WALL-E upgraded his hardware from a Los Angeles Film Critic’s Award to an Oscar with a win for Best Animated Feature Film at the 81st Annual Academy Awards, proving that a sufficiently strong start can overcome a weak finish. 
Congratulations to the folks at Pixar on Y.A.L. (Yet Another Laurel)!
And kudos to Kunio Kato for “La Maison En Petits Cubes’” win in the Best Animated Short Film category.
Two pieces of Motown news, breaking on almost the same day.
The first is that Detroit was named by Forbes as the 7th most miserable city in America for 2008 (down a half-dozen notches from first place in 2007, at least). Of course, I hail from #4 (Cleveland), my brother lives in #3 (Chicago), my maternal relatives are snow-bound in #8 (Buffalo), and I currently reside in Beijing (which was only spared from the list because it’s not in America). So I’m laughing “with”, not “at”.
The second piece of news is excerpted from Crain’s Detroit Business and features one of my earliest stateside consulting clients, Wonderstruck Animation Studios:
LANSING - The State of The State address was another stem winder, full of emotional ups and downs. Governor Jennifer Granholm laid out the bleak situation the state finds itself in, saying it will get worse
before it gets better.“Things will get better,” Granholm said.
She laid out her plans to diversify the economy while modernizing the auto industry, and talked about growing new industries, like the movie business. It was announced earlier Motown Movies will convert a Pontiac truck plant into a studio, but she announced two others last night.
“Wonderstruck Animation Studios will invest $86 million to build a new studio in Detroit. Stardock Systems, a digital gaming manufacturer, will build its production facilities in Plymouth,” Granholm announced.
But it may have just been the pep talk. The real game plan will not be revealed until Granholm delivers her proposed budget to lawmakers next week.
A separate article by Crain’s reporter Bill Shea offers more details on the planned Detroit animation studio:
The vacant Detroit building formerly used as MGM Grand’s temporary casino will be transformed this year into an $86 million Hollywood-style digital animation and visual effects studio directly employing more than 400 people.
The Detroit Center Studios is a partnership between Wonderstruck Studios L.L.C. owned by film and video game deal-maker Michele Richards, a Detroit native, and Los Angeles-based real estate developers SHM Partners.
The state today awarded the project a 12-year, $16.9 million Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit and an $11.7 million infrastructure credit under the state’s new film incentive laws.
Detroit also is considering property tax abatements.
The deal calls for the studio to begin operation this year, with 413 direct and 287 indirect jobs.
Terms and financing were not released.
The site is owned by MGM, but it’s unclear if the film studio will buy or lease the facility, which will include sound stages, offices, screening rooms, a commissary, editing bays and other film infrastructure.
“It will be everything a filmmaker needs to come to Michigan and be well taken care of,” Richards said, adding that the project expects to use “every square inch” of the MGM site.
MGM bought and extensively renovated an old 75,000-square-foot Internal Revenue Service building along the Lodge Freeway to house its temporary casino until the new gaming facility opened in October 2007.
The film facility is being modeled on Los Angeles Center Studios, a SHM Partners project that turned an old Unocal headquarters into a modern studio, she said.
“It’s a very similar model, where you take a building not in use with similar infrastructure and some land that works just well enough,” she said.
The Detroit studio will be used for Wonderstruck’s digital animation and graphics work and for outside projects that need film production facilities.
The effort also will include a workforce training program aimed at engineers, artists and others already familiar with 3-D software applications, Richards said.
The studio also will bring in veteran Hollywood professionals with experience at Dreamworks, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, she added.
Richards said she was involved in the worldwide marketing and distribution of the popular “Guitar Hero” video games, and a number of straight-to-video animated features.
Not involved in the effort is Richards’ husband John, who is head of worldwide creative for Warner Home Entertainment.
She declined to name the other principals, but said none at this point are from Michigan.
About a dozen other sites were considered by settling on the MGM property, she said, without naming any of the locations.
“We felt like most of them would take a long time to bring to market,” she said.
Opening a new animation studio is a tough row to hoe, especially in these economically challenging times. Yet, the very financial woes which have put so many animators out of work in Los Angeles and the Bay Area may in fact work to the advantage of Detroit, which - let’s face it - is not the most appealing geographic draw.
Governor Granholm continues the trend of many state leaders who offer economic incentives to bring film work into their backyards on the promise of job creation - hoping to exchange their rust belts for money belts. The carrot seems to be attracting the companies, but will the talent follow suit?
Perhaps. Where else can you buy a house for a dollar?
The Animation Options “Independent Animated Feature Film Development & Production Plan” has been updated, with additional checklist items added to take you from post-production through delivery. Check it out, and check ‘em off.
This and other handy aids for independent animation producers can be found on the Animation Options “Resources” page.
Things can’t be too cheerful right now at Disney Animation Studios. It’s bad enough that the artists have had to endure ongoing layoffs, increased hours and pay cuts. But now, while waiting for the other shoe to drop after the unfortunate box office performance of “Bolt”, they’ve had that shoe thrown at them by “Disney Legend” Floyd Norman, the Andy Rooney of animation, who writes the following for mouse-dropping-sniffer Jim Hill:
What can Walt Disney Animation Studios do to save itself? Ditch digital
I’m going to apologize in advance for today’s column because I’m sure that it’s going to make a lot of people angry. I have a plan that some might call radical. But it’s a plan that I’m afraid we need. Tough times demand tough decisions, and here’s one to consider: Get rid of digital animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Yep. I said it. I think that WDAS should stop producing CG animated features and should instead concentrate on reviving hand-drawn animation.
Now, lest you think this is some kind of impassioned plea about the “purity” of hand-drawn animation — think again. This is not some geeky, fan boy rant about which is the better cartoon medium. Far from it. This is pure business stuff. Corporate strategy, some might call it. Tough things that you gotta do when running a business during tough times.
Animation has been going through a fair amount of turmoil over the past few years. Some “business geniuses” had the bright idea that animation was going through a paradigm shift. This was all because a new tool had been invented. A tool that gave us the ability to move objects in a computer. According to these suits, this brilliant new tool was what would move animation moving to the next level. Hand-drawn animation had reached its limit, they said. Digital animation was the new paradigm. Hand-drawn was dead, and rightly so.
Hold on a second. If hand-drawn animation is outmoded and passé, then how do you explain Disney’s ability to continue to sell “Pinocchio,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Peter Pan” in every new technology that comes along? How many times has Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment repackaged & resold the Company’s old hand-drawn features on DVD with new added features or new digital transfers?
Kids watch these movies over & over again not because of the film-making technology involved, but because they’re good. The problem here isn’t with the mode — it’s with the message. The reason that any one film fails at the box office isn’t because of the technology. It’s all about whether the stories are any good; whether the characters resonate with an audience. We have to care whether the hero wins and the villain loses. Unbelievably, it’s as simple as that.
So you see, this is not really a discussion of the merits of one film production method over another. Each has its points and that’s perfectly fine. I embrace both, of course, with the nod going to hand-drawn. But then again, that’s just me. However, we’re not here to discuss art. We’re here to talk business.
Serious question now: Does The Walt Disney Company really need a digital animation studio? You bet your megabytes they do. Luckily, they own the finest digital animation studio in the world. A company that consistently turns out some of the greatest animated features ever produced, and will — in all likelihood — continue to do so. Now comes the next tough business question: Are two such studios really a legitimate need?
The trouble is, Walt Disney Animation Studios is already getting lost in the crowd. That’s the problem with digital animation. There’s nothing that truly distinguishes one film from another. At one time, WDAS was unique. It was the premiere animation studio in the world. It was what everybody who aspired to be an animator wanted to work. Walt Disney, along with his incredible staff, set the standard and raised the bar so high, competitors could only dream of hopefully coming close. Once the leader in a business it completely dominated, Walt Disney Animation Studios is now reduced to playing catch up.
Walt never followed the competition. He was always too busy leading
In this ever-growing field of animated films from numerous competitors both foreign and domestic, The Walt Disney Company still has a hole card. A card that’s evident even now as work continues on WDAS’ first hand-drawn animated feature in years. A movie that could restore Walt Disney Animation Studios’ identity and remind audiences around the world that the Company they remember from their childhood is still very much alive. That it is already beginning to awaken from a deep digital slumber like some beautiful princess in a fairy tale.
Once again, this is not an artistic discussion. This is not a debate over which medium is more viable, or what audiences prefer. This is a business decision that will be made one day, and that day is quickly approaching.
From time to time, I’ve taken heat from angry CG guys for being too critical of their recent movie efforts. Most seem to think I was beating up on them because I had a vested interest in hand-drawn animated features. In truth, I was never taking issue with the medium — rather the poor films that were being made. I have little doubt that — with today’s column — I’ll once again be accused of “computer bashing.” As nervous technicians fear future downsizing and the loss of their jobs.
That said, I still think that it’s time that Walt Disney Animation Studios grew up. It’s time that WDAS realized that it’s not the cool young kid on the block anymore. Get over it! So you’re not young, hip, or cool. Big deal. You’re still the great grand-daddy of feature animation. And that’s a very good thing to be. In fact, that may wind up being the very thing that saves Walt Disney Animation Studios.
So what to do? I think that WDAS should capitalize on its own historic legacy, remind would-be moviegoers of those not-so-distant days when hand-drawn animation was still considered magical. When the animators who worked at Disney were looked upon as artists. And it took decades — not months — to master this craft.
Finally, I have a question for all you executives and managers who keep looking at the bottom line. Which do you think is more expensive? Software and workstations or pencils and paper? Servers and digital infrastructure or wooden desks? Yeah, I know. There’s always digital post, but you get the idea.
Hand-drawn traditional animation is Disney’s past. But it can also be Disney’s future. What Walt Disney Animation Studios really needs to do is lead a modern renaissance of hand-drawn animation.
And when they do that … Guess what? The magic — because it is magic — will return.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation (back when it was known as such) for 12 years, and that I am one of the “angry CG guys” that Mr. Norman has “taken heat” from in the past. Far be it from me to argue with a legend, but my Achilles heel is that I just can’t abide flawed reasoning - especially when it is presented in the guise of an objective, authoritative view that is in reality motivated by ignorance and prejudice.
Does Disney have its problems? Yes. Did the poor box office performance of “Bolt” help the case of the digital artists? No. Does it sting to have paid $7.4 billion dollars for a “quick fix” that is nowhere in sight? Unquestionably. Are the days of digital production at Disney Animation Studios numbered? Probably.
But shuttering digital on Riverside won’t “save Disney”, as Mr. Norman (and everyone else) will realize once it comes to pass. What will save Disney is a return to the fine storytelling tradition forged by Walt, fumbled by Eisner and intercepted by Lasseter. And the restoration of that tradition takes time, as someone who lionizes decades-long animation apprenticeships should know.
For someone who observes (correctly) that…
The reason that any one film fails at the box office isn’t because of the technology. It’s all about whether the stories are any good; whether the characters resonate with an audience. We have to care whether the hero wins and the villain loses. Unbelievably, it’s as simple as that.
…Mr. Norman spends an awful lot of time explaining how the expulsion of a particular media will solve Disney’s problems. Huh? I’m confused. If it’s the “message” and not the “mode”, then why are we focusing on the mode? Is it because the author of the article is a story guy, and that the real problem cuts too close to home? Or is it because of thinly-veiled prejudices, revealed through references to digital artists as “nervous technicians” (akin to someone claiming to have nothing against minorities because they respect “those people”)? Will shuttering digital help pull “Rapunzel” out of its seven-year story spiral? Doubt it.
Time will tell how audiences respond to Disney’s new 2-D effort, “The Princess and the Frog”. I hope it does well, and I hope the powers-that-be don’t make another snap decision on a par with the short-lived “traditional is dead” pronouncement. Mr. Norman likes to dress up his opinions in terms of a hard-nosed business stance, so let’s examine a few of these:
Hand-drawn animation can truly be part of Disney’s future, but not as some “old-timey” relic of days gone by. As anyone who actually saw “Bolt” can attest, Disney Animation Studios has quite a bit to offer the digital world - a benefit not only to the folks up at Emeryville but also to the colleagues with pencils behind their ears down the hall in Burbank. Walt was not one to shy away from new technology, and never one to give up and concede defeat. Something every Disney Legend should know.
My best wishes for future success to ALL the fine artists at Walt Disney Animation Studios!
KG
Congratulations to DreamWorks Animation Studio and the “Kung Fu Panda” crew for their display of pure awesomeness at the 36th annual Annie Awards!
By taking 14 out of 24 voting categories in this prestigious animation industry event, the Dragon Warrior puts WALL-E on notice that he may not be adding an Oscar to his hardware collection this year.
