TAAF2019] "Symposium 1: Exploring the Future of Animators as Animation Goes Digital" Report: What Makes Animators Low-Wage Workers? And how will digitalization change the production site?

On Sunday, March 10, 2019, "Symposium 1: Exploring the Future of Animators as Animation Goes Digital" was held as part of the Tokyo Anime Awards Festival 2019 (TAAF2019) program at the

This program is one of the symposiums where creators active in the field of Japanese animation gather to confirm Japan's position in the world and explore what kind of future vision of Japanese animation can be envisioned.

Here, Toshiyuki Inoue (Animator, Director of Japan Animators and Directors Association, "Akira," "GHOST IN THE SHELL / Ghost in the Shell," "Jin-Roh," "Tokyo Godfathers," "Dennou Coil," "Wolf Children: Rain and Snow," "Hyakkaiben," etc.), Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Animator, Animation Director, "Dennou Coil", "Evangelion: The Movie", "The Wind Rises", "Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Sorrowful Hill", "Space☆Dandy Season 2", "Flip Floppers", etc.), Ryomo-san (Animator, character designer, animation director, "Beck Yozakura Shijyutsu -Hoshinoumi-", etc.) will be on stage. Festival director Koji Takeuchi moderated the discussion, which lasted a full three hours.

■How Will Digitalization Change the Wage System for Animators?

The main topic of discussion this time was how the job classification of animators will change with the digitization of the animation production site. And will the wage problem be improved?

First, Director Takeuchi showed a flowchart of the animation production process in Japan and asked how much digitalization of the production site has progressed. He also explained how digitalization will progress in the future in what order.

Mr. Inoue said that the final processes of editing and shooting have already been almost completely digitized, and that storyboards have also been digitized to a large extent in recent years. By converting storyboards into movies, he said, the final pauses and timing can be shared at this stage.

Mr. Inoue also commented, "It is a good thing that animators are now able to do simple filming at the original drawing stage due to the progress of digitization. The progress of digitalization has made it easier for animators to work on tasks other than traditional drawing, and they are now able to create their work with a more complete image of the finished product.

On the other hand, there is also the question of who guarantees the fees and costs for such work. In the past, young animators voluntarily introduced such tools and performed a variety of tasks, and as a result, they charged animation studios for the cost of their work, causing problems.

He said, "I hope that (the industry) will soon clearly state the prices for work done independently. Now that kind of behavior (of voluntarily learning technology) is becoming a bad thing," commented Mr. Inoue, but he also recognized the current situation, saying, "There is no way to raise unit prices under the current Japanese situation.

In addition, there is a possibility that the workload of each animator will increase with the advancement of digitalization. Therefore, Mr. Toriyomo suggested that the calculation of wages for animators should be based on "man-hours" rather than "number of sheets. In the first half of the session, the speakers expressed their awareness of the problems in the animation industry as seen from the field and the need to somehow change the situation.

In the second half, the speakers discussed what can be gained by the digitalization of the animation production site. The second half of the session was devoted to the theme of what animators should think about as the animation production process goes digital.

Mr. Oshiyama, who has been working on a short animation for four months, said, "I have been able to produce it almost by myself, working on the scenario, part of the finishing touches, and even the background if I have time. This is because of digitalization," he said. He also expressed his view that "in the future, production by a small number of people will become the mainstream. The increased work efficiency resulting from digitalization will enable a shift from conventional manpower-based production to production by a small number of elite professionals, and will also make it easier to control quality. As a result, he said, the compensation per person will also increase. However, he also cautioned against sending out the wrong information that "because a small number of people are working on a production, it is okay to pay less.

In addition, he expressed his opinion that the current situation where animators who lack skills and morals, such as those who do not meet deadlines, are given jobs because of the large number of animated TV productions currently being produced, will be weeded out as digitalization progresses.

Toward the end of the session, he also talked about the problems facing Japanese animation works themselves.

Mr. Inoue said, "Nowadays, the lines of characters are too complicated. In the past, animation had overwhelmingly simple lines. Nowadays, there is a tendency to think that moving the original illustration is a good thing, but animation is not about moving illustrations. The style of expression in animation is to draw a lot of pictures and move them around," he said, commenting on the recent animation style.
The complexity of the lines has resulted in a decrease in the number of animations an animator can draw per day compared to the past. This is one of the reasons for the low wages for animators. "We should move toward simpler lines, which will solve the economic problem. The symposium concluded by highlighting the challenges faced by the animation production scene.