Led by Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe, the foundations of mediation will be explored with playful animation and soothing music; new series premieres globally on January 1.
Netflix wants its subscribers to take a breath, reset, and start fresh in the new year. To put people on the right path for a better 2021, the streamer has teamed up with the go-to mediation platform, Headspace, on three original series, coming next year.
Kicking off the new year, the series Headspace Guide to Meditation will premiere globally on January 1. A second series, Headspace Guide to Sleep, as well as and An Interactive Experience, will follow later in the year.
Chill with the trailer:
The series was animated by four different animation studios, each responsible for animating four episodes. The show’s producers carefully picked studios that could provide their own unique look to their content. Augenblick Studios, one of the studios chosen, welcomed the opportunity to produce abstract/experimental animation for mainstream media. Known for their edgy, surreal, and highly stylized animation, the studio was tasked with visualizing and creating four episodes that were interpretive of the meditation while being reflective of the studio’s style.
“It was so exciting to have the opportunity to visualize these abstract concepts about mediation, mindfulness, and sleep with animation,” shared Augenblick Studios founder Aaron Augenblick. “We approached each episode as if it were a moving painting, with a meditative style and pacing. The content always led our direction, and carefully crafting the animation to be meditative and transportive for the viewer “
The project was started in Fall 2020, and it was Augenblick Studios’ first project to be produced completely in quarantine. To handle the production, the studio quickly transformed itself to support a fully remote pipeline. “My biggest concern was can we retain the creativity, quality, and friendly atmosphere that we have established at our Brooklyn studio,” Augenblick shared. “It was a lot of hard work, but we achieved it. I'm very proud of the beautiful and unified animation our artists created while working separately in quarantine.”
Headspace Guide to Meditation explores the foundation of meditation and how it can help us be more present and less distracted in our daily lives. Each episode focuses on a different benefit - from managing stress to embracing gratitude - and begins by teaching the approach and techniques, then concludes with a guided meditation.
Headspace co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe leads every step of the way as he narrates the eight 20-minute episodes, his voice paired with playful animation and soothing music. The series will also be subtitled and dubbed in 30 languages.
Whether you are curious to learn about mindfulness for the first time or looking to deepen your practice, Headspace Guide to Meditation hopes to help viewers start the new year refreshed.
Source: Netflix
