Philippine animation
Philippine animation, also known as Pinoy animation or Filipino animation, has a strong history of animation in Southeast Asia introduced between the early 1950s and the 1960s. The animation provided in media including films, television commercials and series, and video games.
It came out the very first animated short film was a pencil-and-paper animation shot in 8 mm film developed komiks illustrator and cartoonist Lauro "Larry" Alcala. The early years of Philippine animation were mainly commercial advertising in the mid-1950s and later re-established as an art form started in 1961. Painter Rodolfo Paras-Perez and cartoonists José Zabala-Santos and Francisco Reyes are considered the first pioneers of Philippine animation in mid-20th century.
Following the establishment of 1972 martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, the animation emerged a turning point to the entertainment industry, which led to the creation of the 1978 animated feature film Tadhana, emerge a new period started in the 1980s known as the Golden Age of Philippine Animation. Geraldo "Geirry" A. Garccia, Severino "Nonoy" Marcelo, and Roxlee were among the second pioneers of Philippine animation in the midst of Marcos and post-Marcos era.
Upon its creation of a new period under Philippine New Wave, animated features became reluctant among the major film studios in the 2000s–largely due to string of box-office disappointments in favor of live-action romance and comedy films–however, animated short films remained widely popular in film festivals, most notably the newly established Animahenasyon, as well as animated television series and commercials from the major networks.
Since the mid-2010s, animated features were slightly revitalized after the releases of Carl Joseph Papa's Manang Biring and Paglisan, both were released on Cinema One Original Film Festival and won awards, shifted to more independent, adult-oriented themes influenced by complex, mature storytelling with local issues and evolving cultural norms, moving away from family-friendly and mainstream factors.
Overview
Philippine animation is a body of original, cultural, and artistic works and applied to conventional Philippine storytelling. Using both talent and the application of classic animation principles, methods, and techniques, this reflects and recognizes their relationship with culture and comics in the Philippines.It delves into the traditional Filipino "sense of going about things" or manner of coping with Filipino's daily life and environment that allows to manifest through the settings, characters, and overall mood of the animation.
The use of culture in the Philippines manifests through its narration and portrayal of the daily experiences of the Filipino people and objects that we usually see. It also features different elements in storytelling of Filipino mythology and folklore. Though some of them are not able to overtly show the sense of being a Filipino in their stories, which were successful in showing their values that we all uphold.
History
1940s–1965: Origins
In 1946, Antonio Velasquez, father of Philippine comics, said in an attempt that he was paid to write a script for an animated feature film based on his famous character Kenkoy, but the project was abandoned.In 1953, Philippine animation did actually came out the very first animation was Lauro "Larry" Alcala, did a short black-and-white animation on 8mm film of a girl doing jumping rope and a boy playing with a yo-yo.
In 1955, Philippine animation started with cartoonists who converted some folklore characters and their komiks into animated shorts. For example, José Zabala-Santos and Francisco Reyes produced Juan Tamad, a six-minute animated short film serves as an advertisement for Purico cooking oil, based on the famous Philippine folklore character of the same name. However, there was no certainty whether the film is believed to have never had a commercial run or took a PMC product shot in 35mm and processed in the United States had actually been presented as a commercial, resulted that the use of animation in the industry was introduced for commercial purposes to advertise consumer products began in the 1950s. For example, Alcala continued to produce animated shorts for television commercials of products such as Darigold Milk in 1957 and Caltex in 1965.
A non-narrative abstract and collage 16mm short film Conversation in Space by a UP-graduated painter Rodolfo Paras-Perez, considered one of the earliest animations and one of the earliest experimental films from the Philippines. These animations expand audience's perspectives of Southeast Asian modern and contemporary art. The film was screened at the first Asean film festival in Manila on 1971 and, in retrospective, the National Gallery Singapore’s ‘Painting with Light,’ an annual festival of international films on art in 2018, making it the earliest animation short film in the Philippines to be rediscovered.
1965–1986: Marcos period
During the Marcos period back in the inauguration of the tenth president, Philippine animation become one of the regime's tools for propaganda and patriotism. Later in early films have been introduced by Severino "Nonoy" Marcelo, a cartoonist who was hired by the government and worked in animation at the National Media Production Center beginning in 1977, collaborated with Imee Marcos and Zabala-Santos for directing a documentary film about Marcos going on a field trip to his hometown titled Da Real Makoy and adapting an animated feature titled Tadhana, a commissioned work which originally conceived as a television pilot and took production in three months. Described the film as "an animated compendium of new Philippine art", it was based on a multivolume book of the same name by Ferdinand Marcos.Widely believed the Philippine's first foray into an animated feature film, Tadhana was premiered in Philippine television as a part of the anniversary of Martial Law in 1978. At one point, Marcelo was supposed to replay and scheduled Tadhana for a commercial theater release, but for some reasons, unclear it was never seen again due to the said film was not released commercially on theaters for public viewing.In 1979, The Adventures of Lam-Ang was produced by the same cartoonist Tadhana made, which was a one-hour animated feature based on the folklore of the same name. At the same year, Marcelo serves as animation director for a seven-minute opening scene in Nora Aunor's Annie Batungbakal.
Due to their immense interest to Filipinos that animation as a hub for subcontracted labor in the 1980s, aspiring animators, such as the Alcazaren brothers and Roxlee, dominated to create their own experimental animated short films, much of their work have adult-oriented themes and political satire, until the People Power Revolution in 1986.
1986–1990s: Television period
The first Philippine animated television series was Ang Panday, created by Geraldo A. Garccia in 1986, based on a comic book character of the same name produced by Carlo J. Caparas. RPN-9 began airing in November 1986. Although it was a consistent success, Ang Panday lasted only for six months due to the high cost of producing an animated feature or series.The success of Ang Panday led to broadcasting two animated series in the following year: Captain Barbell, based on a komik superhero of the same name by Mars Ravelo and Jim Fernandez, aired on RPN, clashing with Garccia's Ang Panday for broadcasting competition; Darna, based on a komik superheroine of the same name by Mars Ravelo and Nestor Redondo, released by GMA Network.
In 1989, Sa Paligid-ligid is a two-hour educational animated television special about the environmental awareness and conservation produced by the Philippine Children's Television Foundation aired on IBC 13.
Began in the 1990s, topics of Philippine animation have been significantly shifted from an emphasis on satirical and historical events to everyday issues and identities that reflects their reality to Filipino people.
1990s–early 2010s: Fluctuations
In the 1990s, Garccia worked on several animated works including an animated short adaptation of Noli Me Tangere, live-action animated hybrid Isko: Adventures in Animasia and a passion project Adarna: The Mythical Bird, a fully-developed animated film debut based on the 19th century corrido commonly titled Ibong Adarna. Garccia, wrote the story and directed Adarna under FLT Productions and Guiding Light Productions, said he initially wanted to have the project as a TV series in 1997 but instead to a full-length film, and the film took two years to finish with roughly 300 animators and a new nine-minute segment soon added to the film that had the additional cost of ₱50,000, with producer Rose L. Flaminiano later bought the rights to the film's release when it was nearing completion. Adarna was declared an entry to the 1997 Metro Manila Film Festival on December 3, 1997, and received recognition from the Metro Manila Film Festival on December 27, 1997, as the "first ever animated movie in Philippine cinema", although predated by Marcelo's Tadhana. It earned a box office from MMFF worth ₱11.2 million, but did not make it to its production cost. Despite being a box-office bomb and some critics were critical of the film's poor animation, the Adarna's theatrical release and pioneering recognition was considered a highlight to Filipino animation. In 1998, it was also included in the Asian Collection of Japan's 7th Hiroshima Animation Festival.Following Garccia's pioneering creations, an annual animation festival Animahenasyon was founded in 2007 and organized by the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc., serves as a flagship project to Filipino newcomers and animators in showcasing their original ideas. Several animated short films and music videos premiere at the festival have been made over the years.
In 2007, Garccia produced the very first animated talk show on Philippine television entitled Talk Toons. Guest celebrities appeared in the series like Vilma Santos, Mikey Arroyo, German Moreno and former president Joseph Estrada. All were interviewed on video and transferred into animation.
At the same year, a Filipino-American satirical animated series created by Ramon Lopez and Jesse Hernandez entitled The Nutshack. The series's premise revolves two distant cousins, Phil, from the San Francisco Bay Area, and Jack, from the Philippines, who live with their uncle, Tito Dick, in south-suburban Daly City. Co-produced by Koch Entertainment and ABS-CBN International, it has been in development since mid or late 2005 and was produced in Macromedia Flash throughout the series on a Windows XP model. The series was teased in 2006 on YouTube and possibly on television. It began airing on Myx TV, but the series was concluded in 2011 completing two seasons with sixteen episodes due to generally low-rated and critically derided, though it built a small cult following from its reputation in late 2016 based on remixes of its theme song on YouTube, which became an internet meme.
In 2008, Garccia's creation was later followed by another theatrical animated film, Urduja, was top billed by Cesar Montano and Regine Velasquez as voices behind the lead characters, premiered in local theaters. Produced using a mixture of digital and traditional animation techniques, the film took eleven years of conceptualization or pre-production and was done roughly for two years of animation development by approximately 400-500 Filipino animators and three different animation studios situated within Luzon and Visayan areas, produced more than 120,000 drawings that ran in 1,922 scenes equivalent to 8,771 feet of film. The film earned ₱20 million during its premiere and gained a box office hit of roughly ₱31 million over unstated production cost, surpassing the milestone of Adarna's grossing release but still unsuccessful in getting the audience interest which resulted in loss of profit.
File:Nash aguas.jpg|thumb|217x217px|Child actor Nash Aguas in 2008.
Another full-length animated film was released in the same year, Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalia. The film revolves around Bubuy who is out to save his abducted grandparents in the land of Elementalia, a magical and mystical world that houses many of the mythical creatures of the Philippines and other enchanted elements.
Described as the Philippines' first all-digital full-length animated feature film, the film was done for two years of development composed of over 500 animators using paperless 2D and 3D technologies. The film graced the premiere as an entry to the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival and gained a total of ₱5.6 million against its ₱58 million worth budget, but again was a box-office bomb.
In 2010, RPG Metanoia is the first feature-length theatrical animated film to be developed in computer-generated imagery with stereoscopic 3D, which took 5 years to make with less than a hundred animators, and AmbientMedia and Thaumatrope Animation serve as production companies for the film. The animation was done in full digital technology using 3D software for animation and 2D software for motion graphics and compositing, with Roadrunner Network, Inc did the stereoscope in the midst of post-production. RPG Metanoia was declared an entry and garnered three awards at the 2010 Metro Manila Film Festival, earn a total of ₱33 million for four-week release after MMFF premiere, a little higher than Urduja
File:Jairus Aquino on ASAP.jpg|thumb|191x191px|Jairus Aquino appeared in two animated works by ABS-CBN: Bryan in RPG Metanoia and Jomar in Super Inggo At Ang Super Tropa.
At the same year, an anime-inspired television series created by Enrico C. Santos entitled Super Inggo at ang Super Tropa, a spin-off of the television series Super Inggo. It is the first collaborative project between ABS-CBN TV, represented by business unit head and Vice President for TV Production Enrico Santos, and the newly formed ABS-CBN Animation Department, led by business unit head Guia Jose, who has trained at the Hanna-Barbera Studios in the United States during the 1980s. She explained that the series will run for two seasons, with each season tentatively containing 13 episodes that will approximately run for 22 minutes.
Kapitan Torpe, a now-defunct Flash-produced animated film about a reluctant superhero who fights crime and helps the oppressed. It was directed by Antonio Jose Cadiz and is the first and only feature-length film to be submitted at the Animahenasyon festival, which won him the Best Animation of Category D for full-length animated feature in 2010. This led to focus Animahenasyon on short films and commercials due to lack of producing feature-length films in the future which started in 2016.
Between the 2000s that the previous four animated films did not profit or break even with its production cost. This then resulted in a loss of interest in animation investors and the closure of local studios out of curiosity and respect towards animation in the Philippines due to in favor of internationally produced animation rivals and popularity clash towards the box office hit for Philippine cinema that favored romantic comedy films, Philippine animation has shifted to more artistically complex, narrative-driven experimental animated films to other independent studios in locals without further box-office release. However, animators still struggled to produce their originality due to the costly production and the decline in demand for animated films.