llow paper).
The in-betweeners work rapidly on several projects at the same time. (At the given moment Akihabara (FF), Kureon Shinchan (TV)). Part of the animation can also be executed in other companies if necessary.
The in-betweeners are usually freelancers who are paid by the amount of finished drawings, therefore to maintain a sufficient standard of living many work more or less around the clock. The average age of the employees seems to be from 20 to 30 years and only very few has worked at the department for more than a couple of years. Of the most experienced workers of the department Koyama has worked at I.G for 8 years and Inoue in the animation field for about twenty years alltogether.
Surprisingly even in -99 some of the animation in Production I.G is done as a traditional cel-animation. Then the cels end up to the studio 7, where they are being colored by hand. In Japanese anime there are usually 350 colors, TV- and video -anime containing only 80-120 colors. Then again, in full-length theater-distributed animation movies even 500 colors may be used. Painting the cels is however a relatively slow process and thus expencive. Especially in summer during the rainy season the paint-jars can become mouldy very easily. This phase of the production process is also paid less and the department consists of mostly women. The digital production environment getting stronger also in Production I.G this line of work is becoming history, and soon after my visit the whole studio 7 is shut down.
However, in the spring 2000 I get a chance to be initiated into anime post-production in a company called Omnibus promotion Inc. The company is specialized in the post-production phase of anime procuction, sound-production including foleys, ambience, dialogue, special effects and the sound design and final mix-down. In the spring 2000 the company is making the sound design for the full-length anime movie Escaflowne (movie adaptation). The foleys and dialogue has already been recorded earlier, and the sound processing and mix-down is in progress at Tokyo TV Center's studio 407 in Hamacho, Tokyo. A big movie screen is in use and Pro Tools is used for the soundprocessing and editing. The production of the movie is behind the schedule and therefore only a rough production copy of the movie is available. Only a part of the animation is in its final form, while part is just black and white line-art. Partly what you see on the screen is just the most important points of the animated movements, occasionally just attached pieces of paper. Trying to make the sound design process a bit easier in the given situation, for example pieces of paper has been attached in the animation to express the length of dialogues, footstep hits and certain special effects such as explosions. The orchestrated music has also been recorded already, so that the work can be mostly focused on the final sound design itself. Kazuki Akane, the director of the movie, is also present at the studio and supervises the sound design process. The sound design process itself is being conducted by Toshiki Kameyama from Omnibus Promotion Inc. Usually the amount of time used for the sound production phase of a full-length animation movie is around one month only. In Escaflowne the special effects are provided by a different company, Sound Box.
In the end...
I was the most delighted about the warm way I was welcomed to this society. Since day one I experienced an extremely creative environment. I was obviously very enthusiastic to meet the very pros of the anime industry. However, instead of meeting just pros, I was able to meet very warmhearted people who, without any hesitations, welcomed a foreigner from the other side of the world and were willing to share their tricks of the trade.
Now, being able to see the whole anime production process from start to finish, I can say that I was able to learn something new and inspiring. It's obvious that the Japanese way of thinking strongly differs from the western one, in so many ways. The visual culture is different and the way to express 