How To Make An Animated Film

Animated films are a staple of the film industry in this day in age, having come into major prominence in the past decade. The most well know studios that make animated films are likely Disney and Pixar, now part of the Walt Disney Production family. For the sake of this piece I shall focus on the method of animation that Pixar practices, along with multiple other companies, CGI-animation.

Some of the main Western animation studios that deal in CGI are:

• Disney
• Pixar
• Dreamworks
• 20th Century Fox
• Paramount Pictures
• Blue Sky Studios

Combined, these studios have created over 50 films, not including the numerous animated films each studios has upcoming in the next 2-4 years as well as the many more they have planned for release in the next 5-7 years. Many of these films span the past 20 years, with varying storys and styles, however for the most part they seem to follow certain steps and rules when it comes to the film. And so, here are a few of the steps to take if you want to make a successful animated film.

1: Get normal actors or celebrities to voice characters

There is a whole industry full of professional voice actors skilled and trained to do a wide range of voices to convey various emotions and personalities. But why hire them when you could just hire normal actors whose faces people will recognise, despite it being an animated film, to talk in their normal voices. Sure a voice actor's pay would be a fraction of standard hollywood actors but hey, who needs rational thinking in this business. Hell you don't even need actors, you could get any celebrity to do voice-over work, get a pop-star to do a voice, they have no experience in acting but you're just having them say words.

This is all done for the sake of commercial success. If I were to say names such as John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Tara Strong or Frank Welker, how long would it take for you to google their names, only to find out they've done the voices of some of your favourity childhood characters (Tom Kenny, possibly best known as the voice of SpongeBob Squarepants and the Ice King from Adventure Time, is actually the man left hand side of the above image) Studios hire well known film and TV actors as theie names bring traction to the films, hence why their names are plastered over advertisements, with familiar faces it helps with promotion when it comes to press interviews or guest appearences on chat shows. People won't watch something if they don't know of the person.

It's a sad reality...

2: Have a "Fish out of water" plotline

This is a very popular feature to animated films. The Fish out of water premise refers primary to a character being out of their comfort zones or doing something completely contradictory to what they usually/are meant to do. I am yet to understand why this story structure is used so much, I have one theory. My theory is that it is meant to appeal to the everyman, telling them that you can succeed no matter what the surroundings, no matter what the hurdles, or something cliched like that

A list of animated films that follow this plotline:

• Skrek: The Monster must become the hero and save the princess
• Rio: Bird that grows up in Minnesota is sent to Rio De Janeiro
• Robots: Small town robot moves to the big city
• Madagascar: 4 zoo animals are reintroduced into the wild
• Over the Hedge: A selfish racoon enters a suburb and also learns the meaning of family
• Monsters vs Aliens: Monsters become to heroes
• Megamind: The Villain must become the Good Guy
• The Croods: Sheltered Cave-girl must venture into the jungle
• Turbo: A snail becomes lightening fast
• Cars: Famous racecar ends up in small town America
• Wall-E: Garbage disposal robot from a deserted earth travels into space
• Flushed Away: Posh upper-class rat gets lost in the sewers

The list goes on but as it shows there are two other trending plots within the framework of the Fish Out Of Water. The first is the idea of a redemption story, learning the meaning to good and saving the day. The second is the more interesting plot device, it follows the story much of early American literature is films, the pursuit of the American Dream. Coming from small, humble and quiet beginnings (Small town America) and adventuring into the World (the Big City) to discover who you are, find love and to make a name for yourself. In animated films this is more portrayed by having the character live a dull existence generally before being thrust new surroundings, no matter what they might be, for them to achieve their dream.

And Speaking of Fish

3: Have non-human main characters

Now there have been successful animated films that are about a bunch of human however it is seemingly more commonly to have the characters be made up of non-humans, or at least not have the main characters as humans.

• Shrek series: An Ogre and a talking Donkey
• Kung Fu Panda: A Panda, Tiger, Monkey, Viper, Mantis, Crane
• Cars: Nascar Racecar, Tow Truck, Carrera
• Toy Story series: A bunch of Toys
• Monster, inc/university: Monsters
• Ratatouille: A Rat
• Madagascar: Zebra, Lion, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Penguins
• Sharks Tale: Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse, Shark
• Bee Movie: A Bee
• Monsters vs Aliens: A Giant, A blue blob, Fish-Ape, Human-Cockroach hyrid
• Megamind: Alien
• Turbo: Snail
• Ice Age series: Sloth, Mammoth, saber-tooth tiger
• Rango: A Chameleon
• Barnyard: a Cow
• Over The Hedge: A racoon, turtle, squirrel, skunk, porcupine, oppossum, 

Again the list goes on. The preference for non-human characters in CGI films is another regularity I struggle to understand. Some studies suggest that the more human animation becomes realistic the more we reject it. However there are many holes in these theories but lets not get into that now. With the audience's apparently love for animated animals instead of people you could theoretically have a commercially successful film if it was simply about a bunch of animals on a farm.

Just maybe not like this

So there you have it. 3 simple ways to help you understand what makes an animated film. Anything I missed out?