The Research

Currently, most animated features seem to revolve around the comedy genre. The animation community, however, seems tired of comedies, their attention reverting to movies with a more adventurous core. In 2017, “Moana”, “Zootopia”, and “Kubo and the Two Strings” are all Oscar nominees that presented quite the journey for their main characters. These movies do not belittle their younger audiences with weak toilet humor. Instead, they dare to challenge kids and make them think about themselves and the world.

Zootopia is a film that tackles prejudice, a topic many would claim kids are “too young to understand”. Kids know what prejudice is and it’s almost insulting how we chose to believe that kids are ignorant to real world issues. Children are only ignorant if we keep them in the dark. Since my film has similar themes of prejudice and racism, it is very comforting to see how well Zootopia did in the box office. The movie itself grossed $1.02 billion dollars and was critically praised for it’s strong message, lovable characters, and beautiful animation. All of these factors ultimately won this movie the Oscar for best animated film.

However, the artistic style and influence of my work does not come from 3D animated features, but is influenced from the styles of Hayao Miyazaki, Lauren Montgomery, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko. Miyazaki is famous for his film’s amazing characters and fantastical stories. Many of these stories incorporate fantasy, but still stay very grounded in reality. Avatar the Last Airbender is one of the most critically acclaimed animated series of all time. Thought the live action movies was garbage, the animated show is known for it’s strong characters and the amazing development they go through. This series also discusses serious matters like war, death, and prejudice while still remaining fun, adventurous, and optimistic. Though the opening for my movie will be done in silhouettes to represent a story from the past being retold, the rest of the film echoes the stylings of these beautiful and influential pieces.

In my next post, I will go more in depth with my story and the production choices I have made in order to make an animated feature that has great artistic and moral value.

Calendar Staff. "Academy Awards 2017: Complete List of Oscar Winners and Nominees." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

IMDb. "Zootopia." Box Office Mojo. IMDb, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Zootopia. Dir. Rich Moore and Byron Howard. Perf. Jason Bateman and Ginnifer Goodman.

The Walt Disney Company, 2016. Film.

Konietzko, Bryan, and Michael Dante DiMartino. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. 21

Feb. 2005. Television.

Spirited Away. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, 2002. Film.