On the evening of the 22nd July the Seoul Business Agency (SBA) hosted a showing of three forthcoming animation titles.
The event was held in conjunction with the business matching event that has been held simultaneously for SPP (Seoul Promotion Plan) 2010. Also at the Coex was the 14th Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival and the 2010 Seoul Character and Licensing Fair. The debut of the animations bought together buyers and animators from all over the world, including France, Brazil, Russia and Italy. The SBA runs the event as one of the programs for the Seoul Promotion Plan.
The forthcoming animations are all for children. The first animation presented to the international attendees was Kambu a 52 X 4 minute series which is an animation about a dog in some unusual villages. All of the animations presented were done so in conjunction with their business models. The business model of Kambu, due for a Korea wide December 2010 launch, includes some licensing products.
In March 2011 EBS will debut Robocar Poli. The 52 X 11 minute series about a robotic police car and his friends is grounded in safety tip learning objectives and is true edutanment. The series is intended as bridge content between infant programs and older and more violent programs for 3-5 year old boys.
Covering up to Tweens, the SBA next presented Ti Ti Pang Pang a series about characters who solve problems. The 52 X 11 minute series is for 5-8 year olds and will be released by KBS in October. The series is extremely well supported in terms of merchandise and includes online components.
Animation is IT these days. The business models of the animations presented represent the complexity of selling animation, a field vastly becoming more programming than art work, to an audience in Korea and overseas and it was said that at a certain age watchers almost demand online supporting content. Ti Ti Pang Pang is an art heavy animation that wears that badge well but Korean industry attendants at the event said that this is changing as the ways to construct the art have changed. This is the trend and it isn't entirely untrue for other industries on the fringe of hardcore IT.
