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K-Animation wins over global audience

K-Animation wins over global audience

Most Koreans who grew up prior to the 1990s were fond of American animated characters like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny or Japanese characters like Astro Boy and Anpanman.

An exhibit celebrates the 10th anniversary of Pororo at the Seoul Character and Licensing Fair 2013.

In the early 2000s, however, new animated characters began to appear. One of them was Korean company Iconix Entertainment's Pororo the Little Penguin, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday at the Seoul Character & Licensing Fair 2013 (July 17–21, 2013).

In January of this year, then President-elect Park Geun-hye attended a preview screening of Pororo: The Racing Adventure, an animated feature produced to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the popular character. In her opening remarks for the event, Park stressed the ever-increasing role of cultural content.

"Watching Pororo, I came to have great hope for the possibilities of the Korean cultural content industry", she said. "As I pledged during the presidential campaign, we must actively support cultural industries, including animation, as a new major industry and a new engine of growth, and we are actually doing so".

Nowadays, the most popular animated character in Korea is without a doubt Pororo. Pororo the Little Penguin is a computer-animated TV series that began broadcasting in 2003. We can ascertain the popularity of the character-not just among children but also the general public-from the nicknames it has been given, such as "Pororo the President" and "Pororo the God". Its popularity extends beyond Korea's boundaries as well; beginning with its debut on French broadcasting giant TF1, it is now shown in over 130 nations.

In her inaugural address on Feb 25, 2013, President Park declared that the "creative economy" would become Korea's new growth paradigm.

"In the 21st century, culture is power. It is an era where an individual's imagination becomes creative content", she said. "Across the world, the Korean wave is welcomed with great affection that not only triggers happiness and joy but instills abiding pride in all Koreans". She said creative industries would be supported, and the content industry-merging culture with advanced technology-would be nurtured. In so doing, the government will ignite the engine of a creative economy and create jobs.

Even if we ignore the president's speech for the moment, we can see that cultural content has already become a key Korean industry.

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), Pororo's brand value is KRW 85 billion, and its total economic effect adds up to KRW 5.7 trillion. It has produced about 1,500 kinds of products, from toys and published materials to performances and insurance. It recorded KRW 50 billion in sales in 2010 alone.

Following Pororo's phenomenal success, a variety of animated characters have been poised to be Pororo's successor to the throne.

Firstly, we have Robocar Poli, the "super transforming robotic car that saves our friends and neighbors when they are in danger". Robocar Poli was the most popular preschool animation in Korea in 2011. It was so popular, in fact, that it earned the nickname "Prime Minister Pol".

Next is Kioka, a curious little girl with a great imagination. Kioka is being shown not only on broadcast television but also cable and IPTV.

Other challengers include the troublesome polar bear Backkom, the sausage monkey Cocomong, the baby gorilla Doongdoong, the alien prince I-Kooo, and the baby bus Tayo. Keep in mind, all these characters appeared over just the last 10 years.

Korean Animation in the World

Loved at home, Korean animation is getting a good response from international film festivals and the international market. Since 2008, exports of critically well-received Korean animation have steadily increased, and export markets have grown more varied.

At MIP Junior, a global showcase for children's programming held annually in the French city of Cannes, Korean animation is attracting more attention and bringing home awards. In 2010, Robocar Poli was awarded the MIP Junior Licensing Challenge prize. After this, it began to air on leading channels in 50 countries worldwide, including France's Canal Plus, Taiwan's YoYo TV, Al Jazeera, Russia's CTC, Japan's TV Tokyo, Israel's Nick Jr., and Disney Asia.

The same year, Canimals was selected as the best animation by a jury composed of children ages seven to ten. Korean production company Vooz, the makers of Canimals, was already well-known internationally for its popular character Pucca. It is now conducting a global marketing campaign aimed at not only all of Asia but also Europe and South America.

The Airport Diary, which was awarded a Grand Prix by the Kids Jury at MIP Junior 2012, began airing in China in late April 2013. The animation's Korean production company, DPS, has formed PDL, a joint venture with its Chinese partner Pinggo, and is now pushing to air its program on 150 channels throughout China.

Kioka won the Best Animation Award at the 2012 Shanghai TV Festival; a global sales contract was later signed with major French distributor AWOL. In its first week of airing on Australian state broadcaster ABC, it was the most watched children's show and the fourth most-watched program overall. In August of this year, it became the most-watched program overall. Contracts have been signed with over 20 more major channels worldwide.

Tickety Toc has agreements to air on channels in about 170 countries. In April 2012, it aired in Britain through Nick Jr. It is now being shown in 35 nations, including the United States, Australia, and European countries. It was the most-watched program on Nick Jr. in the United States and Great Britain; the French language-version was the most-watched program on Canada's Disney Junior channel.

Because animation requires a lot of capital and personnel, it cannot survive for long if it doesn't make money. Popular character animation can become a firm basis for value-added industries and an effective marketing method.

When Robocar Poli toys were launched, demand far outstripped supply. Eager parents paid premium dollars to get the toys for their children. After Robocar Poli aired on French kid's channel Piwi Plus, Robocar Poli toys sold out at Toys "R" Us shops across France and was the store's bestselling product among preschoolers in the first half of 2013.

Keita Sato of Dreams Come True (DCT), which owns the rights to the program in Japan, discovered the show when he came across the character at shops during a market research trip to Korea. Taken by the products' quality and the charm of their characters, he decided to push to make the characters the prime content of his company. Several products released in Korea are currently being distributed in Japan; talks are under way with about 10 other Japanese licensers. DCT has been continuously promoting the character on Japanese broadcast television and cable as well as through a series of published cartoons.

Launched in Korea in 2011, Buru & Forest Friends enjoyed an average viewer rating of 23%-spiking at 45%-when it aired on Danish national broadcaster DRTV. Considering how dominant DRTV's children's programs are in Denmark, this is a considerable accomplishment. Taking advantage of its local popularity, the program has linked up with global Danish toy company Lego to use the character in a toy project, and discussions are being held with major Swedish publishing house Egmont to launch a publishing project.

Children can also experience the world of Korean animation through 3-D stereoscopes, 4-D films, and character theme parks. Some 600,000 people a year visit seven Pororo theme parks, the latest of which opened in August 2012. Character theme parks are a stable source of income; they are opening up in a variety of regions and forms, from small-scale "kids' cafés" to multicharacter theme parks.

Seoul Land, which was Korea's first amusement park, has transformed into a full-scale character theme park, initially focusing on Vroomiz, Canimals, and Pucca and now including Robot Arpo, Tickety Toc, and The Airport Diary.

The first Tickety Toc Land opened in Cheonan in May; one month later, Robocar Poli Play Park opened up. The regular and special musicals hosted by these parks have become popular events with families. Within a decade, we could see K-animation theme parks opening up across the world and Korean musical performances going on world tours.

K-Animation wins over global audience

Korean animation on display at the 2013 Augouleme International Comics Festival (left). Korean and European cartoon producers talk at the korea-EU Cartoon Connection 2011 (right).

More Challenges for Korean Animation

Unlike K-pop which relies on the popularity of its "idol" stars, or K-dramas which require a certain degree of cultural understanding, K-animation can be directly appreciated by the world thanks to its fun and universal stories and cute, lovable characters.

Moreover, Korean animation producers have found a market in animation for preschoolers. This is in part because American and Japanese animation has dominated the markets of other age groups.

Spanish animation producer BRB Internacional decided to invest in Backkom after seeing a one-minute pilot video on the Internet. RG Animation, the Korean production company that produces the series, had previously been experiencing business difficulties. Thanks to the character, however, it could right the ship and grow. While details may differ, most Korean animation companies likewise started small but grew on the strength of their animations.

Preschool animation is no longer Korea's only market. Moreover, Korean animators have begun to embrace the mobile revolution, leaving TV for smartphones and tablet PCs.

The 90-second slapstick comedy animation Larva aims for a wider audience than the one most animation targets. Rather than being limited to TV, the series catches the eyes of its audience wherever they may be, be it on a bus, subway, or in an elevator. With no dialogue, the series relies on expressions and body language, and thanks to this, it is capturing audiences of all age groups and even crossing borders.

While feature-length films of popular TV animation series are bringing TV viewers to the theater, creative animated shorts have opened a new path.

Based on a best-selling children's novel, "Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild" (2011) set a Korean animation box office record by recording over 2 million viewers. It also garnered the Best Animation Award at the 5th Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the Best Sitges Family Film award at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. Bringing together animation studio Odoltogi and live-action film production company Myung Film, it was the first successful example of such a coproduction. For directorOh Seong-yoon, it was an impressive debut. He is now working on a new feature-length animation, Underdog.

A much younger pioneer in animated features is directorYeon Sang-ho, the man behind the 2011 feature "King of Pigs". Maggie Lee of the Hollywood Reporter wrote about the film, "Ugly, pitiless, and mightily provocative in its representation of human debasement, his satire on class inequality burns like acid". The film won three awards at the 16th Busan International Film Festival and was invited to the Directors' Fortnight at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. Yeon's second feature,"The Fake"(2013), was invited to the Vanguard section of the 38th Toronto International Film Festival. Its theatrical release is scheduled for later this year.

One of the major options for producers of feature-length animation is international coproduction. Korean production company Redrover partnered with Canadian firm ToonBox Entertainment to produce the animated feature Nut Job, scheduled for release in 2014. The production cost of the action-packed comedy is the highest ever for a Korean animation, totaling KRW 2.3 billion. It will be distributed to over 3,000 theaters in North America. Full-scale promotion will begin with the Toronto Film Festival in September and the American Film Market in November.

K-Animation wins over global audience

Korean-American director Jennifer Yuh of Kung Fu Panda 2 (left). Cartoon Network Arabia Studios Creative Director Adam Khwaja explains the Middle Eastern market to Korean animation industry officials in Abu Dhabi in 2012 (right).

Future of Korean Animation

If you watch the ending credits of any recent Hollywood film, you'll soon learn that the number of Korean computer graphic artists, animators, and researchers who have entered Hollywood and its animation industry has grown. Hundreds of Korean artists now work for major Hollywood studios like Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks, where they help produce some of the world's best-known animated works.

Two representative names are Peter Sohn, who directed Pixar's animated short Partly Cloudy (2009) and was the basis for the little boy character Russell in Up (2009), and director Jennifer Yuh, who directed Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011).

In 2012, five Korean artists working for Pixar visited the Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF) to share the secrets of Pixar's production process and promote their recent film Brave (2012). To them, it was now commonplace to see artists who were born and raised in Korea find work in Hollywood studios.

The Koreans in Hollywood can be divided into two groups: the first are those pursuing their goals in the very best environment, and the second are those who wish to return to Korea and set up their own studios. Both will lend strength to future generations of Korean animators.

If we are to predict the future of Korean animation, perhaps we should first take a look at some people who are about to take off. According to the Contents Educational Institution Report of 2010, conducted by KOCCA from December 2010 to March 2011, there were 1,736 regular academic institutions and 121 irregular academic institutions with animation-related subjects. Regular institutions range from high schools with specialized animation programs to universities.

For something a bit more recent, there were 71 colleges and universities on the list of the 6th Best University Cartoon and Animation Festival.

Let's take a look at four unique and major schools producing much of the nation's outstanding animation talent.

K-Animation wins over global audience

Students learn animation at the Chungkang College of Cultural Industries.

Korea Animation High School

Founded as an autonomous high school in 2000, this school is divided into four departments: comic creation, animation, film direction, and computer game production. Each class has about 25 students, many of whom are producing results like winning awards in local and international film festivals like the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Most of the graduates continue their studies locally or overseas.

Chungkang College of Cultural Industries

The animation major here includes everything from traditional 2-D animation to 3-D animation, CGI special effects, 3-D stereographics, and real-time high-tech animation. Students work on their own creative animated shorts and commercial work, including some of Korea's best academic-industrial cooperative projects. Students' works are often selected by famous international film festivals, and graduates are active in many production companies in the Korean animation industry.

Korea National University of Arts (K-ARTS)

K-ARTS' Department of Animation at the Film, TV & Multimedia School was founded to overcome the limitations of Korea's comics and cel-animation industries, produce outstanding talent for 21st-century animation art, and create unique content in the new, ever-changing theater and multimedia environment. Since 2010, the school has operated an International Exchange project in cooperation with Tokyo Art University. The Communication University of China joined this project in 2012.

Korea Academy of Film Arts

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) runs this school with the goal of producing specialized talent for the Korean film and animation industries. The Animation Direction Course began in 1999 with 12 students. In 2006, it began a feature production research course for graduates of the school's oneyear and one-year, two-month programs. Many of the school's works have been introduced at local and overseas film festivals such as the Busan International Film Festival and Annecy International Animation Festival, including "The Story of Mr. Sorry" (2008), "What Is Not Romance" (2009), which was the grand prize winner of the 14th Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival,"The House"(2010), and"The Dearest"(2011).

Today, Korean animation firms are displaying their characters and products at all sorts of markets, fairs, and film festivals. Everyone loves taking their photos with actors in character costumes. Mickey Mouse and Anpanman-both born in the 20th century-are still very much active. What will the future of Korean characters born in the 21st century be? Can you see these characters with the families of the 22nd and 23rd centuries? Of course, new characters will be born, but you can't forget the ones you grew up with.

*Article from Korea Magazine (September 2013)

Source from :www.korea.net