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The complete behind-the-scenes process of Japanese animation production revealed

The behind-the-scenes secrets of Japanese animation production

1. Planning

2. Production funds

3. Animation preliminary stage 1: script

4. Animation preliminary stage 2: director’s work

5. Animation preliminary stage Three: Storyboards and the work of assistant directors

6. Pre-animation stage four: Character design and the work of character designers

7. Animation stage five: mechanical modeling design and background design work

8. Early animation period six: color design and color specification work

9. Animation middle period one: composition, original painting and original painting guidance

10. Animation mid-term two: animators

11. Animation mid-term three: coloring/coloring staff

12. Animation mid-term four: special effects and special effects staff

13. Animation mid-term five: photography and photography effects

14. Animation post-production one: editing

15. Animation post-production two: sound 1: dubbing and voice acting

16. Animation post-production three: Sound 2: music, sound effects and synthesis

17. Screening, publicity, marketing

The first step before the first production run

Generally, before so-called animation production, there is often a long (or somewhat painful) "pre-production work" (English: Pre-Production, Japanese: preparation stage). Pre-production work refers to the preparation work to start production. But what about the front of pre-production?

The front of pre-production is "planning" (Japanese: planning stage)

"Planning" "It is divided into two types. The first is that during the annual planning meeting, the boss of the animation company (English: boss, excutive producer, Japanese: president, planner) or a somewhat great and influential producer sees an interesting and famous book. I thought it would be quite profitable to make a comic or novel into an animation, so I called the agent who represented the chosen comic or novel and asked if the rights to make it into an animation have been sold. If not, then start Negotiate rights that may be "sometimes long, sometimes short, sometimes painful, sometimes happy." If you see the words "original work" at the beginning of the animation title, it mostly belongs to this type.

The other type is that the directors (director in English, supervisor in Japanese) or animators affiliated with the animation company feel that they are thinking wildly, not drawing, not submitting manuscripts on time, and daydreaming. As a result, the animation should be quite good. What was interesting was that I started writing a plan myself and then submitted it to my boss for review. Fortunately, if the plan is approved, the boss or producer will run around looking for sponsors...ah, no, sponsors will come together to respond to the great plan. If you see the word "original project" in the title of an animation, it mostly belongs to this type.

After the negotiation is successful or the plan is approved

Let us first talk about the animation company’s next step if the original plan is approved.

Basically, animation companies do not have the funds to independently produce animation works (whether it is TV or OVA). Therefore, when an animation company wants to create original works, the most important thing is to propose a plan to sponsors (*1). Are they interested in investing? If the sponsor is not interested in the new work project proposed by the animation company or believes that the product (*2) has no market value, then the project will 100% never see the light of day again.

Compared with the original project, the animation plan of the original work (*3) is usually easier to pass the sponsor level. Because the original work basically already has a fixed customer base (*4), sponsors have more psychological security and are willing to invest in adapting the original work into animation and recoup their investment by selling related products.

So in what form will the plan be presented to sponsors?

For American production companies, they will produce Pilot Film first. The so-called Pilot Film refers to the highlight short film of the work, which is the main tool when presenting it to sponsors to persuade them to invest. However, in Japan, animation companies usually do not have the funds to produce Pilot Films, so plans or scripts are often submitted to sponsors in paper form. Therefore, the script may have been completed before pre-production.

Because the more the sponsors understand the "interesting aspects" of the original work, the more likely they will be able to impress the sponsors and obtain production funds.

Chapter 2 How to Calculate Production Costs

The theoretical calculation procedure is very simple.

Suppose a certain film and television company estimates that an animation work (referring to a 30-minute DVD) can sell 1,000 sets, and then assume that a DVD sells for 4,000 yen,

1,000 sets x ?4000 = ?4,000,000

That 4 million yen is the production cost. The funds allocated to various production departments are all included in this 4 million yen. For example, we will introduce animation directors, character designers, storyboard artists, main animators, grassroots animators, music designers, colorists, editors, packaging designers... and so on.

In this way, calculating expenses seems to be very simple. But in fact, how to estimate how many sets an animation work can sell depends on the sales experience of the film and television company's producers, the popularity of the animation director, the charm of the characters designed by the character designer and the popularity of the voice actors. These human factors make estimating production costs a non-trivial task. For example, if each of the animated films directed by a well-known director has set box office records in Japan and won awards at international film festivals, the production funds given to him by sponsors will be much higher than those for other works. With sufficient production funds, he can increase the number of shots and hire more famous voice actors (or actors) and music production groups to increase the popularity and publicity effect of the product. If it is a newcomer with no "performance", then the funds may be relatively small. Because film and television companies have no benchmark for comparison (the performance of newcomers), they will be more cautious in investing in this new project.

Chapter 3 Animation Preliminary Phase 1: Script

Judging from the analysis diagram on the left, we have roughly explained several important steps before pre-production in the previous chapters. From this point on, we will begin to explain the pre-production process one by one. As you can see in the picture, the first and most important step is "scripting". All character design (*2), mechanical design (*3) and art design (*4) and directors must compose the shots according to the script. Therefore, no matter what kind of project it is, the script plays a very important role in the production process.

We mentioned in the second chapter that the script may have been completed during the planning stage. In that case, should the script be revised again after the plan is approved? This depends on the opinions of the producer and director. In the picture on the left, you can see the three characters "Producer" (*5). The producer is responsible for the success or failure of an animated work. Therefore, if the producer has a problem with the script (it is not attractive enough...) the script writer (*6) will have to modify the script. Of course, if the director has opinions on the script and the producer agrees with the director's opinion, modifications to the script are inevitable. Furthermore, even if the director disagrees with the preliminary script and the producer believes that no modification is necessary, the script will not be modified.

General animation companies do not have exclusive script writers, and most of them hire freelance writers (some of these writers are SOHO writers, and some have set up studios with several like-minded writers, such as the famous Studio Orphy) Come and write. The reason for not hiring dedicated writers is because scripting is not a department that is needed year-round. So just sign a project contract with the script writer when necessary. However, a few traditional animation production companies with a long history still have dedicated script writer departments.

Script writing is not a simple matter. Different from novels, all the characters' actions and emotions need to be described in detail as a bystander. For example, if a character is very angry, since everyone is angry in different ways, it is not only necessary to describe how he is angry, but also to describe his behavior in great detail. Use actions to illustrate the personality and characteristics of the character (for example: Taro is furious = Taro clenched his fists, his eyes formed a line, the sweat on his forehead was dripping, and the fire on his head was raging...). The peculiar way scripts are written makes a novelist sometimes not a good script writer. And there are not many good script writers.

Chapter 4: Animation Preliminary Phase 2: The Director’s Work

The director is the leader of the entire animation production team. There is no certain benchmark in the Japanese animation industry to judge the qualifications of a director.

The current famous directors have different processes to become directors. Some changed careers from the film industry, some started as animators, some are script writers and directors, and some started directing from the beginning. Generally speaking, most directors in the early days of animation started as production managers (*2) and participated in animation production for many years before being promoted to directors or changing careers in the film industry. But with the passage of time, most animation directors currently start out as animators. The charm of being a director is that you can decide the direction of your work yourself. But since the director decides everything, the work is busy and the success or failure of the work also lies with the director. Therefore, not everyone involved in animation production has the ultimate goal of becoming a director. For those who want to become directors, no matter what kind of job they start from, as long as they are determined, becoming a director is not difficult.

The following is a rough outline of the actual work of directors:

1. Pre-production work:

* Finalize the script with script writers and producers

* Meet with character designers, mechanical designers, and art designers to finalize each design

*Produce storyboards (*3) (sometimes produced by the assistant director)

2. During the production process, discuss the production direction of each episode with the assistant directors (*4)

3. Post-production work:

* and the editor Edit videos

* Guide voice actors and sound directors to create the ideal effects

* Image and sound effects synthesis.

4. Participate in all publicity activities

The fifth animation phase three: storyboards and assistant director’s work

The following are Japanese storyboards Pictures (mostly horizontal tables in Europe and the United States, you can get a glimpse of them in the "Animation" project of Studio Tour on the Cartoon Network website in the United States). Storyboards are simply "scripts presented as images". The time it takes to draw storyboards varies depending on the production schedule. On average, the storyboards for a 26-minute animation take three weeks to complete. The storyboard does not need to draw the characters accurately, as long as it can be understood by subsequent staff. Despite this, the storyboard artist still needs to practice the character modeling of each work and understand the characteristics of the work in advance so that the original artist (*3) can accurately draw the shots required by the assistant director of each episode based on the storyboard.

It is often seen that the storyboard artist and assistant director are the same person. The reason is simple. Because the graphic designer (storyboard artist) is usually the one who best understands the effects and voice acting skills required for each shot to bring out the charm of the work. Therefore, most storyboard artists also work as assistant directors.

The assistant director basically shares the burden of the director. Whether it is an OVA series with a small number of episodes or a TV animation series with 26 episodes, it is impossible for a director to take care of all the production details. Therefore, every animated series has an assistant director position to manage the animation production of each episode. The director is mostly responsible for the important first and last episodes. The assistant director's job content is basically the same as that of the director, except that he is not responsible for pre-production scripts, design drafts and post-production publicity activities. However, since the director is the overall commander of the entire work, before the assistant director is responsible for the production of each episode, the storyboards drawn by the assistant director must be approved by the director before the work can be officially assigned to the original animator for production.

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Sixth Animation Preliminary Phase 4: Character Design and the Work of Character Designers< /p>

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Animation production is a group activity that requires close cooperation. Therefore, in addition to a good script, an experienced director and, of course, charming characters, a good work is an important factor that makes the work more attractive. In the first chapter of this unit, we explained that there are two types of animation works - original work and original project. The design of the characters is also different because of this.

When adapting the original comic into animation, because the characters and costumes have been finalized, there is no need for additional design.

But why is every original animation still marked with "original character design" and "animation character designer"? First, comics are static works. Because there are few frames, the lines and costumes of the characters can be complicated to deepen the beauty and beauty of the work. impression. However, when making animation, staying true to the lines of the original characters will lengthen the drawing time and prolong the production time (and cost more money), so it is necessary to simplify the lines of the original characters. Second, because comic characters do not need to be colored, there is no need to connect every line. However, animation requires coloring, so the original character modeling must be improved to connect all the lines for coloring by the colorist (*3). Thirdly, some original comic characters are not suitable for animation works. For production efficiency, coloring and animation modeling reasons, the original animation needs to hire an additional animation character designer.

The character design of the original animation is a creative and difficult task. When the original character design was handed over to the character designer, it was just words and verbal instructions from the director (*4). Therefore, the designer can only rely on the script and his own drawing ability to design out of thin air characters that can bring out the charm of the work's story and make it impressive. In addition, production efficiency must be taken into consideration and characters with too complicated lines must not be drawn. Therefore, even experienced stylists may take a while (*5) to finalize the design.

The character design drawings after the character design of the pre-production work is completed (please refer to the character design listed on the "Pluto Project" website). It will be distributed to the original artist to do the drawing work of each shot. There are three types of design drawings for a character: clothing design drawings, facial expression design drawings and local decoration design drawings. All designs are usually divided into front, side, back, and special expressions (angry, sad, smiling, etc.) for the original artist to simulate.

How to become a character designer? According to senior designers at AIC: "It's very simple. Just keep practicing and drawing!"...Well...it's actually not that simple. . The same character is drawn in a different style by everyone. Some are attractive, while others are plain and ordinary. In fact, as they say, it takes constant practice and refinement to show different styles. And just being able to draw female characters or animals well doesn’t necessarily make you a character designer for animation. The important condition for a character designer is to be able to draw a wide range of characters specified in the work. In other words, the designer's drawing ability must be flexible enough to meet the requirements of each work. If you can fully meet the requirements of the production company, and if the original characters you design are attractive enough, you can become a well-known animation character designer.

The tools character designers need can be seen in the photo above. A drafting table, pencil, eraser and a stack of white paper are the most basic equipment (a bit nonsense...^_^;). In addition, a mirror is a must-have, because the characters' movements and parts sometimes need to be sketched by looking at themselves in the mirror. Other reference books and drawing tools completely depend on the needs of each character designer and will not be described in detail here.

Chapter 7: Animation Preliminary Five: Mechanical Design and Background Design

There were no dedicated mechanical designers many years ago. Most of them are designed by character designers or animators who are good at electrical machinery and the like. From "Space Battle Ship YAMATO" to "Gundam Warriors (Gundam) GUNDAM", they truly positioned themselves as professional mechanical designers.

Mechanical designers must consider many factors in animation production to design the mechanical shape required for each animation. First, a lot of homework must be done on a daily basis to meet the various design requirements that follow. Secondly, the mechanical shape of "appropriate" lines must be designed taking into account the production date and progress. The so-called "appropriate" lines are because if there are too many lines, although the robot or spaceship will look cool, the time it will take for the animators to draw a shot will be relatively longer. However, if there are too few lines, the robot will look too simple and uninspiring, so appropriate lines are very important when designing. The last step is to investigate each animation world to understand and design a mechanical warrior or spaceship that can meet the director's requirements.

The conditions for being a mechanical stylist are that you must have knowledge of industrial design and be very fond of machinery (such as cars, motorcycles, airplanes, boats... as long as they are made of metal).

Background designers have a much longer history than mechanical modeling. There have been professional background designers since the early days of black and white cartoons. Background designers basically want to draw something "good, fast, and beautiful." That's the reason I mentioned again and again in this unit, the limited time for animation production doesn't leave much time to draw slowly, so the popular professional art background design studios move quickly and can cope with tight deadlines. How to become a background designer? This is the same as being a character model or mechanical stylist. You must love drawing and be able to draw well while lying down (a bit exaggerated, but the time in the animation industry is very tight, and you can do it under any circumstances. Designers who are OK once are rare but quite popular). As for techniques or tools, you can find the information you need to draw backgrounds in the "HowToPaint" column of the background design company "Corporation Kusanagi" on the link page of this website.

Eighth Animation Preliminary Phase 6: Color Design and Color Assignment

After all the character modeling and mechanical modeling are designed, the director and modeling designers must work with the color designer ***Finish the color of the character (hair, color of clothes for various occasions or robot shell...etc.). The color design must match the color of the entire work (the background and the personality of the work) to design the color of the characters. After the color draft is finalized, the color designator will specify more detailed color types.

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When computer coloring (*3) was not used many years ago, it was Watercolor paints are used for color design on white paper (as shown in the picture on the left). The colors of watercolor paints are mostly not mixed by each production company. They are designed according to the color cards and ready-made color types provided by the paint company. It's simple, because after color design, the colorists have to do the coloring. If you mix the colors yourself, it will be very difficult for each colorist to mix the same color. Of course, the production company can request it if the director requires it and the funds permit. The paint company produces the required colors and distributes them to the colorists. Because the types of colors have been specified by the paint company before the color design process, many years ago the color designer also served as the color specifier. They all look the same.

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Currently, software is used for color design and color specification. to proceed (as shown on the right). Each company uses different software (the more popular animation-specific software in Japan is animo and RETAS!PRO), but any software that processes images can be used for color design. It should be noted that each software handles color differently, so the same software should be specified for coloring when delivering it to the colorist. Also due to the digitization of production methods and the freedom of color selection, the current range of color setting options has been expanded and more delicate and varied colors can be customized.

Color designers and color specifiers both start out as entry-level colorists. After one to two years (depending on personal qualifications), you will be promoted to a color designer or color specifier. The biggest difference between color designers and color specifiers is that color designers only need to set basic colors (colors under ordinary sunlight, as shown on the left). The colorist must also work with the assistant director to set up the colors required under other lights and for each episode in detail (dusk, night, special light, etc.). Color design and color specification for animation require knowledge of image processing color. Because the image quality and color displayed by each photographic equipment are different, if you do not fully understand the design and specification, the color displayed on the TV screen will be very different from the effect on the computer screen, which will reduce the charm of the work. Therefore, it takes one to two years for colorists at the grassroots level to become familiar with the actual work process before they can be promoted to color specifiers and then color designers.

The pre-production work has been briefly introduced so far, and subsequent units will introduce the original paintings, animations, and coloring personnel in the production process in stages.

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The ninth animation mid-term one: composition, original painting and original painting guidance

After the storyboards and all the character designs and backgrounds are ready, someone must put all the materials together and draw a detailed storyboard for subsequent actions. It is the composition person who performs this work. /p>

As you can see from the storyboards we introduced earlier, the storyboards are often just a sketch, describing the general scenery of a scene. For example: in one shot, "Xiao Ming and Jesse are standing at the sports venue." "Speaking in the middle", the composition staff must follow the rough instructions of each frame of the storyboard, the character modeling table (example) and the background to draw an enlarged view of the detailed positional relationship between the characters (Xiao Ming and Jesse) and the background (sports venue) ( As shown in Figure 1 below, most are A4 size). If the instructions in the composition are unclear, it will affect the subsequent original painting work. The completed composition and character modeling design sheets were handed over to the original painters and asked them to start drawing more detailed main mirror images according to the composition (such as the original painting illustration at the end of this article (*4). You can see from the illustration that Xiao Ming is gradually becoming more and more mature. The camera direction runs closer. Finally, the shot of holding a towel and starting to talk to Jesse is completed as in the composition example on the left).

The existence of original painting guidance is because a work usually employs 2 to 4 original painting artists (the number varies depending on the work). The characters drawn by each original artist may be a little out of shape depending on the individual's painting style (or the depth of his painting skills). It is the work of the original painting director to correct the original drawings drawn by each original artist and unify the painting style to make it faithful to the character design draft.

Good original painters and original painting directors must do some research on photography lenses to draw each frame of the main lens. Movies can ask actors to stand in appropriate positions and assume the poses desired by the director. But animation can only use pens to draw ideal positions and character movements. Therefore, good original painters and original painting directors with good abilities and qualifications also refer to being able to draw ideal main camera images (correct postures and movements of characters) based on the concepts of photography and editing. As far as the editor knows, many senior original animators or original animation directors love movies and have done some research on them.

Original animators and original painting directors mostly start from grassroots animators. Because you must understand and be familiar with the animation production process before being promoted to original animation, it is impossible for newcomers to engage in original animation work as soon as they join an animation company. It is very fast for animators with good qualifications and hard work to be promoted to original animators and then to original animation directors. Those with poor qualifications and lack of hard work have no choice but to work as grassroots animators.

Animation is a capability-oriented industry. No matter which production part you are engaged in, as long as you work hard enough to strengthen your abilities, you will definitely be recognized by those around you.

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