Forum - View topicNEWS: Hakuhodo, Director Kenji Kamiyama Start Anime Firm
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LagannImpact
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Wow, interesting. I thought the anime renaissance would come with FMA: Brotherhood and InuYasha: The Final Act, but it seems like the seeds could be being sown for a full-scale resurgence of the Golden Age sometime around 2015...
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Am I the only one who finds it [expletive] terrifying that one of the few exciting and talented modern anime directors seems to feel his future is best served by seeking work making commercials?
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LagannImpact
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Wait...what? I didn't read that in the article at all... |
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LagannImpact
Posts: 574 |
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Well it seems he's making commercials, but there is that "other areas" bit that's kinda promising. But for the work to be based mostly toward overseas is somewhat comforting, actually!
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reanimator
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I hate to say this, but you need to see the bigger picture. Kamiyama is not selling his creative soul. Kamiyama is expanding his talent beyond usual TV show and film routine which most anime creators never get out of. Anime industry in general is really awful at making money. For decades, the industry was too busy making animations, but never bothered to expand the market. It's the current reality of the business that is forcing creators look outside of usual fanbase and medium. In my opinion, it's the battle for survival. Speaking of well known director, I was at the set where Spike Lee filming commercial for the Navy. Also Everyone knows that Ridley Scott made that famous Apple computer commercial in 80's. For Anime director doing commercials, Hayao Miyazaki directed one commercial for House Food curry. Is it bad for animated characters doing product placements for food and consumer goods? Right now, we're seeing Tiger & Bunny doing Pepsi ad in Japan. For a long time, Ganax has been doing shrewd business of product placement on beverages and snacks. Not to mention indirect advertisements of UCC coffee, Yebisu beer, DHL, and Sega throughout the Eva series and the movies. It didn't ruin the show. Somehow everyone seem to accept it and get a kick out of indirect advertisments. We should be happy about original anime characters doing commercials. The industry really need money outside of usual sponsors. It's not tied to particular series or film which directors have to comply with sponsor's input. Like, on Evangelion where Gainax put Pen Pen because Sega wanted to. |
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yuna49
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While I think product placements will comprise a growing portion of anime financing as other sources dry up, I don't have the sense that that's what this enterprise is about at all. From the blurb:
It sounds a lot more like Steve 'n Steven (???) will be applying animation technologies to ordinary product advertising, probably cars, gadgets, etc., that want to look "near-futuristic." The new Inception-flavored ads for the Lexus CT might be an example. |
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Echo_City
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Considering the track record of these guys, as long as they're only animating the commercial & delegate out the actual writing of the commercials, this could work out.
(By "delegate out the writing" I do not mean in a way like the main character delegated out a task in the ridiculously inane ending to the East of Eden tv show.  )
Though I don't see anime commercials, or worse CG commercials*, taking off in America. Especially if they look really "cartoonish" like Eden of the East. The stigma cartoons hold is too great, and most commercials are for tangible products. Does a commercial for a tangible product work if it employs an abstract presentation of the project? I know the Charmin Bears commercial must work, as it has been going on for years, but it's one of the few. Other products, like Bounty paper towels, focus on the demonstrable absorbancy of their products versus the competition. That type of ad would fall flat were it animated, as it wouldn't even look like it was proving something. (*Yes, I know--regrettably--that the commercials for most any American movie might as well be entirely CG as they're so close now.) EDIT: That Lexus ad looks like execrable. If a commercial is to feature that much CG, it should just go all-out and make everything in it CG. I much preferred the advertisement where they demonstrated "a commitment to build quality" by stringing a bunch of Lexuses (Lexi?) together and hoisted them into the air with a crane. [/url] |
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I don't find anything alarming about a director signing on to make a single commercial. I find it alarming that he's co-founding and serving as CEO of a firm geared toward making commercials. By the sound of it, he's not just in on this in name only. I mean, it's only a six person company. It seems pretty clear to me that this is what he's going to be doing for a good while. That seems like a pretty damning indictment of how he perceives his prospects in the anime industry. |
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Lightning Leo
Posts: 311 Location: Earth |
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I wonder where they got the name "Steve n' Steven"? Kinda funny name.
I wonder what "other areas" means? It's strange that a renowned director and producer would head into advertising out of the blue, but maybe that's where the money is for the foreseeable future. Or maybe they were disillusioned/tired with the anime industry? Who knows for sure. 
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reanimator
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Well, Japanese animation is just a medium driven by business. So far, they haven't making money due to devaluation of physical media, over-reliance on 100K Otaku crowd, and lack of marketing skill. We don't know if Kamiyama has given up on making animated films yet. The way which anime business is heading right now, I think he's very smart to apply his talent to somewhere else. There is no particular rule that creator has put out a film every so often. We should be happy that he is carving out new role. He is doing what every fan wish to be happen. That is raising the status of Japanese 2D animation to mainstream consciousness similar to the way that live action and 3D CG are doing right now. BTW, Ridley Scott owns a company that makes commercials. |
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