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🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the rise of automated, AI-generated "junk" content and its impact on human artistry, particularly in the animation industry. It explores the tension between technological advancements and the preservation of human creativity and perspective.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Human Artistry vs. the Machines

1. What is the key issue discussed in this section?

• The article explores the trend of automated, low-quality "junk" content replacing human-created art and animation, driven by factors like speed, cost, and the incentives of the current system.
• It highlights the story of game developers Ziba Scott and Alex Schwartz, who in the 2010s created an automated system to flood the mobile game market with low-quality, but profitable, slot machine games.
• The article argues that this trend of automated junk is now seeping into various industries, including animation, and threatens to bury and replace human artistry.

2. What are the key viewpoints and insights presented in this section?

• Animator Jonni Peppers argues that human art and the artist's perspective and emotions can never be fully replaced by machines, even as automation threatens artists' job security.
• Peppers suggests that the best response is to create "weirder, messier, human-ier work that is un-imitatable and strange in a way only a human can do."
• Director Guillermo del Toro emphasizes the importance of preserving things "made by humans to recover the human spirit," criticizing the language of "content" and "pipeline" that dehumanizes art.
• The article suggests that the solution may lie in building a "counterculture" of human art, with curated spaces and avenues for this work to be seen, as the current system favors automated junk.

[02] Animation News

1. What are the key news items covered in this section?

• The Chinese film "The Boy and the Heron" is breaking records, becoming Hayao Miyazaki's biggest film in China.
• The American indie animation film "Mmanwu" met its Kickstarter funding goal.
• Animator Ellis Kayin Chan shared the trailer for his personal film "Bluebird in the Wind," made in honor of his sister's passing.
• The long-awaited Pakistani film "Glassworker," inspired by Studio Ghibli, is set to release this summer.
• Animator Shiyoon Kim has started a newsletter sharing insights about art and process.
• Newly emerged materials from the Warner Bros. "Warner Club News" provide a glimpse into the mid-century Looney Tunes era.
• The daughters of late Japanese animator Manabu Ohashi are publishing his art from the archives on Twitter.
• South African studio Triggerfish released a behind-the-scenes video for their Annie Award-winning film "Enkai."
• Italian animator Giulia Martinelli interviewed Nikita Diakur about his surreal film "Backflip."
• A Chilean series "Wow Lisa" has been selected for competition at Annecy 2024.
• The article also discusses the contentious period when Disney hired an avant-garde animator to work on "Fantasia."