Why use Animated Storytelling?

Since animation's earliest beginnings it was clear that its strength was in bringing to life stories of the fantastic and the impossible.  From prehistoric worlds to future civilizations animation allows storytellers to go anywhere their minds can take them.  What was once only possible by the written and spoken word, animation brings those stories to life.  

Animated storytelling has taken on many different roles in modern visual communication over the last 100 years. Cartoon, FIlm, Advertising,  education, and Art are the main uses of the magic of animated storytelling.

Cartoons

Animation's ability to tell stories that aren't possible using just film make cartoons popular to a wide audience. Character beyond humans are possible through the anthropomorphism of animals and other objects (cars, tea cups, toasters, etc...)

Most serial cartoons use 2D and 3D computer generated styles.  These are efficient to produce by their ability to reuse art and outsource digital files.

Some cartoons are produced due to the low production costs and high returns of the show.  The outsourcing of the animation to countries with high skill and low wage workers make them affordable to produce.  Ideas and stories are generated by the studios and then the actual animating is given to workers abroad.  This makes the cartoons cheaper than many shows produced solely in North America.  

India, South Korea, and the Philippines are the major animation outsourcing destinations.

Special Effects in Film

North American audiences' love of the impossible has seen a massive growth in movies that are focused on visual effects.  Advancements in the realism of 3D computer generated characters and environments has meant that most blockbuster films use animation to enhance the scope of the impossible.  

Some action films are closer to being animations than they are films (e.g. Sin City or The Avengers).  Fewer and fewer effects are being done live on set due to the low cost, safety, and high control of doing them on the computer.

Advertising

Product advertising has been using animation since the 1950's.  Advertisers are always looking for fresh ideas to separate themselves from their competitors and the unique visual style animation provides accomplishes this.

Look closely the next time you see cars doing difficult stunts in a commercial.  Odds are it is all done through animation.  Cost, flawless realism, and safety, make animation the perfect choice.

Think of a memorable advertisement that used animation.  Why do you think that add used animation rather than video?

Education

Education and animation work well together.  Animated diagrams allows for complex concepts to be simplified for easier understanding.  Having live video of certain subjects isn't always a good idea depending on your audience (biology anyone?). 

Also, some concepts in scientific theory are impossible to live film, so animation makes it possible to visualize these ideas.  After all, video of scientists just talking would be pretty dry.

Art

Although all animation is considered art, it is often considered a lower art because of its use in commerce.  Some animators use their talents to explore animation as an art form, and create works solely for personal expression with little hope for monetary gain.

Ryan Larkin is a Canadian Academy Award nominated animator who created animations as personal works of art.  He had almost no commercial success and died homeless in 2004.  His last contribution to animation can be seen in the animated documentary Ryan. To this day the works he created for the National Film Board are widely regarded as some of the most creative and experimental animations ever produced.