Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[kiseki]

One of my main issues with the CGI decision is how the limits of CGI essentially killed the Paris they so wanted to depict. They made a big deal about how they wanted to show off France to an international audience when the end result is restricted to the area surrounding the Eiffel Tower (usually in the fictional plaza) and the streets are completely empty.

I don't think the proposed 2D Ladybug would have been hindered by a low budget or poor schedule. It reportedly has a high budget (hence the better-than-usual TV CGI) and Toei would've had to animate the entire show ahead of time for an international release. (And an erratic episode order!) The effects of the latter can be seen in the difference between the quality of the first two Sailor Moon Crystal seasons and the one currently airing.

My other issue is how the direction of the final product pales in comparison to the PV's. Once again, the restrictions of CGI are at a fault here, but there's also the difference in workflow to blame (numerous storyboarders per episode VS a single vision), although it's possible that a 2D Ladybug could've ended up looking this way all the same. Most presumed it was the favored young talent, Matsumoto Rie, who directed the PVs until the creator of Ladybug named the actual director.

It's kind of interesting how most are trying to copy the big budget American CG movies when Japan has opted for cel-shading. They're so intent on imitating 2D that they're diminishing one of the benefits of CGI by removing frames from the animation.
Toei actually has one of the best CG departments in the industry, but they can't keep up that quality for a full TV series without the time or staff they require. ┐(‘～`;)┌

[unprincess]

I much prefer the 2d Ladybug animation(love those crazy elastic movements!) but at a purely business level its easy to see why they chose the more generic cgi. It would play better to western audiences and make the show(and its soon to be made merchandise) easier to sell to western markets. Anime's popularity is pretty much dead in the US.

[JTurner]

Anime isn't totally dead in the United States. It's true that it isn't as huge as it should be, but there still are fans of it. It's walking a tightrope, yes, but it's not totally dead.

[milojthatch]

Anime isn't totally dead in the United States. It's true that it isn't as huge as it should be, but there still are fans of it. It's walking a tightrope, yes, but it's not totally dead.

Anime in the US in niche. Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that, but it's still the truth.

[Sotiris]

David Kawena is working on a 2D-animated project called "Of Light and Darkness" that features a gay romance. It's expected to be completed in 2017.

I am extremely proud to share with you the first image of a new project currently in the making, which we hope will see the light of day early 2017. And yes, this time the Prince gets the other Prince!

Source: https://www.facebook.com/david.kawena/p ... 810362940/

In celebration of Pride Month, I would like to share with you all the first picture of an upcoming project I’m working. “Of Light and Darkness” (tentative title) is the classic fairy-tale story, in a far away kingdom full of magic, enchanting forests, dragons, forces of evil, and a handsome young prince who ’s going on a journey to save his kingdom, discovering the power of true love, and eventually gets the… other prince!

I’m an illustrator and photographer, who simply got tired of waiting for the big-shot studios to make my dreams come true, and decided to do it myself! “Of Light and Darkness” is what I wanted to see in theatres as a kid, and hopefully in the near future, the next generation will be able to experience it in all its glory, and learn about acceptance, judgement, darkness and light.

Source: http://artofdavidkawena.tumblr.com/post ... ld-like-to

[Sotiris]

There's an upcoming 2D-animated feature from Belgium titled "Funan: The New People" that will be released in 2017. You can watch the proof of concept, here.

[Disney's Divinity]

So excited for this! The picture looks great, except for the flying bunny. At least it'll look gorgeous, if nothing else. Too bad we couldn't get something like this that's a musical, too.

[ce1ticmoon]

Cartoon Saloon’s ‘The Breadwinner’ Moves Into Production
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film ... 39793.html

Looks to be another gem from Cartoon Saloon. Directed by Nora Twomey, who co-founded the studio and co-directed The Secret of Kells.

GKIDS Reteams With ‘Secret Of Kells’ Studio For ‘The Breadwinner’

http://deadline.com/2016/06/the-breadwi ... 201769725/

GKIDS is co-financing The Breadwinner, with GKIDS CEO Eric Beckman serving as one of the executive producers. Interesting seeing them going beyond distribution.

I wonder if this will somehow allow them to go wider than usual for the US release? Having Angelina Jolie as an executive producer could help too, in that respect.

[JTurner]

Wow, that looks gorgeous!

[Sotiris]

Here we go again! Musker and Clements talk about why they went with CG for Moana.

The filmmaking duo — who previously helmed beloved Disney films like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and, more recently, The Princess and the Frog — decided to mostly rely on computer animation as opposed to their usual hand-drawn methods to bring the water to life. “We still love hand-drawn animation very much, but for the depth and scope of this movie when we’re dealing with mythic islands that come to life and the ocean, digital animation really seemed appropriate for this story,” Clements says.

Source: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/12/mo ... er-trailer

“Of course, he was inspired by ‘Mad Max,’” Musker explained after a clip whose rope swinging tricks and dynamic camera could only be possible in CG. “If you see the movie, it’s like Disney meets ‘Fury Road,’” he promised.

Source: http://variety.com/2016/film/news/annec ... 201798053/

Ron Clements: For this film, [CG animation] seems very appropriate because of things like the ocean as a living character, our villainous volcano island, and just so many elements and the richness of this world and the evocative atmosphere of this world.

John Musker: [...] The islands almost have a sculptural skyline and it's beautiful. Even the people feel sculptural with the planes of their faces and their form so in a way doing a CG movie... If we were going to do a CG movie, this one can make sense because we're dealing with this sculptural world. It isn't so much a graphic, linear world as much as a world of body, of volume.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOPgUujtO7M

At one time, Moana was going to involve a lot of the hand-drawn crew, and a lot of the characters were going to have traditional animation underpinnings with CG overlays. (Several animators, a couple years back, showed me the work). But then the picture took a turn toward CG.

Source: http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... tease.html

[ce1ticmoon]

The filmmaking duo — who previously helmed beloved Disney films like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and, more recently, The Princess and the Frog — decided to mostly rely on computer animation as opposed to their usual hand-drawn methods to bring the water to life. “We still love hand-drawn animation very much, but for the depth and scope of this movie when we’re dealing with mythic islands that come to life and the ocean, digital animation really seemed appropriate for this story,” Clements says.

I noticed that too. Don't know why every director has to sell this story in every interview... Though I suppose that's the only answer they're allowed to give when they get asked about traditional animation, and given the history of the studio, I'm guessing they're asked about it a lot.

At one time, Moana was going to involve a lot of the hand-drawn crew, and a lot of the characters were going to have traditional animation underpinnings with CG overlays. (Several animators, a couple years back, showed me the work). But then the picture took a turn toward CG.

What exactly does this mean? Is there an existing example of this? Sounds like it could have had a very unique look. As gorgeous as the teaser is, even with 2D animated tattoos, the visuals are very safe.

[Sotiris]

What exactly does this mean?

I don't know but I think it means 2D animation with a CG look. Something like Sergio Pablos' Klaus that gives 2D animation volume, dimensionality and shading. Randy Haycock did an animation test like that at Disney and it looked pretty good.

[DisneyFan09]

The filmmaking duo — who previously helmed beloved Disney films like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and, more recently, The Princess and the Frog — decided to mostly rely on computer animation as opposed to their usual hand-drawn methods to bring the water to life. “We still love hand-drawn animation very much, but for the depth and scope of this movie when we’re dealing with mythic islands that come to life and the ocean, digital animation really seemed appropriate for this story,” Clements says.

I knew they were going to use that excuse (but of course it's unsurprisingly).

[Disney's Divinity]

The filmmaking duo — who previously helmed beloved Disney films like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and, more recently, The Princess and the Frog — decided to mostly rely on computer animation as opposed to their usual hand-drawn methods to bring the water to life. “We still love hand-drawn animation very much, but for the depth and scope of this movie when we’re dealing with mythic islands that come to life and the ocean, digital animation really seemed appropriate for this story,” Clements says.

Source: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/12/mo ... er-trailer

Disney got to M&C, too! The pods have officially seeped into their brains.

I like to imagine Disney has a special brainwashing room, just like on LOST.

[Kyle]

What exactly does this mean? Is there an existing example of this? Sounds like it could have had a very unique look. As gorgeous as the teaser is, even with 2D animated tattoos, the visuals are very safe.

Sounds papermanish to me.

[ce1ticmoon]

I don't know but I think it means 2D animation with a CG look. Something like Sergio Pablos' Klaus that gives 2D animation volume, dimensionality and shading. Randy Haycock did an animation test like that at Disney and it looked pretty good.

Somehow I didn't even know about Pablos' Klaus. That's definitely one to look out for. (Though I'm reading that that's actually 100% traditional animation?) But it does have a similar quality to the Haycock test.

Sounds papermanish to me.

That's kinda what I thought, except maybe the opposite? As I understand it, Paperman basically overlays 2D animation on top of CG models, right?

Whatever the case, I'm quite surprised that it seems they were seriously considering such a technique for a feature film.

[Warm Regards]

Source: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/12/mo ... er-trailer

Disney got to M&C, too! The pods have officially seeped into their brains.

I like to imagine Disney has a special brainwashing room, just like on LOST.

It's less brainwashing, I gather, and more "we need to pretend we're cool with this or else we won't have jobs anymore".

Animation is a cutthroat industry from what I've been told. Plus the "necessity" of CG means you're not likely to be given a shot if you aren't with the times and prefer hand drawn aesthetics.

...I sometimes forget why this is an industry I aim for.

I'll be an optimist and say John and Ron are doing their darnedest to make one more hand drawn film. Otherwise, I gather they'd have followed the lead of Glen Keane and left Disney by now. Their treatment has been, from the snippets I've read, dismissive and apathetic. Why stay in a place that's essentially abusive to your livelihood? Because they have determination to bring back hand drawn.

Of course... someone with money has gotta take a chance on hand drawn. But considering that newer CG films are taking in $1 billion ... yeah, the chance dwindles with each passing day.

[Tristy]

It's ironic. This attitude between the CG animators towards the traditional animators makes me think of some scenes in a couple of CG films.

Like when Buzz's voice button is being compared to Woody's pullstring, Mr. Potato Head says in regards to the string: "Only it sounds like a car ran over it."

And then in Zootopia, there is the treatment of Judy at the police station.

While, I did enjoy Frozen and Zootopia, I find it very sad that this is what's happening between the the old guard and the new guard.

[unprincess]

regarding Funan: well there's a soberingly realistic story for animation. The technique looks very siilar to Far Away North but here they use some shading which I think helps from keeping it all looking a little too flat.

regarding Dave Kawena's project: hey I love David's art, I wish him the best! also that Prince has some dang glorious hair!

regarding business as usual at Disney: ugh, what bites me is that I bet with Disney's backing these artists could do something really amazing with a combination of CGI and hand drawn techniques, something really groundbreaking at a time when CGI is really festering in its genericness. But nope, making sure those dolls and toys sell is too important to risk an experimental film that, while may perform more modestly than its predecessors, may also do more than any other animated film Disney's done in the last 5 years to honor those artists that literally helped put the studio where they are today.

[ce1ticmoon]

I didn't notice, but GKIDS released a trailer for Phantom Boy a couple of weeks ago:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hthudxsW7Q[/youtube]

No word on the wider release yet, but it's opening in NYC and LA in July:

http://www.animationmagazine.net/featur ... antom-boy/