The Expense of 3D Animation

Another topic I wanted to research whilst looking at the potential and limitations of 3D modelling and animation was the COST of it. Since money is something people like to shy away from, I wanted to do some research on it and why it is the amount that it is.

I started off heading to 'imdb.com' in order to look at the budgets and expenses that a few major films required in order to gain a general idea of what to expect these films to total. I started with a very recent animated film, which was Frozen (2013) and was extremely shocked to find that this film had a budget of $150 million dollars at an estimate! Though it earned almost half of that back in its opening weekend, that is a ginormous amount of money.

I compared this to another 3D animated film that is equally as loved, and this was the first instalment of Toy Story, released in 1995. This film had a budget of $30 million, which is exactly 1/5 of Frozen's budget. So why do they cost so much? And why has the budgets literally quintupled? 

It is obvious that 3D animation is much more expensive than 2D animation because of the nature of how it is produced, but I think it more so comes down to the demand and need to out do the last animated film released. Creators are always looking to make bigger and better stories, that is essentially why they produce franchises and earn more money. Children love connecting to characters and having familiar faces that they recognise, so there is a greater demand now, to keep this up. As well as aesthetics, it also costs a lot to hire voice actors, especially those who already have a celebrity status which in itself will attract another demographic of audiences.

However in terms of the production of 3D animation and modelling, it is extremely expensive rendering even a few seconds of animation because it takes so much time. There are a million moving joints and parts of the characters body, along with high level textures, therefore there is a need for extremely powerful machines that will run all year round. Also 3D animators have had advanced training, so their salary is also expensive, as well as hiring those in other fields such as light techs, story board artists, etc.

Therefore though I was shocked to see Frozen's budget, I understand now, how expensive it can get to make an entire movie. From requiring the best processor machines, to trying to keep up with the demand, there is a lot of pressure to make such high standard films. Perhaps this is why those who are just starting out in animation stick to 2D, because of the daunting expenses, thus making is less attainable for a lot of people.