Lemonade for the Animation Industry
It might seem a touch macabre to start an article looking at this pandemic by comparing it to pre-historic mass extinction, but here we are- it’s rife with analogy. Mammals, humans in particular, could not have reached the point where we’re the dominant force of life inhabiting this planet if it weren’t for the events of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (or K-T) mass extinction some 66 million years ago. An asteroid hit the planet, changed the climate and collapsed many natural cycles and systems so quickly that animals whose existence depended on those systems couldn’t keep up. The K-T mass extinction ended the era of dinosaurs, leaving a massive number of ecological niches for ground-dwelling mammalian species to fill.
Similarly, this pandemic has taken and flipped so much on its head with dizzying force and speed. It caught everyone by surprise and immediately wiped out niches in which industries thrived, forcing many to adapt or succumb to extinction. The restaurant industry, for instance, was especially hit making $240 billion less than estimated pre-pandemic sales projections, and forcing many restaurants and bars to close permanently. Similarly, the entertainment industry has taken quite a blow. Cinemas have been forced to close as they haven’t been able to operate safely at levels that could sustain them. Productions have had to halt or scale back as the number of people that can work on a set safely has dipped significantly. It seems like the behemoth industries of the old, pre-pandemic world are finding it harder to adapt and are slowly fading because of how different the world is today.
The same simply cannot be said about the animation industry. It looks like this industry isn’t only managing to stay afloat but also adapting to the changes in our world, the new normal, so well that some aspects of production look like they might be forever changed for the better.
There are some causes for this which can be explained by the nature of animated productions.
Animation is inherently collaborative. This means that many people have to work on the same project, the product of which is greater than the sum of all its parts. Whilst one can say the same thing about the movie industry with its actors, set designers, writers, make-up artists, etc. animation is unique in the fact that everything you see in an animated film is completely fabricated from nothing. The characters, props, backgrounds, lighting, effects, everything visual, all started as thoughts. Ideas for artists to create out of nothing and then collaborate into something. Because of this the main setback for making animated content during this pandemic was centered around how these artists were to collaborate. Thankfully this was a setback for literally everyone else and because of the great and sudden need for everyone to collaborate at a distance many tools became available for people to meet and plan and anything else that would require face to face interaction.
This online collaboration has enabled a more streamlined form of animation production, strengthened by our newfound ability to communicate with each other at a distance. One can see this at many stages of the animation production pipeline. Joelle McFarlane, an animator at Jamaican animation studio, ListenMi, said that while about 70% of client meetings were already done using online meeting tools before the pandemic, they’ve now gone to 100% as a result of the pandemic. She is also now working from home and, seeing as she is able to do this efficiently with her coworkers on team communications apps like Slack and Asana, expects to continue doing so after the pandemic, with maybe a day or two at the actual studio if need be.
This collaboration extends to other creative sectors of the industry as well. From freelance illustration to advertising. Stephanie Daley was the previous head of a digital marketing firm. Digital marketing is a tangential departure from the average animation studio but still relies heavily on collaboration and often implements animation into its work. She stated that collaboration with team members often involved a short trip to their work station at their office. File sharing meant handing off USB drives to one another, lots of face to face interaction in order to get the job done. Stephanie hasn’t only adapted to this new collaborative playing field but thrived herself. When asked about what she found most useful and what she thinks will stay even after the pandemic is over, Stephanie said that her communication skills have risen to new heights.
“The pandemic allowed me to adapt and become a better communicator and team lead. When giving written feedback I have been forced to be more detailed and give it in an efficient way so there aren’t many reiterations or misunderstandings especially when it comes to individual design elements. I have also become more organized with the storing of files since many versions of one file may be sent to me for me to work on and the entire team needs to know the final version.”
Stephanie has since left her old job and is currently the Lead and sole internal graphic designer at a new agency. She said she was able to bring these new skills with her and thrive in her new position.
From actual animation studios to smaller sectors of the industry like advertising, it seems like our newfound ability to communicate served the animation industry a most refreshing lemonade out of our collective pandemic lemons.
