A Renaissance of Motion Images

Throughout the history of entertainment and film animation has been used to express many ideas of creativity. From TV to movies, people have used the art of animation to send messages through a colorful and expressive medium. However, the animation industry has been going through a revamp in the past decade. In this time we’ve seen the industry make major advancements in the art and found new fascinating ways to gain people’s attention.
We’ve seen this from several entertainment companies. One perfect example of the new advancements in animation is from Sony Pictures Animation : Spiderman – Into the Spiderverse.

This movie immediately gained people’s attention through its unique 2-Dimensional animation style. The idea of this movie was to create a “comic book come to life” and that is clear in every part of it. The color palette, the framerates, and the unique expressiveness. It’s no wonder this movie won the Oscar for best animated movie. Soon after this movie’s success, other companies would follow suit. Netflix would present new forms of entertainment in their streaming services, including several new animated series and movies each in their own style. This new surge of animation was proof that this area of the film industry desperately needed a new brand of creativity.

However, judgment on the overall use of animation would prove to be a difficult hurdle to jump. For the longest time animation has been attributed with being something used specifically for kids. Of course, that’s what it mainly served for during its beginnings, but that old belief has sadly resurfaced in recent times. Shows like the highly popular adult animated show, Rick and Morty, have proven that animation can be enjoyed by adults as well. But no sooner was animation being expressed in all forms of media, that several said forms of media began to cut them out. Several companies began canceling new animated projects that had such great potential. Companies like Netflix and HBO began laying off several beloved animated shows simply because they didn’t view them as profitable enough, and the remaining shows people were left with were decent at best.

People who adored these shows were clearly not happy with the choices being made, but thankfully this wasn’t the end of this new wave of animation. Just as of late, this new animation trend has once again been brought back to relevancy. Film companies have once again been putting more dedication into animated projects. One of the most recent of these new projects. Was the highly successful “Puss in Boots : The Last Wish” by Dreamworks.

This film not only impressed audiences with its vibrant style, but also with its mature themes that people of all ages can be invested in. Like Spiderverse before it, this movie has already started a new trend of new unique animated projects. These include TMNT : Mutant Mayhem, Spiderman : Across the Spider Verse, and WISH.

Companies like Sony, Dreamworks, Paramount and Pixar have once again been reestablishing the importance of the animation industry, and it’s clear this is only the beginning.
However, this isn’t just for the industry. With the new influence of animation in the industry, more people are interested in learning more about the art of animation. I personally believe that animation should be emphasized as a highly important skill that anyone interested in Media should learn. Schools like our very own ACIT could look into providing more to those who wish to learn about this type of art. Guillermo del Toro said famously at the Oscars that, “animation is pure cinema and that animators should be treated as artists — not technicians” (The Conversation). Let’s make sure that those artists are free to shape the industry in each of their own ways.