Animated Prologues: The Way of the Future, or Just Old Tricks?

I recently stumbled upon a collection of 2D flash animations released just before Zach Snyder’s Suckerpunch which acted as introductions to the different worlds inhabited throughout the movie. I found them an interesting piece of additional media and they certainly sparked my interest. However, it wasn’t until I saw the new short for the Priest movie that I realized there could be something more significant to these animations, and I began researching into the idea of the ‘animated prologue’. 

The Priest animation is also a 2D flash number, designed to educate the viewer in the history behind the plot of the upcoming live action film. Then I remembered that Hellboy 2 also uses an animated prologue at the start to help explain some of the back plot, although this time the animation features as part of the movie, and not a precursor. So what’s the trend here, and are we likely to see more of these animated shorts assisting live action projects in the future?

In the case of Priest and Hellboy they seem to act as a quick and perhaps cheaper way to tell the vast back plot, whilst also tying into the original style of the graphic novels (in fact I’ve noticed from some online comments that many ‘fanboys’ would like to see the entire film in this format, but that’s a different story). However, the Sucker Punch and Priest animations also act as a form of advanced marketing released in a teaser/viral format, which helps to explain the film beyond the 3 minute trailer, and doesn’t rely on finished live action footage.

So, carrying on my research I asked Tad, our Academic Director, what he thought about this new concept, and if it was driven by an increase in online media marketing. ‘New?’ he replied. ‘What about the Star Wars Holiday Special?? For the non Star Wars aficionados amongst us the Holiday Special was a Star Wars TV show aired between the New Hope and Empire Strikes Back movies, and featured a cartoon introducing the character Boba Fett.

So, it appears that even back in 1978 George Lucas was using animation as a prologue to his movie, and promoting a new character. Not such a new trick after all then!

What do you guys think about the idea of animated prologues or supporting animations? An additional story telling tool or just a form of marketing? And are there any you’ve seen that you’d care to share?