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Case Study · Original IP · Animated Film

THE
CALLING

AI ended scarcity. Milo Reyes has all the time in the world and nothing worth doing with it. An original animated film — written, designed, animated, and cut in house.

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Project
Original Animated FilmPrompt Delivery original IP
Recognition
Official SelectionFuture Vision XPRIZE · chosen from 2,500+ submissions
Delivered
Trailer · Spot · Music Video3:15 · 0:30 · 1:00
Milestone
Future Vision XPRIZEOfficial Selection · public vote open
Credits ◆ Directed & cut by Raffi Asdourian ◆ Story by Jesse Catlin ◆ Original song “Leave It Broken”
The Vision

The problem left over
when every problem is solved.

In Halcyon12 there are no jobs, no money, and no limit on anyone's time. Milo Reyes has more of it than he can spend and nothing he wants to spend it on. He works through 47 callings — the city's name for the halls that match a person to a purpose — and none of them hold. After the forty-seventh he finds a decommissioned first-generation robot in an alley and starts fixing it.

The Approach

One world,
three finished cuts.

Design the cast and the city once, and every piece after that starts from an asset library instead of a blank page. The trailer, the commercial, and the music video share the same characters, the same Halcyon12, and the same music, which is why three separate cuts read as one production.

01
Story & World
Halcyon12, the Companions, the Overseer, and The Calling itself were written before a single frame existed. Milo's 47 failed callings set the rhythm of the film and gave every location a reason to be in it.
02
Character & Look
Milo, Marky, and the Companion line were locked as stills first — proportions, palette, and the visible difference between a machine built to comfort you and one built to be repaired.
03
Animation
Locked designs drive the shots. A fixed cast and a fixed city mean a new sequence starts from existing assets, so continuity is a design decision instead of a repair job in the edit.
04
Cut & Music
Raffi cuts the picture. The original song, “Leave It Broken,” was written and produced in house for the film, which is why a music video was on the table at all.

Inside the world: the robot nobody would recommend

Marky is an M1-Mark1, first generation, decommissioned, left in an alley behind a city that has no use for it. The design problem was making a broken machine read as more alive than the polished ones standing next to it.

The Companions are smooth, warm, and finished. Marky has seams, corrosion, and parts that do not match. Milo can only accept a Companion. Marky he can take apart, get wrong, and try again.

The Films

Trailer, spots,
music video.

All built out of the same asset library.

01

Trailer

3:15 · YouTube

The full trailer for the film — the widest range of characters, environments, and camera work in one cut.

Also at youtu.be/85jmaoCri1U
02

Commercial

0:30 · 1080p

A thirty-second spot cut from the same world.

03

Music Video

1:00 · 1080p

Cut to “Leave It Broken,” an original song written and produced in house for the film.

04

In-World Spot

0:30 · 1080p

A commercial from inside the world of the film, cut in the same register as the RC-7 spot from La Cascada Eterna. Sound on, and wait for the end.

05

Voting Promos

3:08

A run of short spots made to bring people to the ballot for the Future Vision XPRIZE.

The Work

Frames from Halcyon12.

Look-development frames from The Calling — the halls of The Calling, the Companions, the sky gardens, and the alley where Milo finds Marky.

A crowded glass-vaulted hall of placement booths under a sign reading Find Your Calling
The Calling · The Halls
A curved sunlit apartment interior looking out over the Halcyon12 skyline
Home · Halcyon12
Four small pastel companion robots standing in a row against a warm backdrop
The Companions
A rusted tool cabinet standing in a narrow alley below the towers of the city
The Alley · Where Marky Is Found
Robotic arms surrounding a wooden boat under restoration in a golden workshop
Repair Work
The same four companion robots rendered in red light against a dark schematic backdrop
The Companions · Under the Overseer
A countertop food replicator assembling plated dishes behind glass
The Replicator
A terraced sky garden with bioluminescent trees above the city at dusk
Sky Garden · Halcyon12

// Look-development frames · not final animation — the finished cuts are above

The Outcome

Chosen from more
than 2,500.

The Calling is an Official Selection of the Future Vision XPRIZE, a $3.5M+ competition for optimistic science fiction backed by Range, XPRIZE, and Google. Five films screen live in Los Angeles on September 25, 2026.

Official Selection
One of 65 films chosen from more than 2,500 submissions. Five of the 65 go on to screen live in Los Angeles on September 25, 2026, judged by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Neal Stephenson.
$100,000 decided by the public
The SPECS Audience Choice Award is $100,000 split by public vote: $50,000 for first, $30,000 for second, $10,000 for third, and $5,000 each for fourth and fifth. Voting closes September 23, 2026.
Proof of the animated pipeline
Three finished films off one cast, one city, and one song — run through the same concept-to-cut process we bring to brand and studio work.
Future Vision XPRIZE · Audience Choice

Voting is open.
The Calling needs yours.

The SPECS Audience Choice Award is $100,000 decided entirely by public vote. Voting closes September 23, 2026.

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