The effect of digital technology on the Greater Toronto Area Animation Community

This is a multi-media thesis consisting of a written component and an ethnographic documentary film. The author is an insider who is both a professional animator and a teacher in the community being studied. It uses a discursive interdisciplinary approach and Constructivist Grounded Theory methodologies to examine the influence and effects of contemporary digital technology on animation production practices in the Greater Toronto Area Animation Community (GTAAC). It does not include a detailed critical analysis of any one animation related industry nor does it engage in extensive analysis of the worldwide practice of the medium. Rather, it is a confined analysis of the GTAAC as a microcosm. The data analysis and resulting conclusions focus on the emergent effects of the digital realities on the practices and the practitioners. In addition to providing professional and pedagogical applications the research also offers a better understanding of animation's pervasiveness within our culture. The inquiry into animation's ubiquitousness and proliferation of the emerging creative economy results in a proposed contemporary definition of animation, thereby adding to the ongoing discussion amongst animation scholars.