Animation : What’s one animated project that completely changed how you think about storytelling? by Ashley Renée Smith

1000% for me it's Revolutionary Girl Utena. I know I'll never be half as good as Kunihiko Ikuhara but goddammit I'll definitely try to at least shadow him xD it made me see the merits of a work so rich with meaning and symbolism, so confident that even the colours and lines and errant sounds mean something, that perhaps most importantly, every interpretation is considered true... I can only hope I'll ever be that good. But for now I like that it kinda gave me permission to be as surreal as I like, since most of the film and TV available to me locally never seemed to encourage that.

Ashley Renée Smith I’d say Gantz:O and Love, Death & Robots really shifted things for me. Gantz:O was the first time I saw an animated film feel fully like a game while still being a complete, entertaining movie. The photoreal rendering and the way the action was staged opened my eyes to a whole new lane of what animation could look like.

And Love, Death & Robots pushed it even further; every short felt cinematic and experimental. It showed me that animation could reinvent itself from story to story, and that there’s no single “right” way for it to look or feel.

Ashley Renee Smith. I believe that would be Kiff. Kiff is an optimistic squirrel who buddies with Barry the rabbit and they would explore through world-settings of bipedal animals and magical creatures. It is such a brilliant premise and I admire shows about bipedal animals. It absolutely want to write animations about bipedal animals that bad and didn't matter which body shape should be or facial structure should be. The Shaw always makes me laugh and it also brings out heart after they learn their lessons about their friendship, crazy adventures, and even when obstacles slow them down. I admire it so, so much.

Wall-E and Persepolis! Wall-E to remind me you don't always need dialogue and Persepolis to remind me even dark and hard subjects can be animated.

Princess Mononoke was one of those films that tied fantasy and conservation together in a way that was contemporary and exquisite. It was my first taste of Miyazaki growing up and it sent me down the otaku rabbit hole!

This is a great question and I feel like I could have SO many answers because I LOVE animation. But for now, I think I'll go with "Spirited Away" because it was just so different than any animated film I'd seen up to that point. Sheer, unleashed creativity and a perfect blend of storytelling and culture.

The first animation that made me change perspective from the Bugs Bunny expectation was the 1978 release of Watership Down. The, then, photorealism and emotional resonance it created, I was already a huge fan of the Richard Adams novel, really led me to where I am now and how I see the stories I am working on.

The opening montage of UP. Makes me sob every time. Animation has huge power to provoke emotions and I think that's a great example.

Great question Ashley Renée Smith and one that I have never really sat and thought about. I'm not too sure for me, if there was an animation that truly changed how I viewed the industry and what is able to be done through the medium. I feel like for myself it has been a collection of "ah-ha" moments and seeing how the fans react to different series including my close friends. Growing up being into animation was a social death wish but see how the younger generation has embraced it and how I tend to be the "odd ball" out with not being a massive fan has been interesting to witness.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh, I love this, and I’m going to be honest… I haven’t seen Revolutionary Girl Utena yet, but the way you’re describing it just moved it way up my list. I know that I need to expand my anime watchlist. My go-to has been Attack on Titan, which I absolutely love, but I know there’s so much more out there that pushes boundaries in really unique ways like what you’re describing here.

Dwayne Williams 2, this is such a great pairing, and I love how you’re looking at both the technical and creative evolution of animation. Love, Death & Robots takes that idea and just explodes it. The fact that every episode reinvents itself, different styles, tones, storytelling approaches, is so cool!! That kind of freedom is what makes the medium so exciting.

Chase, I’m so glad you shared this, because I’m going to be honest, Kiff is new to me, so I’m definitely adding it to my list to check out. It sounds like what’s really resonating with you is that balance between fun, chaotic adventures and meaningful emotional beats, which is where a lot of the best animated shows live.

Chris Coggins WALL-E is one of my favorites too. My husband and I actually saw it in theaters together on one of our very first dates, so it holds a really special place for me. The music in it is incredible.

I love this question Ashley Renée Smith. By a longshot...The Iron Giant. It has everything I love about a movie - a giant robot from space, a battle scene and a reference to Superman. The thing that it also has that changed how I viewed animated movies was heart and soul. A young boy living with his single mom who finds a friend who saves the world. That's when I knew I could write a story with my life elements mixed in and still make it fun but with heart.

Thank you, Ashley Renée Smith, and yeah, I will sing Utena’s praises until the end of time xD the best part is that you can watch the whole series, subbed or dubbed, on YouTube. It looks like the movie isn’t on there anymore but I’m sure you can still find it. I enjoyed Attack on Titan but haven’t watched past season 2 I don’t think. But weird, kinda obscure anime that challenges me is right up my alley.

It was a short film at Legoland. It showed the ultimate hero's journey, taking the main character through the mud and back (literally). Watching that was a pivotal moment for my screenwriting career.

I took a while to like animated cartoons idky why cartoons didn’t get good to me til I was a pre teen but it was definitely anime that caught my eye and idk what about it because though I took so many positive mental notes from the first anime character I loved Naruto I became like him while I honestly didn’t like him but his journey taught me emotional gravity and the story let me see the animated characters as people and now it my favorite form of story telling from Pixar to Castlevania to attack on titan because it allows u all to create a mirror of our world our emotions our reality in a way that doesn’t reflect unless your ready to see it and it’s ambiguous enough that you can feel it with out anyone knowing it hit and it teaches lessons that have to feel detached to keep you from judging urself so you can learn about urself from the outside with room take it in.

Ashley Renée Smith I liked "Finding Nemo". It was one of the first films I studied when I started screenwriting and taught me that animations can have true human emotions and relationships like live action movies.

"Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" was 1 of the best examples of animated cinema for me-Well balanced, sensible story, action & character development.

(Somewhat off topic: I'm still new to "Stage 32" so maybe someone has already said/brought this up, but I want to put it out there again anyway: Has anyone considered gathering all the "Stage 32" talent and starting an entertainment studio...with US??? With all the writers, producers, directors, creators, actors & the like on here, it would be a great start, & I'm sure they'd be down to invest if it was like $10 or something just to get it off the ground. I mean, it'd start out small but it would be SOMETHING, and it would just be the START. Does what I'm proposing make sense??)

Ashley Renée Smith I don’t work in animation, but learning the story behind 'Flow' really shifted how I think about what’s possible in the medium.

Seeing the level of storytelling and visual quality that such a relatively small team achieved was surprising. It’s a great reminder that powerful storytelling isn’t always about scale or budget. Sometimes it comes down to a clear vision, good tools, strong creative direction, and a team that knows exactly what story they want to tell.

Projects like Flow expand the idea of what animation can be, not just technically, but creatively cinematic storytelling.

I happened to be in Riga last year and saw The 'Flow' dog statue standing on the “RIGA” city sign. It was wonderful to see the film and its director celebrated right there in the capital.

I loved Persopolis and Spirited Away - both were amazing films in their own right that just happened to. be animated.

Anything from Love Death + Robots

The short films of Norman McLaren are always proof to me that the story is NOT the most important part of a film... imagination always is. Here is Neighbours still very relevant today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_aSowDUUaY

This will age me but seeing Shrek was the first time I thought as an adult, I WANT to watch this again.

There's so many it's acctually quite hard to choose one, I'd say Up, Flow, Bluey, The Wild Robot, Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs.

As a kid, like 10 or 11 years-old, it was Bambi, Space Jam and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The latter two because they incorporated live-action with animation. This amazed me.

Bambi because it brought across the brutal reality of losing one's guardian suddenly through a gunshot. And Thumper for just being Thumper.

I am reaching really far back to the 70's. Two animated films- THE POINT made by music artist HARRY NILSSON, with his music. I was 14 when I saw it and I had never seem an anmiated film with "rock" music in it. I have seen Disney's FANTASIA, around the same time, another film I adored. And both of them made a huge impact on my cartoon-loving teenage self. I went on to love Ralph Bakshi and his AMERICAN POP, and LORD OF THE RINGS, before the Live action films.

Wall-E, and Tangled for World creation, less dialogue, the power of a silent character and a simple but engaging story

I can cite a lot of genres (back from the 50's all the way to 202x), but the emotional side of story building has certainly evolved. This is why I still try to understand why people, despite AI being a great tool for storytelling, actually reject AI stories.

High emotional build-up ->High emotional payoff. That's written in stone.

If anyone can generate that either in traditional, 2d, 3d, or AI, has my vote.

There are probably some here who know my answer if they've heard any of my talks. It goes like this:

I was fresh out of college and on an accelerated trajectory as a creative director in the ad world -- known as someone who could be counted on to sell toilet paper to a bear in the woods -- and because of that trajectory I was burnt out already. The proverbial liquid lunches also cut into my night and personal life as the other half of a popular rock musician. One night I went to the movies with about a dozen musicians to see WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. And even though we were feeling no pain, I remember very clearly the feeling of being blown away. I sat back and watched these very critical adults laughing their asses off at an animated film. And I proclaimed then and there that this was the type of storytelling i wanted to do for my living. Despite knowing nothing about animation, 6 months later, I broke up the band and was one of the founding team that started Disney's animation studio in Florida; our first project was a Roger Rabbit short. I never looked back.

THE ANIMATRIX, because it enhances the MATRIX mythos quite well and the works of Studio Ghibli. And when Jodorowsky said that his DUNE script could be made into an animated film (or series) even when he dies someday at the end of the JODOROWSKY'S DUNE documentary.

SECRET LEVEL

Once I watched this wonderful film called 'Kirikou and the Sorceress'. It is story of a boy, Kirikou who when born cuts his umbilical thread and starts speaking and walking immediately; he defeats a sorceress called Karaba who troubled the villagers with her magic. Kirikou not only defeats her by removing a poisoned thorn which made her a vamp but also brings her into human form and marries her.

It is a very layered film- about gender, politics, sex, violence but it resonated with me on deeper emotional and philosophical level. It is also a good a lesson on how to create cultural impact being rooted in your culture.

For Film, HEAVY METAL (1981), did it for me. Not for youngsters, when I saw it I remembered thinking, " If a studio can create this now, I can only imagine what the future of animation is going to be." Look where we are now! It lit the fire of my appreciation for animation. For TV, TREAUSRE ISLAND (1978), was really terrific in look and story. Very faithful to the book. It originated in Japan, and a friend of mine's dad gave him a VHS copy of it. He was a salesman for Ford and travelled a lot. We watched it and were blow away that Japanese animation could cover a classic book so well.

I've been a fan of Baki the Grappler for a while. I like the way it takes its time to interject a backstory as the situation is occurring. It's one of the few ways that you can tell a tournament fighting story, where there are multiple characters with their own arcs. Enter the Dragon and the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie both put all the character backstories at the beginning, but to do it as the story is going is just a different approach.

Ashley, great question — animation has such a unique ability to express emotional and psychological landscapes in ways live action often can’t.

Inside Out really shifted how I see storytelling because it visualizes inner emotional life in a deeply human and accessible way. It turns abstract psychology into something tangible and universal.

I also admire how Arcane demonstrates that animation can carry complex character arcs and mature thematic depth while remaining visually innovative.

My pick would have to be Avatar: the Last Airbender. Watching that show felt like a metaphorical glass ceiling breaking. Seeing eastern and north american cultures represented without stereotypes definitely turned my love of animation into a lifelong passion.

Olá Ashley

Um prazer e uma alegria poder me comunicar aqui na plataforma com pessoas relacionadas ao âmbito diretamente.

Bom, sua pergunta é extraordinária. Existiu uma obra na década de 1980 o qual foi um marco eterno para a geração X em especial. Um desenho de animação tratando de humanoides leões que após um período de hibernação controlada precisam de uma total readaptação para uma Nova Terra em que seria impossível coexistir o que esses humanoides traziam com suas convicções de Justiça, Lealdade, Honra e Fidelidade versus a existência milenar do que já habitava nessa Nova Terra onde a prioridade maior movia-se para destruição total de atmosferas benignas. Foi tremendo e avassalador e foi o que me fez criar inspiração e admiração para animações brilhantes com o mesmo segmento, tanto no contexto quanto no formato.

Tanto que me aventuro profundamente na sequência daquelas vidas!

Grande abraço!

Primal by Genndy Tartakovski. Telling an entire season without any dialogue.

Seeing folks mention the opening of UP makes me want to go rewatch it tonight. But, I haven't seen enough love for the Spider-Verse movies and how they've pushed the artform forward both visually and story-wise.

Wes Ambrecht Spiderverse definitely deserves high praise. Between that and Mitchells and the Machines, Sony finally broke the Playdough mold that sunk the animation art form.

Wes Ambrecht, I'm SO glad you said Spider-verse, because the first one is my favorite movie. I watched it 6 times while it was in theaters, and I don't go more than a few months without putting it on.

I'm gonna go with the impact that the cloak-ops scene in "Ghost in the Machine" had on me. It was a truly profound sequence, watching the footsteps in the water made by an invisible opponent.