Forum - View topicAnimation quality, production, and budgeting.
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AkumaChef
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Here's something that I've pondered for years. I even sent the question to Answerman but alas it never was chosen for a column: How, exactly, does a production committee handle animation quality?
We all know that theatrical anime tends to have much better animation quality than TV series, and that OVAs are (usually) somewhere in the middle. But how exactly is that sort of thing decided when the anime is being produced? Do the producers have a budget in mind and ask the studio to make it as nice as they can for the money available? Are there standard categories like "TV quality" vs "movie quality"? Does anyone know exactly how this works? |
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Nom De Plume De Fanboy
 SubscriberExempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 611 Location: inland US west, pretty rural |
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tl;dr - I think the studio starts with a project in mind, and then there is a lot of back and forth negotiating for money with rough estimates based on experience and some drafts. The production committee does not get into the trenches about the details. Usually. I think there was an Answerman column years ago about production in general, and another on "animating on the threes" that touched on this. But I think you will have to walk through the listing of old columns to find them, and maybe a couple of other columns about storyboarding. "Quality" for animation, to me, means the number of key frames and unique frames per second of video time. A high end project, like Ghibli-level, means more frames per second. But also means more time to draw and review and touch up each key frame. And the overall length, long movie, short (OVA), regular tv show, tv shorts show, all figures in to a rough idea of the resources needed. I think it's mostly rough estimates based on experience, and is not very exact. Somebody has a project in mind, they do a rough treatment, sometimes in the form of a loose leaf book with each page having rows with each row having like a rough thumbnail pic, a bit of descriptive text, and maybe an estimate of the running time and maybe the number of frames. So they may add up a rough estimate of the number of frames, and that estimate will have to change when money discussions come in to the picture, going down ( usually - I'm a cynic ) or up. Maybe the economy is doing well, past animes have been making money, people are optimistic, and the production guys get more money. More money means more frames and hopefully more time to draw or computer create them. Who knows. All artists would like something amazing, all business has to deal with getting a return. But my impression is these things are very subject to change. For example, the fourth episode 'curse'. There is practically a running joke that the fourth ep of a show will have a big drop in quality, number of frames and the quality of the drawings themselves, because of budget issues not being very well estimated or controlled, or everybody just does it because they have always gotten away with it. Shirobako, and Animation Runner Kuromi 2 in particular, were about production and problems, and touched on quality issues, if you want to see shows about making shows. The first 2 Patlabor movies had deluxe releases that included hardbound books including nicely presented versions of some of the production stuff, like the storyboards. But I don't know if they talked about the size of the budget, and business negotiations are pretty much always private so I doubt they even mentioned those. |
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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Right, I would assume the same thing. But just exactly how does this work? Is it simply experts in their field doing "the usual" or are there specific terminology or factors involved (like the keyframe count you mentioned later)? I'm sure there are generally understood standards of quality: theatrical, the average TV show, TV shorts, etc. but not every show neatly fits into those categories.
Yes, I follow that. But keyframe count tells only part of the story. There's also the amount of detail in a given scene, whether or not the backgrounds are static or are animated, how complex the motion is, and so on. There clearly must be more to it than just a keyframe number. |
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Girlish Number may be an even better show to focus on production problems. Not a better show in itself, but much more focused on a poor production. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9835 Location: Virginia |
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@AkumaChef
I suspect you are overthinking this. My impression, based on the shows listed as well as Answerman columns is that the Production Committee decides on the quality of all aspects of the anime when they pick the animation studio that does the actual work. Basically the animation studio does the best job they can with the money they have been given. At the high end you have upscale studios with impeccable reputations. Production Committees compete for their available time and pay them what they ask. These studios do the best they can to maintain their reputation. Below that level the studios bid what they think they need to do the work in question. This is where they need business skills as well as art skills to stay in business. This also explains why so many studios pay so poorly and demand so much. This is where a few superior employees can make a big difference. These studios live and die on the quality of their portfolio and their ability to produce quality in spite of a low budget. I'm sure the Production Committees attempt to monitor quality while the show is being produced, but you don't get what you don't pay for* and they are informed enough to know that. *Note: The old saying that you get what you pay for is frequently wrong. However you almost never get what you don't pay for. 
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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Oh, there's no doubt that I'm overthinking it! That is the nature of human curiosity. I am curious to know how the negotiation is done. I specifically want to know if there are any standard terminology, categories, etc, involved. Anyway, it sounds like your idea is that certain studios specialize in high-end work while other studios specialize in various tiers below that. One might make an example regarding cars: if one wants a high-end car they go to a Bentley or a Ferrari dealer. If they want a nice-but-not-insane car they go to BMW. If they want something cheap they go to Bargain Ben's used car lot. I can sort of see that? Over the years it does seem that certain studios tend to do higher quality work than others. But that alone doesn't explain the big picture either. Pick a given studio and their theatrical work is usually far better than their TV work. I want to know why that is. Is the quality difference understood simply because one is TV and the other is a movie? Or is there some kind of internal terminology or standard used to describe the difference? Perhaps the budget is the standard? |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9835 Location: Virginia |
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Rather than using cars as an analogy, I would use something like a custom built house. You get to sign off on the details but you don't get to supervise the basic construction. I'm pretty sure the Production committee signs off on things like script, story boards, character designs etc. How they decide what is acceptable and what isn't likely varies with the membership of the Committee.
While each series has a new Production Committee, the companies that make up the committees is likely fairly limited. The "usual suspects" showing up over and over. The companies that do this frequently undoubtedly have an individual or individuals on staff that are knowledgeable about the process.The details you want are likely hashed out on a series by series basis between the animation studio and the company representatives on the committee. That something like this can be accomplished by a committee says a lot about Japanese culture. What I have always wondered is how a production committee is initiated and staffed. I think the difference between TV series and movies is something that started early and now comes under the heading of "we have always done it that way". Early on the quality of movie animation had to be better because the big screen would show a lot of defects that you couldn't see on TV. With today's high definition large screen sets, I'm not so sure it is that different. Also a movie has to be well enough done to get people to pay to see it. A TV series only has to be good enough to get people to tune in. |
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NonSteb
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More money means more frames and hopefully more time to draw or computer create them. Who knows. All artists would like something amazing, all business has to deal with getting a return. But my impression is these things are very subject to change.
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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Of course. But I'm wondering what direction that discussion takes. For example, does the production committee talk to the animation company and say: look, we want this show to be above-average, we want X frame count, and then wait for the animation studio to quote them a price back? Or does the production committee tell the animation studio: "you have a budget of Y, do the best you can within that constraint"? I'd imagine there is a little of both going on but I'm curious what the norm is. I'm also curious if there are any particular standards within the industry that get used in these negotiations. TV quality vs. OVA quality vs. Theatrical, perhaps? Actual numbers being used? (what do they measure? Keyframe count?) |
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