Animation or Media

series) there are a number of ways producers can capitalise on the launch and success of a series. The producers see many ways of making more money from a successful cartoon because they know that children will do anything to get their hands on elements of merchandise, for example the 'Pokemon' battle cards. Merchandise does not just stop at playing cards though; there is stationary, cutlery, bags, toys, clothing, books, posters and video games. It is this side of animation that results in adults distancing themselves from the genre because of the fact that the cartoon series is blatantly aimed at children and so this is enough to put them off watching.

Formerly the animation format adopted a biased approach aimed solely at a younger audience. In the early days animation it was fascinating concept, a drawing that was moving. Since it was a new concept people of all ages took an interest.

Now the omnipresence of the format through the years that people find it entertaining up to a point in their lives then just stop watching animation as they get older, then when they have kids of their own the viewing process starts again. It is because of this misconception of the format and its association with youngsters that successful attempts have been made to break this mould. Since some adults have an interest in animation specific titles and series' have been aimed at an adult specific audience, these include the '2DTV' series, some 'Manga' titles, Comedy Central's 'South Park', 'The Simpsons', 'Futurama' and the Japanese 'Hen-Tai'. To conclude this point, John Serpentelli writes in an article, that "The connection between children and animation seems simple enough. To a child, anything is possible and the same is true for animation." The animation format is also able to inadvertently teach children about the artistic side of animation, as John Serpentelli says, "Since animation is an art form that can involve almost all other art forms and children can directly encounter the art world in an unfiltered manner."

A recent comeback of 80's animation has shown resurgence in popularity of classics such as 'The Clangers', 'Bagpuss' and 'The Magic Roundabout'. Adults who viewed these animations when they were younger tune in to see these classics of their day, and their children join in. Some adults are required to watch animated videos in the workplace, on issues of safety. Having to watch, follow and understand irritatingly obvious and drab pieces of animation could be enough to put some adults off the format, believing the genre is as bad as the video they had to view. This also shows that animation can be as realistic and informative as live action, but simpler to understand, where as on the other hand cartoons aimed at children, however unrealistic, sometimes incorporate a moral or advice at the end of the episode, in an effort to teach the youngsters watching what is right and what is wrong. The reason being for this is that if children see their favourite cartoon character doing something or telling them to do something then they might be encouraged to do as they say. This just shows that if done correctly animations can be as entertaining as they are informative or educational for a range of audiences.

Within video games the games character which the player controls is brought to life by using animation. The character would be lifeless if it was not animated and so the use of animation is crucial. The incorporation of animation does not stop there as FMV's (Full Motion Videos) are also used to tell a story within a video game. This is a good example of how animation can make the impossible possible; by giving inanimate objects and characters life.

Animation is a priceless tool for all types of media when the impossible is required to become possible. For example, there are no limits to action or comedy in an animated feature, and animation provides these additional effects in a live action feature, effects that would not be possible to recreate safely or due to the limitations of a human actor. An example of such effects