There’s a lot of content that is not being watched.” 88 Pictures focuses on computer animation and has worked on Star Wars: Visions, Fast & Furious Spy Racers and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia. “I don’t have any experience in 2D, so I stick to creating a business that I know the best. 3D animation can have different styles for every project that we do.”
SOUTH KOREA
In East Asia, one country that has emerged from the shadow of Japan to become an animation powerhouse is South Korea. A major reason for this is the acclaimed work by Studio Mir, located in Seoul, on The Legend of Korra and Big Fish & Begonia. “When the streaming services came to the scene, it drastically changed the animation landscape,” remarks Studio Mir in a joint statement from the directors and vice president. “For Japan, their anime was able to reach broader audiences with improved budgets. Korean animation also saw opportunities and expanded its market worldwide.” A major struggle was transitioning from pencil and paper to a fully digital pipeline. The statement continues, “Until mid-2010, most artists drew on paper by hand. We were one of the first studios in Korea that went fully digital. There were a lot of learning curves. It was most challenging for the veteran artists, so as a studio we invested in the training system to help their transition.” Interestingly, a current trend is retro-style animation. Explains Studio Mir, “Traditional hand-drawn aesthetics are getting the limelight again because they represent the fundamental skills and values, while the visualization techniques are reaching their peak, with CGI creating almost any requested image. But we are not sure how long this trend will last. Ironically, the studios are leaning more toward technical developments with the limited pool of experienced artists. Speaking of technological trends, we should mention AI. It is a groundbreaking tool for visualization work, and we are also investing resources to experiment with the tool. However, we only see AI as a tool to assist with the needs of artists and retro aesthetics. It will not replace humans.”
LATIN AMERICA
“The Oscar for Bear Story [for Best Animated Short Film, 2016] was a great thing not just for me but for the whole Latin American animation community, as we realized that it was possible to create animation that can go outside of Latin America,” observes Gabriel Osorio Vargas, Co-Founder, Director and CG Supervisor of Punkrobot Animation Studio in Santiago, Chile. “We have our own way, but at the same time influenced by Hollywood, and we were colonized by Europeans, so we have that culture too. It’s an interesting mix and that’s one of the things that makes our identity. I try to embrace that.” Punkrobot is a family-oriented animation studio responsible for Wow Lisa, which is about a curious little mouse that believes that everything can be a treasure when you look close enough. “We always try to give something back to society with our stories; that’s something which defines us.” Government funding is critical, Vargas says. “It’s the main or maybe the only way you have to create your own content, because it’s difficult to tell your stories through advertising, as you have to manage what the client wants to do. Also, private investors in Chile are more interested in copper and wine, industries that are more established. I hope this will change as they realize there are good studios making animation; that is what makes us happy about the Star Wars: Visions experience, because we were asked to do good animation and we delivered.”
The largest producer of animation in Latin America is Brazil, and situated in São Paulo is Split Studio, which created the feature Tito and the Birds and TV series WeeBoom. “In 2011, Brazil developed a quota for independent Brazilian content in cable TV and the means to get them financed, which allowed a substantial amount of original Brazilian content to see the light of day,” states Jonas Brandão, Co-Founder and Business Development for Split Studio. “Therefore, that also promoted a boom in the local industry, with the sector’s rise in employment and analog ecosystems [such as schools]. The high demand also brought many studios to the market, and some of them became known globally, including Split Studio. We started in 2009 with four people and nowadays we’re one of the leading studios in the country, in operation with about 150 people currently, and with productions nominated to awards such as the Annies, Annecy and the Oscars in our portfolio.” Brazilian culture is seen as an aspect of the storytelling. States Brandão, “Split Studio, as a Brazilian-originated studio, has a set of upcoming projects with a Brazilian feel. However, that’s all in the background, as the core of these stories relies on stories with relatable universal human conflicts. An example of this is Among the Starsan original IP we’re developing in video game and feature film formats. It tells the story of two young indigenous sisters who get separated from each other after a violent attack by land grabbers on their village. While one sister ends up in the spiritual world and is trying to return to the human world, the other fights the land grabbers on her own, as she thinks the criminals have her sister. It’s a very exciting journey, set in Brazil, with many native Brazilian cultural layers. Still, in the end, it comes down to a beautiful journey of two sisters trying to find each other, which many people can relate to.”
What has become clear by talking to animation studios from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America is that while streamers have had a huge impact on the increased demand for animated content, government grants and tax incentives remain critical in supporting the industry domestically and internationally. Co-productions have become a necessary practice to be able to pool together the required financial and artistic resources and have made Europe a cultural mosaic of storytelling. The technological future will see the proliferation of real-time animation and the adoption of AI and machine learning to fill in the efficiency gaps. This will lay the foundation for the next platform that enables individuals to be participants rather than viewers in an organic manner. Something that will remain constant is the desire to communicate with each other, tap into universal emotions and explore the vastness of the human imagination.
#CIRCLING #GLOBE #CAPTURE #WORLD #ANIMATION #TODAY
