Taiwan Today

Considering that close to 100 per­cent of the cartoons shown on TV are imports, it would seem highly likely that Taiwan is not a major source of cartoon production. Wrong. In fact, Mickey Mouse is made in Taiwan. And so is Garfield. At Cuckoo's Nest, a staff of 800 workers brings these characters to life. Located in the Taipei suburb of Hsintien, Cuckoo's Nest gets its bread and butter by animating for Walt Disney, Hanna Barbera, International Animation (France), and other major cartoon producers. "They're the biggest and the best in the world," says a Warner Brothers representative from Canada who was recently at the studio overseeing the animation of the new series, "Cartoon All­ Stars to the Rescue." Animation is done on an OEM (original equipment manufacturing) basis. The Taiwan side furnishes the labor on the visual portion—including the drawing, coloring, and photography—while the foreign producer provides the concept, story, and soundtrack. According to Jack Chia, public relations manager at Cuckoo's Nest, "Taiwan's artistic and technical abilities rank high on a world scale." Why then does Taiwan not make its own cartoons? Cartoons are a labor-intensive and capital-intensive undertaking, typically costing about three times more than a movie. With 24 frames of drawings required per second, the production cost for a 25-minute cartoon runs to about US$56,000. Local advertising revenues would not be enough to cover the cost, let alone assure a profit. Only if it sells in a world market will a cartoon make money. Nevertheless, buoyed by the enthusiastic praise for its work and the vision of international success, Cuckoo's Nest attempted to enter the world market­ and failed miserably. The company had heavily invested in the production of a cartoon series based on traditional Chinese stories, which they had hoped would sell in Southeast Asia. It did not. What went wrong? Chia says that although Cuckoo's Nest was long on talent, it fell short in overall conceptualization and feel for international market trends. Cartoons cast against a background of Chinese culture are not easily understood or appreciated in most other countries. And there is an additional problem when selling to Southeast Asia: Indonesia, for example, casts a wary eye at any Chinese cultural influences. But Cuckoo's Nest has not given up yet. The studio continues to work on producing truly Chinese cartoons. And there is also some national pride involved in the studio's marketing efforts. Cuckoo's Nest is not just selling cartoons, it also wants to promote Taiwan and heighten international awareness of Taiwan. One such effort is an animated dramatization of the story of a pair of Laurel-and-Hardy-type bosom buddies, "Chi-yeh Pa-yeh, two legen­dary Chinese generals. So far, most such projects have not advanced beyond the drawing board. There are also other companies that are undaunted by the formidable production costs and continue to do original animation. Huang Mu-tsun's studio, the award-winning China Youth Animation Company, is a leader in educational and public service animation. The studio has made a number of shorts based on Chinese proverbs popular with children, and recently completed a one-hour cartoon special on environmental protection. Commissioned by the Environmental Protection Administration, the program, "Little Heroes of Environmental Protection," was shown simultaneously on all three stations in June this year. Huang reveals that about 95 percent of the jobs his studio accepts are for government agencies. Though he says he could make more money from private companies, he rarely accepts such assignments. "If I were out just to make money, I'd be a multimillionaire by now. Making a contribution to education is much more important," Huang says. "To really make things better, you have to reach kids and teach them the right way." Though the studio's cartoons have a local setting, Huang believes they have universal appeal. He is now working on promoting his environmental protection special in Southeast Asia, the United States, and France. "Everyone's interested in environmental protection," he says. Although mainland China is a possible eventual market, Huang's strategy is to succeed first in the mainstream international market. "People on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits are still separated by a lot of different ideas about the world," he says. Huang stresses the importance of choosing topics of current interest and with universal appeal when aiming for the world market. And for studios like Cuckoo's Nest that want to retain a distinctively Chinese character in their international cartoons, Huang suggests: "You can sneak Chinese culture in through a popular and well-presented topic."