Spring House Entertainment
Spring House Entertainment Inc is a Taiwanese animation studio. It makes digital entertainment content and broadband visual sound terrace development. It was founded in February 2000 by Micho Chang and is based in Taipei. As of January 17, 2008, the firm operates as a subsidiary of Chunghwa Telecom Company, Ltd. After twenty years as a TV and music video director, Chang stated, "I always thought that I was an artist, but gradually I realized that I was just a subcontractor, creating for client needs rather than for personal expression".[1]
A-kuei
He launched Spring House Entertainment by creating his own animated character - a ten-year-old boy named A-kuei, who lives in the fictional town of Spring fall.[1][2] Several short films, ranging in length from ninety seconds to two minutes,[2] were created about A-kuei and released online.[1][2] According to Taiwan Info, A-kuei's popularity began in the wake of a Taiwanese earthquake, when many people found the character as a comfort. The popularity extended to Silicon Valley and rose as the short films were sent between friends as e-mail attachments.[1]
The A-kuei short films use a simplistic visual style that Chang has compared to South Park.[1][2] Most of its income at the time was earned through advertising and merchandising, since the internet was still fairly rudimentary in Taiwan and was not extensively used in the country.[1] In June 2002, Spring House Entertainment began charging for subscriptions to its website.[2]