Hi all,

Clamps here, but I'm credited on the FMA movie as Tuck. I worked for an animation studio in Tokyo called "Studio Easter". I worked on a bunch of shows while I was there, but FMA was the most famous one beyond Nihon.

I just thought I'd start a thread here, cause it's been over a year since I quit and I think I might be ready to talk about it at last. Though I can't think of anything specific to say.

How about this... if anyone who reads this has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

later

Clamps

well i was wondering if it needed perceverance. plus i was wandering what the music department would be like aswell.

How often are frames still hand-drawn versus using a computer? Are there times when hand-drawing is better than a computer?

Thanks!

Kale - Almost no one uses hand-drawn frames any more. There's several good programs for creating cell animation online. I'm sure you'd find them with a google search. Right now none of the names spring to mind. My dept did all the 3d background frames, so we used 3ds Max with a variety of render effects to achieve the look we were after.

Lunneth - I worked at Studio Easter. Our studio specialised in the background frames for TV and Movie anime. We also had a compositing dept and a 3d dept. However we never really had sounds dept. We did hire a composer for use in occasional in-house short film projects, though that didn't last very long. There was simply not enough in house work at the time to justify using him as much as he deserved.

As far as studios with dedicated sound departments are concerned, there are several, but they're all very big. They tend to be on the Ghibli or Productio IG scale. Smaller places tend to specialise or sub-contract, depending on their goals and needs.

This is fun. Any more questions?

Clamps

What other shows did you work on and which of those did you nojy most (to work on or to watch)?

Are you still in the animation biz?

If you were to be dragged back which studio would you want to work for? I hear Gainax is pretty soul crushing.

I've got a video resume / portfolio thingy here if you're interested in the kinds of work I was a part of.
http://tucksiver-showreel.blip.tv/#426444
That's not a complete list, but there were so many shows throughthe production pipeline I don't remember them all. One that isn't on that demo reel is "Emma". I am really proud of the work I contributed to there. It was very subtle.

As far as gun-to-my-head studio choices are concerned, there are a number of places I'd go back to. Hell, Studio Easter had it's good points. The main reason I quit had less to do with any individual studio and more to do with the industry as a whole and my own personal reasons.

These days I'm in Australia, which has a teeeeny tiny animation industry that mostly does TV commercials and TV show credits and such. Animation get zero respect here. It's a cultural thing. I wouldn't say I wasted 5 years, but now I"m working in the field of Archetectural Previz. I'm making more money, working less hours and feeling better about life. So that's nice.

@Clamps, Thanks for the answer and here are a few more questions if you don't mind:

Because everyone is using computers to animate, is it easier to manipulate a character's mouth movements to match the language that it's being dubbed into?

How often are 3D objects employed when animating a mostly 2D short/show/movie?

I have a cousin that's interested in studying animation, but is more interested in 2D animation rather than 3D, so I'm just wondering what would be some good classes/programs to look into.

Thanks!

Kale - No real attempt is made to match the voices in TV animation. In fact, "Akira" was known as the only real product where they actually bothered to do that. (Only for the Japanese language version though).
They match important phenomes like screams and so forth, but generally it just goes "wa, wa, wa".

3d objects are seldom used due to the tedious nature of motion matching. But 3d backgrounds are used more and more often as the directors come to appreciate the versitility.

I'll say the same thing I say to everyone else when asked about what to study... teach yourself. If (s)he's interested in getting into animation on the character animation side, there's lots of techniques available to practice with. Like making flip-books and such.

But I'm sure this kind of information is available everywhere.

Clamps

Thanks again for the answers, it's really quite fascinating to hear.

I'll admit that I'm more partial to 2D animation than 3D, but that's more due to the fact that I love the look of 2D more as well as I think it ages better over time. This is probably why I prefer all of my fighting games to be 2D (Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, etc.) rather than 3D (I really like Soul Calibur and Dissidia Final Fantasy - though it's probably the art direction that helps).

Oh, does a series' particular art direction influence how it'll be animated?

There's a lot more 3d animation these days than you might think. A lot of character animation is 3d these days, cause it's so much faster and cheaper than traditional methods. It's not hard these days to make 3d look 2d. If you look at the link I posted earlier, you'll see a few examples.

Art direction is really really important. There's Production Bibles for the art for each show, and they are taken very seriously.

I had endless fun leafing through them and watching the way the different departments would bring them to life.

I'm having fun with these questions, keep them coming.

clamps

If there was any show/short/movie that you wished you could have worked on, what would it be?

Also, I checked out the examples and yeah, it's actually really cool seeing how much 3D is employed nowadays. Very eye-opening, so thank you.

Otomo Katsuhiro's noodle ads would have been fun to work on. But maybe Ghost In The Shell might be the chance I wish I'd had.

I'm glad you liked the examples in my portfolio. Most of the time we spent a great deal of effort getting the 3d to look as 2d as possible.

what was your favourite anime to work on.

FMA was lots of fun, but making a replica of Victoria Station for "Emma" was a blast. I really enjoy Victorial architecture. There was another set for "Emma" that was fun too. It was the glass exhibition centre. All trusses and glass and beams. Imagine trying to get the perspective right by hand for every different shot needed. What a nightmare!

clamps

Ahh hello! I'm a third-year animation student in the US! (3D animation, actually.) Can you talk about your experiences in the studio? And do you have any advice on reels?

hi there clamps !

it's nice to hear that you've been around an animation studio ..
I'm envious right now .. anyway, I just like to ask if you tried dubbing ?

I heard that it's fun but I haven't experience it ..


and do you actually live in Tokyo ? that's amazing ..

It is really amazing that you gotta work in an anime studio!!!

I wish that I can go there after I finish college . . .

Can I ask? What is the name of the studio and the 'producer'? Plain Curiosity really.


I think I will never get extremely bored on that kind of studio . . . .


With the greatest exceptions of 'old movie remaking' studio . . .

I'm also interested about : what course did you take during college ?

and


please recommend courses in college for me .. I still haven't decided about it ..