This article is from WeChat public account: three Entertainment (ID: hi3wyu) , author: Dkphhh, from FIG title: FIG description with ( Philippine animation company Toon City produced “7D” for Disney)
Have you seen Southeast Asian animation?
Most of the people’s answers are not.
This is not surprising. South Asia is still at the bottom of the industry chain on the world animated map. Most animation companies can only work in outsourcing, relying on orders to live, 33% of Southeast Asian animation companies have original IP.
But this does not mean that the animation industry in Southeast Asia is not worth mentioning. According to Cartoonbrew, 90% of TV animations in the United States are produced by Asian companies. A considerable number of project producers are from Southeast Asia, and Warner’s “Rick and Moti”, “Uncle Dog”, “Cat and Mouse” are all involved in Southeast Asian companies.
This shows that although the animation industry in Southeast Asia is at the low end of the industry, it has been able to undertake high-end projects, and the future development is only a matter of time.
In fact, the animation history of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries is not shorter than China.
The late Thai animated veteran Payut Ngaokrachang independently produced a 12-minute animated short film “The Miracle” (เหตุมหัศจรรย์).
Then he was sent to Japan to study animation. After returning to China, he created the only hand-drawn animated film in Thailand, “Sudsakorn Adventures” (สุดสาคร)< /span>.
Like the same generation of China’s “Heavenly Temple” and “Where is the sea”, these animations from the myths of the country have distinct national characteristics.
After the 1980s, the Southeast Asian animation industry was initially developed, and the connection with the world has become closer.
In 1984, Malaysian animation company FilmArt was founded. In 1987, another animation company, Lensamation, was born.
In the same year, Hannah Barbera Animation of the United States (Warner FlagNext, it has stopped operating) Opened a subsidiary Fil-Cartoons in the Philippines. In 1993, the Philippine animation company Toon City was founded. The company has long produced animations for Disney and Warner, and participated in the production of the first two seasons of Rick and Moti.
So, what is the current stage of development of the Southeast Asian animation industry?
Malaysia Digital Economy Group (MDEC) and the Japanese market research company Media Create jointly launched the “Southeast Asian Animation Industry Report” (hereinafter referred to as “Report”) unveiled the mystery of Southeast Asian animation.
Young and poor Southeast Asian animation industry
Although the history is relatively long, the animation industry in Southeast Asia, like China, really ushered in the outbreak or things in recent years.
According to the “Report”, more than half of the animation companies in Southeast Asia have been established in the past six years. Among them, the company with the largest number of companies established in 4-6 years has reached 28%, and the industry veterans have been established for more than 15 years. .
They are not only younger in animation companies, but also very young in the animation industry. 43% of animation practitioners are between 18 and 23 years old, and more than 80% of practitioners are under 35 years of age.
At the same time, the number of companies is generally not large. 40% of the companies are between 11 and 50 people, and the number of companies with more than 100 is less than 12%, which is equivalent to the majority of companies with less than 100 people.
Although there are not many people, but the specific output of the company, the difference between different companies is still relatively large.
The Report shows that 55% of companies produce less than four projects per year, but 21% of companies can complete more than 11 projects per year. The company with a production capacity of only 14%, which means that there is a gap between the two extremes.
From the content of the output, most of them are children’s animations. The animations of young people are less, and the adults are basically not. This is also in line with the law of industry development.
Because the company is new, they start directly with the most advanced 3D animations.
The Report says that more than half of the respondents said that 3D animation is their main business, followed by 2D animation. The next three or four are visual effects, modeling, and original art. Considering that visual effects, modeling and dynamic image technology are the keys to making 3D animations, concentration in these areas is also conducive to the future development of the industry.
However, the most important reason for them to do 3D animation is to save money. 3D animations have mature software and techniques, and 2D animations can only be drawn in one sheet.
Why save money? Because the income of Southeast Asian animation companies is far below the world average. Their income for one year does not even have a box office high for an animated film.
96% of companies surveyed earn less than $5 million a year. 29% of companies have revenues ranging from $150,000 to $500,000, which is the most concentrated area of income. The remaining companies, with 15% annual revenues between $500,000 and $1 million, have 19% annual revenues ranging from $1 million to $5 million.
To some extent, animation companies don’t earn much because of the high cost of animation production in Southeast Asia. For example, in Singapore, the cost of producing animation is higher than that of a real drama. A half-hour cartoon can cost $60,000, and a live drama costs up to $40,000 in equal duration.
Where the animation industry in the United States and other places are more mature, the production cost of animation will not be higher than that of the same level. The cost of producing ordinary animation is about 200,000 US dollars to 500,000 US dollars, but there is no special effect like the “Breaking Bad”, the single integration is generally between $3 million and $4 million.
Depends on making orders, practitioners have low wages
Another reason for the low revenue of animation companies is related to their business model.
As we mentioned earlier, in Southeast Asia, only 33% of animation companies have their own animation IP, and quite a few animation companies rely on animated orders to maintain their lives.
Among the companies surveyed, 29% of the companies received orders directly from the producers, and another 17% were worse. They could only receive outsourcing orders from the production company.
In Southeast Asia, the most prosperous development of outsourcing is Thailand and the Philippines.
Thailand mainly outsources Japanese animation. According to data provided by the Japan External Trade Organization, Thailand is the closest partner of the Japanese animation industry in Southeast Asia and the sixth largest partner in the world. Thai animation company and Japanese animation company signed up to 54 contracts, second only to South Korea (78), US