Editing Winx Club (section)

=== Writing and animation ===
The first stage in the production of an episode is developing its script, a process that can last 5–6 months.<ref name="ansa2014">{{cite web|url=http://www.ansa.it/lifestyle/notizie/kids/giochi/2014/07/12/fenomeno-rainbow-passione-e-arte-viaggio-dove-nascono-le-winx_12df0ed0-a450-4143-b941-8d841dfa9cc6.html|title=Fenomeno Rainbow, passione e arte, viaggio dove nascono le Winx|work=[[Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata]]|date=12 July 2014|last=Pierleoni|first=Francesca|language=it|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=28 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228130444/http://www.ansa.it/lifestyle/notizie/kids/giochi/2014/07/12/fenomeno-rainbow-passione-e-arte-viaggio-dove-nascono-le-winx_12df0ed0-a450-4143-b941-8d841dfa9cc6.html|url-status=live}}</ref> When the series began production, the writers were based entirely in Italy. After Viacom became a co-owner of Rainbow in 2011, Rainbow's group of 30 writers began collaborating with teams in both Italy and the United States.<ref name="letidor"/> The international coordination, which has continued through 2019,<ref name="letidor"/> intends to make scenarios depicted in the program multicultural and accessible to viewers from different countries.<ref name="letidor"/> Episodes are written with two stories in mind: a longer narrative arc that lasts for tens of episodes and a subplot that concludes at the end of the 22-minute runtime.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinemaevideo.it/case-historya-tycoon-in-loreto|title=A Tycoon in Loreto|work=Cinema & Video International|date=4 April 2013|last=Di Maira|first=Paolo|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=20 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190320233446/http://www.cinemaevideo.it/case-historya-tycoon-in-loreto|url-status=live}}</ref> This episode structure was modelled on those of teen dramas and American comics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fantasymagazine.it/20614/dieci-anni-di-winx|title=Dieci anni di Winx|work=[[:it:FantasyMagazine|FantasyMagazine]]|last=Lodato|first=Francesco|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=4 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204174857/https://www.fantasymagazine.it/20614/dieci-anni-di-winx|url-status=live}}</ref> Themes written into the series include romance,<ref name="protagoniste"/> the acquisition of maturity upon reaching adulthood,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-133641/secrets-tournage/|title=Anecdotes du film Winx Club|work=[[AlloCiné]]|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=28 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228191851/http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-133641/secrets-tournage/|url-status=live}}</ref> and (in the fifth season) nature conservation.<ref name="iodonna"/>

After the script and character designs have been approved, the screenplay is passed onto a group of storyboard artists. For each 22-minute episode, the artists prepare 450 pages of storyboards<ref name="letidor"/> which are used to assemble an [[animatic]]. At this stage, dialogue and music are added to determine the length of each scene.<ref name="movieplayer">{{cite web|url=https://movieplayer.it/articoli/rainbow-studios-le-winx-ci-aprono-le-porte-del-loro-mondo_12911/|title=Rainbow Studios: le Winx ci aprono le porte del loro mondo|work=[[:it:Movieplayer.it|Movieplayer.it]]|date=15 July 2014|last=Morganti|first=Tiziana|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205074235/https://movieplayer.it/articoli/rainbow-studios-le-winx-ci-aprono-le-porte-del-loro-mondo_12911/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the original series (seasons 1–4), the characters' mouths were animated to match the Italian voice actors' lines; in the revived series, the mouth movements were matched to the English scripts.<ref name="reynoso">{{cite interview|last=Reynoso|first=Alejandra|title=Stars of Nickelodeon Cast of Winx Club Exclusive Interview|date=23 October 2011|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVKkKIvRc5A&t=146 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/uVKkKIvRc5A |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|quote=Season 5, they're original records, so those are the days we come together and they send our voices to Italy and then they animate the show based on our voices.}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Episodes are worked on concurrently because each requires around two years of work to complete.<ref name="letidor"/>

At the beginning of the first season, the production team worked from Rainbow's original headquarters in [[Recanati]].<ref name="ansa2014"/> In 2006, Straffi opened a second studio in [[Rome]] for computer-animated projects.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rbw-cgi.it/en/about-us|title=About Us - Rainbow CGI|work=[[Rainbow S.p.A.]]|access-date=28 February 2019|archive-date=3 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203193342/https://www.rbw-cgi.it/en/about-us/|url-status=live}}</ref> During the fifth and sixth seasons, [[Computer-generated imagery|3D CGI]] sequences were incorporated into the series for the first time, animated at the studio in Rome. According to the Rainbow CGI animators, the animation of the characters' hair in underwater scenes was particularly difficult, and it was animated separately from the characters.<ref name="movieplayer"/>