SPDP has four areas of production: big CG, all-family films like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; hybrid films; CG films for a more targeted audience; and direct-to-home entertainment.

BO: Here's the main thing: animation is a technique, it's not a genre, and we want to be flexible. We basically have what we consider four areas of production: Big CG, all-family films like Cloudy or Surf's Up; hybrid films like The Smurfs, predominantly CG characters in a live-action world, or the flip side of live-action characters in a CG world; We also consider CG films for a more targeted audience, ones that don't necessarily have to appeal to audiences but absolutely satisfy a segment. For example, there are certain themes and characters that can go for girls or boys or that can reach into older audiences. You see that happening outside the United States, where animation is more adult-skewing or teen-driven or even that 12-24 male action demo. You've seen it work and it certainly can grow beyond its bounds. 300, to me, is a hybrid-type movie, but it's basically animated characters, although they use live-action reference, which expanded and that certainly wasn't for young kids and families. And Sin City is another one where they combine visually some animation and live-action techniques. And these are opportunities that allow us to do different types of storytelling. And the last category is direct-to-home entertainment like Open Season 2 [streeting Jan. 27, 2009], that has already had success theatrically in limited release overseas. That's a film we were able to produce at a much more modest budget, but, frankly, with the way that technology is growing, the techniques that are used and the talent of the artists, the films we make today for a very low budget still demonstrate a superior visual quality. So it allows us to continue the stories that are beloved but in a reasonable way.

Hannah Minghella: By expanding our production into these four areas we have broadened the range of stories we can tell, and we have the opportunity to let those stories dictate how they should be visually realized and on what scale. We don't want to reverse engineer a story into a particular bracket. And I think this openness is creatively exciting. Bob and I are both very intrigued by being the new kid on the block compared to the more established animation studios. And while it's obviously important to us that we continue to establish a brand and a brand identity within the industry, there is an advantage to not having one right now, because we get to play a little bit, we're not locked into already being defined by what we are. And in creating what that brand there will be huge opportunities for us to experiment and be innovative.

BO: For us, it's about creative integrity. I ran production at Miramax for seven-and-a-half years, where Hannah and I first met and worked together, and even in that context, we were stretching the boundaries of what independent film was and brought it into the mainstream. So, there's been great animation around the world for years -- Hayao Miyazaki is one of the geniuses of animation -- and though his work doesn't immediately translate to the broadest U.S. audience, a lot of the storytelling techniques and the type of subject matter that's been broached upon are intriguing to us. We're trying to find that place where you can take great storytelling and bring it to a broader audience.

The upcoming direct-to-DVD/Blu-ray Open Season 2 is a film produced at a modest budget, but with the state of technology it still demonstrates a superior visual quality. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Imageworks.

HM: I think Pixar has put a premium on story and that's something that Bob and I respect. We can't say it enough that animation is a technique and not a genre and we don't mean to suggest it clinically, but because it's a liberating thought and allows us to be playful in thinking about the kinds of stories and narratives that can be explored through animation. What the hybrid world allows us is to acknowledge that the line between animation and live action is dissolving, and this opens up more storytelling opportunities. Coming over from live action to animation, I realized that animation isn't really a spec market. So how you source great ideas is very different. One of the places we decided to look for those ideas is internally. We've opened up the dialogue between myself and Bob and all of the creative talent here at the studio and now hear regular pitches from our internal artists. Again, we have taken a very open approach to this, which is that anybody, anybody at Sony Pictures Animation or Imageworks, can come and pitch their idea. It has been an invigorating time to have these meetings and pitch sessions with the artists and it's really generated some interesting ideas.

BD: And there are a lot of people moving over from live action into animation.

HM: A lot of what Bob and I have been doing these last six months is meeting with people both within the animation industry and with people who have never worked in the animation industry to say, "Look, we have no preconceived notions. Don't apply what you think you know about the animation industry to what we're doing. Let us tell you about some of the things we're excited about and then let's see if there is a creative meeting of the minds."