A Ghost came by Zanimated and said some things that I have to admit caught me a bit off guard. But I do appreciate his frankness (sincerity is the ticket here) because all this going around the mulberry bush in trying to be nice can actually drive things to the ground so to speak. It also doesn't help anyone.
So there! Thanks for your comments and correcting the facts that I so carelessly assumed to be right due to a sudden spur to write in the wee hours of a morning. Mucho gracias, I sincerely appreciate it. I was taught to be a responsible writer, so I'd like to practice that!
How else is Zanimated supposed to grow if it decides to pooh-pooh away the truth; granted of course the mistake wasn't intentional.
The issue? I was told that for the K-Perak initiative, it wasn't actually inspired by the success of Upin and Ipin. It actually preceded the Les Copaque Geng movie hype.
Also that the K-Perak initiative is not only geared for animation only. It also encompasses a lot other ICT related stuff as well. I neglected to mention this. This is undeniably true of course.
The dark and seedy world of animation, digital special effects, creative content etc it seems (unsurprisingly) just like any other industry filled with pitfalls which includes lobbyists to a certain degree. It is business after all.
You either have deep pockets to help you through - which is the stamina to completion or you are small, lean and mean and yes hungry enough to tighten your belts.
Case in point, I once asked a friend from Les Copaque (mind you, I ain't in my young 20's anymore): "Say, if I wanted to go into animation, and I learned all this stuff; you think I can hack it?"
His reply? "You could technically be competent. But you won't make it. You won't have the stamina. You'd have to sleep in, go around the clock to finish things. Not really for a family man like you." (Well it was something to that effect I promise you).
Of course I was pissed (what? you're saying I'm too old?). But after I recovered from the initial bombardment received after my rhetorical question, I sort of understood it and agreed.
The animation industry is tough. It's not a bed of roses no matter how much the media tends to candy coat the successes and the telly let's you look through rose tinted glasses there are bound to be the great amount of sacrifices that these people had to endure to make their animation see the light of day.
Deep pockets? Who has em? Well some do and some don't. Those that don't might want to get a kick start from the various grants available from several government initiatives via certain government agencies. MDeC, MCMC and even MOSTI has some which can be applied - if you know how to make it work for you of course.
This is where it really, absolutely helps if your marketing and PR is top of the line. How many times have we seen good animation projects that fail to get funding merely because of poor presentation skills in front of panels? Quite a fair number. Trust me. Silken voices, silver tongues and golden handshakes are sometimes neccessary.
No I'm not implying those in the negative - it's the ability of those gifted enough to make their case clear. It helps to know the people first of course - the type of knowing where a handshake will instantly get a face followed by a name recognition/association. That's legwork and homework - no bluebirds allowed (bluebirds are just those that send stuff in without prior recognition; they're tonnes of bluebirds; luck is not always on this side).
Artists and animators at times lack this PR feature and they also lack the lingo and confidence in presenting. Especially in the business language called English (the proper spoken version, not the version that they're accustomed to). Again, I am not being overly critical.
Lobbying might be a dirty word here in this context, but it's been used to describe the current situation by some.
Me? I wanted to be a front man for some animation, involved in the business and dabbled with ideas and the character creation phase and a fair bit of writing as well. Tried it. But I guess it wasn't meant to be.
I love animation. I remember when my mom asked me when I was about 4 or 5, what I wanted to be. I said that I'd like to be the 'guy that makes cartoons.' That didn't happen of course; so I thought maybe after all these years I could be some sort of ambassador. This is one way I suppose.
Good evening Animation Malaysia. Zanimated wishes you great successes this year!
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