Monday Walkaround

Spent part of the morning at Nickelodeon Studios -- where everything is steady as she goes (meaning that the various shows Nick has in work are moving briskly through the pre-production pipeline) and the afternoon, as is my wont, at Disney...

I ran into another senior animator in the hat building's hall. He seriously doubts that Frog Princess will be heavily outsourced. "None of the talk that I've heard has run that way. Management's asking who they can get who's good, and can do the work." A supervisor on the second floor said much the same thing: "It doesn't make sense to me that they'd sub-contract a picture they want to prove will succeed. Quality issues are too important..."

I look at it this way: Supposing you were part of a new management team eager to prove that hand-drawn animation was viable, and its success was important to your reputation; would you farm a big chunk of it out where you couldn't control it? I don't thiiink so.

I got a peek at the new "Disney Animation Studio" logo that will run in front of the animated features coming out of Burbank. (Pixar, of course, has its own logo with -- the jumping lamp.) The Disney version is classy, involves a couple of well-known corporate trade marks, and is understated. I liked it.