Animator Mike Disa
The state of animation
Feb. 21, 2004

The Lion King was a landmark film for Disney—the culmination of an upward trend in the quality and popularity of its animated features. It broke box-office records and spotlighted a new era of hand-drawn animation. But what was supposed to continue Disney’s 2D salad days ended up marking the last moment before the slide.

Computer animation started to gain momentum. That slick computer-generated fare such as Finding Nemo and Shrek seems to have out-dazzled The Lion King and Aladdin before it. Compare the box-office numbers: Pixar’s 3D Finding Nemo grossed a monstrous $339.7 million at the domestic box office this year. Meanwhile, the combined totals of three recent 2D Disney films—Atlantis, Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet—came nowhere near breaking $300 million. And Nemo isn’t an isolated incident. Every major computer-animated release has dwarfed the box-office gross of its 2D counterparts, according to raw data collected by Box Office Mojo.

Due to 2D’s less-than-stellar performance, companies are ushering in new computer-animated projects while simultaneously shuttering traditional-animation studios. The rationale? No one wants to see the outdated look of pencil-and-paper on the silver screen. If some people’s predictions are to be believed, traditional animation is ready for the grave.

But is it?

"[Traditional animation] is not dead,” says Mike Disa, who’s worked on 2D and 3D animation for the last 12 years. “It’s shifted to lower-cost venues. It’s still a majority of the animation done in the world. It’s still a majority of the animation bought in the world. It’s still a majority of the animation watched in the world. What it’s not, is a majority of the animation talked about in the trade. Financially speaking, the market is still dominated by 2D.”

Disa, who currently resides in Burbank, Calif., should know. His resume is impressive. He teaches at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and worked at Disney on nearly every animated feature to come out of the California studio, from Pocahontas to the as-yet-unreleased Home on the Range. He also worked on last year’s Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the live-action/2D blend. Currently, Disa is developing his own series of shorts for Warner Bros. as well as working on a project that, for now, he is keeping hush-hush.

"It purely comes down to the fact that 2D is too expensive for the box office," Disa says. He points to Disney's VHS and DVD output as proof of 2D's significance—the movie sequels—which make the studio large sums of money. "What's hurting 2D theatrically is the fact that [when] you're spending $220 million to make a 2D cartoon, you have to make $450 million in box office to break even if you split the proceeds with the theater room.

"If you could make a 2D film for $15 million," Disa says, "it would go out and make a lot of money. Because these things still do $70, $80 million."

Disa makes it clear that hand-drawn animation isn't outdated, saying that it has its place. Those currently studying traditional animation shouldn't worry that there isn't going to be money waiting for them after college. According to Disa, the well-rounded animators will be the ones who have an understanding of the fundamentals that make for good animation. The people jumping directly into 3D might be in for a rude awakening down the line.

"The people who are in 3D animation now, if they don’t get very familiar with 2D animation techniques—proportion stretch, spacing, timing, silhouette, that kind of stuff—they won’t have jobs in five years," Disa proclaims. "Knowing the software won’t be enough. Very soon, once everybody gets over the hump of making this technology work, it’s going to become about better acting. In five years from now, it’s not going to be about, ‘Gee, wasn’t it cool that they got Gollum on the screen at all,’ it’s going to be, ‘Hey, this Gollum doesn’t act as well as that Gollum.’ The technology is going to get invisible. That doesn’t mean that a 3D animator needs to know how to draw—not at all. But they need to know classic 2D animation techniques well enough to translate. What’s happening is the 2D guys are being trained in 3D and the 2D guys that have been doing it for 20 years and stuff like that, they’re going to transfer to 3D and they’re going to be slow and they’re going to be awkward and they’re going to fight it, and they’re never going to be a threat to anybody. But the guys who right now are training in both 2D and 3D—the kids who are bilingual, people who understand 2D techniques and understand 3D techniques and understand the software—are going to go out to the industry and they’re going to blow away the 2D guys who learned 3D and are fighting it and are awkward and are hating it because they‘re going be comfortable with the software. They’re going to be able to fix their own problems. And it’s fast. And at the same time, the guys who have been getting by just knowing the software real well are going to get left behind because directors are going to start giving the better and better scenes to the better and better actors with better and better technique. And what’s going to happen is, they’re not going to work. They’re going to end up doing effects. They’re going to end up doing particles and stuff.

"It’s going to come down to the individual craft and the individual actor. And in order to be good at that, you have to know the classic stuff."

So, it seems, versatility is the key to making money in the animation industry, no matter what the individual preference (2D or 3D). As Disa puts it, some projects are better suited for 2D and vice versa. And exaple of this would be the upcoming Curious George movie, which was supposed to be done in 3D, but animators didn't think it translated well so the project is continuing as a hand-drawn film.

Knowing the fundamentals is important, Disa states, because computer animation may be a big trend now, but who's to say when the bottom will fall out on the instant cash cow?

Disa explains: "Here’s a prediction, Pixar-excepted because Pixar is a very good animation studio. If they did 2D, they’d be very good. If they did talking meatballs, they’d be very good. They put together good stories. So excluded from them, we’re going to start getting a lot of 3D films that aren’t very good, that are not going to be cost-productive, that are going to run into exactly the same thing that happened to the 2D films. If you’re going to cost $200 million, you better be a very, VERY good movie. If you’re just an OK movie, and you cost $200 million, you just cost somebody $180 million."

If enough bad 3D films crowd theaters, the enthusiasm from moviegoers may wane. No longer will viewers flock theaters simply because the movie is computer animated.

Disa offers some advice to current students working to become tomorrow's top animators: "[Traditional animation has] changed. I think 3D will go through the same changes in five years. I think a smart student would get very good at 2D animation techniques, get very good at mimicking the kind of effects that film people are looking for and make themselves as viable as possible and treat themselves like a freelancer, treat themselves like an independent contractor. Do not try to hook up with a studio and fiddle away your talent on an assembly line. Make yourself available to do the lead in an animated character in Finding Nemo or a theatrical release.

"[Animators are] going to be just like an actors in the future. Films will hire you like they hire actors. Sometimes a film needs a lot of actors, sometimes it needs a few. If you’re just a technician, if you’re just a risk, if you’re just part of an assembly line, you’re done. That part of the industry is over.

"All the kicking and screaming you’re hearing about 2D is coming from the old guys that have been doing it for awhile that are getting forced out of the industry. Fifteen years ago, 20 years ago, the last old guys got shoved out by these guys. They kicked and screamed, too. Things change.

"The money’s still there. It’s shifted ... I work in 2D all the time; I make a very good living. I’m not having any problems finding work."

Future animators shouldn't worry about finding work either, Disa says. It's still there.

"You just got to look for it."

Chris Douvalas

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