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Two (possibly related) ideas for a column.


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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 3:28 am Reply with quote
This is sort of spiraling out of Mike Toole's latest column about animation. It was a great read and it got me thinking about two things:

#1) I'd love to see an ongoing column about animation itself. Talk about the way it works on a technical level. Talk about the way the process has developed and changed, or trends and tendencies. Just highlight some interesting sequences either from recent shows or interesting historical pieces that bear checking out. Or, you could definitely expand it into a somewhat more general column about visual design overall. I don't know. I don't really have as much of a concrete idea here. It's just a general topic I'd love to read more about.

#2) I'd love to see something along the lines of a "creator spotlight". As Mike said, most people are pretty oblivious to the people who actually make the anime they like. Even I, as someone who tries to familiarize himself with these things, find it very hard to keep track of, especially once you move past the most basic series director/head writer positions. It would be super cool to see a feature on a specific person and their body of work. Now, this could certainly tie in with what I mentioned above: Highlight a certain animator. Talk about what they're known for. Point out some particularly interesting episodes or sequences they've been responsible for. But, if you want to go for something a little simpler and/or less demanding in terms of in depth knowledge it could also just be a director, writer, or anyone really. You could talk about their style, recurring themes and motifs, analyze how those things have evolved and how they've evolved as an artist from work to work. In general, just talk about what makes them interesting.

I don't know. Maybe that would be tough to do in the form of an ongoing, indefinite, weekly column. But maybe as an off and on feature like buried treasure? You could also consider passing the column around. Let a variety of staff members or even some guest writers take turns highlighting somebody they find noteworthy (if that's logistically feasible). Anyway, I'm just throwing it out there. I can't speak to the feasibility of such an idea from ANN's perspective or the level of interest from others perspectives but I for one would love to read either of these columns.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23752
PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:22 am Reply with quote
I'd find something like this very interesting myself. Like ikc says, it's a topic that may not support a week-in, week-out column, but I could definitely see it being an occasional feature.
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Dan42
Chief Encyclopedist


Joined: 02 Jan 2002
Posts: 3782
Location: Montreal
PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 9:28 pm Reply with quote
Count me in for something like that. I've mentioned the idea to Tempest a few times, but apparently it's a bit too hardcore.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6253
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 10:55 am Reply with quote
Yeah I like this idea. I like to consider that too. Very Happy
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anijunk



Joined: 30 May 2008
Posts: 55
PostPosted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 1:43 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I'd love to see an ongoing column about animation itself. Talk about the way it works on a technical level. Talk about the way the process has developed and changed, or trends and tendencies.

Perhaps a little negative here, but how should this relate to anime only? Technical development of film making (as for animation) is done constantly and all producing companies benefit from that. On DVD/BRs you can often find a "Making of", which tells the production process.

Quote:
"creator spotlight"

Definitely a good idea. Could be a side bar in reviews or any other article. Think we have to think of a format (career highlight; influence of the creator on that production; influence of the production on creator; etc), Think some data/info will be difficult to find.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:27 pm Reply with quote
I love these ideas and have had versions of them banging around in my head for a while now.

The issue is whether or not the readership is there for it. Producing columns isn't free - people have to show up and read. So that's an issue.

I think "Creator Spotlight" is probably a better idea for an ongoing column and "Making Of" is a better idea for a miniseries feature. Once we're past Spring Preview Guide I'll have more time to invest in proposals for this stuff. Thanks for bringing it up!
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:27 am Reply with quote
Cool. I'm glad you feel that way. Hopefully something like this comes to fruition at some point.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:50 pm Reply with quote
I'm also very interested in this topic and would definitely read the columns! I've been watching Sean Bires' Sakuga series on anime production: https://www.youtube.com/user/te2rx/videos and he seems like a good candidate for interviewing or gathering column information.

For other English speakers, there's also David Roy, ex-pat animator in Japan, and Bahi JD, Austrian animator (Kid's on the Slope, others). There's also Thomas Romain (Symphogear, Aquarion EVOL) who's French I believe.

I liked ANN's behind the scenes videos at anime studios too, although they didn't go into much detail. A general survey of how things are done at different studios would be nice too. ANN should try to pry those trade secrets out of them! Razz
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:18 am Reply with quote
The need for such a column has become staggeringly obvious thanks to an almost unbelievable post I encountered today:

danilo07 wrote:
Insufficient number of animators is almost never cause for atrocious animation.There are episodes that are animated only be one dude.


It never dawned on me that somebody could be so friggin' clueless about how animation is made. So clearly, some antidote for massive ignorance is urgently required.

eta: oh my god, he's doubling down on his ignorance:

danilo07 wrote:
Hey genius I am not talking about Wizard Barristers( it really is too much of production mess to have an episode animated by one guy) but about animation in general.For example episode 12 of Kemonozume was animated by Michio Mihara all by himself.These occurrences are rare now-days,but they still happen(for example episode 6 of Space dandy was almost animated by one guy).My point still remains.


Please. Make it stop.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:43 pm Reply with quote
I am all for this,especially after witnessing Blood-'s amazing lack of knowledge and his even more amazing refusal to gain any.
Also it would be nice if somebody explained to him the relevance of in-between animation,what storyboards are and how exactly they correlate to animation.Confirming that information you guys have on episode 4 of Kaiba is true,might help him even more.
Thanks in advance.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23752
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:54 pm Reply with quote
The irrelevance of In-between Animation??? Laughing Yeah, try watching an episode that has none and then tell me how irrelevant it is. I guess you figure Finish Animation is "irrelevant" too. And yes, gosh, story boards are SOOOO unimportant to the animation process. Laughing

Anyway, I've sent a question to Answerman that will forever quash the notion that a single person is capable of completely animating an entire anime episode all by themselves.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:13 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
The irrelevance of In-between Animation??? Laughing Yeah, try watching an episode that has none and then tell me how irrelevant it is. I guess you figure Finish Animation is "irrelevant" too. And yes, gosh, story boards are SOOOO unimportant to the animation process. Laughing

Storyboards are fairly important to animation,however they aren't animation.When somebody says Shinya Ohira animated a cut,they don't look for his work at storyboards.They determine the length of the shot,framing etc.Not the look or the style of animation.And of course nobody could watch an episode without in-betweens,but they aren't the essence of animation.They only exist to bring out the liveliness of key animation and in-betweeners work based on instructions given to them by key animators.Just to use my example again when somebody says Shinya Ohira animated a cut nobody then asks "But did he do in in-between animation?".
Also I cannot wait Justin's takedown,seeing how he used Ben Ettinger(person you called clueless about animation and whose blog post supported my assertions) as a source once.
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Parse Error



Joined: 09 Oct 2009
Posts: 592
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:17 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Anyway, I've sent a question to Answerman that will forever quash the notion that a single person is capable of completely animating an entire anime episode all by themselves.

Do you promise on a stack of boobies to respect his answer no matter what?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23752
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:19 pm Reply with quote
Bring me the boobies and I will.

So danilo07 basically you are backpedalling and instead of insisting that one person can animate an entire episode by themselves you are saying that all you meant is that one person can do all the Key Animation by themselves? Rolling Eyes

Yeah, that might be possible, I guess, but if it happens, it's extremely rare. And you may remember this whole line of discussion started because of your contention that a show's time constraints aren't related to its budget. Rolling Eyes
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 3:34 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
So danilo07 basically you are backpedalling and instead of insisting that one person can animate an entire episode by themselves you are saying that all you meant is that one person can do all the Key Animation by themselves?

I am not backpedalling , that was never my point,however a case in which person animated everything did happen(Kaiba episode 4). So you are also incorrect on that notion.
Quote:
Yeah, that might be possible, I guess, but if it happens, it's extremely rare. And you may remember this whole line of discussion started because of your contention that a show's time constraints aren't related to its budget

It was you changed the entire subject of what we were talking about.
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