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starting animation studio

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starting animation studio

im finding out the how to's for starting a small animation studio concerning
-how to get financing
-who do i give contracts to
-what industry connections i need
-what projects i need under my belt to be worthy
- what the heck is a company demo
-what are the major steps for my game plan
-what kind of licensing and permits i need(building, copyright, software, music)
-what kind of building will i need for utilities and electricity and crap
-what do i need to take into account for a financial plan

you know all the boring things that i'll need to know when i open my studio one day, right now its just an assignment for industry class yay tafe

if you can help me at all ill be very appreciative
or just go for some industry banter danke!

shouldnt you really think about this and maybe use google or lexis nexis to obtain an understanding of the process of animation and from that figure things out?
i dont wanna be a wet blanket but it souinds like your trying to get your paper done for u.

The first thing you got to ask yourself is what kind of studio do you want?
What kind of animation? style and medium?, drawn, 3D, cut-out?, commercials, short films, series?
I think there are just as many solutions as there are studios.
I started out my little one-man-studio with nothing but a pack of pens and a computer, doing freelance work and let the studio finance itself.
By the way, a company demo is a showreel of work made at your studio.

thanx

thanx for your input guys, i didnt mean for my work to come off that way, my teacher could care less if i get this assignment done, all the requirements sheet said was 'how to open a business', all of my questions are based on studies ive done, but im kinda finished with reading government reports, i just wanted some info from the real world

and i want to open a 2d animation studio one day Rylle

anything else you could tell me would be great, i want my studio to actually get off the ground you know, not just another sad 'i tried that once' story

salada

I think the best thig to do before starting a studio is work on other people films, then try and work with another company on your own films, then if there succesful enough you should start your own company. This is how the japanese company Studio Ghbili started, well something under them lines anyway. The same goes for John Lasseter from pixar who i believe was working on 101 Dalmations when he thought about a change in animation.

thanx man! has anyone actually started their own 2d animation studio? cos i want to make a tv series with half hour episodes and i dont really know how many staff im looking at if everyone only works approx 30 hours a week

Yes, I have started my own 2D animation studio. It's small now, just producing short animations as proof-of-concept films so we can get "proper" financing later.

Your productivity will be directly proportional to the skills of your staff. We have one animator that could tween half a dozen cuts a day when she was just getting started. If you can find or afford excellent people, you can get your work done much faster.

Also, it depends on your staff's skills. One of the animators can do anything; coloring, keys, tweening, promotion, graphic art...and she does it all happily. She does the work of three of the rest of us.

Brent got it spot on. when you are starting out thats exactly the kind of thing skill set you are looking for
in the end its always about people and ideas
nuff said

Yes, I have started my own 2D animation studio. It's small now, just producing short animations as proof-of-concept films so we can get "proper" financing later.

Your productivity will be directly proportional to the skills of your staff. We have one animator that could tween half a dozen cuts a day when she was just getting started. If you can find or afford excellent people, you can get your work done much faster.

Also, it depends on your staff's skills. One of the animators can do anything; coloring, keys, tweening, promotion, graphic art...and she does it all happily. She does the work of three of the rest of us.

hmmmm but u mention tweens.

wouldn't a frame by frame studio be slightly different,if not more expensive,not sure what Aimee is going for though.

Not sure what Aimee's going for either.

My personal opinion is that it's better to get a bunch of people and start producing actual work, instead of worrying about electricity costs and building permits. Nail down your people and your ideas first.

Of course, that's what I did, and it's worked thus far, so I'm biased. :-)

thanx again

yeah im definitely gonna go for frame by frame, not using the flash program or anything

what do you guys reckon the leaders skills need to be because i want to be good at a bit of the whole progression of the cartoon but focus mainly on drawing, concepts and the scripts. and does it matter where my studio will be situated, cos im thinkin in a city area not the outskirts places

if you are not the lead animator but rather the firm leader or the creative leader - in that context like a good producer you need to make sure you hire the right people who can create ur vision and make it better for the screen

In terms of leading people, I believe there are two most important skills:

1. Keeping people happy by directing conflicts. E.g., when problems arise (and this includes things like, "Um, what are we going to do about the upcoming convention?"), make sure everyone involved is kept up-to-speed.

2. Keeping people happy by giving them work they appreciate. They might not enjoy every job you give them, but you want to make sure they're generally happy with their job, and that they have work to do.

I've started doing twice-yearly meetings with each animator, where I sit down and ask them, "What do you really enjoy doing? What do you not like doing? What would you like to be doing differently?" That's been very insightful.

An excellent article about this is Sh*t, I'm A Manager.

Regarding location: All that matters is whether you can get animators there, and whether you can get the materials you need. Again, worry about creating content more than anything else.

Brent Newhall: "Again, worry about content more than anything else"

good advice man but the content part isnt the big problem, i dont know how to get a studio running, theres no need to worry about content until i get over that hurdle TTFN

Aimee - mate. departmentalise. pre,prod,post.
see what activities come under each and what people will be responsible for the specific jobs.
u can start from there and make it as complicated as you want. give the artists space to be creative and make sure they dont go nuts.
thats a start.

the content part isnt the big problem, i dont know how to get a studio running, theres no need to worry about content until i get over that hurdle

In my mind, that's sort of like asking, "How do I clean a house?" There's no single correct answer. Just like house cleaning consists of responses to particular problems (the shelves are dusty and the floor is dirty), so running a studio consists of responses to particular problems (the animators don't know what shots to work on next and Carly is way behind everyone else).

Beware of the Image Trap, where you follow a vision of what you think a studio should look like. A lot of small business owners start a business, get in some work, then rent an office, buy an answering service, a fax machine, and a copier, and hire a receptionist, because that's their image of what a business should look like. But they end up bleeding themselves dry.

It's not that these things aren't useful; it's that you won't know what you need until you need it. Lots of businesses never need a fax machine, and have long since spent the time and money they could have spent on that purchase actually producing content.

And I think that potential investors will be less interested in your planned electricity costs than in the animations you've actually produced.

freelance project offer

We are looking for 2D and 3D animators and web designers from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to do our foreign projects (on freelance basis), hence hereby inviting you to send us your detailed CV with the following:

1. Recent photo (any size)
2. Brief about skillset and of projects handled
3. Contact details
4. Time to reach Nungambakkam

Please forward your email ID and resumes to grafiks.mail@gmail.com

freelance project offer

We are looking for 2D and 3D animators and web designers from Chennai, Tamil Nadu ,India,to do our foreign projects (on freelance basis), hence hereby inviting you to send us your detailed CV with the following:

1. Recent photo (any size)
2. Brief about skillset and of projects handled
3. Contact details
4. Time to reach Nungambakkam

Please forward your email ID and resumes to grafiks.mail@gmail.com.

Also, make sure the animation teachers are getting paid and that none of the accountants are sleazeballs with two sets of books trying to bleed the place dry. :rolleyes:

Order my book Jesus Needs Help on Amazon or download on Kindle.

You can also read the first 18 pages of my next book for free at this link: The Hap Hap Happy Happenstance of Fanny Punongtiti

Hi Aimee,

I can share my experience with you. Back in 2003 I and a friend of mine decided to start our own animation studio. We were working in another animation studio where we used to do animation on outsourced projects from west. We were bitten by this creative bug and a desire to be creators of hit animated shows of our own instead of being obscure animators in a service for hire animation studio. So one fine day we quit our jobs and started our studio in my flat. The strength of the studio was 3, me, my friend and an office boy cum cook. The equipment which we had were couple of light boxes, and 2 computers. We also had two ideas for original tv shows which we thought were mindboggling. All of this happened in March 2003. We were aiming to create pilots and bible for our shows and show them at Mipcom Junior 2003 which takes place in Oct.

We sat down and did almost all of the work on the pilots except for clean ups and digital ink and paint. We hired Clean Up artists on a free lance basis and they would come in evenings to work. They would stay till late in the night and finish the work. I was surprised by the commitment which people show in your work if you seem to be convinced and clear about it. Digital Ink & paint was done by another guy who was working with us part time. So the size of the studio remained about 5-6 throughout March 03 to October 03. All of this was self financed by my friend and me.

Mipcom Junior trip in 03 was a disaster in one way that we didnt end up making any significant business deal but our work got few nods of appreciationand it was an eye opener in many ways about how the business of animation is done. Being there itself was a major learning experience.

Anyways post Oct 03, we continued to do some local work and pursue the leads which we got at Mipocom Junior and also create new shows. One of our show was liked by Cartoon Network india and we pursued the lead with dogged determination to created the bible and a short pilot of our third show. Meanwhile the size of the studio right kept fluctuating between 2-4. My friend and me being the permanent members and another guy being an ocassional artist we'd hire, and of course the office boy cum cook was also there. Cartoon Network's interest kept motivating us until Nov 2004 when my friend left to take up a job because he had eaten up in his savings and it was getting difficult to keep the boat afloat.

I spent another year of doing free lance animation jobs and trying my hand at starting an animation academy. During this time the size became 5 on account of the accountant and instructors I hired for the animation academy. It is only now that Cartoon Network India has shown their interest in our show at a level that they are willing to give us a letter of intent for broadcasting our show. This will help us in securing finances for our show and start the production. This has been the story of the animation studio which I founded two years ago.Although my animation studio is far from being a sucessful animation studio yet, but I am sure we are on our way.

Lastly to sum it all up I'd say you gotta have a clear vision about where do you wanna go before you start your journey and then put all your energy into it. Do you want to do original work or you wanna be a service -for-hire animation studio. You should asses your finances and should have a sound business plan. You might work in animation studio to get a first hand experience at what animation studio is like or hire other experienced people. Most of all wether you are a creative guy in your studio or not you should be passionate about animation.Things start falling in place once when you begin anything.

Until Next Time,

HS.

Helter Skelter,do you plan to move into a real studio?

Hey Noob!

Didn't quite get your question there.I am actually planning to begin the production of my animation show which I have pitched to Cartoon Network India. there are no plans of moving into any studio real or unreal, I am still working at creating my own studio where we do some exciting animation. Do let me know if I have answered your question,.

Until next time,

HS.

sorry i was unclear,u mentioned u where working at ur flat,i was just wondering if you plan to move ur work out of your flat into an actual studio property?

And how exactly are u paying for all the production?

congrats on the CN india deal ;)

Hi Noob,

Yes indeed! I have rented a space which is slightly bigger then my previous flat and this is where we plan to do the production. Actually I am also living here so you can say I am still working from my flat but since I don't want to fall into any image trap as brent has mentioned here so I am not much bothered about living in my office. But this place can accomodate more number of people then the previous place.

Like I have mentioned earlier we are paying for the production from our own pockets. We are raising bank loan to finance the production. Will look forward for your any other query. Thanks for your congratulations, Its only a letter of intent which they have agreed to give, the actual deal will happen only if they like our pilot episode. Hopefully they will, I shall keep you guys posted.

Until next time,

HS.

be very careful with a bank loan. very very careful. ive dealt with banks and trust me its going to be a long day in hell before a banker says oh, i understand

Hi SL,

Thanks for your advice... It's indeed a tough task doing business with banks particularly for something which doesn't have a prooven track record as far as the return of investment goes. There is a reluctance in India to invest in creation of original animation in form of TV shows because there hasn't been a sucessful example so far. Hopefully the situation will change in near future.

Until Next time,

HS.

see banks as a whole dont invest they lend. they lend for returns. you need to put up personal security against the loan. rarely do they finance against the idea itself.
also make sure you have a cost vs returns scenario worked out. because if you go indo centric in the project sales will be limited to india and south east asia. maybe some other sporadic markets. if you go international you might get a wider market but wont access india. etc
so make sure you know your returns before your borrowings. factoring in all your long term delays etc vs interest expenses.
india is a shite market for animation. trust me im here i know how it is. ive seen some good work thts sold for $2 on home video. what you going to make out of that>

ty

thanx for the posts guys, your banter is answering quite a few of my curiosities about the field. it sounds like real battle strategy starting up a studio. concerning the animation market, would it be wise to be a mercenary company foremost while working on my project on the side or just use up all my resources at once and go for the dream?

thanx for the posts guys, your banter is answering quite a few of my curiosities about the field. it sounds like real battle strategy starting up a studio. concerning the animation market, would it be wise to be a mercenary company foremost while working on my project on the side or just use up all my resources at once and go for the dream?

hell yeah. but you need to have people who believe in the dream and are willing to make a play for it. being a mercenary is good but sometimes that takes over and you can end up taking the small money and forgetting your dream.
so you need to balance that. also if its a small bunch you will need to inspire motivate and put the thunder up their ass. it can be quite tiresome and you can never ever show weakness.
its a lot of fun.

freelance project offer

We are looking for 2D and 3D animators and web designers from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to do our foreign projects (on freelance basis), hence hereby inviting you to send us your detailed CV with the following:

1. Recent photo (any size)
2. Brief about skillset and of projects handled
3. Contact details
4. Time to reach Nungambakkam

Please forward your email ID and resumes to grafiks.mail@gmail.com

Sumaidh Shah

i wanted to start my animation company by working my way up as an animator, but ive heard this is often fruitless and im finding my self liking the designing of an aimation more fun than actually animating. i was wondering what fields i have to explore and what jobs exist that can accomodate my skillset, i want to write scripts, design characters and locations and all the creating process

well there are a bunch of ways to go around this. copywriting, script writing, production design, art directon are some things i can think of on top of my head