The Animation Industry, in Conclusion

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SYNTHESIZING RESEARCH  ON THE QUESTION “How do animation production project leaders
develop a story idea (on a limited budget) when planning for a film to appeal best to an audience?”

The economic principle I researched was “Because of scarcity, people choose. All choices have an
opportunity cost.”

Throughout my research, I looked into the hiring process for animation studios, what happens during pre-production
and  production for animated films, and the history of the animation industry and all the ups and downs it has
encountered.

The economic principle played a major role in understanding how hiring happens - studios calculate the opportunity
cost of hiring for technical talent versus for ideas. The production process over the course of decades has proven
that a balance must be struck between the search for talent or ideas - it must be talent AND ideas. An idea can be
turned into an emotionally compelling film only when given to a great team.

During pre-production then, project leaders choose to make the most of the inexpensive planning/story-writing
process before spending time on production that requires hours of expensive labor. So this process is dedicated to
creating a rough prototype of the envisioned film, starting with layering the artists’ voices (as a placeholder for the
voice actors that will voice the characters) on top of the quickly drawn storyboards, scanned in and put together like
a slideshow.

Production is all about the technical skill like painting and designing, and the cutting-edge software like Autodesk
Maya. This plays a role in how animators search for employment. For example, a large, major studio like Pixar would be able to hire many animators that are highly specialized in specific skills like 3D modeling, so an animator who has enough experience to work in major studios would want to specialize in one part of the animation pipeline.

On the other hand, a small, perhaps self-directed studio would hire just a few animators that spread out their skills
across all of the trades that make up the animation process; such an animator would be able to do concept design,
storyboarding, and rigging and modeling altogether.

Finally, the history of animation has proven that life-like characters and scenery, relatable everyday themes, and
accompanying music are key to animated films that appeal to audiences. Artists must stay away from trying to push
realism so far that it looks and feels like any other film, though. And studios do best when they can worry less about
the cost and time put into producing films, which is why computer animation has sped up the momentum and growth
of the animation industry.