Those of you who are interested in the production side of anime should check out Anime News Network's video uploads that take a peek at some well-known animation studios (the Studio Pierrot is recent, but there are others available and apparently more are on the way soon). It's interesting to see the differing philosophies of each production house, as well as their differing uses of modern animation technology.
Studio Pierrot is known for producing two of the currently most popular shounen franchises, Bleach and Naruto, but have also animated quite a few other favorites including Fushigi Yuugi, Hikaru no Go, and 12 Kingdoms.
The video takes a look at both the production side of things, including looks at in-between and key animation drawings and digital coloring and compositing, as well as the marketing of related character goods and the design phases of those products.
The president of the company makes some interesting remarks on the importance of appealing to the Western markets as well, though noting that it's not their primary audience.
Toei Animation (Video in 2 parts) has been around since the late 1950's and is responsible for many famous animated films and popular anime franchises like Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro (and its recent spin-off, Hakaba Kitaro), Hokuto no Ken, Dragon Ball and its various incarnations, Digimon, Slam Dunk and One Piece.
This video focuses much more on the digital process of making animation, including an interesting demonstration by one of the animators on the use of a digital tablet and how this tool makes the process of creating animated drawings quicker and easier. One of the special effects artists shows some before and after drawings that pertain to his work (in addition to things like smoke and clouds, he also adds certain kinds of shading).
Here, the interviewee talks about how Toei's aim is to create animation aimed more at wide audiences and families, rather than avant-garde anime or anime aimed at "fans." Which is funny, since two of my favorites of theirs are just those types of pieces (Mononoke and Kuuchuu Buranko).
Production I.G. Has given us plenty of great anime over their 20-something years as a studio. Their catalog ranges from sci-fi hits like the Ghost in the Shell film and TV animation franchise, shoujo romance series like Kimi ni Todoke and Tokyo Marble Chocolate, and fantasy series such as Seirei no Moribito.
This particular video tour isn't as focused on the technological side of animation production as the previous ones, but focuses more on the balance of maintaining property ownership and partnering with investors from Western markets. The President also talks about retaining talent and making the studio a place where animators will want to stay and work.
What I enjoyed about this video is that the animators were working on Ghost Hound and Seirei no Moribito at the time, two series which I consider quite good.
HAL Film Maker (Skip to the 4:50 mark) isn't especially well-known, but they've had their share of stand-out hits and recommended series, including Princess Tutu, Oban Star Racers (a co-production with a French studio), Skip Beat! and Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora.
This video is shorter than most and is preceded by some really dopey news-of-the-week stuff. Here we learn that Hal Film Maker tends towards making animation with happy endings, and that their aim is to maintain quality control over all the episodes, something which we all know can be really tough for studios to do.
There's a humorous bit where they come up to a key animator, and she mentions that the particular shot she's working on is a "bit ecchi," as well as some talk about the animation of the ballet movements in Princess Tutu.
Leave a comment