Forum - View topicINTEREST: Family Assistance is the Lifeblood for Half of Young Animators in Japan
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SailorPluto1313
Posts: 118 |
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This is really sad. Helping these animators by compensating them fairly for their work and allowing them to work their job without killing themselves from stress/overwork will only benefit not only the individuals but the company and anime in general.
I think something that really contributes to this is the fact that people want things "now, now, now" and don't really think about the people doing the work. This can be said for the gaming industry as well. A new game comes out and practically a week later everyone begs for a sequel. This kind of support and hype is great, but this pressures people to get things out quickly, oftentimes sacrificing quality and definitely overworking those involved in the project. Until these companies realize this and start paying more attention to their animators and others working on the project, they're in for some trouble. Having better conditions means that more people would want to work on animating and there'd be a bigger pool of talent to draw from, giving them more options of things to work on, etc. I would rather wait longer for an anime or video game to come out knowing that people are getting compensated fairly and not trying to hit an insane deadline. This can go to the opposite extreme where nothing ever gets done, but my hope is that a balance can me made. Wow, this went longer than I thought, I just really think there is way more that can be done. Not just from the animators, but fans, and the companies. Here's hoping that things will start to change for the better. Good luck animators, we're rooting for you! 
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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A bit of Christmas cheer for the holidays.
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Zeino
Posts: 1098 |
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They really do need a union or something of the like to overcome these sort of problems.
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John Thacker
Posts: 1010 |
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So basically they are grad students, except slightly better off. They are the same age as people whose field in the creative arts expects Masters degrees.
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Estelle the White Mage
 Posts: 51 |
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Not overly surprising.
Artistic careers like those are really dog-eat-dog competitive, as you can tell with most of the responses from the survey came from fresh out of college students with generally little experience. When all it takes is for the next guy over to be better than you at drawing/animating/playing an instrument/dance/acting, it's no wonder that most aren't really making it and need supplemental income. But that's really the risk one takes when they pursue the arts as a career choice; if you're not the best you can be replaced. I'm glad these twenty-somethings are pursuing their passion in the arts, but that industry isn't very favorable to people who expect that simply doing 40 hours/week is enough. Or even 80 hours/week, because as I stated before, if the next person over is better than you, why give you the high-paying job (that allows for financial independence) when they can keep this guy? And eventually, replace him with someone better still... |
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CooperRC
Posts: 22 |
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If the companies were really in trouble, then they would be paying the animators more. The reality is that way more people want to do the job than positions available. The result is that they can get away with lower pay. Unless people start avoiding the job because of bad working conditions and pay, the situation is not going to get better. |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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And here we see the shocking and definitely not completely predictable results of supply-side economics.
This is why I dislike calls to "support the industry" by buying more stuff. That won't lead to better working conditions; it will lead to more anime produced, and more artists mistreated by the same working conditions. Because that's how modern capitalism works, in all industries; but especially ones where the workers are heavily invested in a very narrow field and don't have any non-exploitative employers to choose from. Employees are always treated as badly as their bosses can get away with without causing too much turnover, because doing so generates maximum profit for the company. When they can't drain as much life from their employees as they'd like, they outsource to someplace where people are more desperate for jobs. We can argue endlessly about how to fix this problem, but I don't expect any substantive change unless capitalism itself collapses. Which, these days, is looking increasingly probable. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1776 |
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We're already at that point. Anime companies like Toei have outsourced animation to The Philippines. South Korea at one time was also a very popular location to outsource to, but as those wages have gone up, companies are focusing on China.
My suggestion would be to donate to Animators Supporters program, which sets up low rent housing for beginning animators. While they can only help out a couple of animators at any given time, I appreciate that there is a program that allows me to donate money to help those in the industry that need it most rather than the producers who will simply take a huge chunk of the purchase price of any given item for themselves. A couple of these animators have appeared at Animazement for the last few years, and it's very clear that they could use the extra help. |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2444 |
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Isn't that what JAniCA is supposed to be? Mind, I don't know how many members it has, or what it'd take to prompt a strike or anything. |
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reanimator
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Animators suffering under harsh condition is nothing new. US animation industry had the same problem decades ago and eventually they couldn't find enough new generation of young people to revitalize 2D animation back to its glory days.
For me, it's all about the money when it comes to anime production: 1. Budget is too low. 2. Production committee keeps the lion's share of profits 3. No merchandise rights for contracted works. 4. Hiring standard is all over the place. 5. High overhead cost and location 6. Animation production set its reputation as dead end "factory" job rather than skilled labor among young people. 7. Anime is niche 8. Please add more here @People who think capitalism is evil Just look at animations made from Soviet blocs and government-sponsored projects. They are artistically impressive, but most of them aren't that entertaining and sometimes downright boring. If their animations is successful enough to compete with capitalist counterparts in terms of popularity, we would already have another animation medium that would easily compete with anime. Also Pareto Principle is at work. For example, Disney animations make the most money among competitors/peers and Studio Ghibli is that 1 percent that dominated Japanese animation in terms of mainstream recognition. Regular people may recognize Hayao Miyazaki, but how many of them know the other directors of TV anime? |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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And the irony is that 2D/frame-by-frame animation is already very expensive. Even with the current low pay standards, the UTD producers had stated a 24 episode at that high quality animation seen in the kickstarter OVA would cost $7.4 million.
It's no wonder that American TV 2d animation not only requires super mass viewership for commercial slots, but is also still ultra simplistic artistically to cut down on the man hours required. Even high quality animation outsourced to Korea like the Legend of Korra is too expensive with a limited audience. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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This is somewhat sensationalized for sure, but for anyone thinking the anime industry is to blame, take a look at the REST of Japan's economy/workforce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaxgmmjNrpA (this is not to deride Japan, the US is in a similar situation, just saying it's not simply "Japanese animators are underpaid") |
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seltzermx
Posts: 51 |
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Anyone at ANN want to link to a page(s) where non-Japanese can possibly donate to the animators. Saw and read the articles about the housing campaigns, but didn't see a way I could help from the U.S.
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Here's one for the Animator Dormitory Project: https://www.generosity.com/fundraising/2017-animator-dormitory-project I think they do a fund raising drive annually too. Also, here's the FB and twitter if you wanna try to contact em (no idea if anyone on their end has strong English) https://www.facebook.com/AnimatorDormitory https://twitter.com/animator_shien https://twitter.com/animatorsupport?lang=en |
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seltzermx
Posts: 51 |
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Thank you!! |
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