Pitch the Audience (Mark Mayerson)

[Rodney]

Mark Mayerson (of Mayerson on Animation blog-fame) has a video "Don't Pitch a Buyer, Pitch the Audience!" that is making the rounds that covers a good bit of territory of topics of interest to creators.

The video is just short of one hour in length but will be well worth your time.

 

xhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQQmmbvmGc

 

It's a great summary on topics that have been gaining ground, especially as more creative types vie for the attention (and money) to support their projects.

[zandoriastudios]

Really good talk! Thanks for the link--it is giving me a LOT to think about....

[Rodney]

I was going to point out a few highlights but realized that I'd pretty much have to itemize the entire 50 minutes... easier just to watch the whole thing.

 

One of the most passionate points from Mark is not to give up ownership (but to license a property).

Of course as with all 'rules' there are exceptions to this rule and in the Q&A session at the end one of those is discussed... namely, where you have no emotional attachment in the property. I fit into that category with a lot of my creative endeavors mostly because I know they would have to continue to change considerably in order to be commercially viable.

 

Unrelated, Mark once posted a comment/correction to a thought I posted on my blog. He stated that Walt Disney's 'Steamboat Willie' was without a doubt originally designed for sychronized sound. In other words, he claims the short film was designed from the start with 'recorded sound' in mind. I believe the facts to be a bit more complicated than that but... Mark is the expert and I would have to supply proof the short film was in fact initially designed otherwise (i.e. if it was initially designed with theater orchestration in mind which seems highly probable). My belief is that 'Steamboat Willie' was a property Walt Disney had on the drawing board that was easily retooled to take advantage of new technology which Disney saw on the horizon. All I have to do is the hard work of providing historical evidence in support of an alternative. As exhibit A I might suggest that at the time of 'Steamboat WIllies' origin very few theaters were equipped to play recorded sound. Exhibit B would likely be how Walt and his crew used their family members to gauge their degree of success when experimenting with (small band) live orchestration just out of sight in the next room. Exhibit C might be the timeline where Walt and Roy invested in recorded sound even going so far as to provide the technology to competitors. Other exhibits to follow as necessary and to enhance the historical context. 'Steamboat Willie' was definitely designed with synchronized sound in mind but I have a hard time buying the chronology that it was designed with recorded sound in mind.

[largento]

My memory (such that it is) was that work had already begun on *another* Mickey Mouse short when the decision to go with sound was made. Steamboat Willie was then pushed up to the front to be the first Mickey Mouse short released. I also seem to recall that the innovation that allowed them to record the sound (which I believe was done in New York) had something to do with being able to visually indicate the time while recording, like a metronome. My memory is fuzzy on it and I read that Disney book that it was in too many years ago. :-)

 

I'll see if I can dig up some info.

[Rodney]

Yes, 'Steamboat Willie' was the third in the series after 'Plane Crazy' and 'The Barn Dance' and it should be noted that they would have appeared with the live theater orchestration available in each theater in those days. It's important to remember that 'silent film' was rarely silent as it was accompanied by live orchestration and I'm sure some 'performances' were better than others. The part that Disney (and competitors) were latching onto was that the audience would enjoy their product more if sound and film could be better served together.

 

Another 'witness' to the chronology would be Carl Stalling who joined Disney in 1929 (after 'Steamboat WIllie') and immediately went to work putting sound into Disney's shorts *and* the product of Walt and Carl's consideration of whether the animation (drawings) or the music should come first. 'Silly Symphonies' was an example of the latter where music predominated while the Mickey Mouse shorts focused on imagery first. Of interest, the Silly Symphonies prompted new tools for animation such as 'bar sheets' while the shorts helped transform the artwork used identify site gags into full fledged storyboards. These new tools were needed badly because the success Disney suddenly found himself enjoying was driving exponential growth. The biggest obstacle Disney appears to have faced at the time was his 'partners' who thought they could have the same success without Walt. In the next year after 'Steamboat Willie' his partners would move on leaving only 'Walt Disney' in the playbill credits. Mintz, Powers, Iwerks... most folks won't recognize those names but folks certainly recognize 'Disney'.

 

For those more into classic Warner Brothers cartoons than Disney it is worth noting that Carl Stalling was a major contributor there too.

 

I don't know how accurate it is but 'Steamboat Willie' is said to have been in production from July to September of 1928 at a budget of just short of $5,000. That is said to be roughly the equivalent of $70K in today's dollars.