Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[ce1ticmoon]

I'm not sure why Shinkai's films have never received theater releases outside of Japan when he's been dubbed "the next Miyazaki" ( ) along with Hosoda. Kimi no na wa. / Your name. (8/26) is currently dominating the Japanese box office and is set to become one of the highest grossing anime films, up with the franchise movies and Ghibli films (as well as Hosoda's latest feature).
Trailer 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xGqY5IDBE
Trailer 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KR8_igDs1Y

It's amazing how well Shinkai's new film is doing. Hosoda has been gaining a large mainstream audience over time with his last three films, but Shinkai just completely leapfrogged him with this one. The box office will be in Mononoke/Spirited Away/Howl's territory, which is just completely unheard of. I believe Hosoda's most recent outing, Boy and the Beast, was the top-grossing animated film ever in Japan outside of Disney/Pixar/Ghibli and established franchises (Pokemon/Conan, etc.), but Your Name has surpassed that in under a month and will likely more than double that. It's truly mind-boggling.

This is kind of an aside, but while I'm always enamored with Shinkai's visuals (I mean, AMAZING), I feel he's nowhere near Miyazaki in terms of writing and storytelling, which I feel relies way too heavily on melodrama and sugary sentimentality. And the pseudo-philosophical voice-overs that say so much yet fail to say much of anything don't do the films many favors either.

He's been proclaimed to be the next Miyazaki (along with Hosoda) for a long time now, way before he broke out like this, but for the aforementioned reasons, the comparisons have never felt earned to me. IMO Hosoda feels much more like the next Miyazaki, though I don't feel he's quite reached Miyazaki's heights yet either. I would have said that Hosoda's great box office indicated that the public was embracing him as the next Miyazaki as well, but that was before Shinkai completely leapfrogged him with Your Name. lol

I've always felt that Shinkai would have really strong films if he had a good writer on board with him, but considering how well-received the new film is, I'm willing to reevaluate my assessment of him. He's never had a production this huge, and maybe that has actually benefited him. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing this, and pleasantly surprised by this unbelievable success.

[Warm Regards]

Aaron Blaise is working on a new 2D-animated short called "Snow Bear".

So basically the good version of Norm of the North.

[kiseki]

This is kind of an aside, but while I'm always enamored with Shinkai's visuals (I mean, AMAZING), I feel he's nowhere near Miyazaki in terms of writing and storytelling, which I feel relies way too heavily on melodrama and sugary sentimentality. And the pseudo-philosophical voice-overs that say so much yet fail to say much of anything don't do the films many favors either.

...

I've always felt that Shinkai would have really strong films if he had a good writer on board with him, but considering how well-received the new film is, I'm willing to reevaluate my assessment of him. He's never had a production this huge, and maybe that has actually benefited him. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing this, and pleasantly surprised by this unbelievable success.

I caved to the hype after coming across spoilers (that second trailer had me curious!) and downloaded the leaked, hardsubbed copy of the film everyone has been watching. I have my qualms about it, but it was a fun, emotionally gripping experience overall. I probably would've cried (a lot) if I didn't ruin the film for myself via spoilers. It's popular because it's Shinkai's most upbeat, accessible film so far. I can't stop thinking about it (and because of that, can't stop thinking about all the blatant plot holes) so I'd probably be one of those repeat viewers in Japan contributing to its ridiculous success. Or convince my friends to see it in theaters when it gets its supposed international release.

Part of its success can be attributed to Toho's wide release and marketing though, and, in my opinion, a bit of wish fulfillment for Japan as a whole. Oh, and the rad RADWIMPS OST.

I dislike the label "the next Miyazaki" since that ignores the other talented directors out there and the vastly differing directional styles they offer. (It only works in a western perspective.) The general public is noticing Yamada Naoko too after Koe no Katachi debuted at #2 after the Shinkai monster on a limited release. Shochiku needs to add more screens because it's been selling out to the point where many moviegoers intending to see KnK ended up watching the KimiUso live action instead.

[ce1ticmoon]

I dislike the label "the next Miyazaki" since that ignores the other talented directors out there and the vastly differing directional styles they offer. (It only works in a western perspective.)

I can see where you're coming from in disliking the label, and there sure have been (and still are) a lot of talented directors out there who have established their own style. But I really don't think the label is only a Western thing at all.

Miyazaki has basically really been the only anime film director to become a ubiquitous household name in Japan. His popularity goes leaps and bounds above the rest. I mean, sure, directors like Otomo, Oshii, Anno, Kon, Takahata, etc. are all famous and well-known to varying degrees, but even though they may have projects to their name that are mega-popular, they just don't have the absolute superstar status that Miyazaki has. Miyazaki is as ubiquitous as SMAP or Yamaguchi Momoe or Downtown, or any other top celebrity actor or musician or what-have-you. (Tezuka Osamu is probably just as ubiquitous, but he isn't known as a film director.) And that is one aspect people are looking for when they proclaim that someone is the "next Miyazaki." I've already seen a few Japanese articles use such terminology since the breakout of Your Name, and I'm sure more will follow as the box office totals approach what only even a handful of Miyazaki films have been able to achieve. And if his follow-up achieves similar success, or even half as much, he could very well become the "next Miyazaki" in that sense.

I think the other aspect that people are looking for in "next Miyazaki" is someone who can serve as a spiritual successor. Someone who can write and direct not only quality films, but also films with the whimsical qualities that appeal to absolutely every demographic, appealing beyond children and those who typically view animation. This is something more difficult to fulfill, since most directors have their own sense of style, and trying to mimic the appeal of another artist generally doesn't go over well (Children Who Chase Lost Voices, anyone? lol) This may be more of a Western thing, but I've seen a fair share of Hosoda/Miyazaki comparisons over the years, even in the Japanese context. (Not sure if I had seen Shinkai/Miyazaki comparisons in the Japanese media until now though.)

[kiseki]

Or at least, "the next Miyazaki" should only apply from a western perspective where he's the only anime director embedded in the mainstream conscious, but you make a fair point. It's just that it sounds as silly as "the next Disney" does. Will there only be one "next Miyazaki"? Could the aforementioned Yamada be considered "the next Miyazaki" ten years in the future as the profile of her films become higher and higher? (Would The Red Turtle not have bombed in Japan if Miyazaki was more involved so they could market his name alongside Ghibli's?)

But Shinkai, who has been hailed as the “next Miyazaki” since the 2002 release of “Hoshi no Koe (Voices of a Distant Star)” — an awarding-winning, best-selling sci-fi short he created entirely himself on a Mac — is an extraordinary talent.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/200 ... -cutfArKV8

tl;dr I think the mainstream says some silly things.

For those who live in the UK: http://yournamethemovie.co.uk/

[Sotiris]

Paige O' Hara expressed her disappointment that Disney has abandoned hand-drawn animation.

I'm saddened that we don't have the hand-drawn animation anymore but I understand, financially, that computer generation is so much more feasible for the studios. I would like to see somebody, especially Disney, come back and do at least one more hand-drawn in my lifetime.

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

With Pixar and digital animation now dominating children's films, does O'Hara think the children of the noughties are missing out on the magic those of us who grew up with Ariel, Belle, Jasmine and Mulan came to expect from the hand-drawn film?

"They are great and all the other ones are great," says O'Hara of the Pixar films, "but there’s just a dimension and a soul that I think is missing from them. But that also could be because I’m an artist. I want all those artists at Disney to have a job again."

Source: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-09- ... aige-ohara

[Sotiris]

Animation supervisor Joshua Beveridge talks about the strengths of each medium.

One of the things that's so great about 2D, one of the strengths of traditional animation, is the spontaneity, the expression that only happens once. It's not like it goes over and over again. The strength of CG animation has traditionally been the puppet stays in form, stays structured. Now that line is getting blurrier and blurrier because we're getting better at being pliable, spontaneous and squishy. We really enjoy doing that at Sony.

Source: http://www.awn.com/animationworld/warne ... ies-storks

[Sotiris]

Another reason why Moana couldn't have been done in 2D. First, they told us it was the ocean, then the sculptural faces of the natives, and now Maui's tattoos!

So some things were harder to do in CG that they had to learn, and some things were easier and so much more promising like the ocean. Or creating a character with all those tattoos for example, like Maui, in traditional animation that would be incredible – what we call – pencil mileage. You would just have to draw that over and over and over again. In CG, you create it and now it moves.

Source: https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/why-moana-i ... 30371.html

[estefan]

The way they animated the Magic Carpet in Aladdin would beg to differ. For that character, Randy Cartwright animated the Carpet without his design, which was later added on the computer. So, in the case of Maui, they could animate the character sans tattoos and then then the tattoos would be added later.

[Sotiris]

^That's a good point. Also, Kida and her father from Atlantis had tattoos and they turned out great in 2D animation.

[Kyle]

To be fair there is a difference between static texture mapping and animated tattoos. But yeah, it could have been done in 2d, with the aid of CG like aladdin.

[Jules]

To be fair there is a difference between static texture mapping and animated tattoos. But yeah, it could have been done in 2d, with the aid of CG like aladdin.

It could have been done in 2D even without the aid of CG or texture-mapping! Richard Williams would have no problem I'm sure.

[Disney's Divinity]

Another reason why Moana couldn't have been done in 2D. First, they told us it was the ocean, then the sculptural faces of the natives, and now Maui's tattoos!

These constant "justifications" for why their films aren't hand-drawn come across so desperate to appease their naysayers. They should just give it up, because nobody believes this mess.

[Heil Donald Duck]

The way they animated the Magic Carpet in Aladdin would beg to differ. For that character, Randy Cartwright animated the Carpet without his design, which was later added on the computer. So, in the case of Maui, they could animate the character sans tattoos and then then the tattoos would be added later.

huh, it was done in CGI along with some sequence in cave of wonder.

[Sotiris]

New interview with Andreas Deja. He still seems heartbroken over having to leave Disney.

"I had always hoped I would be there until I died," says Andreas Deja with a chuckle as he reflects on his 30-plus-year tenure at Disney Feature Animation. "Well, maybe not until I died," he says. "At least until I couldn't draw anymore for one reason or another."

And in a manner of speaking, that part came true. Following the release of 2009's The Princess and the Frog, Disney put on hold plans for hand-drawn pictures, preferring to focus on CG animation. Having brought such iconic characters as Jafar, Gaston, Scar and King Triton to life using only pencil and paper, Deja soon opted to move on and continue to make traditional animation on his own terms.

Source: http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/2016/10 ... azine.html

[Disney's Divinity]

I had actually just been watching a bonus feature on Cruella last night with Deja being prominent. It’s sad to think that if hand-drawn animation is your passion career, you really have nowhere to go. What’s even sadder is thinking of how the ‘90s probably inspired a great deal of children to go into hand-drawn animation, only to end up jobless.

[Semaj]

I had actually just been watching a bonus feature on Cruella last night with Deja being prominent. It’s sad to think that if hand-drawn animation is your passion career, you really have nowhere to go. What’s even sadder is thinking of how the ‘90s probably inspired a great deal of children to go into hand-drawn animation, only to end up jobless.

Yup, 2004 was a terrible time to be entering college if you had an eye on animation.

One problem with the current CGI protocol is that there doesn't appear to be a council of senior animators anymore, as was estabished thru Disney's Nine Old Men. And with Andres Deja and Glan Keane among others having left Disney, that line of succession that was created by the Old Men is gone too.

Sure, they have a "think tank" (whatever Disney calls it) that sets the creative course for their features, but who are the top animators that are bringing Anna, Elsa, Hiro, Baymax, Judy, and Nick to life?

[Warm Regards]

It's hard to be a hand-drawn enthusiast when everything in the current job landscape seems to be against hand drawn animators.

In order to remain marketable,you need to do 3D/ CGI, but even that is cut throat.

I legitimately want to help bring back hand drawn in the states after college (got about a year left.)

I just wonder if the cause is worth fighting for at this point.

[DisneyEra]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking of taking a break from Animated Features next spring "til July's D23 that is".

[Sotiris]

How do we know 2D animation is doomed? Realistic fur on characters is literally a big selling point nowadays.