Wednesday Studio directing duo Iria López and Daniela Negrín Ochoa present Yin & Yang – a symbiotic ode to the two artists’ friendship and creative collaboration. The morphing minute and a half animated short is a rich visual poem that highlights their unique synergy – forged over an 11 year partnership – across a journey of dreamy, harmonic movements and visuals emulated through the relationship between a bird and a fish. Underpinning the encapsulating connection López and Negrín have found in their work together is the fittingly titled song Lush, composed by their long-term friend and music artist Northern Telekom. Beautifully put by the directors, “The film is a reminder that balance doesn’t mean sameness, it means being different in ways that make each other stronger.” DN invited López and Negrín to take us behind the scenes of their joyful project, sharing the fruitful journey the pair of artists have taken together over the years.
Yin & Yang is 92 seconds of captivating, high energy visuals. How did this stunning journey of images come into fruition?
We created this film to celebrate 11 years of working side by side, it is a joyful and abstract “visual love letter” to our creative partnership. Inspired by the theme of yin and yang, we set out to explore the idea that one cannot exist without the other; that in working together, we create something neither of us could make alone. The short we developed, plays with the balance of opposites: light and dark, movement and stillness, strength and softness. It’s a celebration of collaboration, duality, and creative connection.
Symbolized by the bird (yang) and the fish (yin), the film reflects how our differences complement each other to form a whole. The film is a reminder that balance doesn’t mean sameness, it means being different in ways that make each other stronger. Once we established the fish and bird characters, we chose imagery to complement these opposites – water/sky, sun/moon, circles/squares. We storyboarded every movement around the song Lush by Northern Telekom, letting the music guide the pacing, tone, and transitions.
It must be a pretty nice feeling to recognise the synergy that you both have. How do your individual styles become unified and in what ways has your work developed alongside one another?
We’ve been working together for quite a while now, and even before officially teaming up, our creative styles were already compatible. So the transition from two independent creatives to a collaborative duo felt natural and easy. Over time, we’ve grown together—each of us influencing the other in meaningful ways. Our individual work has evolved, not just because of the collaboration, but also as a result of growing older and being shaped by the same inspirations and interests. Projects like this are where we really thrive. They’re fun, give us space to experiment, and let us create things we genuinely care about. In this sort of project we tend to work in a fluid, intuitive way—choosing the tasks we’re drawn to and following where the process takes us. Most of the time, we don’t even remember whose idea was what or who did what—and that’s exactly what we love about it. It feels like creating as one, with the strength of two.
In this sort of project we tend to work in a fluid, intuitive way—choosing the tasks we’re drawn to and following where the process takes us.
What tools and techniques did you employ for the film and how long was the creation process?
Everything has been done with Adobe on our computers using our tablets. We wanted to experiment with a look that we never tried before, whilst blending techniques we love; hand drawn animation, vectors for clean up and After Effects motion graphics. We’ve always loved using transitions to flow from scene to scene in a seamless way, and this technique felt ideal to enhance the feeling of flow and harmony. The entire piece was made by only the two of us. This meant that to make it achievable, the film needed to be a balance of shots that we put more time and love into, and shots that we were happy to be quicker with. It’s difficult to know how long it took because we’ve been on and off on it for a little while.
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With Yin & Yang having evolved progressively over time, working to a self-imposed deadline, was it hard to stop and call the film complete?
It wasn’t hard to stop and call it complete—but actually getting it done was a different story! We had to keep putting it on hold to prioritise paid work and important life events, which meant there were long stretches where the project just sat untouched. Every time we came back to it, it took a while to get back into the flow—revisiting files, reconnecting with ideas, and rebuilding momentum. That stop-and-start rhythm definitely made the whole process take longer than we’d originally planned.
We had to keep putting it on hold to prioritise paid work and important life events, which meant there were long stretches where the project just sat untouched.
Traditionally Yin & Yang exist within a monochrome palette but here you deviated from strict black and white by including flashes of colour. What prompted that divergence?
The film was initially created in stark black and white to reflect the traditional Yin & Yang aesthetic but something was missing. Our work is often vibrant, playful, and full of colour. So we went back in and painted bold textured brush strokes onto many of the frames. These moments became a perfect representation of how we bring energy and joy into our work and into each other’s creative lives. It felt true to the concept of Yin & Yang opposites; rough animation over polished animation, colour over black and white, organic vs graphic.
The film is bookended with an eye – we’re welcomed with it and left with it at the end. What world are you inviting viewers to venture into?
It invites you into Wednesday’s dual mind—a journey of contrasts that unfolds from beginning to end, carried by music. It’s like seeing through both of Wednesday’s eyes at once.
For this project, the music came first—and it really shaped everything that followed.
I’m also curious if there are explicit call back Easter eggs nestled within this celebration of your creative partnership which those familiar with your past work might spot.
There’s nothing in this piece that specifically comes from work we’ve done before, except for more broadly speaking, our general love of bold colour, rough texture and graphic shapes. We haven’t previously done straight ahead abstract animation either – the point was to make something different and new, but that still feels like us. All about finding that balance.
Northern Telekom’s Lush accompanies the visuals so well! It’s vibrant and individualistic. How do you feel it influenced your visuals outside of just the timing and motion?
For this project, the music came first—and it really shaped everything that followed. We’ve known Northern Telekom for a while, he’s a friend and someone whose work we really admire. When we heard his track Lush, its dreamy, flowing rhythm immediately stood out as the perfect match for what we had in mind. So we reached out to ask if we could use it, and he kindly gave us the green light.
What’s the crack with any new projects or anything Wednesday Studio has coming up?
We’ve been working on a pilot for a children’s series, also on and off, hopefully one day not too far from now we will be able to release it.
