Is Yosemite Sam In The Witness Protection Program?
Is Yosemite Sam In The Witness Protection Program? Read More »
Animation
My Simpsons Confessional
Being the Irish Catholic that I am, I’ve written a confessional of my views on The Simpsons for the good folks at the Dead Homers Society for you all to read.
My Simpsons Confessional Read More »
This Video Has 7 Million Views for a Very Good Reason
Fireman Sam is just one of a long, long line of children’s shows featuring respectable members of the community who serve as a role model for kids. I was always more of a Postman Pat kind of kid, but Sam is pretty much the same, except he’s a fireman.
Why does the opening title have over 7,000,000 views? Well, a lot of kids grew up watching Fireman Sam and watching it pretty regularly too. The opening is a connection to the their childhood in more ways than one.
The episodes themselves mean far less than the title for the simple reason that it was consistent across all the episodes. The title signalled that a good time was about to be had and watching it again as an adult brings up all those happy feelings from years ago. With 60 million people living in Britain alone, it’s easy to see how the this video could get to 7 million views just on nostalgia.
Things are no different for today’s shows. In 20 years time there will be plenty of adults out there who go all soft at the theme tune for SpongeBob SquarePants.
This Video Has 7 Million Views for a Very Good Reason Read More »
How Mickey Mouse Beat The Shit Out Of Thomas Jefferson
Below is an excerpt from a piece posted over on Techdirt by Lloyd Kaufman on the subject of copyright, the public domain and the Founding Fathers. It’s a great post in its own right, but when it gets really interesting (for us) is when he starts talking about animation and how one company in particular seems to have been the driving force behind the various copyright extensions over the years.
It also serves as a nice preamble to an upcoming series of posts here on The Animation Anomaly dealing with the various legal dealings that animators should be aware of.
HOW MICKEY MOUSE BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
In 1928, Mickey Mouse appeared in the first sound-synchronized cartoon, Steamboat Willie , which was a parody (in Disnenglish, a copyright infringement) of a Buster Keaton film, “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” Mickey Mouse became an instant star and Walt Disney’s meal ticket. By 1956, when “Steamboat Willie” was all set to enter the public domain, Disney had become a powerhouse corporation, and it interceded on little Mickey’s behalf:
Disney Executive: You see, Senator, if “Steamboat Willie” were to belong to the public, they would pretty much own Mickey Mouse, too. And we can’t let that happen.
Senator: No, no. We must protect Mickey.
Disney Executive: What we need, Senator, is an extension of the copyright law. That way, we can keep Mickey safe.
Senator: Yes, yes. We must protect Mickey.
Disney Executive: Yes, Senator, we must protect Mickey.
The Disney executive puts away his hypnotist materials, leaves a pile of cash on the table, and leaves. The hypnotized senator wakes up with the overwhelming urge to protect Mickey Mouse. Days later, copyright law is extended.
Buster Keaton, however, continues to receive food stamps.
This scene is repeated in 1984 and 2003. “Steamboat Willie” will remain the intellectual property of Disney until 2023, almost 100 years after it was created and many, many years after the last person who worked on it became snail food. And at some point before 2023, I’m guessing the copyright laws will be extended once again.
An interesting little twist to this whole story, which was sent to me by steamboat4eva@hotmail.com, is that someone at Disney discovered in the 1990s that “Steamboat Willie” may actually be in the public domain already. This was due to a mistake in the wording of the original copyright. A law student at Arizona State University investigated this claim and agreed [article link for the curious]. Then another law student at Georgetown wrote another paper confirming the claim. At this point, Disney threatened to sue the student and the claim hasn’t been uttered since.
How Mickey Mouse Beat The Shit Out Of Thomas Jefferson Read More »
Remembering that Cartoons Can Come From Anywhere
Via: Wikipedia
Producer Tristan Homer was kind enough to send over an e-mail to inform me that Almost Naked Animals, the latest show by Noah Z. Jones began broadcasting this week on Cartoon Network (the website is down right now, so here’s a link to their YouTube page instead).
Some of the comments below highlighted the fact that the show is produced in Canada and the tone seemed to imply that such a fact makes it somehow sub-standard. Such beliefs are hollow to the extreme.
Cartoons can come from anywhere, in fact, just last week, Nickelodeon announced they had picked up the entire Winx Club series which is produced in Italy! The same goes for Totally Spies which was produced by Marathon in France.
Growing up in Ireland, it admittedly came as a bit of a shock to learn that cartoons were produced in Dublin (courtesy of the old Sullivan-Bluth studio). Until then, I thought that all cartoons were made in Hollywood (must have been watching too many Looney Tunes and/or Tom & Jerry).
With today’s modern technology, good animation can (and does) come from just about anywhere. Just because a show come from Canada is no basis for judging its quality.
Remembering that Cartoons Can Come From Anywhere Read More »
The Fleischer Superman Shorts, Now Available on Netflix
Via: the Superman Wiki
The other day, while browsing the “Recently Added” section of Netflix, I was pleasantly (although not entirely) surprised to see that the entire series of Superman cartoons by the Fleischer Brothers had been added and were available to instant streaming.
Suffice to say they were added to the instant queue immediately.
Via: Classic Film Freak
The Fleischer Superman Shorts, Now Available on Netflix Read More »
The Anomaly Of The Disney Universe
As pointed out by Bo Burnam.
If Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck are all anthropomorphic animals:
Why is Pluto just a regular dog?
Via: Animation Pitstop
The Anomaly Of The Disney Universe Read More »
The ‘R’ Rating Hurts Animation: Here’s How We Fix That
IFCO 16 Rating via Wikimedia.org
Film classification is a bit of an interesting topic because it highlights the cultural differences that exist from country to country, even those that lie next to each other! The whole purpose is to classify films into categories to give (ostensibly) parents a quick heads up as to what the film is likely to contain.
The US is a bit of an anomaly when it comes to film classification because, unlike many other countries, classification is not government-mandated. As a result, it is undertaken by the MPAA for its member studios. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest sussing out “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” by Kirby Dick which looks at the process and the secretive way in which it is conducted.
Via: Gawker
Above is the MPAA rating system which anyone reading this in the US should be familiar with. As you can see, there is no intermediate rating between PG-13 and R. What this means is that once a film goes over the PG-13 rating, viewing requires the accompaniment of an adult. It also leads to the somewhat bizarre scenario where a child of any age can see anything they want as long as someone over 18 is with them.
In many other countries though, there is an intermediate rating for ages around 15/16. Taking Ireland as an example, a 16 rating means that anyone that age or older can see the film at the cinema, unaccompanied. While 2 years does not sound like much, it is forever when you are a teenager, especially if you want to see a film without a parent looking over your shoulder.
The end result is that some films are classified as R when they probably could get away with being 16. Never mind the fact that some films that are rated 15 in Ireland are PG-13 over here, but that’s a discussion for another day. At the same time, such situations exist precisely because an R rating greatly reduces the potential audience size for a film and is avoided if at all possible.
How does this hurt animation?
It means there is a bit of a glut when it comes to animated films that are a bit more mature in stature than what we’re use to seeing. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of animated material out there that is perhaps a little too mature [wink, wink] for the average person. However, you will never see an R rated animated film on general theatrical release.
My hypothesis is that if an extra rating were added (say 16), we would be more likely to see animated films that bridge the gap between being for everyone and being for adults only, in other words, suitable for unaccompanied teenagers. Arguably Princess Mononoke would come fairly close to such a rating as it is a bit scary for younger kids but more than suitable for teenagers.
If such a move were enacted, it would also have the handy side-effect of encouraging more animated films to be made that target the so-called [Adult Swim] crowd. In other words, teenagers and young adults. Such a result could only be beneficial to the animated industry.
Have you any thoughts? Please share them below, I’m curious to see what others think of the idea.
The ‘R’ Rating Hurts Animation: Here’s How We Fix That Read More »
The 7 Things That Made Adventure Time A Success
Soon to be premiering its third season, Adventure Time has been on a seriously roll since it was first broadcast all the way back in 2010. Is there some kind of secret sauce that Pendleton Ward and co. have been hiding from everyone else? The answer is no, but there are a few things that the team, the studio and the network have done to ensure the shows success.
1. It’s Premise
Two best friends living in a magical land called Ooo? How could that not be special? How about if one of them was a magical dog who could talk? Even more so of course! The setup for Adventure Time is the ideal cartoon setting in that it allows for plenty of room for story. Being magical and all that, there have been no shortage of stories that make full use of such a location.
2. The Diverse Characters
Adventure Time is chock full of quirky characters who fill an episode and make it all the more fun to watch. Besides that, the regular cast are a diverse crowd, with a human, a talking dog, a bubblegum princess, a vampire and a flying ‘rainacorn’. Much like the Land of Ooo, the core characters are suitably different and complex as to permit a wide array of stories to be centered around them.
3. The Original Short
The original short, was part of Frederator’s Random! Cartoons and was broadcast on Nickelodeon back in 2008. Since Nickelodeon declined to pick up the series, it could have sat on the shelf for a year and a half. Instead, someone (somewhere) was clever enough to ensure that the short made it onto YouTube. In no time at all, it had ratcheted up over a million hits and a pseudo-cult following.
Besides that, the short was also extremely effective at introducing the world, the cast of characters and the kind of situations they have to deal with in the land of Ooo. Such a solid base was perfect as the foundation for the show’s fans on which to grow.
4. Getting Picked Up
With a bit of internet popularity, there was already an audience waiting for a series, so it came as no surprise when Cartoon Network announced their acquisition of the series, that there were many fast-paced discussions on forums as to how the show would turn out. As a result, the show’s premiere was one of the highest watched in Cartoon Network history and the show has remained a top ratings winner ever since.
The key here is that thanks to the show being on YouTube, it already had a group of people who wanted to see it. As such, it was easier for the creators and network figure out which direction the show should go in and what made it so popular in the first place.
5. The Tumblelog
The good folks at Frederator have run production blogs for all their shows since My Life as a Teenage Robot so it is no surprise that they have one for Adventure Time too. Stretching all the way back to the original short, there is literally hundreds of bits and bobs from the show like character model sheets, colour studies, sketches, storyboards and promotional art. It’s a veritable treasure trove of Adventure Time paraphernalia.
Why this is so important is because until now, the vast majority of shows normally hide such stuff away and try and keep it out of the public’s eye until at least the show’s premiere (the common fear is ‘piracy’). Posting such a large amount of art on a regular basis only served to whet the appetite of the fans, however, and when the first series was broadcast, many fans were already familiar with the episodes and were anticipating them even more.
6. The Secret Sauce of Awesomeness
[Shhh, don’t tell anyone]
7. Actively Engaging The Fans
I wrote about this last year sometime, but it is still something of a rarity in the cartoon landscape in that the producers actively engage fans and encourage them in many ways. Of note is the original tumblelog but also the many many fansites that have sprung up. The official tumblelog also requests, accepts and posts fanart and pictures of people either cosplaying or wearing Adventure Time clothing. No other show (outside of Frederator) seems to be doing this even though it has immensely helped cement the show’s reputation as being fan-friendly.
Conclusion
So there you have it, seven things that have helped Adventure Time become the success it is today. It should serve as a role model for other shows on how to successfully grow your viewer base into a fan base.
http://twitter.com/#!/buenothebear
The 7 Things That Made Adventure Time A Success Read More »
The Best Way To Tell If A Show Is Well Put Together
Does it seem like the creators had fun doing it? If so, then they probably did. If a show looks like it was a torture to put together then it probably was.
It’s funny how you can pick up on that kind of thing just by watching a show. There are tons of great examples (Freakazoid!, Ren & Stimpy, early Fairly OddParents) but perhaps none greater than the Simpsons. Episodes from the Golden Age flow along as if the writers were bouncing off the walls. Current episodes make it seem like their almost chained to their desks trying to think of funny stuff.
It’s something to keep in mind in the course of your work. Even though you may not purposely or conscientiously insert it into your creation, it still shines through and can greatly improve its reception with the audience.
The Best Way To Tell If A Show Is Well Put Together Read More »
Animated Characters: Request for Subjects
My schedule’s been out of whack for the past couple of weeks but now that it’s back on track, I’ve decided to that every Sunday post should be a look at a particular cartoon character.
So consider this an open request for recommendations for characters. Yes, I have plenty of ideas myself, but it’s also nice to ask the readers to see what they think.
Well, what do you think? Leave some recommendations in the comments below 🙂
PS. Yes, this is a lazy Sunday post; the result of spending 18 hours on the go yesterday and a nap this afternoon!
Animated Characters: Request for Subjects Read More »