I have to recommend Masaaki Yuasa's great series "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!" Even though the characters are high-schoolers, I found it very honest and relatable to the work of making your first short film, from the early bursts of creativity and inspiration to the struggles and long hours of work.
I believe the need to separate animation into distinct creative, labor, and business components is the limitation of the word "production" that is generally used by the public. The Japanese anime industry, for example, makes a distinction between production planning (製作), which describes the business aspect of anime production, and creative production (制作), which encompasses creative and labor. Thank you for succinctly defining these components and for linking to my article on Animenomics.
Another work of animation about animation that comes to mind is a direct-to-video Japanese anime title from the 2000s called 'Animation Runner Kuromi' that, like 'Shirobako', highlights the work of production assistants as the connector among anime studio teams.
One that isn't animation is a Japanese drama series called 'Trillion Game' (available on Netflix), where in the eighth episode two television networks compete to win a distribution contract with a popular anime studio.
Thanks for your comment, Richardson. It's true that the word "production" is very broad, and I've always found it interesting that the Japanese language makes a distinction here—although it's really a distinction that exists in writing, as both 製作 and 制作 spell the same word, "seisaku." Which creates a new kind of confusion!
Great recommendations, too. I didn't know either, but just looked them up. How can I resist a series called "Animation Runner Kuromi"?
And I'll take the opportunity to thank you for the great work you do on your Substack, which is so clear and informative.
Another interesting post! I’ve been put upon your sub stack by the recent Cartoon Brew live stream and happy to have caught the recommendation!
Regarding the posts subject, it always interests me what a general audiences perception and feelings are, whenever a movie or show center around an artist and their creative process. Is it mistifying the process to them(probably depends on the portrayal), is it alienating? Being an artist myself and someone interested in the arts from a very young age, I feel like I’ve always empathized with artists but I’m curious what a general audience member not connected to the arts feels.
Examples of such stories that come to my mind in animation are:
- Ursula from “Kiki’s Delivery Service”
- “Whisper of the Heart” (more focused on writing and music, but as you’ve mentioned yourself, those I would consider close siblings of animation from a non-artists perspective)
- “Blue Period” manga series about art and art students
A fascinating example of a character in a fictional world who is also an artist (not an animator per say) is Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2. He’s a gunslinger and an outlaw but he carries around a sketchbook in which he draws from time to time as you progress throughout the game. I found that addition to be a wonderful surprise but I was curious what would regular players think. After all having a “badass” character in a “badass” game(from the creators of the GTA series)draw sketches in a journal, is a unique and unexpected choice, but I’ve found many if not all fans of RDR2 love that part of the game and some have even been inspired to start their own journals and sketches. I realize this is more of a tangent and more on the subject of art in general rather than animation specifically.
Again, thoroughly enjoyed your posts and looking forward to the next one!
Hi Agnes – thanks for reading, and for expanding on the subject thoughtfully. I didn't know that about "RDR2"! Such a great touch. Yeah, when you start thinking of artistic expression in general, there are so many interesting examples. Lizzy Hobbs's short film "I'm OK," about the painter Oskar Kokoschka, and the musicians in Naoko Yamada's features come to mind. And then there are those films that explicitly fold an artistic subject into their form, like "Loving Vincent." There's surely an affinity between different kinds of creative people that's being expressed in these works.
I have to recommend Masaaki Yuasa's great series "Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!" Even though the characters are high-schoolers, I found it very honest and relatable to the work of making your first short film, from the early bursts of creativity and inspiration to the struggles and long hours of work.
I believe the need to separate animation into distinct creative, labor, and business components is the limitation of the word "production" that is generally used by the public. The Japanese anime industry, for example, makes a distinction between production planning (製作), which describes the business aspect of anime production, and creative production (制作), which encompasses creative and labor. Thank you for succinctly defining these components and for linking to my article on Animenomics.
Another work of animation about animation that comes to mind is a direct-to-video Japanese anime title from the 2000s called 'Animation Runner Kuromi' that, like 'Shirobako', highlights the work of production assistants as the connector among anime studio teams.
One that isn't animation is a Japanese drama series called 'Trillion Game' (available on Netflix), where in the eighth episode two television networks compete to win a distribution contract with a popular anime studio.
Thanks for your comment, Richardson. It's true that the word "production" is very broad, and I've always found it interesting that the Japanese language makes a distinction here—although it's really a distinction that exists in writing, as both 製作 and 制作 spell the same word, "seisaku." Which creates a new kind of confusion!
Great recommendations, too. I didn't know either, but just looked them up. How can I resist a series called "Animation Runner Kuromi"?
And I'll take the opportunity to thank you for the great work you do on your Substack, which is so clear and informative.
Another interesting post! I’ve been put upon your sub stack by the recent Cartoon Brew live stream and happy to have caught the recommendation!
Regarding the posts subject, it always interests me what a general audiences perception and feelings are, whenever a movie or show center around an artist and their creative process. Is it mistifying the process to them(probably depends on the portrayal), is it alienating? Being an artist myself and someone interested in the arts from a very young age, I feel like I’ve always empathized with artists but I’m curious what a general audience member not connected to the arts feels.
Examples of such stories that come to my mind in animation are:
- Ursula from “Kiki’s Delivery Service”
- “Whisper of the Heart” (more focused on writing and music, but as you’ve mentioned yourself, those I would consider close siblings of animation from a non-artists perspective)
- “Blue Period” manga series about art and art students
A fascinating example of a character in a fictional world who is also an artist (not an animator per say) is Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2. He’s a gunslinger and an outlaw but he carries around a sketchbook in which he draws from time to time as you progress throughout the game. I found that addition to be a wonderful surprise but I was curious what would regular players think. After all having a “badass” character in a “badass” game(from the creators of the GTA series)draw sketches in a journal, is a unique and unexpected choice, but I’ve found many if not all fans of RDR2 love that part of the game and some have even been inspired to start their own journals and sketches. I realize this is more of a tangent and more on the subject of art in general rather than animation specifically.
Again, thoroughly enjoyed your posts and looking forward to the next one!
Hi Agnes – thanks for reading, and for expanding on the subject thoughtfully. I didn't know that about "RDR2"! Such a great touch. Yeah, when you start thinking of artistic expression in general, there are so many interesting examples. Lizzy Hobbs's short film "I'm OK," about the painter Oskar Kokoschka, and the musicians in Naoko Yamada's features come to mind. And then there are those films that explicitly fold an artistic subject into their form, like "Loving Vincent." There's surely an affinity between different kinds of creative people that's being expressed in these works.