Awareness of show business. Interview with Ken Minami, Producer of "Arpeggio Ars Nova Cadenza" Flying Dog

Aoki Kogei no Arpeggio - Ars Nova the Movie Cadenza" (hereafter, "Cadenza"), which will open in theaters on October 3, 2015, has attracted attention for its use of "cel-look 3DCG," which was not yet well known even among anime fans during the TV series broadcast from October to December 2013. The TV series, which aired from October to December 2013, attracted attention for its use of "cell-look 3DCG," which was not yet well known even among anime fans. Cel-look 3DCG is a method of expressing 3DCG characters and mechanisms as if they were cel animation, and its use in the production of late-night TV animation was revolutionary. The production team always took a challenging stance in the production of "Cadenza," the final part of the series, by broadcasting the first 20 minutes of the film more than a week before its release, an unprecedented promotional campaign. We interviewed Ken Minami, producer of Flying Dog, who has been involved in the production of this title from the beginning.


─ ─ When did you start production of this work "Cadenza"?

Minami: At the launch of the TV series at the end of January 2014, I tapped the director and each of the main staff members on the shoulder and asked, "Do you have any free time next week? I lightly called them up and asked them if they had any free time next week. At a meeting the following week, I said, "Well, the TV series was a hit, so I'd like to make a follow-up. That was at the beginning of February. When we said we would make a continuation, would we make another TV series, an OVA, or a theater movie? We started the meeting without deciding on the format of the presentation or the content to be depicted. I had already created a schedule and budget projection for the production, and we discussed ideas with everyone. I think it was decided in about two meetings.

─ So you decided on the two movies at an early stage?

Minami
: That's right. I consider a director to be a "businessman" who knows how to make animation, so we discuss not only the content but also the schedule and production costs in our meetings. This is how we have always treated the "Arpeggio" staff, including director Seiji Kishi and series director Makoto Uezu, so we decided on two movies this time as well, after discussing what would be best for the work, the fans, and us, based on the schedule and other circumstances. We decided on two films after discussing what would be best for the film, the fans, and for us.

─ Did you work on the film at the same time as your previous film "DC"?

Minami: Not at the same time, but we made the new film as a single story line. The 40 minutes of the new "DC" film and the current "Cadenza" film were combined to form a single story, and I wrote out all the concepts and ideas of what could be done in this amount of time. The movie has a slightly different tempo than TV, so it is equivalent to about one school year's worth of ideas. After creating the structure and deciding how far we wanted to go with "DC," we started working on the detailed script.

─ What did you spend most of your time on during the production process of "Cadenza"?

Minami: Well, ......, this may be Director Kishi's own way, but he spends the most time on clarifying the intent of the project, "what we are going to make". After that, he spends most of his time on the script. You probably imagine that a script only contains the story and dialogues. In fact, for battle anime scripts, it is usually enough to write the general flow of the battle and the key lines in the battle. However, the script for "Arpeggio" includes descriptions of the ship's placement and, in some cases, even the timing of when to insert music. In essence, it is like a storyboard. That's why we spend so much time on the script.


─ Is it your job to put the ideas together as a story?

Minami: Yes, that's right. Once the landing point of the story is decided, the drama of the characters to get there, and if there is to be a battle, the background leading up to the battle is necessary. The composition meeting is where everyone checks to see if there is any unnaturalness in the necessity and the flow of the arrangement.

───That is a very logical way of making decisions, isn't it?

Minami: Yes, and the logic itself varies from the logic of the play to the logic of the fans' needs. And then there are the emotional decisions made by those present at the meeting, such as "I like this girl, so I want to promote her! and "I like this girl, so I want to promote her!" and "I just thought of this..." ideas are also intricately intertwined.

So emotional factors are also included in the process!

Minami: Of course. I think it is impossible to create an interesting work without bringing in such a variety of motivations.

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