September 2013

Studio Ghibli, Disney, and The Range of Their Brands

10 Comments / Analysis /

Both Disney and Studio Ghibli have very strong brands in their respective home markets. Both are famous for their animated feature films. However only one can be said to be more truly representative of the dramatic range that animation is capable of. That entity is Studio Ghibli, who release all their material under one brand. In contrast, Disney uses multiple brands for their releases, restricting the core one for family-friendly content exclusively. Why does this perplexing situation exist?

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Studio Ghibli, Disney, and The Range of Their Brands Read More »

What if Feature Films Mimicked Manga And Released a Part Every Week?

4 Comments / Questions /

Animated features are expensive to make. Could one of the many alternative methods of production out there be to take a leaf out of manga publishers’ book (no pun intended) and release the film a piece at a time?

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What if Feature Films Mimicked Manga And Released a Part Every Week?Read More »

What if Feature Films Mimicked Manga And Released a Part Every Week? Read More »

French Animation on Fire But The Devil is in The Details

1 Comment / Business Models /

An article by Elsa Keslassy over at Variety delves into the growing relationship between the major US animation producers and various French producers and studios. It’s one that’s been growing for a while; pushed along by Illumination Entertainment and their two Despicable Me-shaped smash hits. It all sounds good, but as ever, there are a few caveats to the good news.

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French Animation on Fire But The Devil is in The DetailsRead More »

French Animation on Fire But The Devil is in The Details Read More »

Should Filmmakers Take Vimeo’s $10,000 Offer?

Business Models /

Video hosting service Vimeo is tempting filmmakers fresh from success at this years Toronto International Film Festival with a lucrative-sounding offer. In exchange for $10,000, Vimeo is granted exclusive internet rights to films for 30 days (or until the $10K is paid back, whichever comes first.) It sounds like a great deal, but is it really? And if so, which side is making out?

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Should Filmmakers Take Vimeo’s $10,000 Offer?Read More »

Should Filmmakers Take Vimeo’s $10,000 Offer? Read More »

Copyright is Killing Comedy!

Animation, Cinema /

Copyright plays a large role in legacy entertainment business models and animation is no exception. Thanks to the existence of the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act, very little American animation has made it into the public domain, and with recent rumblings about yet another extension, we’re unlikely to see any new ones entering for the foreseeable future. So we know it’s killing the completed package, but how is it killing the actual animation itself? For that we turn to a joke that was nixed for copyright reasons alone.

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Copyright is Killing Comedy!Read More »

Copyright is Killing Comedy! Read More »

Not One, But Two Open Source Animation Kickstarter’s Launched

8 Comments / Business Models /

A while back, independent animator and open culture advocate Nina Paley pined for an open source, 2-D vector animation program. Now her prayers have been answered; sort of. Tupi is a Kickstarter project whose goal is to create a fully functioning 2-D animation program that is also open source. But that’s not all, there’s also another Kickstarter project that aims to upend the ubiquituous animation GIF.

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Not One, But Two Open Source Animation Kickstarter’s LaunchedRead More »

Not One, But Two Open Source Animation Kickstarter’s Launched Read More »

The Animation Anomaly Podcast Episode 3

2 Comments / Podcast /

The third Animation Anomaly podcast episode. Post-website crash, post-MBA and only on the third attempt! I swear I’m slowly getting the hang of things.

Audio file download

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