Asides

Animation Operations and Supply Chain Management

Apologies for the profoundly boring title. Knock off the ‘animation’ at the front and you pretty much have the class I’m taking right now. It’s basically about operation decision-making within a company and how to manage the supply chain of a business (don’t get too excited, it’s an entry level course).

Therese Trujillo and Eric Robles of the Frederator/Nickelodeon Production fanboy & ChumChum with the show's schedule behind them.

It got me thinking though, when it comes to animation, the supply chain is somewhat flexible yet inflexible at the same time. It’s flexible in that if you have a bunch of great artists who can crack on with the job and churn out exactly what you’re looking for, then you might be able to squeeze things a wee bit and wrap up early. If you run into delays, that sends a shockwave down the rest of the production pipeline.

Right now, we’re looking at shoes and how they are ordered months in advance of the season for which they are intended. Not too different from animation, eh? The interesting thing about the three cases we’re looking at (Crocs, ECCO and New Balance) is that all three take quite a different approach to their manufacturing and supply chain (outsourced but flexible, vertically integrated and some outsourcing but some manufacturing in the US).

Perhaps surprisingly, animation, really has developed supply chain-wise since the hayday of Hollywood. Things have changed dramatically since then, what with the off-shoring of the actual animation in the 70s and all, but we have gradually seen a return to the rather flexible nature of doing everything in-house.

The introduction of Flash certainly helped as it made animating in the US cost-comparable. Secondly, the internet has meant that the cost benefits of off-shoring or outsourcing can be had without sacrificing the immediacy of working in a studio. Daily production can be supervised closely from the other side of the planet without much effort.

My point is that while the animation industry has not seen the kind of seismic changes (such as off-shoring) in quite a few years, there have nonetheless been advances in how animated films and TV shows are created. Increased efficiencies in this area have only lead to better quality content and lowered (relative) production costs. Just something to keep in mind.

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4 Reasons Why Everyone Ought To Watch Rango

Via: Digital Trends

1. The Setting

What’s better than the Wild West, the real Wild West? There’s no shortage of dust, wind or outlaws that liven up the film no end.

2. The Plot

If you thought Wall-E had an environmental/political bent you were dead wrong. There’s nothing more topical at the moment than water and governmental control, or rather, the corrupt nature of it. The movie has an interesting take on it as it uses water as a form of currency, thereby firmly underlining its importance.

3. The Characters

Yes, they’re a nod to Hunter S. Thompson (who makes a cameo appearance) but our eponymous hero is indeed the star of the show. Despite appearing off-kilter, Johhny Depp puts much effort into the performance, the audience’s attention is drawn away from his voice and focused much more on the character himself. Wildly flamboyant and superbly layered, Rango is the star of the show.

The supporting cast is altogether flatter, however that would be the case of any character, save a Mel Brooks creation, when placed beside Rango. The writers at least manage to conceal the true story behind Beans until later in the film, which sets up her confrontation with the Mayor. Again, he’s pretty much a stock villain, although his menace is conveyed through political means rather than physical ones, a much more realistic portrayal. Public enemy Rattlesnake Jake gives the whole setup the hint of evil that it needs to feel realistic.

4. The Laughs

Such wonderful complex humour! hardly a fart joke in sight and the fact that our hero manages to set up so many of them is even more joyful to watch. Rango uses altogether more subtle humour than even Pixar has managed lately and for that, the writers should be commended. I dare say they have raised the bar for animated humour at the theatrical level.

 

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Canadian Court Upholds Animator’s Copyright Claim Against Cinar

The Montreal Gazette is reporting that Quebec Court of Appealhas upheld a previous ruling against Cinar (the forerunner to Cookie Jar). The case involves Claude Robinson and a series he created called Les aventures de Robinson Curiosité. After trying to sell the series with Cinar to other production studios and without any success, Claude was astonished to discover that Cinar had launched their own series, Robinson Sucroé.

After a 14 year legal wrangle, the court has awarded him damages that although far below what was originally awarded, still amount to CA$5.2 million, which breaks down as follows (as listed in the CBC’s story):

  • $607,000 for copyright infringement.
  • $1.7 million for profits earned by Cinar and other broadcasting companies.
  • $400,000 for psychological distress.
  • $1 million in exemplary damages.
  • $1.5 million for legal fees.

While this sounds like the nightmare of just about every artist out there, it is important to remember that cases such as this one are extremely rare. Fourteen years is long, even in the legal world, and a settlement is most likely to be hammered out long ago instead.

Did Robinson have a case? I haven’t seen any images from the offending shows, but assuming he’s not an eejit, he will have properly and sufficiently developed his show before presenting it to Cinar. He will also have gone through all the legal hoops to get a development deal with them if he did. The Gazette article mentions attempting to sell the concept in the US, so I’m sure he was on board with a contract of some sort.

Why Cinar felt the need to copy the guys show, I don’t know. According to the Wikipedia article on the firm, it has been engaged in shady dealings before, so perhaps this is not a surprise. What is surprising is that they went ahead with it anyway, it should not have been all that difficult or costly to simply acquire the original property and tweak it into the new one thereby saving everyone a bunch of time, money and hassle.

As you know, the entertainment industry is full of such lawsuits (most of which get thrown out) but a few make it through to trial. Copying an idea is extraordinarily difficult to prove in court, which is why most studios don’t even want to take the chance and refuse unsolicited scripts. The vast majority will purchase a concept and develop it themselves to prevent such lawsuits. Studios aren’t stupid but that will try to minimize costs, and acquiring a concept may fall into the category of ‘unnecessary’.

Again, it is imperative that when developing an idea, you take all the precautions necessary to save yourself and the studio from a legal headache such as this.

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American 3D Audiences Have It Lucky

Not animation-related per se, but relevant to movie-going nonethless. While over beyond, we went to see the last installment of the Harry Potter series. While the film was awesome, the presentation was not. The reason? It’s all about the goggles.

Below are the Dolby goggles we were handed for the presentation.

Via: Ubergizmo

Below is the warning printed on the side. Yes, you’re 3D surcharge doesn’t seem to cover the goggles and there are shoplifter-like security gates at the cinema to ensure that you don’t “accidentally” take them home with you.

Via: Video Technology

My real beef though, is how they sat on my face (not very well and after half an hour, my ears were killing me) and the fact that they are not nearly as large as the ones offered by RealD, which at least have lenses large enough to cover most prescription glasses.

Via: Celluloid Junkie

So all in all, it was by far my worst 3D experience to date. It just proves how poorly managed the  gimmick is but as bad as it is here in the US, there are those that have it much worse.

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Quick Note: Software Skills

Just a quick note because I’m actually waiting for class to start. When it comes to animation and technology where does software skills play into things?

What I mean is that with a wide variety of different programs out there how do you choose which ones to learn?

Are they the ones taught at your school? If so could you end up in a situation where you are being taught outdated or unpopular software?

Even moreso are you spending time learning a new program that may well be obsolete in a few years? Animation software (bar Renderman) is still somewhat new and the pace of development is currently breathless.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Should we revert to the good old ubiquitous paper and pencil or do we commit ourselves to learning something that may only benefit us for a short part of our careers?

PS please excuse any typos, I wrote this post on my phone.

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People I Respect: Fred Seibert

This is the fifth and last in a series of posts in which I explain why I respect certain people in the animation industry and why you should do the same.

 Via: Flickr

Four years ago, if you asked me who Fred Seibert was, I would have given you the blankest look in the world. Of course, that was before I moved to the States and had the time/energy to actually indulge my passion for animation.

If you were to look back at the animated TV landscape of the last thirty years, a few names are apt to stand out: John Kricfalusi, Matt Groening and Klasky-Csupo are just a few. These, however, are the exception and even then, only one could legitimately claim to not owe his success in any way to Fred.

How so, well, Fred is often cited as the first employee hired by MTV. His experiences from that time make for good reading as he was right smack in the middle of a developing cable media revolution in America. After his stint there, he partnered with Alan Goodman to form Fred/Alan and in so doing, was promptly hired to lead the re-branding for Nickelodeon. The results of said assignment was the beloved “splat” logo that lived for 25 years before being replaced.

After that he headed west and took charge of the venerable Hanna-Barbera studio in Hollywood. There, Fred began steering the studio more towards creator-driven shows and the use of the cartoon short as a medium for discovering and developing popular series. Such instincts served him so well that they were repeated in the Oh Yeah! and Random! cartoon series that Fred produced as part of his independent studio, Frederator and resulted in at least 5 shows getting picked up. The latest being the gobsmackingly good Adventure Time.

On top of this, Fred has been at the forefront of the current media revolution, partnering with Tim Shey and others to create Next New Networks. An organisation that has spearheaded the creation of original content specifically for the web. With more than a few solid hits under their belt, the outfit was acquired by YouTube as part of that company’s drive into the original content business.

With more careers than I can ever hope to have, for being someone who is consistently looking forward, for loving cartoons and for being an avowed fan of jazz, Fred Seibert is someone I respect.

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People I Respect: David B. Levy

This is the fourth in a series of posts in which I explain why I respect certain people in the animation industry and why you should do the same.

 Via: the ASIFA-East aNYmator

A long time ago (OK, not that long ago) I met David B. Levy. I’d never heard of him before, I wasn’t aware of any of his work and I certainly was aware that he was the President of ASIFA-East. Suffice to say, after that evening I was!

David is one the finest ambassadors that the New York animation scene has today and is absolutely one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Such praise is not faint. Who in their right mind would give an Irish civil engineer the time of day let alone many opportunities to liaise with people inside the industry?

Being a New Yorker, David is immensely proud to be part of the local animation scene and can often be seen cheer leading for the cause over on his blog, Animondays.

It could be argued that he does this only in his capacity as President, but such an argument would be a very shallow one. David truly believes in the creative skill of the local animation community and will often champion the many success it has had and the numerous contributions it has made to animation in general over the years.

Besides all of this, David is also a bestselling author of three books that have won praise from all over the industry for their well-written and personal approach to working in the industry.

For all of this and much, much more that I am far to tired to write about (it;s 8:25 p.m. here at the moment and I have a midnight Harry Potter screening to go to), David B. Levy is someone I respect.

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People I Respect: The Irish Guys

This is the second in a series of posts in which I explain why I respect certain people in the animation industry and why you should do the same.

Paul Young and Tomm Moore Via: IMDB

Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell Via: Brown Bag Films

Yup, I’m shoehorning four lads into this post, but with good reason, for without them, the Irish animation scene would look quite different than it does today.

The name Cathal Gaffney may not ring much of a bell with you but he is someone I have a lot of respect for. Together with Darragh O’Connell, Cathal founded Brown Bag Films, based in Dublin and has had tremendous success over the last 14 years including not one but two Academy Award nominations. Both men have worked hard to promote the indigenous industry within Ireland as one that has a lot of potential for long-lasting prosperity.

Tomm Moore and Paul Young started Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny back in 1999 and since then, they too have found tremendous success with the crowning achievement being the Academy Award nomination for their feature, The Secret of Kells, which itself was a remarkable achievement considering that it was only shown in one cinema prior to nomination!

Why do I respect these four guys? For one, they helped start animation studios in Ireland when the industry was next to non-existent and have grown them into internationally-recognised companies that work with such large global players as Nickelodeon/Viacom and Disney.

Even more admirably, all four have managed to grow businesses at a time when Ireland has seen one of the worst recessions in the Eurozone, which is no mean feat! All four are also as ambassadors for Irish animation around the world and is continually promoting the industry at home and abroad.

For this and more, Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell, Tomm Moore and Paul Young are four guys I respect.

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