Sunday, September 04, 2011

Hybrid

Not another combined feature with live-action and animation, but a studio partnership ...

India's Crest Animation Studios has “entered into an understanding to form a joint venture” with U.S.-based animation and FX studio Reel FX to coproduce 10 films over eight years. ... [T]he objective of the JV is to finance and produce a slate of ten CGI animated/hybrid feature films over a period of seven or eight years. The films will be developed by top talent in Hollywood under the supervision of Cary Granat, ex CEO of Walden Media.

Yeah, the piece above is a few weeks old, but it triggers a thought ...

The first joint animated project in which Crest was involved was last year's Alpha and Omega, with Lionsgate. Like the new slate of features, AO was aimed at the global marketplace. Unfortunately ...

Worldwide gross: Alpha and Omega -- $50,507,267

You can't produce a picture for twenty or thirty or forty million dollars, toss in an equal amount for prints and advertising, and come out smelling like a rare and precious flower with a $50 million gross. Your fragrance will be closer to a homeless ex-studio executive who's been lying in the gutter too long.

As a grizzled animation veteran who's worked at studios on both coasts and overseas expressed to me:

"It's not enough to have the right hardware and software. And it won't work if you have hard-working beginners that can move characters around but not really animate. Plus you can't just have people who throw drawings up on a cork-board or onto a Cintiq and have a feature that works. You have to own staff with some real production experience, know-how and talent ..."

Which is often easier to advocate and propose than actually do. I've had more than a few people who claim to know tell me that India has a sub-contracting culture with a lot of creative and quality problems, and that China -- building animation "centers" like mad -- is ten to twenty years behind India.

As I've noted previously, there are lots of talented Indians and plenty of top-flight Chinese artists and technicians. But based on current evidence, their home countries aren't nurturing the high flyers required to make the Chinese and Indian animation industries take off. What's required is a mind-set that aspires to quality and innovation. I don't think they're close to that yet.

And partner Reel FX, which has had a development studio in Santa Monica these last few years, will shortly be closing the shop down and moving the whole enterprise back to Dallas, Texas. (Not a real swift move, in my opinion, because they're removing themselves from a dynamic talent pool. But I'm sure they have their reasons.)

In the fullness of time, we'll see how the Crest-Reel FX marriage plays out.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

No but it doesn't kill the studio and you live to fight another day (the average across several films means more for which you have to still be there) with experience in feature production and distribution, which is still not so widespread.

50 MM against 40 MM spent isn't a stinker compared to Battle for Terra, Hoodwinked 2, Astroboy or Everyone's Hero

Why so gleeful ? you realise all the pre was done in LA using LA people ... if it does well there's a lot more work there for US employees compared to weinstein going bust (recall Doogal ?) or a canadian feature where no american artists get to work.

Steve Hulett said...

Why so gleeful? ...

Reciting facts isn't glee.

TAG has a contract with Rich-Crest Animation, where the pre-production was done. At the time of pre-production, I had a conversation with Rich Rich about it.

Good on Rich-Crest for doing the board work, but if the picture didn't perform, it didn't perform.

Anonymous said...

Btw, Steve how is Richard Rich? He hasn't given an interview in ages.

Is he happy with the direction Crest animation is taking and the projects it has in development?

How was it for him the jump from hand-drawn to computer animation? Does he actually enjoy working on CG films? Was he pleased with the final product of "Alpha & Omega"? How much say or input does he have over these movies?

You should consider interviewing him. :-)

Anonymous said...

This is old news--reissued to boost interest in Crest. Another company that doesn't know much about--or even likes animation--getting into the business. Hope this reminds artists that they should look out for themselves first.

And please--no more rich rich cartoons. Not until he learns to make a film worth watching on any level.

Anonymous said...

It's funny how some people try to pass their opinion as fact.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I really enjoyed "The Swan Princess".

Anonymous said...

Well, there's always one person. It's the best drag show since La Cage Au Faux, only without such a compelling story or characters. Or good taste. Or good design. Or good animation.

Anonymous said...

It did, however, have great clean up and assistant animation.

Anonymous said...

Hey, ReelFX has "Visioneers" on staff so they'll do just fine :)

Anonymous said...

What the hell is a "visioneer?" A guy who makes watches with child labor in Asia and sells them at outrageous markups around the world?

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