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Forum - View topicMs. Answerman: The First, Last, and Forgotten
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Great column, as always! I always wonder why people are constently asking how to break into the animation field in Japan when there's plenty of work to do here in the states. The pay will definitely be better, they won't have to learn a new language, and if they decide to become an independent animator, they can draw in whatever style they want. I don't think that an animation neccessarily has to have the anime "look" to be original or creative.
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Haiseikoh 1973
 Posts: 1590 Location: Waiting for the Japanese 1000 Gunieas. |
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Who else are you gonna ask about how to get into the Anime Field?
I think it's time again for a "FAQ Finale" Article of Answerman. |
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Cloe
Moderator
Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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he he, you're right. Poor Rebecca. You'd think that after seeing the same question repeated 10,000 times in the Ms. Anserman column, people would get the picture.
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UberTai
 Posts: 218 |
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A rather poor column in my opinion. I swear these questions are asked ALL the time! "I want a job as an anime director," "When will [insert anime] have more releases?" etc. have all been answered before, and, of course, we get the same answer for each question. "Sorry to break it to you, but.." and "You'll have to wait for the domestic release..." are normally the answers, respectively of course.
I understand that it is the emailers that provide the questions, but it is also the writer that chooses them. Where there really no unique questions for this week? Anyway, I just have to pray that the Answerman column gets better, because I would hate to see one of my favorites do poorly. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Most people who write in are ignorant to anime (not stupid though). I swear, they don't bother using logic before writing in or do a little research.
About the directoring an anime, it's not highly impossible. Get a business degree and start your own cartoon studio. Hire some talented animator from japan/korean and create/produce your own anime. They did this with warcraft (manga), having a US author and a korean artist. And most of the animation is now done in Korea. Whether people will accept your work as a true "anime" is a different story because hardcore fan are bitchy on where it comes from. I mean it's possible, but thinking of going to japan and being a director in that country is almost impossible unless you're already well known. The same there they won't let no japanese come to the US and create a hollywood movie unless they're well known director that already proven himself. (think famous hong kong director John Woo) |
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Ataru
 Posts: 2329 Location: Missouri (Strikeman) |
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They released Vol 8 of Evangelion a couple of months back, so the chances are very good Vol 9 is a month or two away. Heck, they are releaseing Vol 1-7.
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Cloe
Moderator
Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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That's very true. You wouldn't neccessarily have to even hire a Japanese animator to conceptualize it. There are plenty of talented artists in America that can draw "anime-style" and could design decent characters. And it doesn't matter who comes up with the story, as long as it's fresh and creative. But like you said, there will always be the annoyed fans who will complain because it's not "authentic" enough. But as long as you're getting to see your own ideas come to life on screen and be shown to the public, who really cares what anyone says? I'm on my way to becoming an animator myself, and I love all kinds of animation (including but not limited to anime). It seems like the only options for us out there is either studio work (bad! No artistic license at all!) or independent and freelance work. It would be really nice for a bunch of indie animators to come together and produce something anime-influenced. It's definitely another option for producing Japanese-style animation in the states. |
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Ginji
Posts: 18 |
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Need to correct something here. In fact all 26 episodes of Chobits were aired on TAN on Demand before. They are just repeating it now.
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Toboe
 Posts: 138 Location: Rakuen |
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So do any of you live in reality where something like this is incredibly difficult to achieve? This is like saying "Uh, being a doctor isn't hard, just go to medical school, get a Ph.D and become a doctor." This isn't some roleplaying game where you push the right buttons and it happens, this is LIFE, where it costs THOUSANDS of dollars and 10-20 years of your life to see this kind of success. Ugh. Get a little perspective people. No it isn't impossible but taking all the weight and difficulty away from it by giving a bare-bones outline of it like you're writing a walkthrough FAQ for life is foolish and misleading. |
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jfrog
 Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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I would think that producing something that had nothing to do with mainstream American animation, anime, or live action film would be the best. Did anything happen after Titan AE? Or Waking Life? Even the uber-grim Plague Dogs disappeared rather quickly because it was still about talking animals. Sylvian Chomet, on the other hand, is constantly being offered projects from major studios because there was nothing quite like Belleville Rendezvous out there. |
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sinistertaco
Posts: 96 |
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I like how you jump from getting a bussiness degree to starting your own studio. Naiveity is funny. |
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Cloe
Moderator
Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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I would love to see something new from Silvian Chomet! Belleville Rendezvous was spectacular (and should have won the oscar for best animation). I'm so impressed that someone else knows Plague Dogs. It was animated by the same studio that did Watership Down, which did slightly better because of the popularity of the book. Coincidentally, I've worked with one of the people involved with the production of Plague Dogs--he's a wonderful animator.
In terms of what else is out there that's similar, there is actually a thriving independent animation circuit, as people who go to Spike & Mike or the recent Animation Show (put together by Don Hertzfeldt and Mike Judge) know. The sad part is that all of these wonderful animations are shorts, a medium which gets no exposure outside the indie film clique. It seems to me, though, like a lot of anime fans are more aware of this art form than the average person. Perhaps this is a result of being drawn to more original stories not found in mainstream animation (and movies.) ^_^ And, to be quite frank, starting an animation studio actually isn't as hard as some people seem to think it is. Sure, earning a reputation and making huge profits will take time and a lot of hard, grueling work, and it won't happen to everyone, but there are hundreds of small animation studios and production crews around the country made up of small groups of animators (sometimes just 2 or 3 people) who do either commercial work or the said indie animation. To be realistic, many of these studios don't make profits at all and the animators have to find other, more solid work to do on the side. But it's the love for animation that brings people together to create what they want to create. And it's that creativity that drives the growth and innovation of future animation. |
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sinistertaco
Posts: 96 |
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Yeah, anybody can animate and start their own studio. The reality is that 95% of them are also not going to make a cent doing it.
That's called a hobby, not a profession. |
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jfrog
Posts: 925 Location: Seattle |
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He's got a new movie, Barbaoca, that should be coming out in France this year, and is adapting a children's book for Universal (I think...) after that. I'm so excited!
Lucky. The movie felt pretty choppy to me (I only have access to the edited version), but there are so many examples of great animation in it. |
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