own 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 emotions. In Japanese animation you can see it very clearly. Still there is so much about it that is universal. After all emotions are universal, in spite of the culture behind them. And no matter what artform, after all it's basicly all about emotions. And as we know, a good animation is able to affect emotions in a very srong way.
( The text is based on traineeship reports from 1999 and 2000. Photos: K.Huitula )