Where does one go to get rejuvenated and inspired in the commercial animation production business? France. Annecy, to be specfic—a quaint little town in the French Alps, from where I just returned. For one short week in June each year, Annecy becomes a haven in which the world’s top animation talents meet, view the newest animated films, drink wine, attend seminars, enjoy wonderful foods along ancient canals, rekindle longtime friendships and begin new ones.
Rejuvenated, yes. Relaxed, anything but. How to choose from the daily barrage of screenings with three theaters continuously running different programs from 10 in the morning until one in the morning? Few repeated programs, not enough time, and choosing among Short Fiction Films, Feature Films, Student Films, Commissioned Films and Retrospectives make it impossible to see everything. An overwhelming sense of frustration weighs heavily on those who attend their first Annecy International Film Festival.
Each year, I travel to multiple international animation festivals, seeking new animation talent to bring into the Acme fold and to offer up new animation techniques to the advertising industry. The demands of the commercial business define the purpose of Acme Filmworks: to proffer new and unusual animation talent to the creative who wants "a rich new look that no one has ever seen."
The viewing of hours of films frequently turns up only one or two gems. Nonetheless, the time can be well spent. Previous festival finds for Acme include director Gianluigi Toccafondo, the Milan-based animator who combines photography, xerography and paint to create otherworldly animation; Raimund Krumme, whose simple line and magical perspective work challenges M.C. Escher in boggling the mind; and Aleksandra Korejwo, who animates with colored salt—yes, table salt—and with a condor feather, too! Clients such as Levi’s, Nasdaq, Campbell’s Soups, Scott Free and Walt Disney Pictures have since all worked with these directors.
In the media we are seeing an increased trend towards the use of highly stylized animation techniques in the development of product branding. Remarkably, this microcosm of film production known as animation is massively diverse in style and method. In the ongoing search for means of new expression, I’m finding a greater use of computers, especially from the world’s leading animation schools.
Sophisticated off-the-shelf software affords students the opportunity to present professional-looking work—while still often missing the critical points of story and character. Usually it takes three or four films before an animator refines a personal style that has any potential use for the advertising industry. Despite the often-asked-for "inexpensive student talent," rarely does a stellar student come out ready for the challenge. This said, a few exemplary student films were screened in Annecy, whose creators should be followed.
Here’s a very brief focus on some of the offerings at Annecy this year that should be noted: Michael Dudok de Wit’s Oscar-winner, Father and Daughter, took the festival Grand Prix for Short Fiction and the Audience award, while Bill Plympton’s Animée Americana Style Mutant Aliens got the Feature Film Grand Prix. Cordell Barker’s stunning and long-awaited, fast-paced graphic cartoon Strange Invaders confirms a new parent’s anxieties. Phil Mulloy bares it all in the fantastic faux ethnographic documentary Intolerance, whose characters’ heads have been replaced by their genitals, and vice versa. Paul Driessen, master of split-screen scenarios, explores the real and fantasy world of a boy. The work from these veterans of animation proved to be nothing less than was expected: brilliant.
The unexpected, for this producer, took several forms: The graphic comic-book treatment of Sharone Katz-Jelden’s Storm and Ember and its hilarious out-of-context dialogue. The loosely drawn high-concept comedy Geraldine, from France’s ENSAD grad Arthur De Pins, finds its male character waking in a woman’s body and grappling with his new reality. The well-deserved recipient of the greatest number of awards is the technically and culturally rich 3-D model-animated Hasta los Huesos; this rare Mexican entry by student René Castillo follows a man on his journey and induction into the world of the dead.
Despite the originality of the shorts screened in Annecy and other festivals, most short films don’t translate easily to the needs of the advertising industry. The prospect of a particular "artistic" technique’s being chosen for a given campaign is not solely determined by the animation style, but more importantly reflects the agency’s comfort with the production company, the director and, as always, the budget.
As long as advertising executives continue seeking new and innovative approaches to selling their client’s products, animation will remain a consistently successful medium for communicating their ideas. I believe there will continue to be a demand for this work, and we should continue to push the envelope by encouraging all forms of animation techniques. However, at the heart of any successful campaign is always good story and character.
