animation

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hey everybody, i've been watching reign, aeon flux and the animatrix stuff almost everynight now and it is really inspiring to want to create my own animated shorts, etc. but i have no idea where to start. i was wondering if any of you here on this board do animation on your own using your computer and if so, could you give me some ideas as to where to start (software wise)? any help you can give would be awesome. thanks.

chris.

btw, i'm on an 800mhz g3 ibook, 384mb ram, and about 20gigs of hd left. thanks.

-- dr. science (dan.abnormal@lycos.com), May 17, 2003

Answers

Couldn't find the column with Wonderful Days in it so I thought I'd put it here, as it has some great info and thoughts related to animation.

Movies - Reuters Korean Animation Thrives, but Lacks Local Identity Mon Aug 25, 9:56 PM ET Add Movies - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Mark Russell

SEOUL, South Korea (Hollywood Reporter) - The recently released animated feature "Wonderful Days" took more than five years and a record-setting 13 billion won ($11 million) to make it to the big screen.

But despite a huge marketing and merchandising campaign, the futuristic epic about an environmental dystopia failed at the box office. It opened in fifth place, behind the second week of "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," and was gone from theaters in just two weeks.

Nevertheless, "Wonderful Days," which grossed a disappointing $1.9 million, was actually one of the more successful homegrown cartoons in Korean history.

Over the past couple of years, several animated releases have come up short at the box office. It's not that Koreans don't like animation -- such foreign animated films as "Spirited Away" and "Finding Nemo" routinely perform well. And the success of local live-action films, which sell as many tickets as Hollywood fare, shows that Korean filmmakers know how to make and market popular films.

So if local films do well, what is wrong with the Korean animation industry? Story line is the most common answer. One of the biggest complaints about "Wonderful Days" is that, despite the quality of the animation, the film's plot is not nearly as compelling as the visuals.

"Even ('Wonderful Days') director (Moon-saeng) Kim has said that directors shouldn't write their own screenplays," says Stephen Kim, one of the producers on "Days." But Stephen Kim also thinks the problem with "Days" extends to its marketing and a misguided sense of who the film is meant for. "The story is too difficult for children -- it targeted teenagers. But if you target teenagers, you need a concept they like."

Observers believe the problems plaguing animated films in Korea are a direct result of the industry's troubled history. Although the local sector began to thrive in the 1980s, that work was almost exclusively from foreign contracting, which is commonly called OEM (original equipment manufacturer). The prevailing opinion is that OEM has led to creativity taking a back seat to original content as foreign animators dictate every detail to a cell.

"Koreans' technique is OK, but they don't know anything about creation," says Nelson Shin, founder of AKOM, one of Korea's biggest animation houses, where programs like "The Simpsons (news - Y! TV)" get made.

With the money being in the drudge work, schools have traditionally emphasized following instructions over originality.

In addition, for years Korean companies depended on cheap prices to maintain their competitive edge. Animation houses would bid on many projects, then farm out their contracts if they acquired too much work. But those subcontractors usually received no credit for their work, giving them further incentive to do a fast, serviceable job.

Peter Chung, creator of MTV's popular "Aeon Flux," says discount drawing is not a formula for long-term success. He points to the rising competition around the world, especially from such countries as China and the Philippines.

"You can't keep basing your success on being cheaper," he says. "You have to make people think you're doing a better job or else you're just digging a hole for yourself."

The need to move beyond OEM and produce more original content has been recognized by the government, leading to the creation of the Korea Culture and Contents Agency (KOCCA) in August 2001. "The Korean government regards the culture and contents industry as the core strategic industry of the knowledge-economy society," says KOCCA in a press release.

Observers see this as a time of transition, with Korean animators in the process of developing a signature style, like Disney or Japan's anime industry. Lee Sung-gang, who won the top prize at 2002's Annecy International Animated Film Festival for his psychological fantasy "My Beautiful Girl, Mari," thinks the key for Korean animation is simply time and the chance to grow. "There have not been many animated works produced and directed by Korean directors," he says.

Lee thinks short-term business thinking has created an unfair impression that Korean animation is not doing well and feels there is too much emphasis on business and box office.

"It clearly shows how people think of animation -- it's a kind of gambling, not a cultural industry," he says. "Culture not founded on 'art' is weak, and no industry without culture will last long.

"One more important thing about being young," Lee adds, "is that Korean animation can go forward in various ways while avoiding the typical way of Japanese and American animation, since they have almost reached their limits of originality."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter



-- Barb e (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), August 29, 2003.


I found this article in the BBC news. They give some pretty interesting thoughts about the roots of Manga.

< a href = "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia- pacific/3119002.stm">Origin of Manga

-- Barb e. (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), September 20, 2003.


Grr. Take 2

RootsOfManga

-- Barb e. (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), September 20, 2003.


I could help you if you wanna go 3d, but 2d I don't know too much about. Sorry.

-- Joshua Aldridge (AtlantaJFNA@aol.com), May 21, 2003.

I've found good information on the following pages.

This one is a links page for a broad range of animation resources, including 2D and 3D software (bottom of page):

http:// www.animatusstudio.com/html/links.html

For classical 2D technical advice, I recommend:

http:// www.animationmeat.com/index2.html

-- Peter Chung (pkchung@sbcglobal.net), May 21, 2003.



No matter what kind of software you use, it's useless if you don't want to draw. Just visit the website that Peter suggested and go from there.

-- Henry Park (injenius57@sbcglobal.net), July 26, 2003.

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