Animation Rivalry 2016

[IwasBornAsVentus 396]

I didn't really know where else to post this but I post it here. So this is gonna be a little rant on the animation film Sing coming out this christmas, which happens to come out from Illumination Entertainment, a animation company that I have lost hope for the past 3 years. 

 

So if you know me I am an aspiring animator and screenwriter. Ive been studying filmmaking and marketing so Im really into how companies sell their movies to the audience. Ok so yesterday a usual afternoon some tumblr users posted the new trailer for Illumination's Sing a movie focusing on anthropomorphic animals. I was not that interested but I decided to give it a shot. Then when I turned on the trailer I noticed a very strong resemblance to a character used in the trailer, The snail that appeared for like a few seconds seemed like a copy of an animation school's short film (and I know the people who made the short film) If you just take away the bow tie and change the texture color to green you have almost the exact same snail model from the short film(by a coincidence I don't think so. Since all the animals in the trailer look very cartoony while the snail has more realistic features to it)

Sing's Snail                                  Animation School's Short Film

 

If the crew happened to work on the film then I would not care but when I hear that none of the crew members is working on the film I find this very suspicious, their short film became viral so it was by no means unknown by the public especially not in the animation industry.

 

Another thing don't you find this Sing film has a very similar approach to Zootopia maybe not in plot but in world building.

 

LET'S LOOK HOW LONG ZOOTOPIA WAS IN PRODUCTION

I happened to be at the D23 last summer and there I met the crew from Zootopia and got to know how long it took for them to produce the film. Their film was announced in mid 2013 but they started as early as of late 2011 right after Winnie The Pooh had been released. So Zootopia was in production for at least 4-5 years.

 

AND NOW ILLUMINATION'S SING

So right after I saw the trailer for Sing I quickly looked up any information I could find on the production. Then I found out that they started production on the film as of mid 2014 with having the film announced late 2015 for the public. Enough time for Illumination to compete with Disney's marketing for this year I mean just look at what Illumination is releasing this year, The Secret Life Of Pets that looks like a complete copy of Toy Story and Garfield, and now Sing that competes with anthropomorphic animals that lives in peace and harmony (sounds familiar). Originally Sing was going to have 2017 summer release but they pushed it up to 2016, Hm I wonder why.

 

IF THAT ISN'T ENOUGH

All anthropomorphic animal movies that comes out in 2016 is pretty much because of Zootopia, if you don't trust me on this one then let me tell you that all the other animal movies were announced a year after Zootopia was announced. If you happen to work in media industry, a year gives you enough time work out something from another's story and steal ideas or use the same concept. Every Animation company is always competing with each other so it's no surprise that smaller animation companies look for bigger ones like Disney. 

 

If you ask me this sounds very similar to when Dreamworks stole ideas from Pixar with, A Bug's Life and made Ants. I find it funny that Illumination have the gut to put out the trailer before Zootopia is released around the world and even releases the film the same year. You might think that this is nice we have two anthropomorphic animal movies in a year but this is just a strategy for making fast money, This is all part of Illumination's campaign, they'll easily get kids and teens attention with using the (from the creators of Despicable me) and use the all star cast that is part of the film along with many modern pop songs. That's simply how it really works. I think you could get a clue from last year that Illumination's strength is marketing, they made a lot of money with minions thanks to their campaign. Illumination is however a very flawed industry when it comes to strong storytelling and often brings out cliched and one dimensional characters with famous actors to voice their characters instead of caring about the story.

 

Enough of my rant but the fact that they release a trailer for their film that won't be up until christmas par with Zootopia is just a sign for someone that's hungry for attention. 

 

I am always open for new ideas and stories but when I see something that looks like it has been done too many times before or if it's stealing from others work on purpose for staying popular then I have no interest. 

 

Oh and to make sure you don't use the typical defense argument "It's just a kids movie" That's no excuse, these movies are made by full grown adults and despite if it's a kids movie you have every right to criticize a movie for it's approach and execution, as long as you keep it in a nice tone  . 

[Hargleblargleboo 979]

Yes, it is very odd. It is what it is, though. Disney is practically the leader of the animation world, so it makes sense why other companies play it safe with their stories and ideas -  by sometimes copying them or the concepts. Except Sony Pictures Animation. They just do whatever the hell they want, whilst treating their artists like crap in the process.

[IwasBornAsVentus 396]

Yes, it is very odd. It is what it is, though. Disney is practically the leader of the animation world, so it makes sense why other companies play it safe with their stories and ideas -  by sometimes copying them or the concepts. Except Sony Pictures Animation. They just do whatever the hell they want, whilst treating their artists like crap in the process.

That's what's so awful to work in animation you might work with what you like but you're being very badly treated. Ive heard the same from Warner Bros, Not to mention that Dreamworks had done several layoffs on artists just because their movie didn't earn enough money at the box office. At least John Lasseter let's his workers create what they want like Big Hero 6 and Zootopia. Ive seen John Lasseter's true colors outside from the camera and he seems to be a rather caring man of course he's not perfect but he seems to at least care for his workers. 

[Movies798 1,358]

You know that's been done for many years. Look at Marvel and DC comics, most fans especially the Marvel and DC fanboys said that Marvel and DC had been copying each other for years. Plus it's very hard to create something "new and original" in movies, tv shows, novels, and graphic novels these days because these original ideas had been done before so many times. I'm majoring in 2D animation for television and films and a friend of my who's also in the same major as me made a good point, he said "Bro when you're creating a story don't think too hard to be new and original because the concepts had been done so many times. All you have to do is tweak it, and once you tweak it than you make it your own." Yeah I see the similarities between Sing and Zootopia but what really matters if the story is different, the story of Zootopia is a buddy comedy film about two animals solving a mystery, while Sing is about a musical comedy film about animals singing.

[IwasBornAsVentus 396]

You know that's been done for many years. Look at Marvel and DC comics, most fans especially the Marvel and DC fanboys said that Marvel and DC had been copying each other for years. Plus it's very hard to create something "new and original" in movies, tv shows, novels, and graphic novels these days because these original ideas had been done before so many times. I'm majoring in 2D animation for television and films and a friend of my who's also in the same major as me made a good point, he said "Bro when you're creating a story don't think too hard to be new and original because the concepts had been done so many times. All you have to do is tweak it, and once you tweak it than you make it your own." Yeah I see the similarities between Sing and Zootopia but what really matters if the story is different, the story of Zootopia is a buddy comedy film about two animals solving a mystery, while Sing is about a musical comedy film about animals singing.

Yep Im very well aware that it's not easy to create something new or original these days and it hasn't been in the past either, but you have to agree that it's funny that so many animated movies this year is focusing on anthropomorphic animals instead of some kind of space, fantasy or human theme or you know have a mix of everything. Laika is thinking out of the box this year with Kubo And The Two Strings and Disney is taking off to the pacific ocean with Moana, then there's also The Little Prince. The rest however is focusing on anthropomorphic animals. Animation fans and students are just letting our voice heard cause after that trailer was released for Sing people just thought it was a bad move to release it so early and close to Zootopia. And if you noticed that snail reference I pointed out it came from a very well know animation school and that snail model looked almost identical to their model. Im just saying cause I really care for those people who worked on that short film they put a lot of hard work into making it. I think it would have been better if they would have premiered the Sing trailer for the release of their Secret Life Of Pets premiere. Another note that I know, mostly audience hate when a movie is predictable which have been a weakness for many animated movies lately. The Secret Life Of Pets second trailer revealed way to much about it's plot so therefore people say it's predicable cause now they know that the characters are lost, and they're trying to get back home and yadi yadai yada it's very predictable. People like when they haft to solve a mystery on their own not being reminded how everything is going to turn out. And yes a story doesn't haft to be original but it needs to be fresh and creative in a way to keep the interest. Yes concepts have been done before but you can always try to evolve the concepts with thinking outside of the box.

Edited February 18, 2016 by IwasBornAsVentus