You may have seen this on Tumblr recently. If not, Claire Hummel has something to say to the folks at Pixar regarding their upcoming film, Brave. Click to enlarge.
Via: Shoomlah
On The Presence of The Corset in Brave Read More »
Yes, these are entirely real, believe it or not. Media studies professor and author, Rebecca Hains, came across them at her local Home Depot recently. Kinda reminds you of the Disney Princess grapes I stumbled across at the grocery store last year, don’t they? Rebecca’s written a great post about on these seeds which you should all read (as well as the comments).
While her post does a great job of analysing how such merchandise is bad for kids and parents, I can’t help but conclude that it is bad for the Disney company also. How is that, you say? Surely they are simply getting a cut and/or fee from the licensing rights and nothing more. Why should they care about it any further than that?
Well, because it’s a sign that they’re failing to care for their characters. The Disney Princess brand is a faux collection of said characters who supposedly represent the best in female traits. Now you could argue about that until the cows come home, but what’s more important is that each of the princesses is only a good fit for her particular context. In other words, the film they appear in.
The Disney Princess brand takes that context completely away, and instead mashes the characters together in a manner that attempts to blend them all into a singular idea of what good female characters should be like; read: princesses. This would be OK if it was for a once-off thing or a singular celebration of the characters, but branding them in such a manner (and licensing them to everyone under the sun) only serves to devalue the characters themselves, and worse, the films they originally appeared in.
The original films are masterpieces, they evoke they very best in art and character. These seeds and the grapes which precede them do not. They are a cheap attempt to imbue otherwise unexciting products with some sort of luster, and while even the humblest of grape can make the finest wine, a grape is still a grape, no matter which character is on the packaging or how superb the film she appeared in is.
Unfortunately, it would appear that the brand is making big bucks for Disney and shows no sign of abating.
Rebecca Hains Discovers Disney Princess…Flowers??? Read More »
Yes! Start your very own animation studio is 6, yes, 6 easy peasy simple steps! Soon you’ll be on your way to Walt Disney-esque fame and fortune, or John Textor-like infamy and ridicule (if you prefer). Why have a boring office job, when you can be making cartoons! Funny, hilarious, maybe even serious ones! Your adoring public is awaiting! Don’t delay! Start today!
OK, enough of that nonsense and onto more serious things. Yup, animation is certainly booming. Everyone and their Mum seems to be getting into the business; either starting a studio or setting out their stall over on YouTube. So it should come as no surprise whatsoever to see that borderline spam site eHow (no, I won’t link, even Google will only help you begrudgingly) has a nice [snicker] guide to setting up your animation studio in 6 steps. Let’s deconstruct it.
Here’s the pitch:
Animation services are in high demand right now. Not only do film makers use animation services to create animated movies, but they also use them for special effects. Computer and video game manufacturers also utilize animation services to enhance their products.
Totally true, right? That’s why the industry as a whole has been expanding over the last 15 years. Then we get to the hook:
With such a high demand for animation this is an industry that is in desperate need of additional service providers, because of this you can turn your artistic abilities into a six or seven figure business.
That’s right, you too can build a $10 million business in one of the most competitive industries in the world.
From here, we go into the actual 6 steps. Step 1:
Find a niche for your animation business. You can focus on animation for commercials, animation for computer games, animation for video games, CGI animation for special effects or you can focus on producing animated shorts or features. The focus that you select will impact which supplies and equipment you use for your new animation business.
Hmmm, that’s a wee bit vague, but then again the industry is quite broad. Let’s see what step 2 says:
Buy equipment. You will need a quality computer system with extra hard drive space to store your animation, digital cameras, lighting equipment, animation paper, cellulose, paint, pencils, general art supplies, drafting tables, light tables, sound equipment and editing equipment. You will also need to buy enough licenses for your animation software to facilitate the size of your animation staff. Some animation software products that can be used include Toon Boom and Xara 3D.
A.K.A. Buy some stuff! Computers! Digital! 3-D!!!
Hire and train your staff. This is a step you can skip if you will be starting out as the only employee in your company. However, when you grow to hire a staff, you will need to make sure that each individual understands the code of ethics associated with your business. You will also need to make sure each is trained in the animation software the business uses. Fortunately, many animation software companies offer user training programs for employees to take advantage of.
Yeah, you probably should train yourself first, and you’ll probably want to hire trained staff so, y’know, they have a clue about what they’re doing. Then again, you could always hire interns…
Develop a demo for attracting new clients. This demo needs to demonstrate your full range of animation services. Get the demo down to under three minutes long, while still keeping the images crisp, entertaining and cohesive.
Soooooo, spend money in the hope of acquiring business. Hmmm, surely you would start off small and build a reputation through hard work and excellent customer service and content, no? No? You’d rather blow all your seed capital on a demo that won’t earn you any experience points? Okie dokie then.
Acquire licensure and insurance. You will need professional liability insurance, commercial property insurance, a business license and a copyright for all intellectual property.
Very important these, especially the copyright, which you must acquire despite being granted it automatically. Also don’t forget to register and trademark the shit out of any names, logos, mascots, t-shirts and/or answering machine messages so you can sue the crap out of some poor sod and be rightfully compensated.
Launch your animation company by pitching your services to a target market. For example, set up a website to promote your services, purchase television and radio advertisements, or set up meetings with computer, video game and movie production studios to pitch your services. You may also benefit from hiring an agent to promote your services for a ten percent fee.
I love this last one. Basically it pulls the old “build it and they will come” schtick, which we all know works out well for anyone who’s tried it. Yup, nowhere does it talk about capital; where to get it, how to raise it and how to put it to work. In other words, the green stuff that enables you to do all the above.
The bottom line and reason for this post? The ad at the top gives a clue; people buy this kind of scammy advice! They buy it all the time! They see the dollar signs and the promise of a quick buck, and they get in there and have a good go at screwing up the industry for the rest of the folks busting their backs to make a living, or spend all their free time hustling to get new work.
It doesn’t take a genius to see the news reports of Pixar and Dreamworks’ mutli-million dollar grosses to convince greedy folks that yes, there is money in animation.
Who ultimately gets hurt (and yes, people do get hurt), it’s the actual animators and artists these clowns hire (or not) and either don’t pay them, or promise “exposure”. Let this be a warning: know thy enemy, he is the person who read those steps and attempts to hire you.
Start Your Animation Studio In 6 Easy Steps! Read More »
Admittedly I haven’t read much on the Nine Old Men. That’s partly the result of reading other things and simply not having the time to devote more time to reading things. However these past few months, I’ve been plowing through the 11th volume of Didier Ghez’s excellent tome, Walt’s People, and through many of the various interviews, I’ve acquired a new level of respect for the esteemed group. One in particular stands out though, and that is Ward Kimball.
Amid Amidi is about to publish an extensive biography on the legendary animator and here is a few reasons why I’m anticipating its release.
5 Reasons To Anticipate Amid Amidi’s Biography of Ward Kimball Read More »
Naughty animated commercials are nothing new, but they were supposed to be all in the past, right? No place for such smuttiness in the enlightened age…or so you thought!
Unabashed sex or just some animators stretching their arms? Either way, this animated commercial for British insurance website Confused.com manages to fit more bouncing boobs and a not-so-discreet wink than any that have gone before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nAvUKPMExc
A British Commercial With More Bouncing Boobs Than Anime Read More »
Faith Erin Hicks is an über-talented cartoonist whose Superhero Girl comic is one of my regular reads. So it was rather nice to hear that she’d drawn a comic strip concerning the new Nickelodeon show, The Legend of Korra.
Faith does the usual great job in breaking down the background to the show in Avatar: The Last Airbender and detailing what makes both shows so great (Hint: it’s the characters). She also finds time to subtly dig at the notions that have kept animated shows like Korra off the air for such a long time.
So enjoy Faith’s comic (via Tor. com) and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below 🙂 (click to enlarge)
Faith Erin Hicks’ Korra Comic Read More »
This was on the front page of Vimeo this morning, and it’s not hard to see why, even though it’s from 2010. Watch and be amazed.
http://vimeo.com/16245334
Very Cool: Love & Theft By Andreas Hykade Read More »
Yoinked from Engadget
Dreamworks has been all over the media in the last couple of days as a result of their announcement that they have joined Walmart’s new VUDU Disc-To-Digital service. The gist of this is that if you own a DVD or Blu-Ray disc, you can bring it in to Walmart, and, for the low low fee of $2 American, they will convert it into a digital copy to be stored “in the cloud”.
So beyond the hilarity of paying someone $2/disc to rip your movies for you, there’s also the fact that the content itself will be accessible via the Ultraviolet service. If you haven’t used it, you are not alone, but it’s basically Hollywood’s attempt to stop file-sharing by giving people the ability to watch their movies on devices other than a TV [gasp].
So why would Dreamworks agree to be part of something that is quite frankly much inferior to your local Pirate Bay? They aren’t going to gain any new customers; the service is only for those who already own the DVD, and it’s not really applicable to new content either, as those discs already come with an Ultraviolet version included.
My guess is that Dreamworks simply sees it as a zero-sum opportunity where they don’t stand to gain or lose anything significant but may well get a cut or fee from Walmart for participating in return for putting out a press release stating as much. In any case, they can at least extract a bit more value from the typical Walmart customer and curry favour with the old boys in Hollywood.
As far as their overall digital strategy seems to be going, this seems to be more of a sideshow to the main event. If anything, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s comments seem particularly bland:
We are thrilled to make DreamWorks Animation’s current library of films available as part of [Walmart’s] disc-to-digital service, which we view as a positive step forward for the industry and for consumers.
So let’s give Jeffrey a golf clap for the effort and lip-service involved in this particular venture and offer continued quiet encouragement in everything else the studio is doing to move to digital.
Dreamworks Does Disc-To-Digital [sigh] Read More »
As Cartoon Brew has pointed out, we are seeing a raft of new YouTube channels devoted to animation being launched or announced in recent months. However the internet is a fast-moving and unforgiving place. New channels can have a tough time gaining an audience and keeping it. So with that in mind, which YouTube channel will succeed?
First though, it’s important to note that there are two different kinds of channels; namely those that produce their own content, and those that acquire/request content from outside or independent sources.
The ones mentioned in the Brew article are mostly the latter. In other words, the channel runners solicit others to create the content for them to “broadcast”. The line of thinking seems to be that the runners can cherry-pick the best content and hence ensure an acceptable level of quality.
What is interesting though, it that it is the former kind of channel, the one where all the content is produced by the channel owner, that have garnered the most views. It is, of course, a lot harder to become successful with just your own content. However, independent animators (suck as PES) have carved out quite a large audience for themselves from just their own, personal, account.
All in all, it’s a balance between risk and reward and whether you are a creator or not.
So which one will survive?
Before I say, just keep in mind that the internet video landscape is much like the wild west, with many rules still being written and content producers coming and going all the time.
Based on their track record, I would say that Frederator have the best chances with their latest channel, Cartoon Hangover. The reason I say so is that this is not their first channel. That was Channel Frederator, which has been around for about 7 years or so. Naturally, the studio has learned a lot from this experience and are putting it to good use.
The other reason? Well, Fred Seibert has proven that he can pick the winners when it come to TV shows, so it would be quite surprising if he can’t translate that into the online world too. It also helps that Cartoon Hangover is geared more towards actual content over silly videos and is aiming for an older audience with more sophisticated tastes; both areas which have yet to see much quality content.
Which YouTube Animation Channel Will Succeed? Read More »
Having just got some [expensive yet essential] work done to my motor, I thought it would be a good time to look at some of the best cars ever to grace the animation stage. Here they are, presented in no particular order.
The Homer
Who could forget this classic that brought down Powell Motors. A cautionary tale of the customer saying one thing and doing another. Also, how about that horn, eh?
The Gadget Mobile 
Far and away the coolest car in TV history. It could transform! How is that not awesome!
Misato’s Car
For the connoisseurs among us, the Renault Alpine was the Porsche 911 for the more independently-minded rear-engine motorist. Hideaki Anno could have used any generic sports car, but instead he chose a car that most people would never figure out; a perfect fit for Misato.
Fred Flintstone’s Car
Don’t deny that you didn’t want to drive this thing at some point.
The Mystery Machine 
The Mystery Machine equals the A-Team Van for van-ish coolness and unlike the latter, this one is still transporting the team around. Quite an achievement after 40+ years, no?
Speed Racer
Pretty much obligatory I think.
Cruella Deville’s Car
This is the interesting choice because, number 1, it’s a Disney car, which are fairly rare in the features as they tend to be set in times when the horse was the dominant form of transport; and 2, it’s a rather quirky car. Despite taking place in 1960s Britain, it’s more akin to those from the 30s, or at best the post-war MGs. It also fits her personality with a low, aggressive stance and a quick pace.
The Top 7 Cartoon Cars of All Time Read More »
