyline will appeal to adults and kids alike.
"Although our main audience is a young one, family members will also see the movie, so we tried to draw on multiple sources," he explained.
One such as was Romeo and Juliet, said Straffi, revealing that the fairy Bloom and her boyfriend Sky struggle to deal with family opposition to their union.
"Although obviously we revisited the theme in a much lighter, brighter way, with none of the tragic Shakespearean elements," he added.
"I also drew on other sources such as Greek mythology and medieval legends, where we find divinities and heroes that lose their powers as punishment or are subjected to tests, as happens with our fairies".
Straffi said he hoped younger viewers in particular would be inspired by the underlying message of the movie, which played a key role in propelling the plot forward. "Just as in real life, the film dishes out some unexpected twists and coups, which may result in things turning out differently than people expect," he said.
"Rather than inviting kids to escape from reality, I hope it teaches them to discover the strength within themselves to deal with difficult and unexpected situations". The Winx Club, whose target market is girls aged five to twelve, is a group of fairies who study magic at a school in the world of Alfea. They dress like hip teenagers, tussle with adolescent-type problems and frequently save the world from the powers of evil. The latest outing starts with the intrepid fairies battling their arch enemies, The Trix, three teenage witch sisters who create mayhem during the new school year opening party.
But as the movie develops, the fairies find themselves facing a much darker threat in the shape of three older witches bent on breaking the balance between positive and negative magic.
The Winx Club, which started life as a cartoon on Italian kids TV in 2004, generates business for the Rainbow production company all over the world. Winx fairy dolls are the third most popular dolls globally and Winx merchandise such as books, bags and toys generate global turnover of over a billion euros a year.
The first feature film, Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, was released in 2008, while the TV cartoon has enjoyed four seasons so far.
The Winx Club's second movie outing, called La Magica Avventura (The Magical Adventure) has been scheduled for release in Italy on October 29 although no international release dates have been announced so far.
Based on an animated TV series created by cartoonist Iginio Straffi, the feature film will be Italy's first ever using the 3D technology that helped make Avatar into the highest-grossing movie worldwide.
"It would have been easy for the Winx's second adventure to create a story and put together a movie using the same techniques we used for the first film," explained Straffi.
"However, I deliberately set out to move beyond this, which is why the second movie uses stereoscopic 3D.
"As a result, we have created the first Italian three-dimensional animation, providing the public with the chance to experience the film's adventures with greater intensity, thanks to the depth of levels offered by the new technology". The 3D element brings the Winx Club in line with all the latest US big-budget animations, such as Up, Shrek Forever After and Toy Story 3.
But Straffi is confident that even without the trendy technology, the storyline will appeal to adults and kids alike.
"Although our main audience is a young one, family members will also see the movie, so we tried to draw on multiple sources," he explained.
One such as was Romeo and Juliet, said Straffi, revealing that the fairy Bloom and her boyfriend Sky struggle to deal with family opposition to their union.
"Although obviously we revisited the theme in a much lighter, brighter way, with none of the tragic Shakespearean elements," he added.
"I also drew on other sources such as Greek mythology and medieval legends, where we find divinities and heroes that lose their powers as punishment or are subjected to tests, as happens with our fairies".
Straffi said he hoped younger viewers in particular would be inspired by the underlying message of the movie, which played a key role in propelling the plot forward. "Just as in real life, the film dishes out some unexpected twists and coups, which may result in things turning out differently than people expect," he said.
"Rather than inviting kids to escape from reality, I hope it teaches them to discover the strength within themselves to deal with difficult and unexpected situations". The Winx Club, whose target market is girls aged five to twelve, is a group of fairies who study magic at a school in the world of Alfea. They dress like hip teenagers, tussle with adolescent-type problems and frequently save the world from the powers of evil. The latest outing starts with the intrepid fairies battling their arch enemies, The Trix, three teenage witch sisters who create mayhem during the new school year opening party.
But as the movie develops, the fairies find themselves facing a much darker threat in the shape of three older witches bent on breaking the balance between positive and negative magic.
The Winx Club, which started life as a cartoon on Italian kids TV in 2004, generates business for the Rainbow production company all over the world. Winx fairy dolls are the third most popular dolls globally and Winx merchandise such as books, bags and toys generate global turnover of over a billion euros a year.
The first feature film, Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, was released in 2008, while the TV cartoon has enjoyed four seasons so far.
The Winx Club's second movie outing, called La Magica Avventura (The Magical Adventure) has been scheduled for release in Italy on October 29 although no international release dates have been announced so far.