Uni Blogpost #Practice 2: 8 - Pre-Production 4 (16/03/2026)
Yo! Within this blog post, I’m going to talk about my ideas so far, my main goals for this project and them and how they relate to my market research, to help me decide on what idea to take forward.
0: General Focus
For this project, my goal is to make a design/pitch document for a greater project, most likely either a film/series of films, or a TV series. This pitch document should show of my animation and design skills, using elements like turnarounds, loops, development in designs and storyboards for scenes, episodes or other elements, to show of my skills both in these elements, and in IP creation more general, for potential employment.
From my general market research, from what I could discover, for modern 2d animated works, most of the critically and commercially successful works are aimed towards older audiences, and most works, as a whole are either part of or were used to launch larger franchises, so any of my suggested ideas should be aimed at older audiences and be able to launch franchises.
Personally, i was also interested, for this project, in trying to focus more on world design and working in weird or impossible environments, and, although that isn’t a requirement for this work, it is still a concept of interest to me.
(some strange/impossible environment examples)
1: Fantasy Project
My first idea for this project is OGRELORD, a fantasy adventure series following an ogre, dark elf and potential other companions, across a strange and otherworldly, fantasy landscape.
(Initial design work for ogre)
(Initial design work for dark elf)
The general idea for this story, as I have imagined it, would explore the nature of prophecies and stories in fantasy works, and the nature of how gods, in fantasy works, often take the form of clear, obvious and real beings, whom can directly interfere with their universe.
The project would be set in a world wherein their are no gods, and reality is dictated by random chance and cause and effect, which lead a group of ancient, powerful magic users to devise a prophecy, to bring order to the universe by creating a god. Their prophecy involves creating a dark lord to whom a great hero would then arise to defeat, with said hero then being turned into a god, with the hope that, due to their pure hearted nature, they would create a better world. However, due to the nature of the universe to be chaotic, something went wrong with the prophecy, and the destined hero, finding out about the greater plan and the lack of higher purpose, had their heart turn dark and cynical, and thus leading their assertion to threaten to ruin the world.
As such, the main characters, Ogre and Dark Elf, originally destined to become the dark knight and lord, would thus be forced to take on the mantle of heroes and try to stop the queen and knight’s before they ruin everything. The story would then follow the main characters and their struggle and development in become heroes, especially the titular ogre.
I imagined the theme of order and randomness to be a constant through the work, such as having magic, in this project, be cast through singing and music, which serves to bring order to the world, taking inspiration from the Zelda series, and works like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Osawa. Yamada. Aonuma. Koizumi & Iwawaki. 1998) and the use of musical numbers in Disney films.
While the exact plotline needs further development, such as the greater backstories and personalities of the characters and what the exact plot beats are, I think this initial idea should work well for the project, and would allow it to both stand out and fit within the pre-existing, fantasy landscape.
(The queen and her knights)
(Environment tests)
I think the main benefits for picking this project would include the variety it would offer me in terms of what I could do with the plot, characters and environments, due to the fantasy setting, and that it should be relativity easy to aim this work towards older audiences.
In terms of potential issues, however, I have trouble envisioning the story of this potential project as working in the concept of a larger franchise. While it could be possible to turn this idea, perhaps, into several movies or seasons of TV, I would find it hard to turn such a focus story into a larger franchise, as I imagined the plot to be linear and to not leave much room for further expansion.
2: Cyberpunk Project
My second idea for this project is a cyberpunk crime series, following a special unit of police who hunt down uniquely dangerous individuals.
The story would be set in the future, wherein the entire earth has been turned into one giant city, wherein their isn’t any defined government yet and the planet is ruled by what remains of previous authorities, including the police.
(concept art for the city)
It would follow a new recruit of a special task forces, who was taken in after their encounter with a member of a terrorist-for-higher organization, that was formed by former members of the same task force, following leadership disagreements, with the larger narrative of the project being the hunt for said terrorists, though with the potential for individual stories focusing on more stand-alone stories/investigations.
(concept art for the recruit, left, and terrorist, right)
The main theme of the story would be the cycle of violence perpetrated by authorities and the concept of authority, as the devastation of both the criminals and police forces grows more and more as they fight and hunt each other.
One of the main inspirations for the idea is Dominion Tank Police (Ishiyama & Mashimo. 1988), and how that series seemed to portray a heavily militarized, destructive and uncompassionate police force as an unquestioningly good thing, which seemed like a rather strange direction for the work to take, and me trying to imagine the potential ramifications of such a set up.
For this project, I have a far greater grasp on the direction and development of the project, though my plan for the characters is a lot less solid.
I think the main benefits for picking this project would include how it could easily fit into an expanded franchise setting, in terms of being able to fit more stories in between the larger plot, as well as it naturally aiming towards an older audience. It also exists as part of the cyberpunk genre, which seems rather friendly to 2d animation as a genre, which is another benefit.
In terms of potential issues, however, taking a negative stance towards authorities would likely make the work unappealing to potential employers, and to change the messaging to make it more so would feel disingenuous and like a failure on both me and the concept, so the idea may not be suited for this development project.
3: Horror Project
My third idea for this project is dethrone, a horror mystery series, following a group of characters trying to uncover the dark truth of their hometown, as it becomes infested with supernatural horrors.
Taking inspiration from works like Silent Hill (Toyama. 1999), I imagined the project to feature multiple ‘worlds’ where the characters would explore, the real world and a gross, impossible dark world, the source of the supernatural horrors infesting the town.
(the dark (left) and real (right) worlds)
The story would be set in the fictional, American town of Blackhart, which has a bloody history, centered around Nowhere Prison, an old prison that was the home to a number of tragedies and cults. The plot would see a group of main characters, all of whom have backstories tied to the main mystery of the town, as they try to fight of and stop the supernatural monsters by uncovering the truth. Some themes I considered for this projects story included cycles of tragedies and how the rich and powerful will attempt to hide their terrible actions.
(Two potential characters)
(Concept art)
While I like this project idea, it has some of the most faults of any. While it does have the same benefit of naturally fitting into the older audience demographic I am aiming for, and, as an animated horror project, it would stand out in the otherwise live-action dominated landscape, the fact that horror seems uninviting to the horror genre, in of itself, reads as a potential drawback. For this idea, it may be better to design it as a document for a game, rather than a show or movie, especially given it’s mystery aspect, as it seems games are more willing to accept non live-action horror media, though, then this project would risk, though then it creates a new issue, wherein the project is less able to show my skills in pitching IP for the tv and film industry, my main goals for employment.
Theirs also the issue in how I imagined this work to be a self-contained narrative, and, outside of fitting the narrative into a series of tv seasons of films, I couldn’t imagine expanding the project beyond it’s initial scope, though, given how many horror franchises work as anthologies of disconnected or loosely connected works, it may be possible to pitch this idea, rather than an independent work, as part of a pre existing anthology.
The main issue for this project, however, is the fact it is a development of a pre-existing project I made for my university bachelors course, and therefor I am not sure the extent to which further development may count as plagiarism of my own work.
4: Post apocalyptic concept.
(concept art)
A final idea I have had, though this one is new and less developed, would be a post apocalyptic/dystopian narrative, seeing a main character trying to bring down an unknown and otherworldy force, in my concept art a flying battleship built to look like a church organ, which has and continues to destroy the world around it.
Taking inspiration from works like the bioshock series, It is less developed than my other ideas, though the general outline would involve, as I mentioned, the main character tying to both uncover where the source of destruction came from, with time breaking apart as it has both suddenly appeared and has always existed, and trying to find a way to bring it down, or undo the damage it has caused to the world. My initial idea for the story was that the flying battleship was sent back from the future to stop the devastation of the planet by war and pollution by whipping out the history of humanity, starting anew at the begging of time, acting as a colony ship to the past, with it first traveling back in time kidnap important people throughout history to brainwash and use as the initial colonists.
I think the idea could be cool to develop further, but, like many of my other ideas, suffers from the same issues of being imagined as a more insular story, which wouldn’t work well for further development. Moreover, as I haven’t yet done market research for this idea, I can’t say how well it would fit into an animated context.
5: Summary
Of my listed ideas, I think all both have benefits and issues in terms of deciding which to take forward, with most being unsuited for franchise expansion, at least in a satisfying way, while those which are would likely be difficult to sell to a studio, and would require massive retooling to be made more palatable, in such a way as to ruin the artistic integrity of the work.
Going forward, then, I will decide upon which of these Ideas I like most, and will begin to develop it further, into a more concrete and workable concept.
References:
Osawa, T. Yamada, Y. Aonuma, E. Koizumi, Y & Iwawaki, T. (1998) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [Video game]. Nintendo
Dominion Tank Police (1988) Directed by Ishiyama, T & Mashimo, K. [Original Video Animation]. Agent 21
Toyama, K. (1999) Silent Hill [Video game]. Konami
Levine K. (2013) BioShock infinite [Video game]. 2K
Uni Blogpost #Practice 2: 7 - Pre-Production 3 (15/03/2026)
Yo! Within this next blog post, I’m going to do some market research into both the general animation landscape, and the media landscapes surrounding my three ideas, to help me plan for future development of my ideas, and get insight into which idea may be best to take forward.
1: Goals and animation market research
My ultimate goal, as an animator, would be to create something on a large scale, that is to say, to be either a show runner or director on a full TV series or movie.
Looking to the general market trends within the animation industry, both in terms of current (Pantoga, 2026 & wikipedia, 2026) and lifetime (wikipedia, 2026) box office, and general audience (IMDB, NA) and critical (metacritic, NA) reception, we can notice a few patterns.
In terms of general animation, works aimed at younger or general audiences seem to be the most successful, with only around 10 films in the 2020’s highest grossing list which had ratings around or higher than PG-13/12A. Alongside that, only 2020 and 2025 saw movies rated pg13 or higher, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (Stozaki, 2020) and Ne Zha 2 (Yany, 2025), as their highest grossing films. Furthermore, in terms of lifetime gross, following Ne Zha 2 (Yany, 2025), the highest grossing animated movie of all time, the next highest grossing movie with a rating higher than pg is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (Stozaki, 2025), at 28th
(Ne Zha 2 (Yany, 2025) trailer. A24, 2025)
While it’s clear there is a market for more adult oriented films, given both demon slayer movies have R ratings, even if the fan base itself seems to skew young, and how Ne Zha 2 (Yany, 2025, with a pg13 rating, is the highest grossing animated movie of all time, as a whole, it seems that, for animation, movies aimed more towards children and general audiences do better, with a similar trend notable within the critical acclaim of animation.
Looking deeper into the critical and commercial response of animation, at least in terms of films, however, it seems that audiences for 2d animation are generally older, or at least prefer works that exist in higher age ratings. Of the 7 best performing, 2d animated films of the 2020’s, not counting those which I couldn’t find consistent ratings for, 3 where rated R/17, being the two Demon Slayer movies (Stozaki, 2020 & 2025) and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Yoshihara, 2025), while 3 where rated pg13/12, being Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Park, 2021), One Piece Film: Red (Taniguchi, 2022) and The Boy and the Heron (Miyazaki, 2023), and 1 was rated pg, Suzume (Shinkai, 2022). Furthermore, of these films, all were created by Japanese studios.
This suggests that, although 2d animation has historically been tied to children’s and family media, there has been a recent trend in audiences to prefer 2D animation which takes on a more mature and dark tone. Looking into specific reviews of these films (Radulovic, 2023. Seward, 2023 & Egan, 2025.) Some of the most generally praised elements of these films include their animation, the maturity within their storytelling and themes and the realism of their characters. This suggests that audiences, at least for 2d animation, prefer more mature stories with complex and realistic characters, alongside artistic and impressive animation. There are many potential reasons for this shift in focus, such as the general prominence of 3d animation in the general audience sphere, which thus positions 2D animation as a more niche and artistic/mature medium, or the growing interest, globally, for Japanese and east Asian media and culture, especially that of a more mature nature, which thus pushes more mature animation due to the less interest in western, 2d animation. Despite the reasons, however, it seems that, generally, that audiences prefer more mature 2d animation, at least within film.
(Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Yoshihara, 2025) trailer. IGN, 2025)
While it was hard to find as concrete information surrounding TV animation, looking towards general discussion on the best or most significant works of the 2020’s (McDonough, 2024 & Pacheco, 2025), of the 2d animated works, we again see a trend towards higher rated works, of tv-14 or higher, such as Invincible (2021), Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (2023), Scavengers Reign (2023) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022), though with just as much American and western animation as east Asian. This suggests that, in both formats, audiences are looking for more mature stories and characters.
Another notable trend I noticed was the dominance of franchised works within the modern animation landscape, with only 12 of the 50 highest grossing movies of the 2020’s not being part of any pre-existing franchise, and, if we count the use of studio branding, such as Pixar. Disney and Ghibli, and adaptations of mythological and historical tales as forms of franchising in of themselves, this list goes down to 3, being Goat (Dillihay, 2026), The Wild Robot (Sanders, 2024) and Migration (Renner, 2023).
While this may suggest there is limited interest in original works, however, given there were multiple, successful works which were part of recent franchises, such as Ne Zha 2 (Yany, 2025), a sequel to 2019’s Ne Zha (Yany) and the Bad Guys movies (Perifel, 2022 & 2025), this instead suggests a more general trend into either creating works with the inherent goal of further franchising, or that works that do well are likely to be turned into franchises to capitalize on their original success. Either way, this suggests that, for my work, I should aim to create something that could sustain a larger franchise, or series of films or tv seasons, if I wish to showcase my skills in creating appealing IP, ideas and works for studios.
Finally, in terms of genre, while it became hard to pick any one, dominant genre, outside of the general trend of including comedy in works, it did seem that fantasy, action, adventure were some of the most common, as seen in works like Ne Zha 2 (Yany, 2025) and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (2023), with sci-fi being more common in TV animation specifically, such as Scavengers Reign (2023) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022). Furthermore, while horror was uncommon as a genre in-of-itself, many works seemed to include mythological and horror elements into them, such as Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Yoshihara, 2025) and the two Demon Slayer movies (Stozaki, 2020 & 2025).
(Scavengers Reign (2023) trailer. HBO Max. 2023
Taken together, it seems that the general, 2d animation landscape, in recent years, has favored more mature stories and characters, using the action, adventure, sci-fi and fantasy genres, which are east Asian or take inspiration from east Asian animation, and which exist as part or can be launched into larger franchises. Furthermore, other genres, such as comedy and horror, whether popular or not in their own right for animation, are often incorporated into projects which otherwise don’t focus or exist within those genres.
Looking into more industry focused statistics and research (Safavinia. 2025. Pangarkar & Mahajan, 2026 & stoll, 2025.) we also see that the average age of the animation audience is around 12-14 years old (Pangarkar & Mahajan, 2026 & stoll, 2025.), which suggests that, despite the general trend towards more mature age ratings and stories, the audience for 2d animation may still skew young. However, given the fact that these statistics relate to animation as a whole, rather than 2d specifically, it could also suggest that the audience for 2d animation simply skews older than the average for animation as a whole.
These reports also reveal that the two largest growing markets for animation, both in terms of production and consumption, are Asia, most notably India, China, Korea and Japan, and North America (Safavinia. 2025), which, also given the fact that all of the best performing, 2d films in the 2020’s were from Asian studios, suggests there is a big interest for east-Asian and east-Asian inspired media within both domestic and international audiences, which is another important trend to consider.
While I think it would be foolish for me to actively design my ideas around these specifications, as it would risk my work feeling lazy and derivative due to a lack of passion or originality within them, this research has offered me insight into the general direction I should take my ideas, and what ideas would be the most viable to develop further.
Given the main goal of creating a pitch bible as a final project would be in showing off my skills in IP development, it would thus be important to try and play to the strengths and trends of the animation industry, as this would most appeal to potential employers and studios.
As such, I would argue that my main focus should be on aiming for a teenage to young adult, target audience, around 15-21, with a project that focuses on a mature tone for its story and characters, and a higher age rating of pg13/12, and which takes inspiration from Japanese animation. I think these, at least as basic guidelines, already work well for planning out my future work, in so far as it offers me some general direction for my development, without being so restrictive as to risk making my work feel overly soulless, derivative and trend chasing.
A major question also arises in what genre I should work in, as, while both fantasy and sci-fi seem to work well for animation, that could again risk my work feeling generic, and being overshadowed by more popular competition. Given the usage of horror elements within otherwise non-horror animation, and my own experience creating work which tries to fit within the horror genre, a good compromise could be to create a more horror focused animation, as it would still follow the general trends of the industry, while hopefully allowing the work to still stand out as a unique project.
2: Fantasy market research
As all three of my planned ideas, I believe, would meet the trends I discussed for my general market research, I thought it would be good to also do some market research for the individual projects and their genres.
For my first project, my ogre-focused fantasy concept, I looked into the fantasy genre.
In terms of fantasy films (wikipedia, 2026), as a genre, some notable patterns I noticed included how at least half of the highest grossing fantasy films had ratings over pg-12/12, while less than 5 works were non franchised, going down to 0 when we considered studio-branding and works that began a franchise as being included. Furthermore, around 12 or so of the highest grossing movies were animated, of which 3 had ratings higher than pg13/12, and with 4 being musicals, with their being around 8 musicals all in all. Of these 8 musicals, all were PG or lower.
In terms of ratings, for general films, (Rotton Tomatoes, NA. Hemenway, 2025), we see a similar trend, wherein there is a relatively even split between media aimed at younger, general and older audiences, with a notable, but not overwhelming, appearance of animation within these lists, and a somewhat small but clear presence of musicals, with the musical The Wizard of Oz (Flemming, 1939), being considered the most critically acclaimed fantasy film of all time. Turning to ratings of animated fantasy films specifically (Pacheoco, 2023), of the 25 listed, only 2, from what I could find, had a rating of pg13/12 or higher, while 7 were musicals.
(The Wizard of Oz (Flemming, 1939) Trailer. Warner On Demand, 2012)
Turning to tv, once again it became hard to find figures surrounding finance, so I can only turn to ratings and reception. In terms of general televisions (Nyffenegger, 2025. IMDb, NA. Ames, 2025), within the 30 works shared between the Nyffenegger and Ames lists, around 5 were animated, of which only one, Avatar: the last airbender (2005), was rated y7 or lower, while 7 shows as a whole were around or under y7/pg. Around 9 of these shows were not related to pre-existing franchises and, when counting studio, mythologies as brands, and works which began a franchise, this goes down to around 3 or so. On IMDB, of the top 50 most popular fantasy shows, only 5 were y7/pg or under, while 17 were animated, with only one, once again Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) being y7/pg or under. Of the animated shows, the highest rated was Jujutsu Kaisen (2020), being the third most popular show. Of these 50 shows, 5 were original works, going down to 3 if we follow our more strict parameters. Looking more specifically towards animation (Mullen, 2025. Nyffenegger, 2024 & Ndao, 2024), of the 25 listed works, not counting duplicates, around 17 were y7/pg or younger.
Taking all of these statistics together, it appears that, for the fantasy genre, there is a relatively even split between between media aimed at younger, general and older audiences, though with many of the more commonly sited and successful works, such as the lord of the rings trilogy (Jackson, 2001, 2002 & 2003) and game of thrones (2011) aiming towards more mature audiences, both in terms of writing style, subject matter and the works rating. Looking into animated works specifically, we see a greater trend towards works focusing on younger audiences, especially in television, though it seems, when looking into discussions around the genre as a whole, there is more interest in mature works. There could be many reasons for this, such as animation being considered to have a more childish feeling by nature, so more general fantasy fans gravitate more towards work that presents as more mature due to it standing out more to them, or the mere fact that these more mature-focused shows better explore elements of fantasy that general audiences gravitate more towards. Furthermore, we notice, within film, though there’s relatively few musical works often sighted as critically important, those which are recognized are held in very high regard. Finally, as with the more general media landscape, it seems that many fantasy works exist as part of or serve to launch larger franchises.
Looking into specific works of interest, such as the prementioned Lord of The Rings trilogy (Jackson, 2001, 2002 & 2003) and game of thrones (2011), alongside Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005), The Wizard of Oz (Flemming, 1939), Arcane (2021) and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019), some notable similarities between the works can be seen, such as plots which revolve around or otherwise include or hint to political intrigue and real world allegory, a group of characters traveling together, a plot focus on travel, exploration and adventure, the use of mentor figures, often magical in nature, to both guide the characters story-arcs and whom give them their main goal/quest, and a plot which focuses on said main goal or quest (which is to say, plots wherein there is a clear goal for our characters to reach, often physically through travel to obtain or enact said goal.) Other notable elements include a clearly defined, villainous faction, often with a main villain/dark lord whom has an army under them, and, though harder to define, it seems many of these works focus a lot on building and defining their worlds, rules and landscapes, with all seeming to have either a heavy focus on world building, or wherein a large amount of discussion around the works seems to relate to their world building.
(The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 2001) Trailer. Warner Bros. Entertainment. 2020)
Taking these all together then, it suggests that, for my fantasy concept, it would be best for my work to be an ensemble piece, featuring a number of main characters whom are going on an adventure to fulfill a specified quest, as defined and guided by a magical tutor and while fighting against a villain and evil faction, while set in a clearly defined and believable world, and with the plot focusing heavily on politics and political intrigue, or wherein political intrigue is a notable component to the world, its setting and the background of the larger story.
Furthermore, on a less obvious note, I noticed that it seems almost all fantasy works seem to take direct (that is to say, they adapt) or indirect influence from historical mythologies and folktales, especially European myth. Finally, it would likely be better to create a non-musical work, which aims for an older target audience, and which could be used as a springboard to build up a larger franchise.
Luckily, given my pre-existing idea, for a story surrounding the adventures of an ogre and dark elf, most of these suggestions/trends should be easy to achieve, especially given how concepts like quests and fighting against powerful, villainous factions are relatively easy beats to fit into a story, and, given the pre-mentioned use of ogres, common in a number of mythologies, and dark elves, arising from Norse mythologies, it shouldn’t contrast with my works plan and identity in any major way. Furthermore, I was already interested, for this idea, in aiming it towards an older audience, so again, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
However, there are also some issues, as I had never considered politics, at least in terms of having fantasy politics actively play a role within the plot, for this story, imagining it would have a far greater focus on action and adventure, and I had planned, at least for the initial concept, for music and musical elements to play a relatively significant role within the project’s identity. Most of all, while I imagined the work as a series, either having a few seasons on television or being a series of movies, I didn’t imagine it as expanding out into a larger series, instead imagining the idea, if it were to conceptually be picked up by a studio, to be a self contained narrative within a loosely defined world, which goes against some the seemingly strongest trends and appeals for the fantasy genre. While I plan to discuss the ideas, and their relations to market research more in a future blog, this already reveals some issues surrounding this first idea, at least in terms of using it to show my skills in creating IP for companies, as to make it more appealing I would change elements of the idea which I consider vital to the projects larger identity.
3: Cyberpunk market research
Finding information on the cyberpunk genre, especially in terms of profitability, was a lot harder than my research into fantasy. From what I could find, relating to movies as a whole (slashfilm staff, 2025) only 2 works within the ‘best of’ list were animated, being Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995) and Akira (Otomo, 1988), and only one movie was rated under pg13, being the pg Tron (Lisberger, 1982). In terms of franchising, 17 movies were created without any notable franchise connections, which goes down to 9 when we discount works which later launched franchises. While that still leaves a lot of films as being franchised works, it is far smaller than the amounts I found for the fantasy genre, and film as a whole.
(Akira (Otomo, 1988), Trailer. Crunchroll Store Australia, 2020)
Meanwhile, for animated movies specifically, (Kantor, 2022), all were rated around pg13 or higher, and only 2 were not originally part of a franchise upon their release, to my understanding
As for TV, in terms of general shows (Scott, 2026 & Nyffenegger, 2025) of the 14 listed, 5 were animated and only one, Batman Beyond (1999), was around pg/y7 or younger, with only 4 seeming to be non-franchised work, going down to 2 when counting shows which started franchises. For animated shows specifically,
Finally, in terms of animated works (Remizova, 2026), of the 9 listed, all were aimed at older audiences, and 6 were non-franchise works, though that seems to go down to around 3 or 1, when we count works which launched franchises as being franchised works. Finally, two other patterns I noticed was that almost all of the listed, animated cyberpunk words were either 2d, or designed in such a way to appear 2d, and that it was hard to research animated cyberpunk works that weren’t from Japan, as almost all lists and statistics I could find relating to the genre were specifically about Japanese animated works. While I can’t say for sure whether this is because of the general domination of japan within the 2d animation industry, with most cyberpunk shows being 2d animated, or due to the genre being especially linked with Japan (which could arise from how pioneers of the genre, like Blade Runner (Scott, 1982), Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995) and Akira (Otomo, 1988), either came from Japan or tied their cyberpunk aesthetic to japan), it still seems that the cyberpunk genre, at least in animated, largely originates from japan, and has clear influence, at least aesthetically, from Japanese and east Asian culture.
Looking towards some significant works, like the pre mentioned Blade Runner (Scott, 1982), Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995) and Akira (Otomo, 1988), alongside works like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022), Pantheon (2022) and Paprika (Kon. 2006), we can notice some more trends, specifically within story and design. Aesthetically, as stated before, many series are from japan or take heavy inspiration from Japanese aesthetics, especially those stereo typically connected to the Japanese ‘bubble era’ of the 80’s, due to many, influential works in the genre being created around that time and using the imagery to comment on the then growing dominance of japan over Americas economy and culture. Beyond that, we can also notice a mixture of dirt, darkness and grime, with dilapidated buildings and characters, with sleek, modern and retro futurist technology, often featuring bright, neon lights, again likely taken from the aesthetics of the 80’s and influential works like Akira (Otomo, 1988).
(Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) Trailer. Warner Bros. Entertainment, 2017)
Alongside these aesthetic trends, we can also see a heavy focus on stories and works set in large, domineering cities, metropolis and mega cities, going back to at least as early as the Metropolis (Lang, 1927), and stories which focus on the interlacing of politics, authority, authoritarianism, crime, industry and technology, with plots often focusing on political and criminal intrigue, corporate espionage, or which explore the nature of identity and person hood in a world dominated by machines, artificial intelligence and cybernetics, often with a strong political bent, commenting on issues such as rampant capitalism, identity, class struggle and authoritarianism/fascism.
Taken all together then, the cyberpunk genre is clearly a very political and thematically charged genre, focusing on its use of a sci-fi setting and visual storytelling/world building to express it’s message. Alongside that, the genre as a whole takes heavy inspiration from east Asian culture and aesthetics, or at least those most stereotypical to the 80’s, and is often seen in settings wherein the environment has collapsed and humans have come together in large, all-encompassing metropolises. The genre, though still featuring many franchises, seems to be less dominated by them, either due to the nature of cyberpunk stories to be more insular and difficult to expand, or perhaps due to the often socialist-leaning nature of the genre making it less appealing for studios to franchise out further. It is also a far more mature genre than that of fantasy, with almost all works being aimed at teenagers and adults.
Again, these requirements don’t conflict too heavily with cyberpunk ideas so far, I had already planned to utilize many of these classic tropes, like a huge mega city and focus on crime and politics, though again they do also create issues. One of major concern, at least to me, is the utilization of east-Asian imagery into the work, as, while I am not opposed to the idea, I wouldn’t want to do so haphazardly, as it would feel ingenious and inoffensive, and, by the same token, the inherently political leaning of the genre also feels like a potential issue, as I assume it would be rather difficult, if not outright hypocritical, to develop my cyberpunk idea, with an interest in showing how I can make work to appeal to studios for employment, while sticking true to the core themes and messaging of cyberpunk, and what I wished to express within the idea.
4: Horror market research
Finally, turning to the horror genre, for total movie gross (Wikipedia 2026), of the 50 listed films, while some movies, like Five Nights at Freddy’s (Tammi, 2023), seem aimed to younger or more general audiences, no movie was rated lower than pg13, and generally all seemed aimed towards older audiences, to be expected for the horror genre. 11 of the films were non franchised works, higher than the fantasy genre, which went down to 9 when we count works which later evolved into franchises. Meanwhile, none were animated. Turning to the highest grossing films of the 2020’s (Douglas, 2023), we see similar patterns, with all movies aimed at a higher age-rating and audiences, and none being animated, though only 3 works were ‘original’, and of those, all seemed to have evolved or are evolving into franchises. Turning to critical response, both recent (Urquhart, 2025) and all time (Lealos, 2025), we again see these patterns, of the vast majority of films being aimed at older audiences and being franchise works, and almost none being animated.
Looking at animated films specifically (Hajimirsadeghi & Shuman, 2025), of the 13 listed, around 5 of them were rated pg or lower, and around 5 were original works, going down to 3 when using more strict criteria. For both animated and non-animated works, it seems like their is a variety within what forms of horror are explored, between psychological, paranormal, slasher/gore and other such subgenres of horror, making it rather diverse.
(Five Nights at Freddy’s (Tammi, 2023) Trailer. Universal Pictures, 2023)
What this shows us is that the horror genre, though clearly featuring a large number of franchises, also sees a significant number of original works, and that, while the horror genre as a whole aims towards older audiences, horror animation has a far greater amount of works aimed at general and younger audiences, which may be the reason as to why animation is not heavily represented within discussions surrounding the genre as a whole, at least in terms of critically and commercially successful films.
Turning to televisions, in terms of all time critical acclaim (Levine, 2025), and of those from the 2020’s (Nyffenegger, 2025), we again see a trend towards adult focused work, which can be either franchised or non franchised, and wherein very few works are animated. Something unique for tv horror, however, is the relative prominence of anthology shows, wherein each episode tells a different, disconnected horror story, such as the twilight zone (1959), and American Horror story (2011). This is likely as, given many horror stories are short in nature, especially given the tendency for characters to die within them, that creating an anthology allows for a horror series to hold the high stakes, deaths, tension and short-length often best suited for horror stories, rather than risking cutting the tension and dragging out the plot across a whole grouping of episodes.
Turning to animation specifically, we again see a greater preference towards shows aimed at a younger audience, save a few outliers such as Primal (2019) and Love, Death & Robots (2019). While more singular, episodic stories still pop up often surrounding animated horror media, such as in the aforementioned Love, Death & Robots (2019), they seem more generally connected, having shared characters and storyworlds wherein each episode explores a new topic within them, such as in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969), where, although each episode sees the main characters dealing with a new mystery, each episode is still connected by having the main characters as the central focus.
Taken all together then, we see that the horror genre heavily leans towards adult audiences, likely due to the nature of horror, to scare and upset audiences, being considered less appropriate for children, with a variety of different methods and sub genres for exploring said themes and creating the sense of horror. Though their are plenty examples of horror franchises, it seems the horror genre is especially prone to episodic series and anthological storytelling, wherein works are disconnected or only loose connected through a shared world or characters, and largely focus on unique narratives and interactions, likely due to the nature of horror media to see characters die or otherwise be removed from the plot over time, making it hard to create a long running franchise and series with a set group of characters, at least without weakening the tension of the story.
(Perfect Blue (Kon, 1997) Trailer. GKIDS Films, 2025)
While it is somewhat hard to pick out specific works of significance/interest within the horror genre, given the nature of its subgenres, some I have identified include twin peaks (1990), the twilight zone (1959), Coraline (Selick, 2009), Perfect Blue (Kon, 1997), Mad God (Tippett, 2021), Iron Lung (Fischbach, 2026), Sinners (Coogler, 2025) and Scream (Craven, 1996). Between these works, it was hard to identify any major patterns or trends, with even the extent to which they focus on the horror/scaryness of the work itself depending heavily across the works, and with different movies all existing in different genres, such as Perfect Blue (Kon, 1997) being a psychological horror, while Scream (Craven, 1996) is a slasher film. In terms of similarities, the best I could note is that it seems the horror genre, as a whole, seems far more focused on emotional storytelling and themes than it does logical story progression, with significant works like the twilight zone (1959) of taking strange paths in their stories, and including huge, story shattering twists at the end, focused more on their message and horror than on strictly following a standard story progression and conclusion.
Ultimately then, it seems that what I’ve learnt is, outside a general focus on being scary, and on aiming for a more adult audience, creating a work within the horror genre should be relatively unrestrictive, as you have a lot of freedom in terms of ideas, structure and focus. This should be useful for me, and my horror idea, inspired by the likes of twin peaks (1990), as a supernatural horror mystery in a small town, to develop naturally, rather than having to follow market trends to prove its viability.
However, it does seem the horror genre is one of the less friendly to animation, with very few being rated highly when in discussions surrounding the horror genre as a whole, and, given I imagined my work as an animation, this does pose major issues to its viability as a project, and my ability to show I can create viable project ip’s and plans. While I could instead focus my attention to creating a horror game pitch document, which should allow me to create more illustrative work without risking the disinterest of the horror audience, given most video games use animated characters, this would target my final piece more towards the gaming industry than the film and television industries, which are the main ones which I am interested in working in.
5: Conclusion
Having done this initial market research I believe that, to make my final ideas show of my skills in IP development better for potential employers, I should focus on more mature works which can be turned into franchises, given they seem to be the two most common denominators for cultural and commercial success for modern animation, and which seems like a pattern between works in the various genres I was considering working within. I also found some other points of interest to focus on for each individual idea.
Going forward, in a future blogpost, I plan to use this research as a base to discuss my initial ideas, plan their future development, and decide upon what idea I want to take forward.
References:
Twin Peaks (1990) ABC, 8, April
The Twilight Zone (1959) CBS, 2, October
The Boy and the Heron (2023) Directed by Miyazaki, H [Feature film]. Toho.
The Wild Robot (2024) Directed by Sanders, C. [Feature film]. Universal Pictures
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Directed by Jackson, P. [Feature film]. New Line Cinema
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Directed by Jackson, P. [Feature film]. New Line Cinema
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Directed by Jackson, P. [Feature film]. New Line Cinema
Tron (1982) Directed by Lisberger, s. [Feature film]. Buena Vista Distribution
The Wizard of Oz (1939) Directed by Flemming, V [Feature film]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Bad Guys (2022) Directed by Perifel, P [Feature film]. Universal Pictures
The Bad Guys 2 (2025) Directed by Perifel, P [Feature film]. Universal Pictures
Coraline (2009) Directed by Selick, H [Feature film]. Focus Features
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022) Season 1, Trigger. Available at: Netflix (13/03/2026)
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (2025) Directed by Yoshihara, T [Feature film]. Toho
Perfect Blue (1997) Directed by Kon, S. [Feature film]. Madhouse
Primal (2019) Adult Swim, 8, october
Paprika (2006) Directed by Kon, S. [Feature film]. Madhouse
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) Nickelodeon, 21, February
Akira (1988) Directed by Otomo, K. [Feature film]. Toho
Arcane (2021) Season 1, Fortiche. Available at: Netflix (13/03/2026)
American Horror Story (2011) FX. 5, October
Blade Runner (1982) Directed by Scott, R [Feature film]. Warner Bros
Batman Beyond (1990) The WB. 10, January
Scavengers Reign (2022) Season 1, Titmouse Inc & Green Street Pictures. Available at: Netflix (13/03/2026)
Sinners (2025) Directed by Coogler, R [Feature film]. Warner Bros. Pictures
Scream (1996) Directed by Craven, W [Feature film]. Dimension Films
Migration (2023) Directed by Renner, B [Feature film]. Universal Pictures
Mad God (2023) Directed by Tippettr, P [Feature film]. Shudder, IFC Midnight
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019) Tokyo MX. 6, April
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (2025) Directed by Sotozaki, H. [Feature film]. Aniplex & Toho
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train (2020) Directed by Sotozaki, H. [Feature film]. Aniplex & Toho
Ghost in the Shell (2020) Directed by Oshii, M. [Feature film]. Shochiku
Game of Thrones (2011) HBO. 17, April
Goat (2026) Directed by Dillihay, T. [Feature film]. Sony Pictures Releasing
Iron Lung (2026) Directed by Fischbach, M. [Feature film]. Markiplier Studios
Invincible (2021) Season 1, Skybound Entertainment, Wind Sun Sky Entertainment, Point Grey Pictures & Amazon MGM Studios. Available at: Amazon Prime Video (13/03/2026)
Love, Death & Robots (2019) Season 1, Blur Studio. Available at: Netflix (13/03/2026)
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969) CBS. 13, September
Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023) Directed by Tammi, E. [Feature film]. Universal Pictures
Metroplois (1927) Directed by Lang, F. [Feature film]. Parufamet
Pantheon (2022) Season 1, Sesfonstein Productions, Titmouse Inc & AMC Studios. Available at: Amazon Prime Video (13/03/2026)
Jujutsu Kaisen (2020) JNN. 3, October
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (2023) Nippon TV. 29, September
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (2021) Directed by Park, S. [Feature film]. Toho
One Piece Film: Red (2022) Directed by Taniguchi, G. [Feature film]. Toei
Suzume (2022) Directed by Shinkai, M. [Feature film]. Tohoi
Ne Zha 2 (2025) Directed by Yang, Y. [Feature film]. Beijing Enlight Pictures
Warner Bros. Entertainment (2020) The Fellowship of the Ring | The Lord of the Rings 4K Ultra HD | Warner Bros. Entertainment. 2, December. Available at: https://youtu.be/nZdmwHrcnw?si=Bdbs01NqpX7g6Bk (Accessed: 13/03/2025).
Warner Bros. Entertainment (2017) Blade Runner | The Final Cut Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment. 11, August. Available at: https://youtu.be/qoEyZoOTtss?si=tPN6v13IiJkmy9Sd (Accessed: 13/03/2025).
Got invited to a party and couldn’t go, tell me why girl texts me back and she’s moving the whole ass party so I can make it. New date??? Why is everyone I’m friends with soooo gas
“Siamo oltre 300 oggi su Stagioni di Carta! ✨ Grazie per aver scelto di esplorare la linfa della rinascita con la Redazione Prisma. Il Gran Recap è online: quale dei 4 atti vi ha ispirato di più? 📗💎”
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Let me start by saying that I went into this book with no expectations, but after hearing so much talk about how much fun I would have. However, I have to say the book disappointed me a lot. Like, where are the thrillers with revelations that will drop the jaw? Let’s start with the plot, which was so predictable that I found it engaging but annoying because the same thing kept repeating. Lucy keeps repeating the same thing, which I find boring.
The protagonist, Lucy, was like the side characters. She was just going with the flow to find the killer of Savvy. The only thing that was intriguing about her was the voice inside her, which I thought would play a huge role in the plot twist, but it was just a part of the play, I guess. She was not seeking the truth; she was just playing around, which I found lacking in the protagonist.
Now, the most annoying part is the romance of whatever one calls it. Like, hello, we are trying to solve a case, and suddenly, the readers are thrown into an attraction part, which didn’t sit well with me. I was hoping for a good plot twist, but OMG, it was so disappointing, and I felt that it was written very simply.
There were many annoying loopholes, as I didn’t feel any thriller vibe from the book.
I didn’t like the ending. The plot twist was so predictable, and I didn’t find the book engaging.
I don’t recommend the book.
Side Note: I just want to clarify that this is entirely my opinion; you are free to love this book, and I am free to give my opinion on this book. I would be very happy if you loved this book, but please do not take this review to heart; it is okay to have different tastes. Thank You.
Uni Blogpost #Practice 2: 6 - Significant works of interest 1 (09/03/2026)
Yo! As part of this course’s module, we have been asked to discuss some recent works of interest within or relating to our fields/projects/hopped future careers.
Given an ultimate dream of mine would be to run my own show, or direct my own movie (even if the dream is far away as of now), I thought it would be useful, at least as part of my research, to look at the semi-recent trend of documentaries focused around the creation of an animated project.
Of the more recent releases, I was able to find and watch 3 Disney documentaries, Not Just a Goof (Kimelton, E. Ninness, C. 2025), which explores the creation of A Goofy Movie (Lima, K. 1995), Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2020), exploring the creation of Frozen 2 (Lee, J. Buck, C. 2019), and Mickey: The Story of a Mouse (Malmberg, J. 2022), which discusses the general development of the Disney company and the character and brand of mickey mouse.
These movies have all come together to help offer some interesting insights into the process of both creating an animation project, and in managing and developing characters and brands, as well as further showing how animation, at least within the context of Not Just a Goof (Kimelton, E. Ninness, C. 2025), is able to be used within the context of documentary.
1: Mickey: The Story of a Mouse.
(Trailer for Mickey: The Story of a Mouse (Malmberg, J. 2022), taken from. Disney Plus. 2022)
Mickey: The Story of a Mouse (Malmberg, J. 2022) explores the development of mickey mouse, as both an image of the Disney brand and a more general, cultural icon, alongside the development of a new mickey animation, which sees various Mikey designs and movies from history all being put together into one short.
Through this documentary, we see the development of the Mickey character, starting out as a more mischievous cartoon, to a more dignified and magical character and protected figure, designed to be a role model for children, and then an all-purpose, pop-culture figure, representing America, media and the 20th century as a whole. As Mickey Mouse developed, as an icon, increasing restrictions were placed upon him, going from a more mischievous and expressive character, to a more one-note hero and good guy, with his more goofy and angry personality traits being pushed onto other characters, with both Goofy and Donald Duck being created and pushed to represent the less admirable traits of mickey, which he was no longer able to use.
While this development did allow Mickey Mouse to work better as an ambassador and icon of the Disney corporation, by making both him and them seem more admirable and friendly to children, this also made his character more boring and one-note, requiring a re-vitalization effort in recent years, seen in such works as Mickey Mouse (2013), which sought to push mickey into new situations and characterizations, to make him a more dynamic and interesting character.
(A Mickey Mouse (2013) short, taken from. Disney Kids (2019)
In terms of this documentary, the main thing I took away was the ways in which a character can develop over time, due to either corporate meddling, such as the Disney company changing Mickey’s character to be more appealing to the brand, or in how mickey was often used in merchandising and, as such, would often take on the styles and trends of the time, but also how audience reaction to characters can affect their understanding and personality, such as mickey becoming seen as a symbol of America, media and consumerism, due to his heavy commercialization, popularity and association with the us government and culture, sometimes leading to mickey being presented as a more sinister force when works wish to criticize Disney or the wider American culture.
What this shows is the importance of taking into account audience perception of a character, and that characters place in wider society, during the development and creation of a brand, and in the risks that come in turning creative works into media and product brands, as commercialization threatens to strip away interesting elements of a character to make them more presentable for marketing. It is important, when creating a media product, at least I believe, to not lose sight of the characters as characters, rather than icons, and to make sure said characters can be shared and used as part of the larger culture, rather than being rigidly controlled for the benefit of commercialization, and thus stripped of their personality and malleability within larger society.
This first documentary, then, didn’t offer too much insight into the greater creative process, outside of some reference to the significance of story within the creation process (such as how Walt Disney would often mythologizes the creation of Mickey Mouse as a more spur of the moment decision, rather than a longer creative development cycle), and discussion on the significance of detail within a long running franchise (such as how specific Disney are with the voices and designs for Mickey, Donald and Goofy, fearing even slight variations risk ruining the sense of magic, wonder and history embodied by the characters), though my other two, chosen documentaries offer far more insight into these processes.
2: Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2.
(Trailer for Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2020), taken from. Walt Disney Animation Studios. 2020)
Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2020), exploring the creation of Frozen 2 (Lee, J. Buck, C. 2019), focus primarily around its song numbers, most of all the titular song, into the unknown, using it as a focus into exploring the more general production process of Disney’s animated films.
Through the series, we see how the studio developed Frozen 2 (Lee, J. Buck, C. 2019), with the film being broken up into a larger number of shots and scenes which are then re-arranged, re-imagined, extended and cut out, through various run-throughs of the film with directors and other prominent fingers in Disney, to help polish these rough drafts into a more polished final piece.
The documentary shows us the process of how the film is developed, and what considerations are placed onto Disney’s animated works, with large amount of discussion and development processes built around making the film easily understood, ironing out the core theme, message and heart of the film, while also making it entertaining for children and visually interesting, with focus especially placed within making the work thematically understandable and clear.
We see how shots are taken from rough thumbnails to fully rendered sequences, and how Disney structures its production methods and designs its stories, with the films broken down into various scenes which are worked on, improved and cut as necessary, organized together as part of the larger story, and how Disney uses real world inspiration and research for its productions, not only for their visuals, but also the emotional core of their works (such as how, upon seeing the beauty of a huge glacier, a large focus on discussion was in how to turn the emotional response of seeing something so beautiful to match with the character of Elsa, and her search for what she’s missing in life.)
We also see some exploration into how the individual creators are able to put their own personalities into the work, through their emotional connections to the work and its characters, setting, music, and other elements.
Ultimately, this documentary series helped offer me insight into the production methods of Disney for their animated works, and how they look at their projects, not only as fully connected films, but also individual scenes and shots, which come together to create a greater whole. It also showed me how meticulous the development process for a full, animation production is, with both the great story and each song and plot beat being designed to develop the story and add something unique to the work, while also making sure everything flows together well and that the plot, characters and ultimate ‘heart’ of the film is clear.
It’s shown me the extent to which I’ll need to prepare, in the future, to work in a far more structured and details oriented environment, wherein it’s common for work to be changed and thrown out, and that, for my own projects, it’s important to nail down the core theme and heart of the film early on, as that is where the main focus on development seems to occur, and having a less clear focus could risk bringing down the whole project.
3: Not Just a Goof.
(Trailer for Not Just a Goof (Kimelton, E. Ninness, C. 2025), taken from Disney Plus. 2025)
Finally, Not Just a Goof (Kimelton, E. Ninness, C. 2025) explores the creation of A Goofy Movie (Lima, K. 1995), and how, though originally seen as a more throw-away film, has developed into a rather culturally significant film over time, due to it both being seen as a time capsule and nostalgic vessel for the 90’s, and how it allowed Disney to expand the character of goofy from a one-note jokester, to a more fully developed personality.
The documentary discusses the difficulties suffered within the creation process of A Goofy Movie (Lima, K. 1995), such as the studio’s lack of budget, as the movie was seen as secondary to Disney’s larger films of the time, such as The Lion King (Allers, R. Minkoff, R. 1994), to the executive interference, which threatened to drastically change the films tone and trajectory (such as replacing Goofy’s iconic voice, done by bill farmer, with Steve Martin), and in how these issues both threatened to kill the film, and in how they lead to a forced compromise that went on to help improve the film, such as how the voice changing idea was later dropped, yet still lead the voice direction for goofy to be more casual and less exaggerated, offering greater range in the performance which better matched the more emotional scenes of the film, or how a push towards a father-son road trip film helped give a sense of focus and emotionality to the film, inspired by a similar road trip planned by studio head, Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Not only does this film again offer insight into the production methods of Disney, this time during the 90’s, and shine a spotlight in how studio interference can both help and hinder a film’s production, but it also, uniquely, incorporates animated segments throughout the work, serving to dramatize past events in place of more traditional reenactments. This style helps give the documentary a unique sense of identity, while tying it back to its subject matter, the development of an animated film, by using the art style of the film, in a very loose and sketch way which mimics the roughs/sketches for a finished animation. This further helps serve to give the documentary a more bright and triumphant, and yet casual tone, by bringing a sense of animated wonder to otherwise more mundane situations, which may otherwise risk making the documentary feel too serious or dull, which would contrast with the focus on a more goofy, cartoon production.
(Trailer for A Goofy Movie (Lima, K. 1995), taken from. Disney. 2025)
The documentary also touches on how A Goofy Movie (Lima, K. 1995), originally understood as a modest hit, has become a significant piece of Disney animation, seen as both a time capsule to the 90’s, and as an important piece of black/African American media within Disney’s catalogue, due to featuring several characters voiced by black actors and inspired by black celebrities of the time (such as powerline, voiced by Tevin Campbell), and in how many black people were able to see themselves and their lives within the films story, especially in relation to how many remembered their lives in the 90’s.
From this documentary, I again recognized the ways in which a character is able develop, both from audience response and corporate direction, and see some of the ways in which Disney develops its films (again, focusing heavily on detail and the core ‘heart’ of the film, though in the case of A Goofy Movie (Lima, K. 1995), development decisions were more singularly given to Jeffrey Katzenberg, rather than Disney’s now larger pool of creatives. This film also, uniquely, offered insight into how animation can be incorporated, as part of a documentary, to give said documentary a unique style, voice and tone, through the style of animation used, with Not Just a Goof (Kimelton, E. Ninness, C. 2025) having a more triumphant and personal feel due to its more cartoony style.
As such, this documentary has again offered me some insight into the creative process, with a more specific message of the importance of both standing up for your creative vision when studio interference risks ruining the film as a whole, such as the case with changing goofy’s voice, and also in the value of compromising to meet a better conclusion, such as how, within the final film, goofy’s voice was made more subdue, to better reflect the emotions of certain scenes and the film as a whole. In production, it’s important to both compromise and stand your ground, depending on context, something that’ll be important for me to learn for the industry.
4: Conclusion
The use of documentary to explore the development of a media project, such as an animation, is a useful tool for helping to better engage audiences with the production process and, hopefully, ignite some passion and interest in audiences which should blossom into future creators. I personally found these documentaries useful for insight into the challenges and processes which arise and are used within the development and creation of animated projects and characters, which I can then use as guidelines for what to do and avoid when I join industry.
Going forward, I’ll try to take these ideas to heart, making sure to stand up for what I think is right for a project, while compromising when necessary, and work as part of a larger collective to produce a better work of art.
5: References.
Not Just a Goof (2025) Directed by Kimelton, E. Ninness, C. Available at: Disney+ (Accessed: 7/03/2026).
Mickey: The Story of a Mouse (2022) Malmberg, J. Available at: Disney+ (Accessed: 7/03/2026).
Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 (2020) Series 1. The Walt Disney Company. Available at: Disney+ (Accessed: 8/03/2026).
Frozen 2 (2019) Directed by Lee, J. Buck, C. [Feature film]. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
A Goofy Movie (1995) Directed by Lima, K. [Feature film]. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
The Lion King (1994) Directed by Allers, R. Minkoff, R. [Feature film]. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Walt Disney Animation Studios (2020) Into the Unknown: Making Frozen 2 | Official Trailer | Disney+. 22nd of June. Available at: https://youtu.be/2vQPPEka0ls?si=JxlBLuDTpZH_G2os (Accessed: 10/03/2026).
Later this year I intend to start dating again, but the concept is also so terrifying for so many reasons that I could easily write a 5,000 word essay on it
Do you ever get the feeling your life is stuck on repeat? Like every day is the exact same scene playing over and over again, just with slightly different outfits and slightly worse decisions?
Because lately, that’s exactly how life has been feeling.
Take Friday night, for example — prom. The so-called social event of the season. The night where scandals are supposed to unfold, secrets slip out between slow dances, and someone inevitably cries in the bathroom.
Except… none of that happened.
Instead, we got terrible music, alcohol that apparently forgot how to do its job, and outfits that left me questioning several people’s judgment. And no, I will not be naming names — but let’s just say wearing jeans to prom is a choice. A very unfortunate one.
Honestly, the entire evening was painfully uneventful. No drama, no chaos, no headline-worthy moments. Just a room full of people pretending they were having the time of their lives.
And while everyone else seemed satisfied with mediocre memories and blurry photos, I couldn’t help but think:
There has to be something more exciting coming.
Because if this is the highlight of the season, then we’re all in serious trouble.
Gods and Monsters (to be finished) Lex Luthor creates a powerful weapon named Ultraman and provides him with two objectives: destroy Superman and protect Lex. Meanwhile, Ultraman secretly sets his own objective: to prove himself worthy of Lex’s love. During the course of Ultraman’s early life, they form an unexpected bond that causes Lex to question what Ultraman truly means to him.
Untitled (to be written) Ultraman crash-lands into Frankenstein’s universe. The creature finds the clone in a shell-shocked state and decides to abandon his mission to kill himself, nurtures Ultraman back to health, and forms a brotherly bond with him over their eerily similar pasts.
Untitled - (to be written) Lex Luthor creates a clone of himself to act as a decoy and alibi. The clone is subjected to an electroshock procedure to destroy his mind, leaving him only with the ability to follow very simple directions. Unbeknownst to Lex, the clone - who dubs himself Alex - loses only his episodic memories, while his fierce intellect remains intact. Alex is horrified to learn about the evil activities going on at Luthorcorp, and vows to take Lex down, enlisting the help of two members of that same alien race that Lex despises.
If any of these stories interest you, please do check out my AO3 profile
Alright I finished reading American Psycho and here’s what I’ve got. Fuck Brett Easton Ellis, Jeffrey Eugenides and any other male author who has written so called ‘satire’ of men/patriarchy/the male gaze but that satire is really a thin veil for them to be able to blamelessly revel in objectifying and mutilating women for it’s 'literary value’. It has more in common with Marquis De Sade than Crime and Punishment and if I EVER get stuck in a conversation again with someone trying to talk about the cultural value of work like this while completely ignoring the way men create meaning and narrative out of the abuse of women in order to communicate their own dysfunction in the world I’ll scream. Especially when demonstrably not one of them has ever caused the issues to be genuinely reflected on or improved. If it motivates no change is it actually effective satire or is it just being the very thing it purports to hate. Fuck The Virgin Suicides, Fuck American Psycho, Fuck literally any single one of these male power fantasies masquerading as social critique. Wouldn’t have finished it frankly, if I wasn’t required to for uni.
Let me start by saying I was very much interested in this book because of its mystery vibes, and was really excited to read it. Let me start with the plot; it was just the same thing happening again and again. There was no revelation, like literally nothing, and I was literally bored as nothing was happening. The story just revolves around where it all started, but I found nothing interesting in the book. The plot felt flat for me.
The main protagonist, Nic, I don’t think she was really the main protagonist because the other sister was the main one. I felt that the author sidelined her in her own point of view. There is literally no revelation she makes; instead, what she saw is what we saw.
The ending was one of the most outrageous endings for a thriller to have. Like, I was so dumbfounded, like what was even that? It really made no sense to have that kind of an ending. It went from storytelling to sisterly love, which I cannot digest ever.
Maybe I was expecting too much; however, I don’t think so. Any thriller deserves this kind of ending. The vibe of the book was also okay, as in I was not super interested, and felt that the pace was slow. Also, the book has good potential, but I guess the author wanted to give the readers a very unexpected ending/plot twist. However, I felt that it didn’t go well with this book.
It did not drop my jaw, so I don’t recommend this book.
Side Note: I just want to clarify that this is entirely my opinion; you are free to love this book, and I am free to give my opinion on this book. I would be very happy if you loved this book, but please do not take this review to heart; it is okay to have different tastes. Thank You.
I have accepted that for some reason, I can’t really do sketches digitally. I keep attempting to finish it fully. Is it a bad thing? Well, no. It’s just annoying. I can do sketches in my notebook! I think…
Anyways, I set up a challenge for myself. It’s mainly so I don’t get worried trying to figure out what I want to post here. That and since I might have to draw them anyways, might as well get some practice.
