The success of Disney naturally led to other studios adopting a similar assembly-line approach to animation production which has evolved with contemporary computer animation today (Carter, Chris & Carter, Michelle, 2019). Although Disney has a significant advantage in the animation industry, there are still many excellent animations, movies and games that are not in Disney’s style, and they are also very successful. We should keep experimentation and exploration of new aesthetic or narrative possibilities.
- Digital Extremes
Digital Extremes is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz (Wikipedia, n.d.). The company’s aesthetic is vastly different from Disney’s. Some netizens found some representative characters and used software to transform them into Disney animation style. As we can see from the picture, there are numerous differences between them.
2. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
This animation was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film in the 78th Academy Awards. Timothy Burton, the chief director, explores the faults of society through all aspects of this highly entertaining stop-motion picture (Druzhinina, Marina, 2009).
Disney style may suit most audiences. Disney’s image and the story are cheery, lovely and funny and encouraging. Corpse Bride criticized human society in general and Victorian culture in particular (Druzhinina, Marina, 2009). Perhaps the thoughtful plot doesn’t lend itself to Disney’s fairy-tale characters. From this film, we might consider that the storytelling of unprogrammed fairy tales can open up new visual styles.
Citation reference list:
Carter, Chris & Carter, Michelle (2019) ‘Incorporating experimental practice to counter narrow specialisation and promote the development of innovation, creativity and critical thinking in animation students.’ In Chova L, Gomez, Martinez A, Lopez, & Torres I, Candel (Eds.) 12th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2019): Conference Proceedings. IATED Academy, Spain, pp. 3349-3353.
Wikipedia, n.d. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Extremes
Druzhinina, Marina (2009) ‘Social Criticism Gets Animated. Satire and Humor in Corpse Bride (2005) by Timothy Burton’, Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/2965