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Web animation: a new genre of family entertainment

From Nathanael Johnson | 00:06:06
Producers: Nathanael Johnson

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Web animators whose art lands in the intersection of cute and ironic are drawing unbelievable numbers of fans.

Last year I stumbled across a series of animated Web toons that defied the norms of the Internet ? they
weren't disgusting, partisan or crude. Instead they were archly funny, cute, expressively drawn and full of kicking music.

Then I found another - almost the same - and another. These artists support themselves by selling tee-shirts with their characters on them rather than forcing viewers to watch ads. It's a new economic model: The equivalent of letting everyone into movies for free and selling movie-based action figures.

The story features a hipster-animator, a family gathered around the computer and a psychologist who thinks they aren't great for kids. Plus the music and voices that made me fall in love with this stuff in the beginning. Hide full description

Last year I stumbled across a series of animated Web toons that defied the norms of the Internet ? they weren't disgusting, partisan or crude. Instead they were archly funny, cute, expressively drawn and full of kicking music. Then I found another - almost the same - and another. These artists support themselves by selling tee-shirts with their characters on them rather than forcing viewers to watch ads. It's a new economic model: The equivalent of letting everyone into movies for free and selling movie-based action figures. The story features a hipster-animator, a family gathered around the computer and a psychologist who th...
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4 Comments Atom Feed

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Phil Corriveau

Posted on August 13, 2005 at 02:34 PM | Permalink

Review of A new genre of family entertainment

This is a fun piece and a delight to listen to. It flows nicely due to good editing and a great mix, with a nice use of music, sound and interviews. It explores the fascinating world of animation on the Internet and its appeal to both kids and adults. It’s a refreshing example of how the web can be used as family entertainment, and gives a glimpse of the people who create this animation. I thought it was very engaging, and I would have liked it to explore the world of the artists further, and pointed us in a direction to learn more about this genre. Overall, this is a great piece of radio.
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Emon Hassan

Posted on August 05, 2005 at 07:58 AM | Permalink

Review of A new genre of family entertainment

Piece about a different brand of web animators who reach a wide range of ages. There are sound clips from a number of the animation pieces, and they are even funny and cute to listen to. In short, the piece just points out a trend a lot of us may be missing.
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Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Posted on July 29, 2005 at 12:09 PM | Permalink

Review of A new genre of family entertainment

This is a really well written piece right off the bat, puts you right into the home studio and gives great details about the animator. The sound and the kids really draw the listener in...you feel as if you're right in the room.

I think the interest and listenability of this piece would make it a hit across a wide range of audiences. But I have to agree with Townes, couldn't find the URL very well when I wanted to turn my kids onto it. The flip side of that is that i find URL's in stories kind of annoying. Dilemma!

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Transcript

Animation - Nathanael Johnson - trt 6 minutes

Intro:THERE?S A NEW FORM OF FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT IN AMERICA.
INTERNET ANIMATIONS WITH NAMES LIKE RADISKULL (RAD - IH SKULL) AND DEVILDOLL ARE OFFERING HUMOR AND STORYLINES BOTH CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS CAN APPRECIATE. AND AS NATHANAEL JOHNSON REPORTS THIS NEW GENRE IS DRAWING LEGIONS OF DEVOTED FANS.

Ambi- Sparks composing (fade under)
COMPUTER ANIMATOR JOE SPARKS MAY WORK AT HOME BUT HE?S DRESSED for the office: he has black slacks, a skinny black tie, perfectly-groomed sideburns that swoop down to sharp points.
TODAY HE?S sitting at an electric piano in his San Francisco apartment composing the music for his next animation.

(bring ambi up) ?That - might be a starting point.? (and back under)

He records it on his computer, adds voices, and animates characters - synchronized to the sound.

"Now," Crossfade ambi with f...
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