To Pixar or not to Pixar

[sneaky_d]

First of all, hello! I've only just signed up recently (although I am signed up to the 3DBuzz forums as Redwood, anyone who cross-commutes from there).

I was wondering where you guys think 3D animation is going, in the years to come? Are we going to see a continuation of the Pixar/Dreamworks thing, where major compnaies produce one or two feature films in a decade, or are things going to get a lot more home-orientated?

My personal dream is to setup my own professional home animation studio and get paid for producing short animations :)

snekay_d

[FutureMan]

I think that the big money will stay with the major studios, although I think the real innovative stuff won't be done by the huge studios, it'll be done by the single person doing stuff in there spare time. That kind of dedication comes through in the work, also most of the groundbreaking inventions weren't from large corporations, they're from ordinary people working to perfect an idea.

Also the interesting stories aren't going to come from the studio system, I for one don't care if some stupid midwestern market group moron doesn't get it or can't pay attention for more than 20 sec without an explosion. The dumbing down of great stories only leads to the same remakes\"reworkings" of old or foreign films. The idea that major studios can just steal complete stories is outrageous. As well that most people don't notice or don't care is horrible. So I think any of the great works won't come from within the studio system, they may get the funding from the studios. The singular driving vision of an artist is what can truly make a great film\story.

So yes I think the future is in the "independent" side of the business. The art should be the most important thing.

If you want to see a good animation from a guy doing his own project on his own time in between freelance work check out, www.lotsofrobots.com

Good luck on your productions!

[sneaky_d]

If you're interested in someone doing their own thing online, check out www.rustboy.com - I'm sure you probably have already seen it, but it's an example of an excellent animation that was originally being produced in his own time (think it has some money becking it up now).

That's where I'd like to be in a couple of years; with an animation contract and a system to produce the work on :)

Anyone else's thoughts? Will studios stay pretty much stuck in a rut and rehashing old stories, or will we see some innovation? As far as I can see, story seems to be the thing that can get left by the wayside in some big feature productions. Treasure Planet is Disney's biggest flop, Lilo & Stitch was a good new style from them but I wasn't too sure about the story. Shrek is probably the best example of studio innovation I can see, when the Smashmouth song kicked off the film after that fairytale intro I got a huge smile on my face - good film.

[Papaya]

That man has pure talent, and I hope to be in his shoes one day!!

[FutureMan]

I have to agree that the story of Lilo and Stitch was severely lacking.

I also most say that I thought Shrek was overhyped and not that funny. Only had a couple of laughs in it.

However I wasn't the main target audience.

[GooGooCluster]

Lotofrobots is awsome. I have been following his work for a while. I think thats its great that he can make his own music, and the way that it goes with the animation is remarkable. Have you guys seen the Animatrix Preview at dreamcatcher. I didnt think the movie was all that good but the animatrix movie before it made it worth the money. Great work there.

As for pixar I hope some new stuff come out soon. Seems that it has been a while since any totally CG movies have come out.

[Emperor]

There is a man I would like to point out bringing alot to the world of animation. Working with a cheap program...although very powerful call d Animation Master this guy brought us the badass Jack "the Killer" Bean. I now await for the third installement of the series. Im also thinking about buying that double DVD he has made about animation. He started experimenting in 3d just like most of us do. An ordinary guy with a dream. And now he works at animation projects like leadeing the animation team for Matrix Reloaded. For more on Jeffry Lew visit his site http://www.jefflew.com . BTW...if ya aint seen Killer Bean part 2 I suggest u ddloaded and have 7 minutes of animation bliss :D!

Yea I think that even though the money will always be with hte big fishes...its somehow always the small fish that makes the biggest impression on people :D!

[sneaky_d]

It seems to me that home studio is really where the innovation will come from personally - I'm not sure how true to life the stereotypical image of the big production studios is; the men in suits controlling everything and producing the tie-in toys before the modellers even finish their work.

The Cathedral (can't remember who made it) was a nice innovative short animation and I guess that's where the magic comes from.

What kind of futures do you guys see in the animation business? Are you aiming at games, joining up with the big boys, or doing FX work?

sneaky_d

[FutureMan]

I envision myself mainly creating my own stuff, but I guess I would do some freelance stuff if it came along and I liked the project. Although I don't like to give up control so I wouldn't last to long doing most freelance work. Of course this won't be for a while, at least until I get a better grip on max, maybe a couple hundred more hours and I'd have a pretty good grasp.

Also I like to use max to tinker with some "inventions" I've got floating around the drawing board. Cheaper in time rather than building a prototype if I don't have everything flushed out; also I can't draw!

I thought Cathedral was a great animation, very nice lighting effects. The one scene reminded me a little of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship, where they are in the mines of Moria escaping, but I liked that part of the movie too.

Haven't seen The ChubbChubbs, but I thought it should have won the Oscar instead.

[sneaky_d]

At the moment I'm considering getting some architechtural work - creating visualisations for an interior designer I know who owns his own business. It seems like a smart way to get some money in before I try and get some serious film-making underway, and might pay my way through the last year of university.

I guess in terms of outlet here in the UK for short films we are kind of limited - only 2 terrestrial channels here would even look twice at single short animations, and they are BBC2 (home of The Simpsons) and Channel 4 (South Park, King Of The Hill etc.). Notice that none of these are in anyway CG - although Futurama (greatly underrated in my opinion) did feature some CG stuff.

Is CG really expensive? I've been researching this a little bit and my costings come to about £10K. That's for 3DSMax and Character Studio, Brazil r/s, Photoshop 7 and a high-end workstation from Amari. I don't even know what kind of pay an animator would get. Anyone got any tips on this?

sneaky_d

Edit: Just wanted to point out that the costings are for setting up a home production studio for 3D animation.