ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.6 - SEPTEMBER 2000

A Conversation With The New Don Bluth
(continued from page 1)

LL: Not strictly 2D! I think it's one of those things where you use the right tool for the right job. Sometimes the 3D stuff works really well, but I don't think you get the exaggeration, or at least, I haven't seen the exaggeration in the 3D stuff that you can get with the 2D.

DB: Well you know, when it all comes down to it, it probably has to do with what the audience will pay a ticket to see. What they're willing to pay a ticket to see nowadays, seems to be either Disney -- which a lot of it is 2D -- or 3D animation. If you look at the history just recently, the pictures that have been pulling in box office -- we're talking about Antz, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 1 & 2, Dinosaurs. All those are pulling in money. Talk about the 2D animated films that have been out there, like Iron Giant, Prince Of Egypt, Titan...all the 2D films are not really pulling in the money, so I imagine that is where The New York Times is getting the idea.

LL: Well, they really made it sound like a very dire situation for anyone who does 2D animation.

DB: If you were to stand up right now, Larry, at a podium and tell everyone there's a great future in 2D animation -- exactly how would you sell your case?

LL: I'd say, if you want to do the 3D stuff, you have to learn the 2D stuff, first.

DB: Correct! But they say, 'I don't want to do the 3D stuff. I want to do the 2D stuff.' Can you build a case?

LL: I actually think -- and this may change in the next couple of years depending on the bandwidths of the Internet -- that the Internet can be a great place for 2D animation.

DB: That's where I have arrived myself! But that's the only place I can see it for now. Although I think it goes with the trends and eventually 2D will probably swing back and become popular again. Everybody will watch 3D animation until they get tired of it and then they'll say, 'Oh, let's look for something that's a relief from this.' But it's probably going to be a little while.

Right now, we are not on top. 2D is not on top. It's definitely 3D on top! Even if you look at the signs -- what did Fox just do? They put their 2D studio out of business and invested -- invested a lot of money -- building a whole new studio with a three picture deal in New York to do 3D animation.

LL: What do you think of the animation art form today?

DB: A lot of the animation that I see nowadays, in 3D and 2D, is very stiff-looking to me. It doesn't look very fluid and it definitely doesn't have the "soul" in it. It looks like it moves about, but that's the extent of it. I really don't see a great artistry there right now. Maybe this has happened as a reaction to all the studios entering the business. It's turning into an industry instead of an art -- where everything is measured in terms of time and money. The artist's part somehow got eclipsed in the middle of all of that.

Space Ace. ©1983 Bluth Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

LL: Will the Bluth Group develop other properties besides Dragon's Lair and Space Ace?

DB: Yes.

LL: You said in The Times article, you were bound and determined to do your own characters from now on.

DB: You know what? The business hasn't worked out that way. I've always tried to protect the employees. To protect them, you really have to give everything away.

And this is definitely true: if you're not in the distribution business, you're not in the motion picture business. And if you think you are going to be an independent animator and go out there and form your own company and be independent -- and make money at it -- you've got a great realization coming at you.

The only way it could happen is if you get into the distribution business -- which could be the NET! You could possibly distribute something on the Net, even a motion picture. If people have the ability to have it streamed to their TV sets, if that happens, you can by-pass the major studios and you can get your own picture distributed...THEN YOU ARE IN THE BUSINESS!! As long as you have to go to the major studios and have to ask them if they will give you a distribution deal to get to the theatres -- they will take everything that you have and you will get nothing.

Layout artist Larry Leeker listens while Director/Producer Don Bluth explains some finer points in laying out the scenes for The Secret Of NIMH. Courtesy of Don Bluth's Toon Talk.

LL: What will you do when your next project is ready to go into production? Will the Bluth Group become an independent studio?

DB: It is right now! When we go into production, we will go in under our terms or we won't make the film. We have two projects in the works right now besides Dragon's Lair. Both of the parties involved have agreed that if we can't get the distribution deal we want then we will go to the Web. By the time we finish a picture (in two years), the Web will be fully capable for the distribution of feature films.

LL: Are a lot of folks from the former Fox Studio waiting for your projects?

DB: The "folks" -- as you put it -- are gone.

LL: What will you do?

 

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