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Distant Neighbours: The New Geography of Animated Film Production in Europe

2008; Routledge; Volume: 42; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00343400601142688

1360-0591

Alexander Cole,

Cultural Industries and Urban Development

Abstract Cole A. Distant neighbours: the new geography of animated film production in Europe, Regional Studies 41, 1–14. A growing literature on the organization of cultural products industries has highlighted their tendency to cluster in tight agglomerations. The paper explores the implications of a case – animated feature-film production in Europe – that offers a notable exception to this tendency. The case is used to explore more deeply the logic of agglomeration in cultural production and to probe exceptions to this logic. Specific institutional strategies to help firms generate relational proximity and create a more supportive ecology are discussed. Cole A. Des voisins lointains: la nouvelle géographie de la production de films d'animation en Europe, Regional Studies 41, 1–14. La documentation croissante sur l'organisation des industries de produits culturels a souligné la tendance à l'agglomération serrée. Cet article cherche à en examiner les implications pour ce qui est de la production de films d'animation de long métrage en Europe, qui fait une exception notable à cette règle. On se sert de cette étude de cas afin d'approfondir la tendance de la production culturelle à s'agglomérer et d'en examiner les exceptions. On discute des stratégies institutionnelles précises destinées à aider les entreprises à produire la proximité relationnelle et à créer une meilleure écologie de soutien. Film d'animation Production culturelle Ecologies de projet Réseaux socio-géographiques Cole A. Entfernte Nachbarn: die neue Geografie der Zeichentrickfilm-Produktion in Europa, Regional Studies 41, 1–14. Abstract. In der Literatur über die Organisation der Kulturproduktbranchen wird immer häufiger auf die Tendenz dieser Betriebe hingewiesen, sich zu engen Agglomerationen zu bündeln. In diesem Beitrag werden die Auswirkungen in einem konkreten Fall untersucht: dem des Zeichentrickfilms in Europa, der eine bemerkenswerte Ausnahme von dieser Tendenz darstellt. Anhand dieses Falls wird die Logik der Agglomeration in der Kulturproduktion eingehender ergründet, und es wird nach Ausnahmen von dieser Logik gesucht. Ebenso werden spezifische institutionelle Strategien erörtert, mit denen den Firmen dabei geholfen werden kann, für Beziehungsnähe zu sorgen und eine unterstützendere Ökologie zu schaffen. Zeichentrickfilme Kulturproduktion Projektökologien Sozialräumliche Netzwerke Cole A. Vecinos distantes: la nueva geografía en las producciones de películas de animación en Europa, Regional Studies 41, 1–14. En la literatura sobre la organización de la industria de productos culturales se observa una creciente tendencia a organizarse en aglomeraciones herméticas. En este artículo analizamos las repercusiones de un caso de producción de dibujos animados en Europa que se caracteriza por ser la excepción de esta tendencia. Con ayuda de este caso investigamos minuciosamente la lógica de la aglomeración en producciones culturales y demostramos las excepciones a esta regla. Asimismo argumentamos las estrategias institucionales específicas que ayudan a estas empresas a generar una proximidad de relaciones y crear una ecología con más soporte. Animación Producción cultural Ecologías de proyectos Redes socioespaciales Keywords: AnimationCultural productionProject ecologiesSocio-spatial networksJEL classifications: L23L82M11 Notes 1. Norcliffe and Rendance (2003) Norcliffe, G. and Rendace, O. 2003. New geographies of comic book production in North America: the new artisan, distancing, and the periodic social economy. Economic Geography, 79: 241[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] and Coe (2000 Coe, N. 2000. 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[Google Scholar] use ‘creative industries’ (a definition that emphasizes the role of creativity in the productive process), ‘entertainment industries’ (Hesmodnhalgh, 2002 Hesmodnhalgh, D. 2002. The Cultural Industries, London: Sage. [Google Scholar]), or ‘content industries’ (a definition that points towards the markets in which they compete). For present purposes, this paper will use the term ‘cultural industries’; however, these can be seen as a subset of ‘creative industries’ since it is the problem of organizing creative labour processes that is supposed to provide the greatest constraints on their geographical organization. Should the reader wish to pursue definitional matters further, an excellent discussion is available in Marcus (2005) Marcus, C. 2005. Future of Creative Industries: Implications for Research Policy, Brussels: European Commission. [Google Scholar]. 3. Both Tschang (2003) Tschang, T. 2003. The Effects of Product Development and Cultural Sourcing on the Location of Creative Industry: The Case of the US Computer Game Industry, Singapore: Wharton-SMU Research Center, Singapore Management University. [Google Scholar] and Aoyama and Izushi (2002) Aoyama, Y. and Izushi, H. 2002. Hardware gimmick or cultural innovation? Technological, cultural, and social foundations of the Japanese video game industry. Research Policy, 32: 423–444. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] elaborate the thesis that the national cultural milieu is the most important locational factor for the creators of culture. 4. Facts and figures are taken from Wescott (2002) Wescott, T. 2002. |European Feature Animation|, Brussels: Cartoon Media. [Google Scholar] – who also made a presentation at the Cartoon Feature 2004 in Munich, Germany – and an excellent article by Moins (2003) Moins, P. 2003. Panorama of European animated feature film. Animated World Magazine, 31 December available at: http://www.mag.awn.com [Google Scholar]. 5. Since the survey was done, Aardman has also released the hugely popular Wallace & Gromit Movie, while London-based Vanguard Animation produced Valiant for release by Disney. 6. Recently a couple of European features have broken into the US market, albeit with very small-scale releases. 7. It should be noted that there is a lot of European talent working in the USA. What is different about Chicken Run is that it was made in Europe (in Bristol, UK) by a European company (Aardman). 8. Boggs (2005 Boggs, J. Theorizing the Frankfurt Book Fair (or: Why transaction cost analysis still matters). Paper presented at the Regional Studies Association's Regional Growth Agenda Conference. May29, Aalborg, Denmark. [Google Scholar], p. 8) notes that ‘The role of periodic markets was once a staple in Economic Geography’, and offers a review of the thriving literature on the subject that, until 1942, was produced by this field. 9. John Bullivant, cited in Kenyon (2001) Kenyon, H. 2001. A look at Europe's Cartoon Forum with John Bullivant. Animation World Magazine, 1 January available at: http://www.mag.awn.com [Google Scholar]. 10. Readers interested in knowing the details of the animation production process can find a reasonably complete description in Pixar's Annual Report to investors (10K), which is available through their website (http://www.pixar.com). Winder and Dowlatabadi (2001) Winder, C. and Dowlatabadi, Z. 2001. Producing Animation, Amsterdam: Focal Press. [Google Scholar] also offer an excellent description of the production process. 11. For an account of how the Toronto-based animation company DKP is using high-powered mirrored servers and databases, see Shachtman (2004) Shachtman, N. 2004. The secret life of off-duty characters. New York Times, 26 February [Technology Section] [Google Scholar]. 12. For a more in-depth discussion of creative collaboration using communication networks in the media industries, see Baker et al. (1999) Baker, E., Gierland, J., Fisher, T. and Chandler, A. 1999. Media production: towards creative collaboration using communications networks. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 8: 303–332. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], who claim that: Studios and companies involved in animation work are another industry segment that are early adopters of network technologies. The main reason is that suitable artist-technologists are not available in sufficient numbers in the primary work locations, so these organizations are setting up work groups where the talent is. For example, a separate group of animators based in San Francisco will be linked with the main animator group in LA, allowing for more of the production to be carried out in parallel. One of our participant organizations had a project that involved a lot of model work on a spacecraft. Part of the work was done in London, part in Ardmore in Ireland, and part in Los Angeles. As one UK post-production company executive noted, ‘It's a question of being able to work where the talent is rather than being frustrated by the physical limitations. (p. 320) 13. Faulkner's (1983) work on Hollywood studio composers is the classic reference on the accumulation of reputation in freelance markets. 14. Mathews (2002) Mathews, J. 2002. Dragon Multinational, New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar] explores how multinationals from semi-peripheral countries such as the Taiwanese computer giant Acer have used such a strategy to build up their competitive position quickly in global markets.