It occurred to me while writing the boardgame post that I never really liked to play boardgames, even as a kid. What I really liked about them, and the reason why I rifled through them so often, was the promise implicit in the packaging. The promise was that I was in for wild, unspeakable adventure and excitement. I think my whole life was influenced by these promises. 
The same promises were made by film trailers and posters for circus and magic shows. "You have to SEE it to believe it! It's the WEIRDEST thing your eyes have ever beheld!" Gee, I love that kind of rhetoric! It addresses itself to the fear that we all have that we'll lead lives of quiet desperation, passing through life without ever tasting real adventure. Ad-makers and promoters know all about this fear. I see them as philosophers who prompt us to change the world to make it more exciting. We should aim to eliminate quiet desperation just like we eliminated smallpox.
How should animation be promoted? Just like the posters promote the projects above! We should use every trick of rhetorical and visual hypebole to promise mystery, excitement, humor and adventure. When that's done, we should break our backs to deliver on the promise! I like the formula that's implicit in the Clampett cartoons: begin the cartoon in such a way as to promise a lot...then deliver even more!
21 comments:
We should use every trick of rhetorical and visual hypebole to promise mystery, excitement, humor and adventure. When that's done, we should break our backs to deliver on the promise!
Amen, Eddie!
It's a rare occasion if I see half of that equation employed today.
Look at that Hippo! That hippo should be in pictures...
Great theory Eddie, but how do you suggest the cartoons be promoted like that exactly? What format, to be specific?
Yes! Just check these posters from the early '90's Disney features, versus the posters of animated films today.
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/A70-8828/Beauty_And_The_Beast.html
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/A70-261/Aladdin.html
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/A70-4238/Little_Mermaid.html
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/A70-4217/Lion_King.html
versus
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-8275/Home_On_The_Range.html
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-16683/Over_The_Hedge.html
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-13281/Madagascar.html
http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-19486/Ant_Bully.html
Even regardless of the films themselves, I know what films I'd be attracted to.
Ah, hype. I love it. There are two ways to go about it; over-promise and under-deliver, or under-promise and over-deliver (and rely on word of mouth).
Ideally as you say, we should over-promise and then break our backs to over-deliver. But would it pay off? That's always the question. I think that in every field, whether its arts, manufacturing or whatever, there comes a point of diminishing returns: you won't earn any more money, no matter how much 'goodness' you put into the product. No matter how much you gussy up a Volkswagon Bug, it'll never be worth a million dollars at Pebble Beach.
Therefore, I guess the logical answer is to go crazy with the advertising. I guess...
Benjamin de schrijver: Nice to hear some appreciation for the Disney movie posters of the early '90s. They really knew how to promote their films back then.
Also Ben: If I'm not mistaken,all those posters were the work of John Alvin, a very talented illustrator.
Ads that praise the living crap out of a product, loudly and with no irony whatsoever, make me want to rush out and buy the product immediately.
As long as those ads aren't more than a minute long.
I listen to old radio serials, and when I hear those old ads, I WANT the products, whether it's cheap wine or spark plugs, because they tell me all the ways that the products will improve my life.
Amazing design! Thanks for those. You should show images of the original Disneyland attraction posters as a good example of "advertising the wonder"....
That's it exactly. Praise the crap out of something. Like owning a new pair of Nikes will make you a better human being. Mine do.
how should animation be promoted?
In a billion points of advertising the info should include that this cartoon 1. will change your soul and God wants you to see it, or else! 2. will make the cool kids finally accept you, dork! 3. is more fun than any amusement that the dirtiest lover could provide
I was recently listening to a podcast that was discussing stereoscopic movies, and they used the word "Showmanship".
I like that word. It's inspiring.
A great portion of showmanship is in the promotion.
Sideshow banners were always better than went on behind the curtains.
This is the best blog, Eddie.
I actually had that "First Spaceship on Venus" poster. Had it for 30 years. Paid $1.99 Sold it on eBay last week for about $300.
Here Here I agree!
More cartoons should follow your equation!
Love the circus poster.
The hippo reminds me of the one in the background of Ren and Stimpys Untamed World intro.
Ideally as you say, we should over-promise and then break our backs to over-deliver. But would it pay off?. . .I guess the logical answer is to go crazy with the advertising.
Benjamin!
Advertise greatness and deliver mediocrity???
I ain't buyin'!
Besides, promising things is the EASY part. ANYONE can do that. :)
- Corbett
I WANT POETRY
please
I agree 100% and it's funny you should bring this up because that is EXACTLY how i want to promote future projects that I do, except they probably wouldnt be super rendered (since i dont know how), but they WOULD be full of a bunch of crazy shit all going on at once (kinda like the 60s Robert McGinnis 007 posters).
these illustrations you posted are awesome too. that spaceship & landscape is mega trippy & that hippo is masterfully drawn & painted. i love how jacked up his teeth are
We should use every trick of rhetorical and visual hyperbole to promise mystery, excitement, humor and adventure. When that's done, we should break our backs to deliver on the promise!
I am reminded of sideshow art, that was often more entertaining and colorful than what was actually on display. There was a great feeling of disappointmemt when the attraction failed to deliver on the promise of that spectacular canvas.
When I started doing posters for a low-budget theatre company, I remembered that, and I always settled on a strong graphic design that was evocative of the show's themes, without ever being a literal depiction of it. I never wanted it to be MY fault that somebody went to a show expecting to see my poster and wound up getting less!
Live theatre is not a cartoon. But Those 90's posters Benjamin linked to show a similar idea, putting you in a feeling about the film without screaming what it's actually all about, or lining up every character like puppies in a pet shop window, or putting dancing teapots in the margins (unfortunately one of the movies does.)
I was probably influenced by the ALIEN campaign, which was revolutionary for how much it didn't give you, and how much you wanted to go see it, anyway. And the movie delivered. Since then, anybody with a movie where nothing happens uses the same trick. How many films have tried to symbolize themselves as a slick logo floating in blackness?
I actually saw the Cole Bros. circus as a youngster. And there was NO blood-sweating hippopotamus in the thing! What a gyp!
Hey how about this..?
Cartoons should be promoted PERIOD!!!
F'r instance, when the "Cartoon Network" grudginly came to their senses and decided to air one measly half-hour of Popeye cartoons each week you'd have about the same luck as Lot in Sodom trying to find a promo for it! Those sonza beaches! What I ought do to them! Hanging's too good for 'em. I'll.. I'll...
Whew. Sorry. I hurt, so I lash out at the innocent. I - I'm better now. Please, CN, forgive me.
Don't ghettoize or target the promotion, simply make it ubiquitous and available. See how idea might apply to the following cases.
I wonder if it would be worthwhile to look at apparently successful 'markets' for animation, and figure out how they evolved, if much active promotion was involved, then figure out how to reach everyone else. Some of the pathways to that fan base, might not have been that obvious or intended.
Amimation fans in generaly might overlap all of the following categories. In fact the categories as I pull them off the top of my head would make quite a tangle of venn diagrams.
There are kids, teens and adults that are fans, although some consider cartoons fodder only suit for kids.
The electronic babysitter - this is the market that buys made for video sequels churned out by Disney, et al, with little concern for quality. Apparently pulled in by soundtracks by top 40 radio artists.
The anime fan- an interesting case study, as it seems less overt, and more organic in its growth, although probably, greatly tied in with Video Gaming to some extent. But the print version, manga, reaches audience that american comics have not reached, (nor necessarily tried to reach) for years, such as Teenagned Girls. This also ties in to how entire cultures, Japan, or France and Europe, view cartooning culturally.
The adult swim viewer - cue postmodern reasoning of ironic intentionally bad on purpose. Camp.
The prime time sitcom cartoon lover- Simpsons Futurama South Park Family Guy
Gross/College/Topical humor-
Writer driven shows, Radio with Pictures
Retro/ neo-UPA.
Golden Age Theatre
Golden Age TV
Dark Age TV
and so on
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