end of anime as we know it?

[AyeletZ@camera.org.il]

Dear Mark,
Being involved in an animation dept. of an art school in Israel (and a
scholar of Japanese culture), I can tell you from my experience with
students of animation, not in Japan, the the definite borders between film
and animation are getting more and more blured these days. Many projects I
have mentored myself are taking both languages (film and animation) into
consideration, and than, by means of CG and Computer Manipulations (video
eding and effects, 3D's etc.), are getting the layers transplated one into
the other. I had students who had taken Silent films and transplanted
animated figures into the plot, a film done in rotoscopic methods (a solid
layer (of painting) blocking the film beneath, creating an interesting
dialogue between the 2 layers by means of erase and rift of the upper layer
to expose the layer of the film beneath) etc...etc...This is from the
material and formalistic point of view.
 Taking narratives and scripts into consideration, it seems even more
blurred if you think about cases like "Perfect Blue" and "Ghost in the
Shell" in their wider contextualizations to Hitchkock and Blade Runner
respectively. In my view, the classical dichotomies between the painted and
the filmed are close to be lost for ever, once the computeris involved, and
the Bitmap is the name of the game. A Bitmap is a function blind to its
source - wheather it is a photograph or a hand-painted image. It realtes to
both materials as maps of information, and this is the key to the whole
story. The more we find computers in the creative enviroment, the more we
will see these borders blurred. In my view - this is a fascinating
opportunity to re-check and re-understand the way we percieve and interprate
what our eyes see - in terms of scopic regimes (martin jay) and techniques
of observation (jonathan crary) if to mention 2 of the major texts that have
dealt with the problems of representation. The border line between
representation and simulation  are also getting a new chance for discussion
and  a check-up for the actual border line between the 2...

Sincerely,

ayelet zohar
Digital Media dept., "Camera Obscura" art school/ 
East-Asian studies dept., Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv
Israel

-----Original Message-----
From: mark schilling [mailto:0934611501 at jcom.home.ne.jp]
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2001 10:30 AM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: end of anime as we know it?


I've been commissioned to write a think piece on the future of Japanese
animation by Screen International and my first thought is -- what future?

Last year, at the Tokyo Film Festival, Anno Hideaki of Evangelion fame told
me that he liked the "unpredicatability" of live-action filmmaking and
wouldn't be making any more animation. Meanwhile, colleague Oshii Mamoru,
who came to international prominence with Ghost In a Shell, has abandoned
the anime ranks for Avalon.

More worrying, at least to fans of traditional animation, is the buzz
surrounding projects like Square's Final Fantasy and Gaga and Namco's Axis,
which are the digital cousins to Toy Story and Shrek. The budget of both
outdistance anything even Studio Ghibli can match, while the main creators
on the Japanese side are game designers and the like, not traditional
animators. In fact, looking at the latest RPG, such as Final Fantasy 10,
it's hard to tell the difference, in the level of realism at least, from CG
films.

The point? The money and talent seem to be flowing away from traditional
animation, toward CG in all its various forms. Even though Studio Ghibli is
making greater use of digital painting and imaging, it is beginning to look
like a craft shop turning out beautifully hand-painted fans -- while
factories are going up all around it to produce digital air-conditioners.

Of course, there will long be a market for Pokemon and its ilk -- animation
for the relatively undemanding under-twelves. The question is whether anime
for a wider demographic can long survive in its present form.

If you were a hot young talent coming into the industry today, would you
rather commit yourself to an ardous, low-paying apprenticeship at an
animation studio -- or join a game maker or CG effects house that is
producing films with Hollywood or StudioCanal? Comments please.

Mark Schilling