Did the Internet Save Traditional Animation?

by Brendan Lopez

Since the success of Disney's collaboration with Pixar Animation Studio on 1995’s Toy Story, computer animated technology has become increasingly popular. It has paved the way for such modern classics as Disney and Pixar’s 2003's Finding Nemo and Dreamwork’s Shrek series, which is probably somehow breaking new sales records at this very moment. But with such success comes a notable downside: many traditional animation departments, such as Disney’s Orlando-based team, have shut down or limited their operations over the years, citing the popularity and cost effectiveness of computer-animation as primary reasons. However, there still exists a fraction of the population that longs for a return to traditional animation, which essentially means the hand-drawn cell-based techniques that were made famous in films like Disney's The Little Mermaid and Fantasia. For fans of traditional animation, the Internet has come to represent a last vestige of hope.

Humble Beginnings

The first hard-drawn animations were little more than humorous experiments utilizing emerging film technology. In 1906, silent film producer and friend of Thomas Edison, J. Stuart Blackton, created Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, a three-minute short that many believe is the first animated film.

Over the course of the next few decades, cartoons found a home preceding feature films. Much like the animated television series of today, these shorts often featured a recurring central character whose exploits garnered widespread fame/infamy. In 1928, Walt Disney created his first cartoon using synchronized sound, a major breakthrough in the transition toward "Talkies" - motion pictures with consistently synchronized sound and visuals. Disney's cartoon, entitled Steamboat Willie, introduced the world to a character that would remain a public icon for years to come. That character was Mickey Mouse.

Several years after Steamboat, Disney achieved great success with his first feature length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937). The film was heralded as both a children's classic and a technical masterpiece. Even while non-Disney characters like Porky Pig and Popeye were gaining mainstream popularity, Disney was pioneering the industry. By releasing annual and bi-annual animated films with consistently beautiful artwork and storytelling, he gained a monopoly on the animated market.

Changing Tides

As decades passed, Disney’s annual animated feature became a tradition for families all over the world. Meanwhile, starting in the 1960’s Saturday mornings became the home of four-hour blocks of animated programming, produced in bulk by companies like Filmation Associates and Hanna-Barbera Productions. Saturday mornings often consisted of older cartoons, as well, like Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny, which originally played in movie theaters. The golden age of Saturday morning cartoons had significantly faded by the 1990s, at which point computer technology had already advanced to a point where new and exciting effects could easily be added to the animated world. (For the sake of brevity, I’m obviously skipping over many of the twists and turns in the history of animation.) Films like Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992) incorporated computer generated images that synthesized hand-drawn animation cells with virtual three-dimensional objects. The popularity of such digital capabilities resulted in continued experimentation. Pixar Animation Studio partnered with Disney in 1991 to create Toy Story, the first fully computer animated feature film.

Costing $30 million to produce and grossing over $350 million worldwide, Toy Story was a huge success and a sign of things to come. And so, not surprisingly, Disney pressed onward with its plans to focus on computer-animated films, leaving traditional 2-D animation by the wayside.

The shift towards computer-generated imagery (CGI) left many traditional animators either looking for work or desperately trying to adopt new skill sets. Hollywood’s output was admirable for a while, with films such as Antz (1998), A Bug’s Life (1998), Iron Man (1999), and Shrek (2001) hitting theaters in only a three-year span. But Hollywood’s focus continued to shift, creating more and more films that looked tremendous on the screen, but lacked in their narratives, and catered almost exclusively to younger audiences. The magic of Toy Story, its ability to connect with disparate audiences on a narrative and visual level, started to get lost in the scuffle. Films like Osmosis Jones (2001) and Shark Tale (2004), for example, weren’t exactly breaking new ground.

Revitalization

After Disney announced that it was closing its traditional animation branch in 2004, fans of the genre were devastated. The same company that had popularized the genre had officially turned its back on it. Even on television, popular 2-D shows like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Spongebob Squarepants integrated computer generated images to the point of inextricability. Fans of traditional animation were pretty much left with no place to turn but the Internet.

Now, due to the ease of uploading videos, anyone with a love for animation can easily share their stories with the rest of the world. While its true that computers are generally involved with even the most basic of hand-drawn animations, a new wave of animators is reminding people of the beauty inherent in traditional 2-D styles. One of the most successful 2-D animated series, and a personal favorite of mine, is Homestar Runner. The series tracks the adventures of a dorky armless jogger named Homestar and his ever-arrogant companion, Strongbad. Homestar cartoons combine flash technology with traditional 2-D images, resulting in a clever homage to the wit and slapstick of Warner Brothers' classic Looney Tunes franchise.

Happy Tree Friends is another web-based series that alludes to old school cartoon styles, but with decidedly more violent results.

The Internet’s accessibility allows even the artistically challenged to find acclaim with their web animations. Take, for example, the hugely popular End of Ze World:

Do these examples mean that the future of traditional animation is secure? Probably not. But the Internet ensures virtually limitless possibilities of expression, and if the desire to produce traditionally animated stories exists, so does a home for those stories. But still, the self-publishing nature of the Internet is a mixed bag for content creators: with so many people uploading content to sites like Youtube and Vimeo, it’s nearly impossible to stand out from the crowds – even if the content justifies it. While this means it’s increasingly difficult to discover the "Soulja Boy" or "sxephil" of online animation (ie, the next "big" thing), the high burden to visibility/success has a valuable, and probably not unintended, consequence. Content creators are forced to realize the necessity of pushing their technical and narrative envelopes, so to speak, to the most extreme limits. This translates, at least in theory, to better quality online animation, 2D and otherwise. And perhaps this signifies a more secure future for the genre.

Concurrent to the new success of online animated web series, Disney and Pixar released a 2-D animated short in 2006 that featured traditional animation. The short, entitled The Little Matchgirl, was meant to be a part of a Fantasia sequel that was never completed. With no hope of theatrical release, low and behold, it found its way online. In this rare intersection between Hollywood and 2-D web animation, Matchgirl amassed a substantial fan base, online and offline, and was even nominated for a 2006 Academy Award.

The Future

The fight for traditional animation, at least on the Hollywood level, remains an uphill battle. It’s seen by most in Hollywood as a fixture of a bygone era - great for trips down memory lane, not always so great for maximizing profits. The only traditionally animated films that received a general release in Europe and the US in the past few years were Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, both out of Japan’s Studio Ghibli. Sure, both films were almost universally hailed by critics, but they didn’t exactly bring in Shrek-tacular numbers at the box office. And of course, money is what makes the world go round. Well, money and debt. And I guess love. But mainly money and debt.

While traditional animation departments in Hollywood have most likely already seen their days in the sun, it’s noteworthy that in 2006, shortly after Matchgirl made its way online, John Lassiter (director of Toy Story, Creative Chief Officer at Pixar) reinstated Disney’s traditional animation department. If this past summer’s The Simpsons Movie and Kung Fu Panda are any indication, perhaps we can settle for an integrated approach to animation in coming years, taking the best of old and fusing it with the best of new.

And even if this isn’t the case, if ten years from now all animated films will consist of CGI from head to toe, at least we can take solace in the fact that there’s always the Internet. And at the end of the day, a bad CGI film with a talking zoo animal is usually better than anything else at the local theater.

---