Every Frame a Painting - Animation Industry

For the final post of Every Frame a Painting, I'll be talking about something different - Animation. I am a huge fan of animated films and TV shows but never fully understand how the full process of making them until I watched Shirobako.

Shirobako is an excellent Japanese animated series (aka anime) about making animated shows. The story follows a group of five best friends, Aoi Miyamori, Ema Yasuhara, Shizuka Sakaki, Misa Tōdō, and Midori Imai, who all go into the anime industry after their experiences in the animation club of their high school. The series depicts the daily troubles and hardships the five experience in their respective jobs, as well as their efforts to overcome them, largely focusing on Aoi and her fellow staff at animation studio Musashino Animation as they work on two anime television series.

So, what has the show taught me? Here is a quick summary of what's going on.

1. Research and script writing.
2. Character designs and art direction.
3. Voice actor auditions and audition meeting.
4. Storyboarding.
5. Directing staff meetings - To discuss the director's vision with episode directors. This is usually for TV series.
6. Production meetings - To have the key animators a better understanding and take note of the director's vision.
7. Supervising animator meetings - For supervising animator to check everything with the director.
8. Art board meetings - To discuss the background art style, tone and design.
9. Colouring meetings - To try various patterns of colours and decide which to use.
10. CG meetings - To discuss the CGI/3D animation parts
11. Filming meetings - To discuss any editing-related matter
12. Accompaniment meetings - To discuss the soundtrack with the music composer
13. Production desk - Responsible for pushing the whole production forward. The list of jobs include taking notes, preparing project strategy, scheduling, checklists (storyboard checklist, key frames distribution checklist, simulation chart, program, setting distribution list, 3D list, special effects 2D list, colour program, scene colour checklist) and communication.
14. Meetings are still occasionally held to make sure the whole project is going the right direction.
15. Inbetween animation (aka inbetweening or tweening) - Either done in-house or outsourced to another animation studio.
16. Recording sessions (both VAs and OST) 

List of roles (incomplete):

• Director
• Writer
• Assistant Director (AD)
• Episode Director (ED) 
• Producer
• Chief Production Assistant
• Production Assistant (PA)
• Supervising Animator
• Key Frame Animator
• Colouring Artist
• CG Animator
• Background Artist
• Voice Actor
• Composer
• Editor

The process goes:

Research > Script > Art > Audition > Storyboard > Meetings > Animation/Sound > Voice Recording > Filming (aka editing) > Test Screening > Broadcast

For shows adapted from a source material, most aspects of project must be approved by the creator, mainly scripts, storyboards, character designs and art direction.

Of course, this barely scratch the surface. There a lot more to it such as securing funds, promotion videos (PVs)(aka trailers), and freelance animators. The anime also does a great job showing real-life problems occurring in the animation industry. A production may fall apart when something goes wrong. For example, when the director decides to change a scene when the production is already near its completion, fights between employees, miscommunications and messy outsourced cuts. There are also tons of references to the animation industry, from voice actors, animation studios, famous people, to other works.

*The entire may vary from country to country. E.g. In the west, voice recording are done before animating.

Post-production

The first rough cut we looks quite bad. Pacing issues, overstayed shots, unnecessary scenes and breaking the 180 degree rule. I tried address the issue but nothing was changed until Helen, our lecturer, pointed them out during a feedback session. It was a massive improvement by cutting down scenes that serves no purpose. E.g. the bedroom scene was cut from 40 seconds long to just 10 seconds. It was just a scene of the protagonist waking up and leaving the her bedroom.

But there was still a problem which was the lack of build up to the final scene. In the second cut, there was no sense of stalker's presence. "What is the main thing that drives a horror film? The audience knows the presence of the mysterious being but not the protagonist," Helen said to us. With that in mind, I suggested that we should film a few more shots to show more of the stalker. We had to be creative since the actress could not join for the re-shoots. 

Here's a list of the newly filmed scenes:

• Close up shot of the envelop
• Wide shots of the empty rooms
• Shots involving the protagonist are done with POV shots
• A better close up of the key rack
• Shots of stalker's hands and feet in both library and apartment

The new shots actually saved for film. However, there was one edit that I had a different take in mind. It was the shower scene, the new version was that it shows more of source of the mysterious noise (maybe too much). The film actually cuts to shots that reveals the stalker himself! One thing I've learn from good horror films is that you want tease the audience from the beginning and slowly reveals bits and pieces to build up the suspense until the climax where the all things are told to the audience. If the viewers released all tension right from the start, the climax would not be effective. That is why horror films like Alien (1979) and Jaws (1975) became classics.

So what I did proposed was to have the wide shots of the empty apartment after the close up shot of the protagonist showering. Then add in the key rack shot still full of keys. Cut back to the protagonist reacting to the loud noise. After she goes back to shower, the scene ends with the key rack shot showing one of the them went missing. The last shot will be accompanied by a suspense music that gets louder and cuts right before the next scene.

I think my suggested cut may work out better. Without needing to show the stalker, the viewer knows that there is a presence in the house. Remember, most of the story isn't told on the screen but in the mind of the viewer. Sadly, the others prefer to keep their cut.

The rest of the post-production was just colour correcting and sound editing. Each done by Ashmund and Luke. I did not get to involve much of this process. There was some problems to the colour correction and sound in the final render. The library scene was too dark and pale, some patches of weird colour and blur (due to using mask to colour correct), and sound that was not cut properly. Due to time constraint, we only changed the brightness of the library scene.

One more thing, letterboxing. To be honest, I don't know how or when to apply letterbox to a film and what kind of impact does it have on films. But here, Ashmund wanted it just because it looks 'cinematic'. To me, the term 'cinematic' should be join the ranks of words that don't really mean anything on their own like 'innovative' and 'emotional'. These words are tossed out there because they sound good and nobody ask to qualify what's been said with any actual context and definition.

Every Frame a Painting - Cut!

In a previous lecture I had, we were thought about cutting in films. This video essay explores more about the history of cutting and power of cutting (montage to be precise).

Regardless of how a film is assembled, most of the story isn't told on the screen but in the mind of the viewer.

Production Day 5

A shot in the Templeman Library

This is a quick re-shoot of the library scene. We found out that there was a continuity error when we did a rough cut for this scene. In the scene, Maya's character uses her left hand to reach for the books but in the next close up shot, it was her right hand. We also filmed a couple of more shots later on so we will have more content to edit with.

Production Day 4

We came back to the house to shoot the two scenes that was left out from last last week. The scenes were the kitchen, living room and entrance scenes. Today, Annie was not present.

Production Day 3

Today's shooting took place at the field nearby the university. The filming started very late due to some miscommunication. Nothing much happened since it was just a quick shoot.

Every Frame a Painting - Lateral Tracking Shots

While filming the shower scene during Production Day 2, we did a tracking shot that has no meaning to it. You can't have a shot just because it looks nice and cool. Every shot and frame needs to communicate with your audience, providing messages through the visuals. This reminded me of this video essay about lateral tracking shots.

Lateral tracking shots is one of the least subjective shots in cinema but it is one of the most objective. It doesn't suggest the characters' point of view. The shot is also very literal. What you see is what you get. It can be used as a quick establishing move. War movies sometimes use this technique to show the vastness of the army and the world around the soldiers like a camp or a war zone. Some film makers make it a personal statement. Stanley Kubrik loved the shot because it shows the things they were, not how we imagined them to be. It is everywhere in Kubrik's The Shining (1980).

Here are some other examples of lateral tracking shot done by film makers:

• Running and walking
• Horse riding
• Car chase
• Framing a scene like a moving painting
• Fight scenes where the character is fighting waves of enemies
• Physical comedy
• Mass execution
• Tracking away from the character to create a sense of sadness and emptiness

The shot can be used to imply time has past and can never go back. The opening scene in Pixar's Up (2009) did this very well. But the best example I've seen is a scene from Wolf Children (2012). It shows kids growing up right before your eyes. But unlike any other shot in this post, it is actually physically impossible to film. It moves back and forth through time and space. All it does is to tell the story of these kids growing up.

Production Day 2

This is day 2. Today's shooting location was an apartment that belongs to Ashmund's friend whom he had only met a week ago. Somehow he was very kind to let us film in his home. I was an hour late and had missed the shooting for the bedroom scene because I was waiting to book out the equipments from the university. Marnie was not present today.

The next thing we shot was the kitchen scene. Once we finished the shots, I realized that there was something in the scene that doesn't make sense. The scene was the protagonist gets a drink from the refrigerator and finds a envelop on it. She sits down, opens the envelop and reveals a birthday card. She smiles, puts it on the table and leaves the house. The problem here was she never drank the juice she took out from the refrigerator! When I addressed to Ashmund who did the storyboard, he was pretty mad and asked me why I did not review and check his storyboard beforehand. He had only shown me the full storyboard once which was during Production Day 1. It's impossible to find every detail errors on the first read through.

We moved on to the next scene, the shower scene which I strongly opposed. One, the shower scene has been one of the most cliche scene in cinema history since Psycho. Two, I was not comfortable shooting the scene, so does everyone else in the group. Three, I felt bad for the actress whom did not see this scene coming (there was no script to begin with). This scene was actually proposed by Ashmund himself way back in the development stage. I did suggested that the shower scene to be changed to having the protagonist washing up her face but he insisted on filming his fantasy. I can't really say it's a reference to Psycho as Ashmund doesn't look like the type of guy who would watch old films.

Every Frame a Painting - Making a Choice

[SPOILER ALERT: Do not watch the video if you have not seen Snowpiecer]

At a point during the film's development stage. I proposed an idea for the short film that was never made past the discussion.

Here's the deal. In the final scene, the protagonist finds the door to her house ajar. Upon entering her house, some noises will be heard coming from one of the kitchen with its door closed the entrance. My idea was to have the protagonist starting to panic after hearing the noise. She would have to make the choice to confront the mysterious noise or leave the house to get help.

So, how do you show character choice other than a boring dialogue? Answer: Left and right, that's it. It is one of the oldest trick in the book. Keep in mind that screen direction is a powerful tool. A character's choices can presented by having them to look and never needing any dialogue.

Production Day 1

Luke filming while Ashmund checking the shot through the screen.

We started the first day of filming in the library where I managed to book with the library's staff. This is also the first time most of the members met the actress whom I still could not remember her name. The shoot went well but it took too long (2hours+) to film especially for a scene that only last for 30 seconds. The reason was Ashmund always retake a shot too many times to reach 'perfection'. Even the actress was tired of it.

A quick rant: It seems that Ashmund doesn't let anyone to handle cameras except for Luke. The rest of us never had to chance to touch the cameras. We just stood there and watch most of the time. I believe this will be the same for the rest of the production stage. Another thing, the actress knows nothing about the story or her character. There was no script to begin with. I find this situation unsettling.

Rant #1

This is a follow-up from a previous post where I mentioned that we are absolutely not ready to film. There were tons of issues I encountered during development and pre-production and I want to get them off my chest.

1. The Basic Understanding of Filmmaking
It seems like the rest of my group members do not know how development and pre-production works. Let me tell you how it went out for us. After pitching ideas, we wrote a short summary of the film. Although the story was not finished written yet, the storyboard was developed right after that. Without a script to show how the story is going to flow, the storyboard became a mess (to me at least). Tons of continuity errors, pacing issues, characters with no personality and plot holes, no one bothered to listen what I had to say about it. The non-exist screenplay was later 'written' (in a completely wrong font!) based the unfinished storyboard. To further the problem, the storyboard was made based on existing locations. At the same time, the group was also tasked to scout locations, audio, casting, props and other minor jobs.

I am no professional filmmaker but having a finished script before doing anything else is a no-brainer. Why build the rest of the structure when the foundation is incomplete? The whole building will collapse easily. In terms of film making, it starts from developing ideas into a script. Storyboarding comes after reviewing and finalizing the completed script. The film has to be green-lit after the script is given a thumbs-up and securing the finance. This is when pre-production truly begin where the production team starts to make preparation for the shoot (casting, location, sets, props, etc). Why write a storyboard with an unfinished story? Why scout for locations first way before writing the story?


Ever since the first meeting to discuss the film, I had this feeling that the whole project may fall apart. After a few meetings, apparently my words didn't matter at all as the group never listen to them. I decided to go with the flow instead. It's not worth my time and breath to reason with them.

2. The One-man Crew
Most problems above began from the one-man crew, Ashmund. Why the term 'One-man Crew'? Because he insists on taking most of the roles. Director, producer, cinematographer, editor. You named it all.  Leaving only minor roles that he doesn't want to do to the rest. like make-up artist, location scouting, writing . Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a shared-role student project? Furthermore, he even accused some members for not contributing to the film. I do not agree with that. Look, how can they do more work when those jobs has been completely taken by you with an iron fist.

One time, I tried to approach him to talk about the above problems. "Shut up and do your job. This is how the industry works." he responded. That was very rude of but it made me chuckled a little because the second line was very ironic as he had worked in photography studio which is completely different than film making.

3. Casting
This is not a big issue but it is something that bothers me. Once again, Ashmund was the one handling the casting. The way he cast one is not by how well one could act but how one looks. Not every super models can act! No one has actually seen the actress till the first day of shooting.