Earlier this fall, SCAD celebrated International Animation Day, commemorating the world's first public screening of an animated film, created long ago by Charles-Émile Reynaud using a technique he called "Théâtre Optique." (For a quick primer on the early history of animation, check out this fascinating short film, hosted by Walt Disney himself.)
Reynaud's animation debuted in 1892 — quite shocking when you consider that the world's first live-action film would not be seen by the public for another three years, shown by Louis and Auguste Lumiere at the Grand Café in Paris. Most audiences, I would guess, don't know that animation is the oldest genre of filmmaking. It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that out of the top 50 highest-grossing films of the last 25 years, 10 of those are animated films and all 50 employ 3-D animations to achieve their visual effects. The spirit of Reynaud hovers over every great film of our time.
Earlier this year, our university launched Georgia's first festival dedicated entirely to the art form, SCAD AnimationFest. We created this new annual event because — out of more than 100 professionally focused degree programs at SCAD — animation is by far our most popular major, followed by fashion, film and television, graphic design, and illustration.
One reason so many students choose animation is because they see job security in the profession. Today, animation means far more than cartoons, comprising ads, video games, live-action, TV, VR, AR, everything. A total of more than 1,400 SCAD students are studying animation here in Georgia and around the world, and more than 2,100 SCAD animation alumni devote their talents to films like Frozen and Moana. At this year's Emmy and Academy Awards, more than 60 SCAD alumni and students were recognized for their work on dozens of this year’s best films and TV shows, including 20 alumni who shared in the Oscar glow for Zootopia and The Jungle Book.
Oscar and Emmy winners, y'all! Coming straight out of Georgia!
Which means Georgia is right where today's animation professionals and production companies need to be. This is truer now more than ever, given our state's epic tax credits for film and TV production, skyrocketing Georgia into the world's number one filmmaking region. House Bill 199, signed into law this past summer, provides an additional 20 percent tax credit for postproduction companies. The law goes into effect just over two months from now, on January 1, 2018.
The time is ripe for a fruitful harvest of animation production in Georgia.
With the promise of so much present and future production in our state, SCAD AnimationFest and SCADFILM exist to bring aspiring and working professionals together to talk about industry trends and what makes a great animated film. Recently, I visited with the legendary John Lasseter, and I asked him: What's the secret? What makes a great animated film?
Two things, he said. First, heart. We root for Cinderella to find freedom. In Finding Nemo, we share Marlin's fear of losing a child (or rather, losing a fish).
Second, John said that a great animated film needs a memorable setting: Feudal Japan (Kubo and the Two Strings), dreamlike Arendelle (Frozen), the fantastical interior of young Riley's mind (Inside Out), these are settings we want to explore and dwell inside for 90 minutes.
Although, if you're a parent, you know: You don't merely spend 90 minutes with a great animated film: You see it over. And over. And over. Which is why great animators create stories where we discover something new with every viewing, an Easter egg, a double entendre, a metaphor that takes us 100 viewings to see for the first time.
Heart, and a memorable setting. Sounds like home to me.
The climax of SCAD AnimationFest was the North American premiere of Leap!, a story about young Félicie (voiced by Elle Fanning), who longs to dance with the Paris Opera Ballet. What a perfect tale for an audience full of aspiring animators — who, like the balletic hero of Leap!, long to realize a creative dream. The film's animation director, Ted Ty, joined us for the screening and led a fascinating master class, in which he declaimed actor Meryl Streep's physical choices and precisely demonstrated to SCAD students what animators learn from close observation of live actors.
There's poetry in the fact that Leap! takes place in Paris, right around the time Reynaud was debuting his Théâtre Optique, giving birth to the astonishing new art form of animation, which now comes full circle 125 years later, right here in the Peach State. With the broadening of our state's tax incentives for production and postproduction, Georgia stands to take a wondrous leap of its own, into the lead role in animated film production.
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Paula Wallace is the president and founder of SCAD, home to SCADFILM, based in Atlanta, offering advanced learning and elite networking through special screenings, master classes, equipment and software symposiums, and festivals, including SCAD aTVfest, coming up on February 1-3, 2018. SCAD animation students pursue accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees at SCAD campuses in Atlanta, Hong Kong, Lacoste, and Savannah. While studying in Lacoste, students attend the world's largest animation festival each year in Annecy, France.