The amplification of animation

During the pandemic, creative studios certainly saw an increased demand for animated content. Sometimes at Flavor we were presented with entire scripts that couldn't be shot because of the pandemic, and were asked to adapt them to animation. 

Obviously, this presents its own set of challenges – animation isn't always a seamless replacement for live-action. But most often, we were asked to create interesting motion graphics and animation for advertisements. 

Gone are the days of having two options; traditional cel-animation or that ‘3D look', we are now almost unbound by technological limitations.

So, while there was a boom in animated content during the pandemic, since this past May when the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 to no longer be a global health emergency, we have seen the expected return to live-action production. 

There is a twist, however: A lot of content creators are now incorporating animation into live-action to elevate their storytelling. We are seeing animation being used in altogether new places, and I believe there are a few reasons for this.

Above: Flavor recently collaborated with Highdive on this campaign for the National Hockey League.

With the pandemic, we saw an increase in media consumption at home. From my perspective, this has resulted in more sophisticated viewing habits. As content creators, we are now motivated to push our ideas even further. 

Animation is also a way to explore surrealism, something that is an increasing trend in all forms of content.

Whereas in the past, the use of animation might signal content aimed more at children, now we're seeing animation used everywhere for everyone. It indicates viewers are demanding more from their movies, tv shows, and even commercials. 

Above: The 2018 Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse introduced new rendering styles mixed in with hand-drawn elements. 

Staying home and catching up on shows and movies gave viewers not only the opportunity to experience content they wanted to watch, it also familiarised them with the different ways we tell stories. 

Movies such as the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its spin-offs have pushed animation in ways we’ve never seen before, ultimately inspiring other creators to use animation to help tell their stories in visually interesting ways. Gone are the days of having two options; traditional cel-animation or that ‘3D look', we are now almost unbound by technological limitations.

Imagine fully animated characters, controlled by animators and puppeteers interacting with live-action characters in-camera.

Animation is also a way to explore surrealism, something that is an increasing trend in all forms of content. From blockbuster movies like Barbie to the Oscar-winning Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, it's certainly fashionable to question what reality is. 

Even in television with shows such as Loki, Atlanta, and Severance, creators are using surrealism as a reflection of our cultural state of mind. Animation is also a way to explore surrealism, something that is an increasing trend in all forms of content. 

From blockbuster movies like Barbie to the Oscar-winning Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, it's certainly fashionable to question what reality is. 

Above: Marvel Studios' 2021 series, Loki, creates a surreal animated universe.

Animation therefore, is the perfect tool to help us explore this mindset. Now, it's not unusual for a live-action movie, TV show, or commercial to suddenly cut to an all animated scene, or use animated accents to help viewers understand what a character is really thinking. 

Obviously we as animators have been doing this for years, but what feels different now is the increased usage of animation in the storytelling process. 

Above: The fantastical world of the Barbieverse, combined live action with animated elements.

As technology pushes forward with such innovations as Unreal Engine and shooting in volumes, it's becoming even more common to have 3D departments (including animators) on live-action sets to bring their creativity onto background screens. 

This unlocks new forms of collaboration with production. In the future this could bring animators out of post-production and into production for more than just changes to lighting and scenery. Imagine fully animated characters, controlled by animators and puppeteers interacting with live-action characters in-camera.