Journal Entry – Week 12

Disney and other big studios closed their 2D animation divisions by the late 1990s/early 2000s. Like many other companies, Disney decided to go for the most profitable and trendy option. I wouldn’t say that it was a good choice because this did lead them to make one of their most successful movies, Toy Story, but believing that 2D animated projects wouldn’t bring them profit or benefit wasn’t exactly right. Disney Channel’s Gravity Falls is one of the most believed animated shows that proves Disney wrong about 2D films. Other shows like Family Guy and The Owl House are 2D films, yet they gained major popularity and appreciation from their audience.

Prompt 1: Disney and other big studios closed their 2D animation divisions by the late 1990s/early 2000s. Why did they make this decision? Do you believe it was a good one? Can you find/describe examples of 2D animation thriving today?

While Disney is most known for some of their classic 2D animations like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, Disney has not created a 2-D animation since The Princess & The Frog, released in 2009. There are couple of reasons why Disney decided to stop producing 2D animated films:

• 2D animations became an excuse for weaker storytelling
• CGI animation is cheaper and faster than hand drawn animation
• 3D animated films are more profitable

According to some animators, the amount of work that was needed for the hand-drawn 2D animation somehow outweighed the content of the film. With animators throwing all their hard work into the hand-drawn 2D animation, this often led to the actual story of the film being neglected. This was a major reason that Disney took a step away from 2D animation, as there was too much focus on the form of the film rather than telling a memorable story. With the use of CGI, 3D animation makes animation easier so that the filmmakers can focus on all aspects of the film rather than expending all their energy on the animating process. Yet another reason for Disney to switch to 3-D animation.

Disney’s first 3-D animation Toy Story was exceedingly profitable upon release, especially compared to Pocahontas and A Goofy Movie, all of which were released the same year. Disney experimented with 3D animation after this point, alongside Pixar, and found that 3D films are more profitable than the old-fashioned hand-drawn 2D animation. 3D animated films cost less to make, and they make more money at the box office.

There are still lots of 2D animated series and films still thriving today like

• Family Guy (1999– )
• Undone (2019– )
• Rick and Morty (2013– )
• The Simpsons (1989– )
• South Park (1997– )
• Bob’s Burgers (2011– )
• The Owl House (2020– )

Also a lots of 2D anime are very popular nowadays. I think 2D animations are very satisfying and aesthetic till now.

A film that I believe exemplifies the blurred line between animation and live action is. The 1996 movie  Space Jam the reason why I believe this movie exemplifies both points is because throughout the film you can see the combination of both animated characters and animated ones. For example in the category I believe this falls under in live action reason being as I mentioned earlier how throughout the film you can see how the film is brought together with a combination of live action characters in this case Michael Jordan and others and  the animated cartoon version  bug bunny and others .  As well as see how live action and animated cartoons are brought together into an animated cartoon environment and vice versa throughout the film. 

The main difference between a live-action and an animated script is that an animation script usually requires a more extensive scene description. The characters that are moving need to be more detailed than the background which will have to stay the same the whole time. Also, the lightening has to change because the figures are moving as well. 

The reason Disney and other big studios decided to move away from 2D movies and work more on 3D animated movies is that 3D animation was becoming very popular around the world. People saw the 3D CGI to be more immersive and something new compared to 2D animations that they used to see for decades. It seemed to be a good decision for their marketing because there was a huge competition with big studios trying to create new 3D animated films. Of course, Disney didn’t fully abandon 2D animation but it’s only used for TV series like “The Owl House” and “mickey mouse”. However, their 2D animated films didn’t show a lot of detail because it doesn’t require as much effort compared to creating a full animated film.

I believe Disney and other big studios stopped their 2D animation in the 2000s due to all the competition from animated TV shows and popular anime shows that were being distributed during this decade. It was a good decision from the perspective of executives and shareholders of these studios, they would be able to focus their resources on other projects that would bring in more profits. But bad for the employees that would have inevitably been laid off. Adult themed animations like The Simpsons (1989) and Rick and Morty (2013) are still very popular today. The next generation of shonen anime like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019) and Jujitsu Kaisen (2020) are proving that they can create great anime movies.

Klaus, released in 2019, demonstrates the blurring border between 2D animation that appears to be 3D. Sergio Pablos (Disney alumnus) created the picture in his Animation studios. Rather than typical animation, the company aimed to emphasize on organic and volumetric lighting and texture. Giving the picture a one-of-a-kind appearance while retaining a “hand-crafted feel.” I believe it falls more into the animation category because it does not have a typical figure that looks like a sticker but rather a naturalistic character.