Animation studio
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced. They also own rights over merchandising and creative rights for characters created/held by the company, much like authors holding copyrights. In some early cases, they also held patent rights over methods of animation used in certain studios that were used for boosting productivity. Overall, they are business concerns and can function as such in legal terms.
Currently there are about 200 animation studios dedicated to the production and distribution of animated films that are active. They can be either actual production houses or corporate entities. Many of these animation studios help with the fulfillment of animation works for big brand names and have carried out outsourced projects including Nemo.
American studios
Winsor McCay was widely renowned as the father of the animated cartoon, having converted his cartoon strip Little Nemo into a 10-minute feature film, co-directing it along with J. Stuart Blackton, released on April 8, 1911.[1] However, the idea of a studio dedicated to animating cartoons was spearheaded by Raoul Barré and his studio, Barré Studio, co-founded with Bill Nolan, beating out the studio created by J.R. Bray,Bray Productions, to the honour of the first studio dedicated to animation.[2]
Though beaten to the post of being the first studio, Bray's studio employee, Earl Hurd, came up with patents designed for mass-producing the output for the studio. As Hurd did not file for these patents under his own name, but handed them to Bray, they would go on to form the Bray-Hurd Patent Company and sold these techniques for royalties to other animation studios of the time. The patents for animation systems using drawings on transparent celluloid sheets and a registration system that kept images steady were held under this firm. Bray also developed the basic division of labor still used in animation studios (animators, assistants, layout artists, etc.).[3]
The biggest name in animation studios during this early time was Disney Brothers Animation Studio (now known asWalt Disney Animation Studios), co-founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney. Started on October 16, 1923, the studio went on to make its first animated short, Steamboat Willie in 1928, to much critical success,[4] though the real breakthrough was in 1937, when the studio was able to produce a full-length animated feature film i.e. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which laid the foundation for other studios to try to make full length movies.[5] In 1932 Flowers and Trees, a production by Walt Disney Productions and United Artists, won the firstAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[6] This period, from the 1920s to the 1950s or sometimes considered from 1911 to the death of Walt Disney in 1966, is commonly known as the Golden Age of American Animation as it included the growth of Disney, as well as the rise ofWarner Bros. and MGM as prominent animation studios.[7] Disney continued to lead in technical prowess among studios for a long time afterwards, as can be seen with their achievements. In 1941, Otto Messmer created the first animated television commercials for Botany Tie ads/weather reports. They were shown on NBC-TV in New York until 1949.[5] This marked the first forays of animation designed for the smaller screen and was to be followed by the first animated series specifically made for television, Crusader Rabbit, in 1948.[8] Its creator, Alex Anderson, had to create the studio 'Television Arts Productions' specifically for the purpose of creating this series as his old studio, Terrytoons, refused to make a series for television. Since Crusader Rabbit however, many studios have seen this as a profitable enterprise and many have entered the made for television market since, with Bill Hanna refining the production process for television animation on his show Ruff and Reddy. It was in 1958 that the The Huckleberry Hound Show claimed the title of being the first all new half-hour cartoon show. This, along with their previous success with the series Tom and Jerry, elevated Hanna's animation studio, Hanna-Barbera Productions, to dominate the North American television animation market during the latter half of the 20th Century.[9]
In 2002, Shrek,[10] produced by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Since then, Disney/Pixar have produced the most number of movies either to win or be nominated for the award.
Direct-to-video market
Direct-to-video animation has seen a rise, as a concept, in the Western markets. With many comic characters receiving their versions of OVA's, original video animations, under the Westernized title of direct-to-video animations, the OVA market has spread to American animation houses. Though the term direct-to-video carries negative connotations in the North American and European markets, their popularity has resulted in comic characters ranging from Hellboy, Green Lantern: First Flight and Ultimate Avengers, to television shows such as Family Guy and Futurama, all releasing direct to video animations under the animation studio moniker. DC Comics have even unveiled their own direct to video studio, producing animated movies for the sole purpose of sale in the direct-to-video market, under the name DC Universe Animated Original Movies. With growing worries about piracy, direct to video animation might become more popular in the near future[11]
Ownership trends
With the growth of animation as an industry, the trends of ownership of studios has changed with time. Current studios such as Warner Bros. and early ones such asFleischer Studios, started life as small, independent studios, being run by a very small core group. After being bought out or sold to other companies, they eventually consolidated with other studios and became larger. The drawback of this setup was that there was now a major thrust towards profitability with the management acting as a damper towards creativity of these studios, continuing even in today's scenario.[12]
Currently, the independent animation studios are looking to ensure artistic integrity by signing up with big animation studios on contracts that allow them to license out movies, without being directed by the bigger studios. Examples of such co-operation are the joint ventures between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and that of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox.
