REanimate..?
The uncertain future(s) of British filmed
animation
The Competition is scary… and it wants
us to wear funny glasses.

Hollywood enforcing
stereoscopic 3D as the new
gold standard

CG animation lends itself
naturally to 3D – far more so
than live action (colour
spectrum loss)

3D animated features take
between 3 to 7 times box
office of standard versions

Europe has only managed one
3D animated feature so far

Is it too late to Fly to The
Moon..?
The Competition is scary… and they get
help !

191 Animation hours
produced in the UK in 2008
– for a value of £102
million

Compares with 330h in the
US, 282h in Canada, 259h
in France

French tax credit =20%
saving on production costs
– Ireland = 28%

Subsidies and tax breaks
enable non-Hollywood
industries to compete –
except in the UK
The Competition is scary…and we can’t
home-grow the right kind of animators

As animated feature output in the UK has declined, courses
training animators have increased (250 grads per yr).

But are they the right kind of graduates, from the right kind
of schools?

CFC Framestore, UK’s no.1 VFX company says UK
graduates are only 30% of their recruits today, vs 95% a
decade ago. Aardman needs well-trained post-grad
animators, not being produced in quantity in the UK

Foreign universities more adept at training graduates for
specialist skills and career awareness

And the workforce is becoming itinerant
Artists or gamers? ...what would inspire
the next generation?
 UK still steeped in the tradition of the
animator as auteur/craftsman/artist –
encourages individual vision, and a cottage
industry mentality
 Wins prizes at festivals too. Isn’t this
important for the image of UK animation –
from Richard Williams and Bob Godfrey to
Ruth Lingford, The Quays and Aardman
 Or will new generations just go into game
design – with higher earnings, stronger
prospects, stability of employment?
The competition is scary… and it’s
making our own TV shows for us!

UK renowned the world over for its lead in pre-school
animation series for TV

Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam, Pingu..!

Today, all these shows are produced abroad, in countries
where workforce combines high technical skills and lower
wages – UK is becoming uneconomic as a production base

The UK retains the IP… but for how long?

UK animation graduates gaining experience at non-UK
companies… In 10 years, these countries won’t need our IP
– they will have their own creative/innovative engines
But wait a minute… We do have assets!

Significant British animation
studios still making features here
(Aardman, Astley Baker Davis,
Chapman Entertainment, etc)

Innovative multiplatform series,
like Sean the Sheep, helping to
keep UK animation afloat.

UK still world n02 in VFX industry
– strong industrial base from which
to develop animated work (e.g
Framestore)

Pioneering performance capture
and other hybrid technologies
(Andy Serkis)
So what do we want from British
animation?
 UK originated features made by UK talent?
 Sparky, original short animation, able to win awards?
 Animated TV series, which might produce feature
spin-offs?
OR
 Made for hire work for studio features and series
 Hybrid forms, new technology apps, games crossover
For features, the challenge is steep…

Average UK independent animated feature is £5
to £6 million (the European average)

Average Hollywood animated feature starts at
$50 million with at least as much in home market
p&a

Animated features for the family market require
considerable upfront spend

Marketing tie-ins a key ingredient for visibility in
the marketplace – Hollywood has a monopoly on
those deals
Are we loosing our R&D engines..?

Channel 4 as sponsor of new
originated animated feature
shorts is the shadow of its former
Oscar-winning self

Award-winning UK animation
often has darker, more adultoriented themes/tone

Tradition of satire and parody –
irreverence and pessimism

And PSBs are loosing their ability
to serve as R&D environments for
the British animated feature
brands of the future
TV series
 5 years ago, 84% of all animated kids’
shows broadcast in the UK were British.
In 2008, it was down to 23%
 PSBs have either emphasised preschool TV products or arty/experimental
films –
no commercial vision linked to feature
animation
 But successful long-running animated
TV shows need experienced writers as well
as animators – look how many The
Simpsons and South Park use.
We don’t have that kind of experience
Work for hire?

Is there a future in workfor-hire productions for
Hollywood?

Tale of Despereaux was a
moderate success for
Framestore on behalf of
Universal

But: could be made more
cheaply elsewhere

Can our original brands
control their IP and the
upside on commercial
successes ?
And why chase the family market when
Hollywood can do it on a bigger scale?

Asset or liability?

South Park and others have
proven there is a strong potential
market for adult-oriented
animation

Why can’t we achieve the US
success in converting TV-branded
shows into feature successes
(Simpsons, South Park)?
Learning from Japan and elsewhere?
 Japan has a self-sufficient animation industry – why?
 One reason is the manga tradition with its vast
domestic as well as export market
 Another is that Japan takes graphic fiction seriously,
like France, Italy and Belgium – but unlike Britain
Game – set and match?
 Britain has a successful video game industry. US and Japan
are no.1 and no. 2 in the CG gaming market. UK was n03 in
2008 but could slip to 6th place by the end of 2010
 Does this translate into building animation capacity? Income
from game pre-licensing on larger animation features + feature
version of hit games?
 Maybe – though the skills and creativity needed for games
are different from those needed in film animation
 However the basic training and production incentives
needed could be common to both industries, to ensure talent
not diverted solely into game sector
So does it matter if we don’t have an
animation industry?
 Given the accelerating convergence of ‘live action’
and animation (Avatar classed as ‘animation’ in France),
it does matter
 Only retaining animated feature production will
create job opportunities and make economic sense of
u/grad and advanced p/grad training
 Ultimately, games and animated fiction do support
each other, industrially and culturally – we need both
 Successful, exportable animation requires many
skills, but above all characters and stories – it’s about
creativity, and being able to deliver in the long term.
We can’t afford to give up on these!
But does it matter if we don’t have a
feature animation industry…?

US and Japan are n01 and n02 in the CG gaming market
(UK was n03 in 2008 but could slip to 6th place by the end
of 2010)

Both countries are also leaders in animated features

Creative and technological cross-pollination between those
two sectors – strategic income from game pre-licensing on
larger animation features + feature version of hit games

Differentiated tax break will accelerate migration of UK
animation talent to gaming – higher rewards potential

Is this a cohesive strategy, given the bridges between the
two sectors? Shoudn’t bespoke support for animated
feature also be considered?
It’s all about… hairs…

The number of CGI-rendered hair on
Andy’s head in Toy Story I (1995) was
12,000

The number of hair on Despereaux’s
head (2008)was 413,138…

CG processing power has mutiplied by
about the same rate over the past 15
years

CG animation technology is in constant
and rapid change

Implications for capital costs and R&D
favour large scalable studios

UK had 300 animation companies in
2008

Cottage industry structure makes it
difficult to concentrate capital and
expertise