Jun 17, 2014

Emmy Awards Honors Internet Animation

In a sign of the changing times, animated shows produced on both Netflix and YouTube are beginning to rival traditional broadcast and cable series and earn a significant number of Emmy nominations. Netflix's first foray into original programming for children, "Turbo FAST," received two nominations at the 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards. The series was part of last year's announcement that the site would work with DreamWorks to produce 300 hours of original programming.

"Turbo FAST" is nominated in the animated children's program category and the sound mixing category. Marjorie Cohn, head of television at DreamWorks Animation, told Cartoon Brew, "We're very proud of it.

In the two categories in which the show is nominated, Turbo FAST is competing against shows from major broadcasters such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Cohn says that these traditional channels are still competing for children's attention, depending on the mood of their viewers. He says, "Kids are still definitely watching broadcast television, so sometimes they want to turn on the TV and watch what's on there, and other times they have something specific and they'll look for it on Netflix."

The entertainment transition began with traditional television programming moving to the Internet, but as studios begin to create high-quality content exclusively for the Web, the definitions of "online" and "broadcast" are beginning to blur. "Brands like DreamWorks and Netflix will stand up as opposed to 'this is on channel 126,'" says Chris Prynoski, founder of Titmouse, the studio that produces Turbo FAST.

"There's definitely an eye toward creating interactive projects as well as TV shows."

The Emmys are trying to make room for interactive works by creating a "New Approaches" category to recognize outstanding interactive content. For example, "The Scarecrow," a viral video with an adventure game, produced by Chipotle & CAA Marketing and directed by Brandon Oldenburg and Limbert Fabian of Moonbot Studios. The video has been nominated for an Emmy Award in the Outstanding New Approaches - Original Daytime Program or Series category. Fabian explained that "The Scarecrow was always intended to be interactive storytelling," and that the film and game "complement each other because the film sets the universe in which the game takes place.

Nominated alongside PBS and HBO's online portals, Scarecrow and friends, which focus on DIY design and nutrition awareness for children, respectively, demonstrate the potential of "new media." "Chipotle approached us to get involved, especially on an interactive level. "The film was an enabler, but they were intrigued by the idea of how we could push conservation efforts further into the interactive space and leverage something a little more social"

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While there is still much work to be done to recognize the vast amount of animated content produced online, the Emmys are to be commended for their solid efforts to expand the scope of their honors and recognize new forms of Internet animated content. The 41st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be held on June 22, 2014.