An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, employ operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced. They also own rights over merchandising and creative rights for characters created/held by the company, much like authors holding copyrights . In some early cases, they also held patent rights over methods of animation used in certain studios that were used for boosting productivity. Overall, they are business concerns and can function as such in legal terms.
41-476: Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era , becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the Fleischer brothers, Walter Lantz, Paul Terry, Shamus Culhane and Grim Natwick among others. The studio was founded sometime before 1912 by John Randolph Bray . It
82-579: A Chicago – Detroit branch for creating films for the auto industry, Bray's largest private client. The 1919 move from Paramount to Goldwyn also included a re-incorporation of the studio, now called Bray Pictures Corporation. The studio was putting out more than three reels of screen magazines per week, as well as educational and training films. Bray Pictures also made the first cartoon made in color, The Debut of Thomas Cat , shot in Brewster Color and released on February 8, 1920 (although some claim
123-516: A long time afterwards, as can be seen with their achievements . In 1941, Otto Messmer created the first animated television commercials for Botany Tie ads/weather reports. They were shown on NBC-TV in New York until 1949. This marked the first forays of animation designed for the smaller screen and was to be followed by the first animated series specifically made for television, Crusader Rabbit , in 1948. Its creator, Alex Anderson , had to create
164-601: A longer running manga or animated series. As the OAV market is not adapted to the rigors that are faced by television shows or feature films, they have been known to show gratuitous amounts of violence and/or pornography. Some OAV's have registered such strong acclaim that they have been remade as anime television series as well as theatrical releases. Since most new OVA's are derived from other animated media, many animation studios that have previously worked on animated series or movies, and adaptations of Japanese manga, have now entered
205-506: A new animation studio, Studio Ghibli , which would be used for the personal works of Miyazaki and his close friend, Isao Takahata . Many of Ghibli's works have become Japan's top-grossing theatrical films, whether in live-action or animated form. The market for 'OAV's or ' Original Anime Video ' later the acronym would be better known as 'OVA' meaning 'Original video animation' as the term 'OAV' could often be misunderstood for 'Original Adult Video', began in 1984. These are often tended towards
246-550: A very small core group. After being bought out or sold to other companies, they eventually consolidated with other studios and became larger. The drawback of this setup was that there was now a major thrust towards profitability with the management acting as a damper towards creativity of these studios, continuing even in today's scenario. Currently, the independent animation studios are looking to ensure artistic integrity by signing up with big animation studios on contracts that allow them to license out movies, without being directed by
287-591: Is dated around 1917, but it would take until 1956 for the Japanese animation industry to successfully adopt the studio format as used in the United States. In 1961, these productions began to be aired in the US. Toei Animation , formed in 1948, was the first Japanese animation studio of importance and saw the reduction of animators as independent anime artists. After the formation of Toei Animation Co. Ltd. in 1948,
328-606: Is subject to local intellectual property rights. The animators must also be aware of the contracts laws and labour laws prevalent in the jurisdiction to which the animation studio is subject to. There have been numerous legal battles fought over the copyright of famous franchises, such as Kung Fu Panda and SpongeBob SquarePants . This has come about as a result of the clause in Copyright contracts that states that an idea cannot be protected, only an actual piece of work can be said to be infringed upon. This means that though
369-414: The U.S. Army . These did so well that after the war, Bray was swamped with orders from the government and big business to make films for them. Over a period of years, Bray moved the focus of his company from entertainment to education, putting Leventhal and E. Dean Parmelee in charge of the technical department. Dr. Rowland Rogers became educational director, while Jamison "Jam" Handy was put in charge of
410-430: The 1920s until it closed in 1963. The Jam Handy Organization began life as a subsidiary of Bray Studios to fulfill its business contracts, making several thousand industrial and sponsored films and tens of thousands of filmstrips, mostly for the automobile industry, as an independent entity from 1928 until 1983. Max Fleischer, after being ousted from his own studio in the early 1940s, worked for Handy and later on Brayco in
451-463: The 1940s and 1950s. Animation studio The idea of a studio dedicated to animating cartoons was spearheaded by Raoul Barré and his studio, Barré Studio , co-founded with Bill Nolan , beating out the studio created by J.R. Bray , Bray Productions , to the honor of the first studio dedicated to animation. Though beaten to the post of being the first studio, Bray's studio employee, Earl Hurd , came up with patents designed for mass-producing
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#1732772640945492-728: The Japanese studios churned out minor works of animation. But with the release of Toei's first theatrical feature, The Tale of the White Serpent released in October 1958, the animation industry in Japan came into the eye of the general public. The success of Alakazam the Great led to the finding of the artist Osamu Tezuka , who would go on to become the father of Japanese manga with his brand of modern, fast-paced fantasy storylines. He became influenced by Hanna-Barbera productions of
533-462: The OVA market, looking to capitalize on the popularity of their flagship shows. Studios participating in such circumstances include Production I.G and Studio Deen . Although there are permanent/full-time positions in studios, most animators work on a contract basis. There are some animators that are considered to be in the core group of the studio, which can either be as a result of being there since
574-469: The Westernized title of direct-to-video animations, the OVA market has spread to American animation houses. Their popularity has resulted in animated adaptations of comic characters ranging from Hellboy , Green Lantern and Avengers . Television shows such as Family Guy and Futurama also released direct-to-video animations. DC Comics have continually released their own animated movies for
615-477: The animators may have forwarded ideas to the animation studios about certain characters and plots, these ideas alone cannot be protected and can lead to studios profiting on individual animator's ideas. However, this has not stopped many independent artists from filing claims to characters produced by different studios. Due to the wide range of animation techniques and styles, many animation studios typically specialize in certain types. Traditional animation employs
656-547: The bigger studios. Examples of such co-operation are the joint ventures between DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures and that of Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Studios . On August 22, 2016, Comcast's NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation , appointing Meledandri oversee Comcast's Universal Animation/DreamWorks/Illumination, Disney's Disney Animation/Pixar/20th Century Animation, & Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Animation/Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. The first known example of Japanese animation, also called anime ,
697-418: The cartoon, that was played before the feature). Bray started with Pathé as his distributor, switched to Paramount in 1916, and then switched to Goldwyn Pictures in 1919. Of the units, one produced his Colonel Heeza Liar , one produced Hurd's Bobby Bumps , and one produced non-series cartoons, usually topical commentaries on the news directed by Leighton Budd, J. D. Leventhal, and others. The fourth unit
738-536: The company was streamlined to work more like Goldwyn Picture Corporation , with two cartoons released a week, which meant a much bigger workload than most were willing to take. The result was a massive exodus of talent, including Max Fleischer and even Earl Hurd, which also led to an increasingly poor output which led Goldwyn to drop Bray Pictures. In the wake of this setback, Vernon Stallings took over as Bray's entertainment production supervisor, being replaced by Walter Lantz by 1924. Stallings directed Krazy Kat and
779-577: The first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature . Since then, Disney / Pixar have produced the most number of movies either to win or be nominated for the award. Though the term "direct-to-video" carries negative connotations in the North American and European markets, direct-to-video animation has seen a rise, as a concept, in the Western markets. With many comic characters receiving their versions of OVA 's, original video animations , under
820-581: The first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film . This period, from the 1920s to the 1950s or sometimes considered from 1911 to the death of Walt Disney in 1966, is commonly known as the Golden Age of American Animation as it included the growth of Disney, as well as the rise of Warner Bros. Cartoons and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio as prominent animation studios. Disney continued to lead in technical prowess among studios for
861-627: The first animated short was the British In Gollywog Land , a stop motion /live-action hybrid shot in Kinemacolor and made in 1912 or the animation/live-action hybrid Pinto's Prizma Comedy Revue made by Pinto Colvig in 1919 and shot in the Prizma process) and was apparently involved in an unnamed sound-on-film cartoon by Walt Lantz (co-producer/director) and Hugo Riesenfeld (composer) in 1927 for Movietone , in between
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#1732772640945902-547: The former became J. R. Bray's business partner and directed Bobby Bumps , the latter was employed under duress and directed Farmer Al Falfa . The brothers Max and Dave Fleischer joined in 1916. In 1918, the rival International Film Service studio folded and owner William Randolph Hearst licensed Bray to continue the IFS series, which included Jerry on the Job films adapted from Walter Hoban 's comic strip. Many staff members of
943-447: The former studio transferred to Bray, and most of the new cartoons were directed by the same man who directed them for IFS, Gregory La Cava . Bray's goal was to have four units working on four cartoons at any one time; since it took a month to complete a film, four units with staggered schedules produced one cartoon a week for use of the "screen magazines" (a one-reel collection of live-action didactic pieces and travelogs in addition to
984-414: The home video market, while not tending to the television or theatrical audience as such. They refer to those movies that are launched as direct-to-video releases and not meant to be released in theatres. Video productions can run from half an hour productions to well over two hours. They require that premise or story be original in order to be counted as an OVA, though sometimes, the story can be derived from
1025-421: The inception of the company or being talented recruits from other animation studios. These are the more secure positions in an animation studio, though the studio might have policies concerning the possible tenure of animators. Since studios can hire animators on a work for hire basis nowadays, many artists do not retain rights over their creations, unlike some of the early animators. The extent of these copyrights
1066-465: The king of two-reel comedy, with the disastrous series "The McDougall Alley Kids". When this adventure failed, he slipped out of the business. Meanwhile, Walter Lantz practically became a full-fledged producer as head of the cartoon division, with some trade publications referring to the studio as "Lantz-Bray" by the time the entertainment branch of Bray Pictures Corporation closed in 1928. The educational/commercial branch, Brayco, made mostly filmstrips from
1107-575: The late 1950s and made Japan's first made for television animation studio, Mushi Productions . The success of the studios' first show in 1963, Astro Boy , was so immense that there were 3 other television animation studios by the end of the year and Toei had opened their own made for television division. The greatest difference between Japanese studios and North American studios was the difference in adult-themed material to make way in Japan. Tezuka's thought that animation should not be restricted to kids alone has brought about many studios that are employed in
1148-542: The output for the studio. As Hurd did not file for these patents under his own name but handed them to Bray, they would go on to form the Bray-Hurd Patent Company and sold these techniques for royalties to other animation studios of the time. The biggest name in animation studios during this early time was Disney Brothers Animation Studio (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios ), co-founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney . Started on October 16, 1923,
1189-560: The production of adult-themed adaptations of classic stories such as Heidi ( Heidi, Girl of the Alps ), One Thousand and One Nights and The Diary of a Young Girl and many more. In the 1980s, animation studios were led back to their theatrical roots due to the success of Hayao Miyazaki 's film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , which led publishing house Tokuma Shoten to finance
1230-536: The releases of Don Juan and The Jazz Singer and coincidentally shortly before Bray Pictures' demise. The expenses quickly outweighed the revenue, and in January 1920, Samuel Goldwyn bought a controlling interest in Bray Pictures and ordered a massive reorganization. Max Fleischer and J. D. Leventhal became supervising directors of the entertainment and technical branches of the studio respectively, and
1271-637: The resulting frames are played back. Notable studios specializing in this style of animation include Aardman Animations , Laika and ShadowMachine . 3D animation is the newest of the animation techniques, using the assistance of computers and software, such as Houdini , to create 3D models that are then manipulated and rendered to create movement. Notable studios include Pixar Animation Studios , Sony Pictures Imageworks , Blue Sky Studios , Illumination , DNEG and Marza Animation Planet . The Debut of Thomas Cat The Debut of Thomas Cat (also spelled Kat and Katt in various sources)
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1312-426: The revival of Heeza Liar , while Lantz directed Dinky Doodle . Among the big names who passed through the studio were Wallace Carlson , Milt Gross , Frank Moser , Burt Gillett , Grim Natwick , Raoul Barré , Pat Sullivan , Jack King , David Hand , Clyde Geronimi and Shamus Culhane . J.R. Bray paid little attention to the animation side of things during the 1920s, focusing instead on beating Hal Roach as
1353-417: The sole purpose of sale in the direct-to-video market. With growing worries about piracy, direct to video animation might become more popular in the near future. With the growth of animation as an industry, the trends of ownership of studios have gradually changed with time. Current studios such as Warner Bros. and early ones such as Fleischer Studios , started life as small, independent studios, being run by
1394-448: The studio 'Television Arts Productions' specifically for the purpose of creating this series as his old studio, Terrytoons , refused to make a series for television. Since Crusader Rabbit, however, many studios have seen this as a profitable enterprise and many have entered the made for television market since, with Joseph Barbera and William Hanna refining the production process for television animation on their show Ruff and Reddy . It
1435-503: The studio went on to make its first animated short, Steamboat Willie in 1928, to much critical success, though the real breakthrough was in 1937, when the studio was able to produce a full-length animated feature film i.e. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , which laid the foundation for other studios to try to make full-length movies. In 1932 Flowers and Trees , a production by Walt Disney Productions and United Artists , won
1476-513: The use of hand-drawn frames, and is used in the world of cartoons, movies and anime. Notable studios that specialize in this style include Studio Ghibli , Cartoon Saloon , Nickelodeon Animation Studio , Disney Television Animation , 20th Television Animation , Warner Bros. Animation , Cartoon Network Studios , Titmouse , Ufotable , Studio Chizu and CoMix Wave Films . Stop-motion animation uses objects that are incrementally moved and photographed in order to create an illusion of movement when
1517-498: Was constantly looking to expand his studio. He financed the semi-independent studio of C. Allen Gilbert to create a series of serious Silhouette Fantasies on classical themes (he actually did some of the animation work for this series). In 1917 he bought out his distributor's screen magazine to produce one of his own, moving him into the realm of live-action shorts producer. During World War I, he assigned Leventhal and Max Fleischer's units to create training and educational cartoons for
1558-459: Was in 1958 that The Huckleberry Hound Show claimed the title of being the first all-new half-hour cartoon show. This, along with their previous success with the series Tom and Jerry , elevated their animation studio, H.B. Enterprises (later Hanna-Barbera Productions ), to dominate the North American television animation market during the latter half of the 20th century. In 2002, Shrek , produced by DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images won
1599-436: Was perhaps one of the first studios entirely devoted to serial animation at the time instead of one-off experiments. Its first series was Bray's Colonel Heeza Liar , but from the beginning, the studio brought in outsiders to direct promising new series. Carl Anderson , later known for the comic strip Henry , directed The Police Dog from the beginning of the company. The year 1915 brought Earl Hurd and Paul Terry ;
1640-450: Was the first color animated cartoon made in the United States. It was produced by Earl Hurd for Bray Pictures using the Brewster Color film process, and was released on February 8, 1920. The plot involves a kitten encountering a rat for the first time, rather than the mice it is used to. Despite favorable reviews, Bray Pictures deemed the process to be too expensive, and did not employ it again. This article related to
1681-598: Was the one that kept changing hands. It produced Terry's Farmer Al Falfa in 1916, until Terry left a year later, and the Farmer went with him. It then produced Max Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell until 1921, when Fleischer left, taking Koko the Clown with him. The influx of IFS series at the same time broke up the four-unit system — in 1920 there were ten series going simultaneously, with Heeza Liar in hiatus from 1917. Bray