Five Comics From SPX With Animated Potential

5 Comments / Analysis /

This is the companion piece to last week’s post about pitching and how comics could play a bigger role for animation studios looking for new ideas. SPX from the previous weekend was a great experience and although I had to whoosh by everything in one day, it proved a productive and rewarding test of my theory. To prove it, here’s five comics (and a few honourable mentions) by independent artists that contain plenty of animated potential given the right resources and effort.

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Five Comics From SPX With Animated PotentialRead More »

Five Comics From SPX With Animated Potential Read More »

The Animation Anomaly Podcast Episode 4

Podcast /

After a grief hiatus, I’m back with a packed podcast episode of animationy goodness.

This episode:

00:00 – Cartoon Network: Netflix is Hurting our TV Ratings

08:26 – The Little Mermaid tablet-tastic cinema screenings

13:40 – The Market for Idiocy

20:30 – The Psychology of a Fanboy

27:00 – UNPAID INTERNSHIPS!!!

Audio file link

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Why The Practise of ‘Pitching’ Ideas Has To End

2 Comments / Analysis /

Pitching as an exercise is found in many corners of life. From thesis ideas to why you need a bigger garage, there is always an element of selling involved in order to see an idea come to fruition. Within the animation industry, pitching has long been the route by which many ideas get turned into actual animation. TV shows and feature films are pitched constantly either to studios or by studios. it. It’s an annoying practice that hasn’t necessarily evolved much or kept pace with technology. Here’s why it should done away with.

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Why The Practise of ‘Pitching’ Ideas Has To End Read More »

The Creative Commons Conundrum

Business Models /

Copyright is a concept that has, and continues to, perplex many people. The concept of Creative Commons is designed to help address many issues surrounding copyright that are often ignored to the peril of legal liability. In this new media landscape, where can Creative Commons fit into the animation industry and how can it do so while maintaining revenue sources.

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The Creative Commons ConundrumRead More »

The Creative Commons Conundrum Read More »

The Great Licensed Apparel Question

1 Comment / Questions /

Licensed apparel (or clothing) has gained prominence in the merchandising puzzle as of late thanks to its simplicity, low cost/high margins and its customizability. Long gone are the days when clothing bearing your favourite cartoon character was only availably in a few, all-round safe choices. Today, thanks to on-demand production and the internet as a sales channel, it’s possible to create clothing with just about anything on it and in just about any batch size. So here’s the deal, given a choice, would consumers rather wear clothes that feature a character or rather replicas of the clothes the character wears?

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The Great Licensed Apparel Question Read More »

How an Animated GIF Can Become A Feature Film

1 Comment / Predictions /

A while back, I contributed a post to Jerry Beck’s Animation Scoop where I mused on the idea that it’s theoretically possible to create a feature film from the nucleus of an animated GIF. While I gave a brief summary of how that could be achieved in that post, it’s prompted a more comprehensive look at the theory and why it’s entirely achievable

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How an Animated GIF Can Become A Feature Film Read More »

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 »