Vol. XVI, No. 2 December 2023 205 CHARACTER CREATING PROCESS AND MEANING OF “GWK” FFI 2015 ANIMATION AS PRESERVATION OF BALINESE MYTHOLOGY Abstract: The GWK (Garuda Wisnu Kencana) animation tells the story of the ad- ventures of a magical boy named Garuda in obtaining Tirta Amerta (water of life) belonging to Lord Vishnu to free his mother who is held hostage by a magical grand- mother named Kadru, the animation that can be watched at GWK Bali Cultural Park won the Citra trophy in the animation category in 2015. The purpose of this research is to explain: 1. The process of GWK character creation, 2. The meaning of the animated character characterized by Balinese mythology. The results showed that the process of creating Garuda Wisnu Kencana animation consisted of several stages which were quite a long process, starting from pre-production, production to post-production and screening until now as in 2023 at GWK cultural park, Uluwatu, Bali. The type of work is 3D animation with a duration of 34 minutes, telling the story of the little Garuda adventure in getting tirta amerta (water of life) belonging to Lord Vishnu to free his mother from the hostage taken by the witch Kadru. The meaning that can be explained from this creation is the meaning of creativity, the meaning of preservation, the mean- ing of national identity. The finding of this research is that the production process of Garuda Wisnu Kencana animation consists of several stages that are quite long, start- ing from pre-production. The conclusion of this research is that the process of creating GWK requires collaborative work with high standards and can be a promotion and preservation of Balinese culture. Keywords: best animation; ffi; 2015; gwk; character; balinese; mythology. Received November. 28, 2023; Revised December. 15, 2023, Accepted December. 22, 2023. Ehwan Kurniawan Ehwan Kurniawan is a lecturer at The Faculty of Visual Fine Art and Design Jakarta Institute of the Art (IKJ) Cikini, Jakarta. e-mail: ehwankurniawan@ikj.ac.id Introduction GWK, according to the director, Chan- dra Endroputro at the discussion of the nominees and winners of the Citra Tro- phy, Indonesia Film Festival (FFI) in the animation category at Galeri Kaya, Grand Indonesia, West Mall, 8th floor, Jalan MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, Thursday, December 17, 2015, 18.30-21.30, is an an- imated film adapted from the Hindu my- thology of the story of Garuda Wisnu Ken- cana. It is an animated film that is part of a tourist attraction shown at the Garuda Wishnu Kencana Cultural Park complex, in Uluwatu, Bali. The production process of GWK “Little Garuda Adventure” is 34 minutes long, a 2015 production of Alam Sutera, the property company that man- ages the GWK cultural Parks complex. The animation was done by several different studios, starting from story- boards done by Kampoong Monster in Jakarta and Bandung, then the anima- tion production by Infinite Frame Work Ultimart: Visual Communication Journal Vol 16 No. 2, December 2023 ISSN: 1979 - 0716, e-ISSN 2615-8124 Faculty of Art and Design Universitas Multimedia Nusantara