Meep Meep

 Watching modern anime is a trip and a half.  

Rewinding back to the 80's in animation : 
Cartoon intros used to act as mini videos that introduced the characters, the world, and the major conflicts within the story.   

"Life is like a hurricane.  Here. In. Duckberg."

The trend continued through the late 90's and early 00's, in American those intros started to loose length. 
All the way down to  a sting and a title card. 
To make room for ad space within the show's run time.
 A 2 minute intro?  That's 4 to 8 ads worth of time. 
And then the show it's self has to spend time with the "last time on!!"  Which was a a staple of 90's dubbed anime because of translation issues and lack of cultural understanding.  

Which brings me to the modern Anime Intro. 

"Don't you mean Japanimation?"   
"Kind of but not really.  Especially as Anime has moved in to the mainstream from it's film origins.  Back in the day, Merry Melodies, Loony Tunes, Betty Boop where all just filler between movies and news reels.  Meant to entertain the adults waiting for the show to start.  Think about that.  Instead of ads and trivia before a movie the pre show was cartoons and news updates." 

"Drink This thing! Buy this thing!   Did you know this fact about this really popular film?
v.s.
"What's up doc?   We'll be rolling out the new Polio Vaccine!! News from abroad!"

"Ah, but that was...almost a 100 years ago, we don't need those things now."
"Oh really?  We don't need a place where people can go to to get verified and sourced information about public health and safety issues and information?" 
"Well you can just go to a website."
"We'll table that for a minute and go back to the anime."
 "I just see narrative animation generally as anime now and designate it by it's language or country of origin. I mean, most of the entertainment sector and public has adopted this definition of Anime into the larger cultural lexicon.

Which goes back to why Anime from Japan has brilliant intros.  Episode 1 they give you the entire series or seasons story arc in the intro.  Not explicitly, but through out of context scenes, character or moment highlights and using music to set the tone of their show.  As the show progresses and the story arc or season progresses the intro is updated.  

In American television broadcast production standards have minimized the intro as much as possible in favor of ad time. Then cut into the minimal run time with specific "we don't think you can remember what's goin on so here it is." 
See :  Invincible, and other shows that use only a title card.

 Most Japanese broadcast intros on the other hand give you a bop, a music video, a recap, and a teaser  without explicitly spelling anything out. Then, if relevant, typically start the episode with the last moment of the previous episode to pull the viewer back into the point of the narrative they left off, or to give a bit of context as to why the characters are in a particular cliffhanger moment.  
Like those old 90's sitcoms. 
"What ever happened to predictability?   The milkman?  The paperboy?  The evening t.v.?"

Another animation technique that reflects a cultural difference between American and Japanese animation is the slow pan over the still. 
See, an animation technique developed in the states and popularized in the 60's to save on animation was background cycling. The infinite run loop. The imitation of constant motion. 

Where as in Japanese animation they live in the stills. Letting the viewer sit with the image and absorb the details.  Instead of swapping out heads the focus is on the back of the speaker and the emotional reaction of the other person.  No lip flaps, Just small flickers of movement in the eyes, a tremble of the shoulders utilizing two or three images cycled in a frozen moment of emotional resonance.  The obsessive amount of detail placed into a single frame stretched out over several seconds to impress the moment on the viewer.  Letting the screen sit in blackness after a major moment and sit with what just happened.  Almost more like turning the pages of an illustrated audio book or visual comic more than watching a hand drawn television show.  

It's beautiful in it's simplicity.  

And then, specifically in modern anime, putting the full of the animation budget into beautifully choreographed action sequences that blends hand drawn animation with digital background and accents to make the action feel so smooth some of it I'm like "I could do that...well...maybe 20 years ago I could have."   
Back in the 80's, on shows like Thundercats or He-man?  They did the exact opposite.  Absolutely stacked the intro with some of the cleanest and smoothest animation out there.  Then the show, often, was just scrolling backgrounds and the only moments where a still would be used was in the title card or establishing shot.   
Granted there was a cultural shift in Anime during the 50's in both countries.  In the U.S.?   Animation was classified as pornography and immoral then was censored and repackaged as children's entertainment.  Hell, when I was a kid, they didn't even bother editing things from the old cartoons that had been  labeled as pornography or low intelligence content.  
Like Betty Boop or Like Loony Tunes. 
Where as in Japan.  
Animation was culturally seen as just another story telling medium.  

There is a massive difference between Low budget and Low effort. 
Low budget is finding clever, minimalist, ways to accent the art and emotion of a moment or story.  
Low effort is using clever, minimalist, ways to dumb things down for an audience the decision makers have little to no respect for. 
Luckily the artists that create these things, the nerds that love telling stories, stay in the rooms to help shape the stories into something meaningful.  

But hey, that's why the C-Suit has been pushing AI in the creative fields as hard as they can. 

AI could be a powerful tool in a toolbox of tricks used in inventive ways by artists and creatives to develop new techniques. 

Or. 

It could be used as a way to get the creatives out of the room so that silly things like critical thought and emotional weight won't have a the viewer of the product thinking about anything that might distract them from the product. 

Insert: ~ MacDonalds CEO trying the product on camera. ~

Why do you think the Super Hero film genre persists nearly 20 years beyond it's expiration date?
In their best form they offer hope, inspire courage, and highlights kindness.  Even in their darkest stories. 

"Beyond their expiration date?"

I don't remember the exact term for it at the moment, something I picked up listening to film school students.   But film and entertainment have genera bubbles, usually when they're newly introduced or heavily marketed.  
the 40's saw the musical, the 50's the western, the 60's was big swords and sandals epics, 70's the crime/horror flick. The 80's War movies. 90's Epic historical dramas.  the 00's saw the boom of Fantasy and super heroes. the 10's Zombies and Vampires.
  And now we're here in the 20's again and the super heroes are still here from the 00's with a lean towards high concept science fiction.  

And the decline of the Theater going audience. 
Theaters are expensive for the attendee. 
Ticket prices, concessions, the whole 9.  
Hell. My last theater outing experience to an evening show.  For just myself.  Movie, Popcorn, soda, box of Candie.
$25 for the ticket.  About the same for the concessions. 
So about $50 for one person, for one movie.

I used to spend lunch breaks at the dollar theater. 
Spend $20 on a Friday Night to and take a date to see a movie opening weekend, snag dinner on the way, and desert after. And that's if I wanted stuff at the theater. 

Adjusted to today that $20 dollar date would be $40.  
 Which isn't cheap, but it's accessible for a night out.  Especially when where I was rent was only $250(about $650 adjusted to today)  a month for a serviceable one bedroom within walking distance to a grocery store.
Theaters have been moved to prestige viewing. 
Not accessible to your standard audience anymore. 
That same date night now? 
Dinner $20 to $40 per person.   We'll say $30
Movies and concessions as stated above $50
Desert on the way home $15 to $20. 
So from a $20($40) date night to. 
$100
Double the price.

Rent average from $500 to $2000. 

Minimum wage in 1990 $3.80
Minimum Wage now $7.25

Difference? 
In 1990, while minimum wage had decoupled form inflation almost 20 years before; when, with difficulty, could support a family of 4 on $2/hr working 40 hours a week.
Where as today an individual has to make a minimum of $30 an hour to do the same.
And that's utilizing various assistance programs. 

Hard math time?
Hard math time.

Even though, technically wages have "doubled" since 1990. 
The cost of living has Quadrupled. 
Entertainment has doubled.
Education and Healthcare have become unaffordable for the average person.  
When was the last time  you were able to trade a chicken for a doctors visit?


"Oh, if you're so smart how would you make a theater profitable in the modern economical climate?"

I wouldn't. 
I'd make malls profitable and re-open the theaters in them.
After all.  
The best theaters still in operation are staples in mall or mall like environments. And conventions are always looking for places to screen movies. 

So you ask what I would do? 
Once infrastructure revitalization is finished, or at least on track and moving under it's own steam? 
 
"Hey, what are you doing today?"
"I have an eye exam, one of the kids has a dentists appointment, and I have a couple of things in a pick up box, then need some fresh veggies for dinner tonight."
"Oh rad, mind if I tag along, there's a few things I need at the mall too."

See, back in the day super center retailers did this exact thing.
To get people to come to their stores.  Let crafters set up.  
But the difference is. 
Once people got used to showing up to places like a Walmart super center the smaller businesses started shutting down because they lost their foot traffic.
 Eventually, they moved the crafts people out and filled that space with shopping carts and self checkouts. 
When I was a kid we sold hand beaded key chains at the local Walmart crafts market to supplement my moms administrative pay at the same store. 
One of the ladies doing their books, ordering supplies, and making sure everything was on the up and up financially couldn't even afford to support their family and specifically male cart pushers were being hired at nearly double the wage. 
There was a class action lawsuit bout that actually. 
The pay part. 
The systematic destruction of local businesses was just considered successful business practice.  

Not my plan. 
If you'd like to see an example of the model I'm building, head to your local library and ask what events they have going on. 

Stay Safe.