Finding a different way.

I keep hearing "We need to find a different way of making these" (animated features).  This is coming from top executives at multiple major feature animation studios at the same time.  They feel the current process is too expensive.  This isn't a new problem.  Walt Disney came to the same conclusion on Sleeping Beauty.  He felt then what executives are feeling today, that the process had become too complicated and expensive and it was putting too much pressure on each film.  Every film shouldn't have to be the next highest grossing film of all time for these movies to remain viable.  They all want to find a different way.  The problem is, they're all following Walt's approach and finding themselves painted into the same corner.

Because that's the way it's always been done.

Since the dawn of feature animation, there's a step in the process that's remained virtually unchanged.  Sure, we're mostly drawing in the computer instead of on paper but there are major animation movie studios who are still pitching boards.    

Drawing in the computer, printing those drawings out, pinning them to 4'x 8' cork boards, stacking said boards in a conference room and pitching them with a  pointer to a room full of people.  Am I missing something or does this sound like an antiquated process?  Why is this still a thing?  The answer you'll get is "Because that's the way it's always been done."  Well, if you're genuinely looking for a different way to make these (animated features), then you have to take a hard look at every step whose reason for being is "because that's the way it's always been done" and ask yourself why.  Why are we still doing it the way Walt did?

Walt vs. Miyazaki 

I've heard Miyazaki called "the Japanese Walt Disney" for as long as I've known of him.  There's a mistake in that comment though.  Walt was a producer.  Miyazaki is a director.   A wildly successful director, who has consistently delivered incredible film after incredible film.  If you don't know him, take it from someone who knows a thing or two about feature animation as John Lasseter presents him with an honor Oscar for lifetime achievement and his unprecedented contribution to animation, which is rivaled only by Walt Disney himself. 

Impressive, right?  You would think someone with that kind of track record would be emulated, right?   I'm not suggesting that Miyazaki isn't an anomaly.  I'm not suggesting that anyone can do what he does.  11 animated feature films by one director.  No one will ever come close.  Drawing the boards for an entire film yourself is possible though and it's not unique to Miyazaki.  Many Japanese directors do it.  If we're really and truly looking for a different way of making these films, and we're not trying to emulate the production method of Miyazaki, then we're doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Miyazaki's boards are the film.  

The side by side comparison of his boards and final film frame are nearly identical.  By starting the process with a clear direction in mind, the entire production process becomes incredibly streamlined.  It's the difference between a director driven film and a producer driven film.

If we really want to find a different way, we can't keep walking on Walt's well worn path.  If we really want to find some new and different films, we have to get off the big-budget, four-quadrant, mega-movie super highway.  Taking the side streets and the back roads and allowing film makers to just make films will produce much more interesting movies.  I'm not saying we don't still also make the mega-movies.  I'm just suggesting that for a fraction of the cost of all of the boards which are typically thrown out at an average major feature animation studio, we could be backing some filmmakers who want to take a crack at Miyazaki's method.

Miyazaki has blazed a trail.  He's retired now.  We'll see if it sticks this time, I kind of have a feeling he's just resting his arm.  It would be a shame if we allowed that trail to be lost for reasons as lame as "because that's the way it's always been done" because clearly, in a world where a Hayao Miyazaki has existed, that's not the way it's always been done.  There is another way.  There's a single track path which heads off into a dense woods filled with Totoros and moving castles and bath houses for spirits.