I have just read with interest and pleasure, an article on AWN written by Karl Cohen titled, “What is Great Animation?”  In the article Cohen discusses not only his views but has asked a number of luminaries to provide their personal thoughts on the topic.  Cohen is a teacher and historian with an impressive background.   I found all the various opinions and observations irreproachable and yet, illusive like all attempts to define something without first knowing exactly what it is your trying to define.

Creating Intellectual Properties is like being a parent. In many ways it's better to have more than one child to dote on.  If you become over invested emotionally your heart and your ego take over, not your brain.

We've come along way from The Flintstones to The Simpsons but one thing seems to remain constant when looking at the most succesful Prime Time Animated shows as at the core of most of them is the American Family and its problems, concerns and interactions.  The newer shows keep searchingfor the line they can't cross but after all is said and done the father, mother and kids all rotate around the same age old problems and concerns, just with a more contemporary viewpoint. 

On the specific topic of film, there is the Francois Truffaut auteur theory, which suggests that in order for a film to be recognized as art, there must be one guiding hand on the entire project.  This is to say that the auteur must be all things to the film – He or she must write the screenplay, cast the actors, direct and edit the film in order for it to be considered a work of art.  Truffaut allows that others may set the lights, operate the cameras and fill other duties but all creative decisions must be solely and strictly that of the filmmaker. 

The question is how does this definitioin fit in animation where the vast majority of films are made with a team of artists and technicians working together, often independently?  

 

A congenial ramble about box office numbers, marketing and how studios can lose money and still make money.

Yes I know - How phony is it to brag that you’ve never seen The Kardasians or Wife Swap or The Biggest Loser or the Bachelorette?  No one believes you of course.  I mean really, who can resist these little escapes into non-reality reality?  We all seem to be entranced by them, as there is a show for everyone; bikers, fashion designers, bounty hunters, regular hunters, treasure hunters, car lovers, dog lovers, beauty contest contenders, hoarders, miners, oil drillers, brides and just ordinary people like the rest of us.  

There's no use banging your head against a brink wall.  The holidays are here and instead of grumbling because you can't get anything done, take some time to enjoy your friends and family.  The New Year will come soon enough.

I begin to suspect that this is like trying to write the perfect pre-nuptial, and wonder that perhaps it can’t be done!  I chew on this for a bit before I start to realize that the problem that is stymieing me, needs to be included in the definition.   After all, if art can’t be clearly defined wouldn’t that need to be part of its definition?  I also thought of what Elbert Hubard said, “Art is not a thing, it is a way.”

Why would it be important if Disney lost a suit filed against them to redress the common practice of creative accounting?   

The hope, the small flickering flame we can barely see at the end of the long and very dark tunnel we've all been crawling through, is that maybe a small crack will appear in the monolith of half a dozen media giants who control everything in our business. 

So far Disney has just lost round one, but being the 3 zillion pound monkey they are, the appeals have already been written and the best ambulance chasers money can buy are all lining up with briefcases at attention ready to do battle. 

We've all had theose projects where we are just so very, very close to starting and we're getting everyhthing cleared away so we can be prepared when it starts but then there is a delay and we wait....