Variety spells it out:
Last week, 20th Century Fox became the first studio to cross the $1 billion mark in foreign box office revenues this year, thanks to the larger-than-life opening of 3-D toon "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." ...
The thing of it is, all these domestically-produced animated features (Up, Bolt, MvA, Shrek, Madagascar ...) keep pulling in sizable dollars around the globe, which, like it or not, reinforces the corporate strategy of "doing high-end animation in the States" as the Conventional Wisdom of Hollywood. (Actually, this has been CW for a while now.)
Until a number of foreign-produced animated features do equivalent world-wide business, I don't see production switching to Mumbai or Shanghai. It makes minimal business sense to pivot away from the pools of talent that continually deliver ...
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I think there was a time when clerical workers did not think their jobs could be contracted out, much less to other countries. But their jobs went away, like so many others, including those in the animation field. There will come a time when stories written in other countries will make billions of dollars, and the film and TV business will be truly global.
It's already happened a little (Happy Feet was a worldwide hit.
It just hasn't happened a lot.
The amount of money that has been spent trying to build and staff 'cheap' overseas studios that can replace work done in California is staggering, and far greater than most imagine. Most of these efforts have also included efforts at training up the local animators, and seeding the staffs with established talent. None of these efforts have come close to working.
Clerical workers were replaced by people who could speak good English. That was the sole criteria, aside from good phone service. The requirements for a good, feature quality animator are just a tad higher.
All it takes is a little education and a modicum of talent. And, the world is full of talented people.
Outsourcing is already happening, but most of it for non-essential animation frames. Things like animation key frames, story, etc. are done in the US while in-betweens for non-critical pieces are outsourced.
All it takes is a little education and a modicum of talent.
Spoken by someone who clearly has no idea how hard it is to become a competent character animator.
just press the "animate" button and that's all it takes, right?....
r.
well he is right - education , talent and hard work is what it takes to become an animator -
Talent and hardwork is global - Education is developing across the world - and the infrastructure too - slowly
Culture is factor not being considered. If all you see growing up is "anime", guess what your animation is gonna look like. That is, if your parents allow you to choose animation as a career instead of medicine or law.
Besides, there are more astronauts than there are competent character animators.
r
well he is right - education , talent and hard work is what it takes to become an animator.
No, what he said was, All it takes is a little education and a modicum of talent.
I do feature animation, and I also teach it. A "little" education isn't close to sufficient. A "modicum" of talent also won't do it. What paltry teaching goes on in most low-wage countries is designed to take people who have zero experience and training, and get them doing functional out-source animation.
And r. is correct, in many countries Anime is so dominant that even good trainees can't see what we're talking about when it comes to quality character animation.
What paltry teaching goes on in most low-wage countries is designed to take people who have zero experience and training, and get them doing functional out-source animation.
If it weren't for schools like Gobelins, I would agree with you. But eventually they will all catch up...it is only a matter of time.
So, you can keep shaking your head and saying it won't happen until one day it sneaks up on you or you can be proactive and find a way to capitalize on it somehow.
Your choice.
If it weren't for schools like Gobelins, I would agree with you.
I specifically mentioned the education in low-wage countries. Gobelins in hardly in a low-wage country.
France has produced excellent animators for many years. Interestingly, French studios also haven't cracked the world-wide theatrical animation market, but that's another subject.
We're talking about low-cost outsource animation destinations taking high-end jobs away from California, and Gobelins isn't part of that equation. So I'm still shaking my head. I'm not being complacent -- I work damned hard to stay ten steps ahead of the best India and China have to offer. And because I'll keep working that hard, I'm not losing any sleep about imaginary wolves at the door.
Funny how Gobelins is refferred to, and at the same time, ignoring how expensive it is to go to that school.
BTW. excellent school, apparently.
r.
I think you misread the above posts. No one suggested that Gobelins is cheap. Someone mistakenly cited Gobelins in their counter argument, and they were corrected. The expense and exclusivity of schools like Gobelins strengthens the argument that it won't be so easy for all the animation work to end up in India or China.
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