set in winter, in contrast to the eternal summer in which Japan is trapped in the animated series. Anno also considered setting the show in winter; he wanted to recreate battles between Evangelions on snow-covered mountains, regardless the technical difficulty executing this idea would involve. In a post-apocalyptic scenario, with Earth almost destroyed and unlivable, humans would live inside an area protected by a barrier named AT field. The Angels, the main enemies of the original series, would have attacked the area, concentrating their forces on the only bridge connecting it to the rest of the world, devouring human beings. The project was planned for release in mid-1997. The production of "Rebirth", however, was delayed; so much material was produced it was necessary to break it up into two releases. In addition, some staff felt reluctant and harassed by the production schedule, and the release of the second movie with new material was indefinitely postponed. In March 1997 Death and Rebirth was released. The work has two segments; one of sixty minutes and one of twenty-five minutes. The first segment, or "Death", is a montage of animated clips from the first twenty-four episodes of the series and some unreleased sequences. The last segment ("Rebirth") became a preview of the true ending of the series. The segment includes the first twenty minutes of the following installment, ending at the beginning of the confrontation between Eva-02 and the Eva Series. Gainax then announced a second concluding feature film, which would have the same ending told from a new perspective. Direction and development After the series concluded, Anno fell into a difficult psychological state and his friend and anime director Hayao Miyazaki advised him to take a break. The director followed Miyazaki's advice and rested for a few months. Production for the film version of Neon Genesis Evangelion officially began on November 8, 1996. The directing of "Air" was entrusted to Kazuya Tsurumaki, who had worked as an assistant director on the television series. Other Gainax studio staff members, such as Masayuki and Shinji Higuchi, were involved in the process, and they collaborated on storyboards following Tsurumaki's direction. Anno directed "Sincerely Yours", and was assisted in the storyboard phase by Higuchi and Junichi Sato. According to Neon Genesis Evangelion producer Toshimichi Ōtsuki, the staff started working on The End of Evangelion before the series had finished broadcasting, and worked until the last minute