Discard “common sense” for the animation industry

The density carried in 1CUT, the enthusiasm of condensation, and the unique preference of painting details can always make it easy for the viewer to identify whether the picture in front of the picture belongs to “Spirit of the Wind”. Following the launch of “hegemony animation”, “pops and pipi beauty” in the first half of 2018, Kamikaze Animation immediately opened the studio’s first animated film “Ninja Batman” to the world. .

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Kamikaze animation masterpiece. “Ninja Batman”, “pop and pipi beauty every day”, “JOJO’s Bizarre Adventure” first to third OP, “Sword Ran-Flower -” ED, “IDOLiSH 7 – Idol Star Wish – “OP “WiSH VOYAGE” MV and so on. .

KAMIKAZE (Kamikaru), which means blindly impulsive, forgetting to die, and decisively committing to succumb to something. “Shenfeng Animation” is like its name. With a mentality of dying, 15 years of faith has “walked to black”, and finally won the results of shocking the world. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the “Shenfeng Animation”, the Japanese media “animeanime” recently interviewed the founder and chairman of Kamikaze Animation, and at the same time directed the first OP of “Ninja Batman” and “JOJO’s Bizarre Adventure” as a creator. The supervision of the works, such as Mizusaki Yuki. .

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Located at the entrance to the front of the Kamikaze Animation Shrine near Harajuku, Shibuya-ku.

The topic was set up by the studio. The question that has not been asked for a long time evokes the recollection of Mizusaki. He admits that he did not have any concrete vision of the size of the studio, the genre of the work, and the atmosphere of the community. At the beginning, it was just a three-person image processing team, which was an individual business that was not qualified for legal person status. .

You know, about 20 years ago, it was almost a fantasy to just want to do animation independently. Fortunately, with the help of CG software to help, the small workshop-style production saw the possibility of survival, “Shenfeng animation” came into being in such exploration. .

Moreover, in the application of 3DCG, “Shenfeng” did not take the Pixar animation studio, or the realism that Hollywood pursues, or the road with a strong sense of hand, but “can use CG” A series of in-depth experiments and research were carried out on the subject of making the effects of celluloid animation. .

Hizaki’s “betting” just happened to be in the “neutral” and became a pioneer in the field that was neglected that year. The so-called object is rare, and the work has won awards in the subsequent evaluation competitions. It not only allows the studio to establish the focus of the main business in the future, but also takes the opportunity to complete the gorgeous turn to the corporate. .

Perhaps someone would ask, in the mainstream VFX (visual effect) trend of “Pixing to Pixar and aligning with Hollywood” under the circumstance, why does “Shenfeng” dare to scream to the old US in the CG? In this regard, Mizusaki’s explanation is that he wants to use the Japanese way of doing things to present the CG image to another extreme state. Therefore, when naming the studio, he intentionally joined a “death as a return”. Strong. .

The audience who saw the “Shenfeng” works will be deeply impressed by the unique skills of the connection between 2D and 3D images. So, how is this unique style gradually established? The answer given by Mizusaki is “not to be deliberate, but to follow the inner aesthetics, and naturally cultivated.” .

Among them, the experience accumulated by Sakisaki in graphic design has come in handy. For example, advertising flyers, WEB, DT, text groups, portraits, and processing techniques for plate-making originals, etc. Hizaki himself prefers the density of the cover of “Weekly Young Jump”. The same amount of text, placed in that position can increase the density of the picture, and where it appears to be more succinct, the basic skills related, has been absorbed into the body components of the water, and used freely. In the same way, the image that jumps into the eye may bring a complicated visual impact. However, most of the time does not mean the proportion of complicated work, but often depends on the ingenuity of the layout.

Of course, excellent works are absolutely inseparable from the down-to-earth work. If you want to summarize the skills, you should pick out the worst of them, the “worst CUT”, and take remedial measures. As a result, a new batch of “worst CUTs” will soon emerge. It can be seen that the method of “Shenfeng” to improve the overall level of animation does not rely on the longboard of “best CUT”, but on the principle of wooden barrels, by repeatedly making up for the shortcomings of existing shortboards, to achieve the purpose of improving the quality of works. .

According to Mizusaki, at the production site, I often hear that “the effect here is not satisfactory, but it is not fatal, even if it is.” However, the next day, everyone will try to improve it. As a supervisor, Shuisaki always feels grateful for the professional attitude of the field staff. .

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Kamikaze Animation defines “compromise is death” (compromise and death) as the motto. And engraved this sentence on the company’s hospitality cup.

Hizaki pointed out that now that he is promoted to supervision, he can give a position and pass on to others. However, in those days when the business was the most difficult, the big things had to be personally supported by one person and supported. Sakizaki confessed that during that period, he used almost all kinds of evil tricks for the “animated righteous person”, and the side of the door, supervising himself to bear the most CG CUT, the hard work of the work, far beyond the imagination of ordinary people, in fact Mizaki has set a record of not lying flat for 21 consecutive days. .

Looking back, Hiroshi specifically mentioned that at the time, the studio had received a production task of an animation part of the MV, and this work became an important turning point affecting the company’s future development. It turned out that at the end of the last MV, Mizusaki put water on 1CUT. This is a 1CUT that was originally seen by laymen and will not be noticed at all. It does not contain fatal errors, but only outputs with the highest quality. Because at that time, the physical condition of Mizusaki was on the verge of collapse, and he opened his eyes and closed his eyes. If he is killed in peacetime, he will not do it. .

But later, whenever Sakizaki saw the CUT on various occasions, he would always be ashamed of his guilty conscience. Although he was only aware of this matter, it would be nice if he could do it again. Therefore, as soon as you see the MV, Shuiqi will feel the lack of confidence and can not stand upright in front of the people. It should have been the hard work of all the employees of the company that was proud of it, but it was regrettable for life. .

Hizaki learned from it that it means death. The final product of the compromise is death. Therefore, the company’s motto is warning, never compromise! What needs to be clarified is that “compromise is death” does not mean that if you compromise, you will die for me. Instead, you will ask if you have prepared yourself for “the work of your life forever.” .

When talking about the Japanese animation industry, Mizusaki said that he did not agree with the so-called “Japanese animation industry common sense.” (The Japanese animation industry generally has problems such as poor salary and poor labor environment for practitioners).

Hizaki said that the Kamikaze animation he is in charge will provide the necessary working environment for all employees, and will also collect the necessary production funds from the home. In Kamikaze animation, no employees will work overtime until late in the evening, and the company will also pay employees’ overtime for overtime. Although the above is a matter of course that should be done as a business, Mizusaki hopes that these can become a common phenomenon in the industry. .

Shuiqi is very hopeful that the Japanese animation industry will enter a virtuous circle as soon as possible, and look forward to seeing it soon. A group of people get reasonable income, enjoy work happily, have the filial piety of their children, get a full rest, and enjoy themselves in their leisure time. The favorite works, comics, and movies, from the various aspects of life, can experience the Japanese animations that are personalized by the satisfied animation practitioners. .


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