No post today as I
No post today as I am holed up in bed. Regularly scheduled posting will resume tomorrow.
No post today as I Read More »
February 2011
Thought of the Day: Should the Annie Awards be Scrapped?
The Annie Awards were last night and as seems to have become an annual tradition, the whining and tit for tat that follow have again come to the fore. The nature of this post is thinking on a plane much higher than those noises when it asks:
Should the Annie Awards be eliminated, scrapped, retired, done away with, in their entirety?
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Quote of the Day: Floyd Norman
I’ve come to amass a lot of respect for Floyd Norman Floyd Norman over the last couple of month’s and when you read a quote like this, you know he speaks the truth.
Over the years, Disney has morphed into a massive marketing and distribution company chasing quarterly earnings rather than thrilling audiences. Would Walt be happy with his company today? You already know the answer to that one.
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Weekly Weblink: Joe Murray’s Journal
Via: Wikipedia
We all know who Joe Murray is, right? No?! Humph, I bet you know his TV shows though right? Not really? Aw c’mon, you guys gotta be kidding me. No? Alright, Joe Murray is a guy who’s been in the animation game for at least 20 years and has managed to carve out a grand career for himself by consistently devoting himself to creating great characters and stories.
What shows has he created? How about one third of the original Holy Trinity of cable cartoons, Rocko’s Modern Life. Later on, he developed Camp Lazlo for Cartoon Network. But that’s enough about his past work, this post is all about what he’s doing now!
Joe’s Journal is his personal blog, where he offers plenty of opinions, thoughts, recaps on events and of course, updates on his many projects. He also posts plenty of upbeat, positive quotes that encourage the reader to focus and think about life.
With his current projects, Frog in a Suit and Kaboing TV, Joe is a busy guy, but that doesn’t stop him from updating fairly regularly. His blog also contains lots more information in events and articles that Joe has for sale, many of which he does to raise money for charity.
Joe has also managed to build a very successful and devoted community around his blog that has brought him and his readers many benefits, not least the funding necessary for a Frog in the Suit short film. Joe should be commended for his devotion to interacting with his fans.
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My favourite Piece of Art That I Own
I don’t have a lot of art and I sure wish I had a lot more, but with a small apartment and the school bills to pay, it can be tough to acquire pretty pictures to hang around the place. Thankfully, I purchased this piece before I started school, when I had a bit more moolah in the wallet.
As you can see, it’s clearly Roger Rabbit and it’s also painted by none other than Tara Billinger!!!
There’s a lot to love about this piece, it’s from one of my favourite movies, it’s in Tara’s unmistakable style, Roger is clearly going off his nut and there are some very nice shades of red to boot. Check out Tara’s creation process here.
On top of that, it’s all original. I’m one of those people who appreciate art because it’s nice to look at, not because it’s made by some high-flying artiste and I would much rather appreciate something like this than a run-of-the-mill poster or what have you. So she didn’t create the character, so what? She made this awesome picture from the film that inspired her and gives me something nice to talk about when we have guests over.
What I like best about it though, is the satisfaction I get from knowing that by buying it, I supported an artistic organization and artist. There was no auction house, no art dealer, just Tara and I (although the comic book shop in Philly along with The Autumn Society helped put together the show that the piece was in). Just knowing that I’m helping individual artists makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
There are literally tons of similar art being made out there right now, so before you consider dropping hundreds of dollars (or more) on that next “limited edition cel”, perhaps consider buying some real, original art instead.
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The End of Animation in Britain?
Yesterday, I read with dismay on Cartoon Brew that the British government, with its current Tory-led cabinet, has decided not to renew the grants and other funding it had made available to Animate Projects, a group who sponsored various animation projects at all levels of the spectrum.
A study put out by the Royal Television Society last year highlighted that Britain has become increasingly incapable of competing with other countries on just cost alone! The main issue they cite is that said other countries (namely Ireland) have benefitted greatly from government tax breaks that have caused productions that would have been made in Britain move elsewhere. As an Irishman, you can easily guess on which side of that argument I fall on.
Should governments subsidise an industry? That’s a political hot potato which you won’t find me discussing here, but I will say that for a market as large as Britain (both culturally and commercially) there is little or no excuse for the government not at least encouraging animation as a viable artform. Other European countries do it, we just don’t see the results very often due to cultural differences.
Is there a bright side to all of this? Can there be a bright side at all? Perhaps it is not clear now and the shock of the announcement is still being felt but I think animation in Britain is in need of a rebuilding of sorts. I find it hard to believe that here in the US we get such excellent animated shows as The Simpsons, et al while in Britain there is almost nothing in comparison (correct me if I’m wrong). That country has been putting out top-notch live-action programmes like The Office so there are no excuses when it comes to animated shows of the same quality.
I think we need to see more action on the part of broadcasters (I’m looking at you, Channel 4) to help encourage a change in attitudes to animation that we are starting to see over here in the States, i.e. that it is not just for children. The success of the likes of The Secret of Kells in the US is proof that the cultural and geographical divide is not so great that it cannot be bridged.
Ultimately, the closing of a program that helps people discover and nurture their creative talent will only serve to homogenise the workforce to the detriment of society at large although it almost certainly does not bring the curtain down on the rich and quirky history of British animation. Now is not the time for moaning, it is time to pick ourselves up and carry on.
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Animated TV Idents
Hands up, who knows what an indet is? You’re probably already very familiar with them, you just don’t realise that’s what they’re called. There’s an example below:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4omtlg-rWg]
They are, in fact, the short little segments normally broadcast before the start of a TV show to remind the viewer what station they are watching. A practice that has sadly disappeared over the years here in the US where it has been deemed necessary to ensare the viewer in the next show before the current on has even finished! Thankfully, full idents are still very much alive in Europe and The TV Room has a full collection with videos that can get pretty additive.
Idents can also take the form of identifying the studio or producer of a show or film. Perhaps the most famous in this regard is Luxo Jr. who appears at the beginning and end of every single Pixar film.
It got me thinking though. These extremely short segments almost always feature animation of some sort. OK, so it’s normally not the kind of animation that we’re all used to, with slapstick humour and cookie characters, but it’s still animation in some form. There might not be a lot to say about them, but they do have a habit of working their way into the public’s consciousness, which is of course, not surprising seeing as that is what they are meant to do.
There’s not much of a point to this post except that idents have a very specific responsibility in presenting and reminding the viewer of the station’s identity and I think it’s worth pointing out that a lot have historically relied on animation to do the heavy lifting. Why this is so? Who knows, but I’m willing to bet that the ability of animation to defy the ageing process is as good a reason as any.
As a bonus, check out this fully-animated ident for London Weekend Television from the 80s
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6-s-_QuyQY]
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My comment on Stephen M. Levinsons Blog Concerning Artists and The Productions They Work On
This is actually a comment I left over on Stephen’s Blog but it seems like a pretty good opinion piece that’s suitable to post here too.
Wow, that’s a lot of questions there Stephen!
Firstly, if you want to know about some of the basic principles of capitalism, I highly suggest a book on basic economics. The class I took went a long way in helping me understand some of the foundations upon which modern enterprise is built.
One of the principles that I learnt was that of opportunity cost and marginal benefit. Basically what that means is that you are willing to work at the price you work at because the opportunity costs of doing otherwise are too great. That’s not to say that you should keep working at a crappy job, but that if you believe you are under-valued, you will, not may, will look and move elsewhere.
I don’t agree with the pay of the Viacom executives, that’s just my opinion. As an engineer, I absolutely detest inefficiency and waste, so you can imagine how I might feel when I see that Vicom pays it’s execs far more than Disney while having a far lower market capitalisation. Granted, they’re different companies with different make-ups and priorities and the Cartoon Brew post did focus specifically on the numbers in light of animation, which I think skewed things a bit.
Should artists be given fair compensation for their work? Absolutely! However, capitalism is not necessarily based on merit, it’s based on risk. As a businessman, that is something you are already familiar with. Capitalism is founded on the idea that whoever takes the risk gets to enjoy the rewards. In a company or studio’s case, they are the ones putting up the capital for an animation project, and as a result, get to keep the proceeds. In most cases, they do, although it would be foolish to believe that some will not resort to shady tactics in order to keep as much of the earnings as possible.
I think the crux of your argument centres around the idea that animators do not receive adequate compensation for their work. I think they do, in light of the current level of demand and the size of labour supplies. When you look into it though, series creators normally do have rights in regards to their creations. In this regard, I think the internet will be a boon on a larger scale than what is offered by the incumbent networks.
Right now, we are right smack in the middle of a Gutenburg-esque transition in the world. The internet is only another broadcast medium albeit one that allows two-way interaction and right now, it is companies like Next New Networks who are showing the way to a successful business model in the new era. The transition will affect animation too, but the artform’s ability to transcend national boundaries with relative ease will stand to its benefit in the long term.
I firmly believe that artists and animators should have a say in how productions are run but as you posted yourself a while back, Joe Murray gets it dead on in his opinion that too nay artists don’t get the right balance between art and business, and if you’re the manager of a studio, would you want someone with know business knowledge making decisions that could affect your bottom line? I don’t think so.
My advice to you is to read (if you have not already done so) “Your Career in Animation: How to Survive and Thrive” by David B. Levy. It give a superb overview of the animation industry and offers plenty of insight into the rewards and pitfalls of a career in the industry.
By the sounds of things though, you should do just fine 🙂
All the best,
Charles