I have a question that needs an answer, so I decided to bring it up here. Anyways, I'm currently trying to work things out for an animated film. I dont want to get into details of the film however but all I can say about it is that its an R rated project, and it will be animated with toon boom studio once I get the hang of it. Anyways I want to know the price/budget for an animated film. So how much does it cost to make an animated film anyways?
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How much does it cost to make an animated film?
- Thread starter Eddo
- Start date
kirbyforlife69
New member
It all depends on the style of animation you choose to do, how many people/staff you have working on it, the cost of supplies and film as well as other such variables, in other words it can get quite expensive and usually people who do this kind of thing have a financial backer.
plecostomusmodel
New member
Could you perhaps give an example of an animation style you are looking to replicate?
Like Manga4life suggested, the budget could easily be all over the place, but there are also some very, very, very cheap animation styles.
For instance:
If you are shooting for flash animation (something like South Park) you could potentially do it yourself for next to nothing (could be great for a demo wheel).
If you are shooting for something in the ball park of a DC Movie, the the budget can get pretty heavy pretty fast. Doing some quick VERY CONSERVATIVE number crunching for Green Lantern: First Flight, for staffing costs alone you could be looking at $102,4000 (heavily conservative) and thats assuming you keep a very tight 6 month budget.
Do keep in mind that animed movies tend to shoot for higher quality then episodic versions, so an area you can shoot to mitigate your costs is the quality of the animation.
At the end of all this, it would be helpful if we got more of an idea of what you are doing? Is this just research for curiosity sake? Do you have something in mind you are pitching? Do you have something in mind you want to animate for some sort of portfolio?
Like Manga4life suggested, the budget could easily be all over the place, but there are also some very, very, very cheap animation styles.
For instance:
If you are shooting for flash animation (something like South Park) you could potentially do it yourself for next to nothing (could be great for a demo wheel).
If you are shooting for something in the ball park of a DC Movie, the the budget can get pretty heavy pretty fast. Doing some quick VERY CONSERVATIVE number crunching for Green Lantern: First Flight, for staffing costs alone you could be looking at $102,4000 (heavily conservative) and thats assuming you keep a very tight 6 month budget.
Do keep in mind that animed movies tend to shoot for higher quality then episodic versions, so an area you can shoot to mitigate your costs is the quality of the animation.
At the end of all this, it would be helpful if we got more of an idea of what you are doing? Is this just research for curiosity sake? Do you have something in mind you are pitching? Do you have something in mind you want to animate for some sort of portfolio?
Peorsonally, I'm doing it for nothing (I have free programs like Blender, GIMP, Paint and Monkeyjam to help me out) and it's a full length movie too. It's called Attack of Dr. Madness and it's for another site. But I'm getting some progress done (Script, CG modeling, scripting, voice casting, that sort of thing).
But I too am curious with Knighthammer.
But I too am curious with Knighthammer.
Depends on how long it is, how many people are involve, the technique used to produce it, done in-house or outsourced, among other things.
I just noticed you did not specifically say it it was a short film or feature film, so if it's the former and you're doing this by yourself, I'd say it could be done under $1,000.
I just noticed you did not specifically say it it was a short film or feature film, so if it's the former and you're doing this by yourself, I'd say it could be done under $1,000.
mastiffsrule1
New member
Staff and of course deadline (how soon you plan to release), and style (anime style or something realistic like Heavy metal will take time and attention to detail). Good luck to you.
Expect 50k or more if you plan on anything longer than 30 mins.
Expect 50k or more if you plan on anything longer than 30 mins.
I'm trying to aim for an edgy style, basically 2D(digitally or hand-drawn} animation. I'm trying to shoot for an indie feature length film or either a theatrical release or just a straight to DVD feature(Kinda like the DC superhero stuff). Just so I can push limits and try to bring back some proper adult animation here.
Yes it is. I'm trying to know the basics and everything so It can be easier to plan things out.
Yes it is. I'm trying to know the basics and everything so It can be easier to plan things out.
Before I get into this, its fair to say I come from the gaming industry and as such, I can give you some good estimates on the basic process but there might be those around who have a better idea specifically on the animation industry.
There's really four ways you can go about this:
#1.) Pitch your product to a studio and let them handle the budging if they accept your project.
#2.) Pitch your idea to an independent studio and have them give you a estimate on your project based on your details.
#3.) Form your own studio and work out income for the duration of the project.
#4.) Start a gruella campaign and get people together to work on the project who have the interest on doing it with the intent to be paid after the project is complete and shipped. They would be working for residual income.
Breaking down the values of each:
#1.) For a studio to take on your project, they have to be interested enough in it. Unless you're already a very renowned story teller and you're not cluing us in, you're going to have to bank on having to give up the complete and total rights to your project and submitting yourself to being the lead of the creative staff.This means at any given time, a company executive for the studio can waltz in and say "I don't like this, change it or you're cut". I've had a friend whos actually been in that situation where his vision of his product didn't pan out with an executive and he ended up getting fired but the company still used his name on the end product >.>
#2.) I'm not entirely too familiar too much how this process works but by and large, Anime is generally a good example of this. You're essentially paying the studio to create your product and although you have oversight on whats going on, they almost completely control the direction. That means before you take your story to such a studio, you need to make sure your product is ever so fleshed out in a story bible that the developers there are going to understand as much about the product as possible.
#3.) Its not too uncommon for studios to startup just for a project. Theres any number of good examples. Pulling from the Gaming Industry, an easy example is Smash Brothers Melee. The biggest problem here is if you're just establishing yourself, you're going to need to provide the equipment, software and funds to do the project. Moreover, you're going to need to establish channels to market your product as well. There are PLENTY of ways to build funds for these products but you also have to keep any persons offering funds to you happy with your progress or you risk them pulling your funds. Overall, you get a lot of control over your project.
#4.) This is potentially the best and worst scenario and I can tell you this one straight up from experience. I went this route 2 times before being a corporate cog. The idea, like I said, is to get a bunch of interested parties together to make a great product and make a ton of money AFTER the product is released. The problem is your pool of talent is much smaller because most people can't afford to work for 3-18 months for free while gambling on the outcome. Moreover, you always run the risk of someone pulling a "I'm not being paid for this and since you guys don't value my opinion enough, I'm gone!" type scenerio which often times ends up being very irrational >.> The biggest advantage is you get the most control over your product, but on the same token, its always a struggle keeping everyone else focused and mitigating shinny penny mentalities.
So lets go down the general costs you're looking at here:
Studio Rent: $2000 - $4000 / month
You're going to want to pick a base of operations close to media sources and production companies that can get your product moving. That means places like Los Angeles, New York or Vancouver are some of the primary places to be in the Western Hemisphere. Seattle, Portland and Denver are also strong areas to be in.
Story Team:
Producer: $48 - $64k/year
Writers: $64k -$72k /year (You'll need 2 - 3)
Art Team:
Producer: $48 - $64k/year
Artists: $64k -$72k /year (You'll need 2 - 3)
Animators: $64k -$72k /year (You'll need 2 - 3)
Voice Talent:
Voice Actors: $24k - $32k (Sadly they don't make much in this country =( -- You'll need about 4-5)
Equipment:
"Officer Level Computers": $1k (You'll need 5 - 7)
"Animation Level Computers": $4k (You'll need 4 - 6)
Office Software $0 - $400 (You'll need 9 - 13)
Drawling Software Suites $800 - $1600 (You'll need 2 - 6)
Animation Software Suites $1600 - $2400 (You'll need 2 - 6)
Voice Recording Hardware / Software $2k (You'll need 1 - 2 and in this case I am shooting for how DC does their voice acting)
So lets base this on a 6 month project being very conservative (as you would want to be with a startup studio).
Studio Costs: $12k
Staffing Costs: $302k
Hardware Costs: $17k
Software Costs: $6.6k
------------------------------
Total: $337.6k
Now this is before we talk about marketing costs, production costs (making and distributing your product) as well as buying and selling rights to the product.
Just to put it out there, depending how marketable your product is, its not out of the question to use some sort of gruellia campaign like Torchlight did and distribute digital copies only or stream it from your site. You'll still likely have to worry about marketing on some level especially since your name isn't known yet. Social networks are a great way to get the word out at no cost provided you can consistently produce things that will keep people's interest.
To give you an idea how much you can make from this, Batman / Superman Public Enemies made enough the first WEEK to cover the production costs talked about in this post. Now do keep in mind, we're being EXTREMELY conservative on how much we are paying everyone here, the staffing is minimal, we're assuming you and your staff are no name noobies to the industry (with maybe some work under your belt but not enough to be recognized yet) and you're going to struggle a bit getting your product to be recognized. So DC obviously put more money out (even taking into account their software, hardware and maybe even studio is long since paid for) but they most certainly earned a substantial return for their effort. That being said, as of last report (March), Public Enemies earned $7,059,399. Doing a quick run down of what I believe they paid for production costs, they easily made bank on this product.
I hope that gives you a broader perspective on things to consider in all of this.
There's really four ways you can go about this:
#1.) Pitch your product to a studio and let them handle the budging if they accept your project.
#2.) Pitch your idea to an independent studio and have them give you a estimate on your project based on your details.
#3.) Form your own studio and work out income for the duration of the project.
#4.) Start a gruella campaign and get people together to work on the project who have the interest on doing it with the intent to be paid after the project is complete and shipped. They would be working for residual income.
Breaking down the values of each:
#1.) For a studio to take on your project, they have to be interested enough in it. Unless you're already a very renowned story teller and you're not cluing us in, you're going to have to bank on having to give up the complete and total rights to your project and submitting yourself to being the lead of the creative staff.This means at any given time, a company executive for the studio can waltz in and say "I don't like this, change it or you're cut". I've had a friend whos actually been in that situation where his vision of his product didn't pan out with an executive and he ended up getting fired but the company still used his name on the end product >.>
#2.) I'm not entirely too familiar too much how this process works but by and large, Anime is generally a good example of this. You're essentially paying the studio to create your product and although you have oversight on whats going on, they almost completely control the direction. That means before you take your story to such a studio, you need to make sure your product is ever so fleshed out in a story bible that the developers there are going to understand as much about the product as possible.
#3.) Its not too uncommon for studios to startup just for a project. Theres any number of good examples. Pulling from the Gaming Industry, an easy example is Smash Brothers Melee. The biggest problem here is if you're just establishing yourself, you're going to need to provide the equipment, software and funds to do the project. Moreover, you're going to need to establish channels to market your product as well. There are PLENTY of ways to build funds for these products but you also have to keep any persons offering funds to you happy with your progress or you risk them pulling your funds. Overall, you get a lot of control over your project.
#4.) This is potentially the best and worst scenario and I can tell you this one straight up from experience. I went this route 2 times before being a corporate cog. The idea, like I said, is to get a bunch of interested parties together to make a great product and make a ton of money AFTER the product is released. The problem is your pool of talent is much smaller because most people can't afford to work for 3-18 months for free while gambling on the outcome. Moreover, you always run the risk of someone pulling a "I'm not being paid for this and since you guys don't value my opinion enough, I'm gone!" type scenerio which often times ends up being very irrational >.> The biggest advantage is you get the most control over your product, but on the same token, its always a struggle keeping everyone else focused and mitigating shinny penny mentalities.
So lets go down the general costs you're looking at here:
Studio Rent: $2000 - $4000 / month
You're going to want to pick a base of operations close to media sources and production companies that can get your product moving. That means places like Los Angeles, New York or Vancouver are some of the primary places to be in the Western Hemisphere. Seattle, Portland and Denver are also strong areas to be in.
Story Team:
Producer: $48 - $64k/year
Writers: $64k -$72k /year (You'll need 2 - 3)
Art Team:
Producer: $48 - $64k/year
Artists: $64k -$72k /year (You'll need 2 - 3)
Animators: $64k -$72k /year (You'll need 2 - 3)
Voice Talent:
Voice Actors: $24k - $32k (Sadly they don't make much in this country =( -- You'll need about 4-5)
Equipment:
"Officer Level Computers": $1k (You'll need 5 - 7)
"Animation Level Computers": $4k (You'll need 4 - 6)
Office Software $0 - $400 (You'll need 9 - 13)
Drawling Software Suites $800 - $1600 (You'll need 2 - 6)
Animation Software Suites $1600 - $2400 (You'll need 2 - 6)
Voice Recording Hardware / Software $2k (You'll need 1 - 2 and in this case I am shooting for how DC does their voice acting)
So lets base this on a 6 month project being very conservative (as you would want to be with a startup studio).
Studio Costs: $12k
Staffing Costs: $302k
Hardware Costs: $17k
Software Costs: $6.6k
------------------------------
Total: $337.6k
Now this is before we talk about marketing costs, production costs (making and distributing your product) as well as buying and selling rights to the product.
Just to put it out there, depending how marketable your product is, its not out of the question to use some sort of gruellia campaign like Torchlight did and distribute digital copies only or stream it from your site. You'll still likely have to worry about marketing on some level especially since your name isn't known yet. Social networks are a great way to get the word out at no cost provided you can consistently produce things that will keep people's interest.
To give you an idea how much you can make from this, Batman / Superman Public Enemies made enough the first WEEK to cover the production costs talked about in this post. Now do keep in mind, we're being EXTREMELY conservative on how much we are paying everyone here, the staffing is minimal, we're assuming you and your staff are no name noobies to the industry (with maybe some work under your belt but not enough to be recognized yet) and you're going to struggle a bit getting your product to be recognized. So DC obviously put more money out (even taking into account their software, hardware and maybe even studio is long since paid for) but they most certainly earned a substantial return for their effort. That being said, as of last report (March), Public Enemies earned $7,059,399. Doing a quick run down of what I believe they paid for production costs, they easily made bank on this product.
I hope that gives you a broader perspective on things to consider in all of this.