Animation Industry in the Philippines

Who doesn't know Mickey Mouse? Or Felix the Cat?At the turn of the 20th century, simple cartoon strips such as "Mutt and Jeff" transformed into animated characters. The year 1907 saw J. Stuart Blackton release his animated film, "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces," in the United States.From silent, animated films to surround sound, 3D animated showcases, the development of the animation industry is intricately intertwined with scientific and technological advances made since 1907. Yet animation as an art remains a labor-intensive effort, despite the tremendous power of computer graphic processors and the amazing features of animation rendering software.Animation has a long development cycle, and labor costs make for up to 80% of a project's budget. To minimize costs, animation companies based in North America and Europe turn to animation companies based in emerging economies, such as the Philippines, Vietnam, China, and India, to outsource work.For a second of animation, an animator needs to draw 24 frames. Some outfits, like Disney, render 30 frames for a second of animation to create a smoother, more fluid animation. Thus, a full-length film of 90 minutes translates to 5,400 seconds of animation - almost 130,000 drawings must be made!Animation outsourcing provides the army of illustrators that an animated film needs. Outsourcing also provides the designers of the backgrounds, the colorists, the animation supervisors, the voice actors, etc.From simple two-dimensional animation, the industry has also evolved into 3D animation - creating animation that rivals reality. Coupled with animation outsourcing, 3D animation outsourcing has also been seen as an important tool in developing animation projects.The recent development of Flash as a powerful animation rendering software has also seen the evolution of outsourcing Flash animation to talented and creative Flash animators based in the Philippines and India.The Philippines, despite stiff competition from neighboring countries, remains the top destination for quality outsourced animation. Local animation companies have been part of major animation films produced within the last few years, while Filipino animators based in the US have been recruited as project and creative supervisors.As early as the 1980s, several animation outfits have been established in the Philippines, training and employing thousands of talented animators. Some of these companies continue to operate profitably, such as TOEI Animation, Fil-Cartoons, Roadrunner, and Toon City Animation. These companies have been involved with the development of animated films such as "Mulan", "Pocahontas", "Little Mermaid", "Lion King", "Space Jam", and "Anastasia".Animation outsourcing to the Philippines continues to thrive and develop as major Western animation companies - Walt Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Marvel Comics, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and MTV - continue to rely on the Filipino's innate creativity and Western cultural affinity to produce animated films and Flash animations of the highest quality.