Live-action Docs with animation are dope! But of course, I am biased. lol. Also, super fan of Yegane Moghaddam. My mom (who is Persian) shared it with me. Such a lovely film and the animation is so creative and refreshing!!!
Great article! I didn't know anything about Yamamoto so it was a fascinating read.
It's mad hearing about how hard the Conan team had to work to get the show to the standard they wanted. Have you covered working conditions in the industry over the decades before? There's this idea that in order to make something great you have to massively overwork, but I'd be interested to know which famously successful projects don't fit that pattern?
As an animator I'm hoping for the successful career, and the work life balance, but maybe that's asking too much.
Thank you! We're glad we could introduce you to Yamamoto's work.
As for working conditions, they've really varied across time and place. The anime industry has long been one of the most unforgiving and brutal animation scenes anywhere. A lot of Japanese shows and films (including a lot of the best ones) have been underfunded, understaffed and pressed for time. And Conan was more difficult than many because Miyazaki was learning on the job. So definitely don't take this production, or this era of anime, as the standard!
Making great animation without massive crunch is definitely possible. The Boy and the Heron is a recent one: its production seems to have been pretty leisurely, all things considered, and Ghibli went all-out on the budget.
Outside Japan, we haven't seen that many crunch horror stories from state-owned animation studios. Those have a smaller presence than they did during the Cold War (when much of the world was heavily communist), but they're still around -- the National Film Board of Canada being one. And then you've got American animated features like Disney's. Those can be really challenging in their own ways, but (at least in the union jobs) nothing like the anime industry experience.
TV and advertising tend to be the most difficult in terms of deadlines, which has always been true (Richard Williams' team spent many nights sleeping at the studio for projects like A Christmas Carol back in the '60s and '70s). Beyond that, it can be case-by-case, studio-by-studio, project-by-project. A good practice, especially if you go the independent route, is to set limits for yourself. Animation is a career that can absorb as many hours as you put into it and then ask for more. Getting that work-life balance often requires a proactive approach, plus working smarter rather than harder. There's no perfect answer, but there are ways to make it more livable. Hope that helps!
Very glad you enjoyed this one -- Yamamoto may not have the instant name recognition that some Ghibli artists do, but his story is amazing and we just had to cover it.
Live-action Docs with animation are dope! But of course, I am biased. lol. Also, super fan of Yegane Moghaddam. My mom (who is Persian) shared it with me. Such a lovely film and the animation is so creative and refreshing!!!
That's so, so cool! We still haven't had a chance to see Yegane's full film ourselves -- really looking forward to it.
Great article! I didn't know anything about Yamamoto so it was a fascinating read.
It's mad hearing about how hard the Conan team had to work to get the show to the standard they wanted. Have you covered working conditions in the industry over the decades before? There's this idea that in order to make something great you have to massively overwork, but I'd be interested to know which famously successful projects don't fit that pattern?
As an animator I'm hoping for the successful career, and the work life balance, but maybe that's asking too much.
Thank you! We're glad we could introduce you to Yamamoto's work.
As for working conditions, they've really varied across time and place. The anime industry has long been one of the most unforgiving and brutal animation scenes anywhere. A lot of Japanese shows and films (including a lot of the best ones) have been underfunded, understaffed and pressed for time. And Conan was more difficult than many because Miyazaki was learning on the job. So definitely don't take this production, or this era of anime, as the standard!
Making great animation without massive crunch is definitely possible. The Boy and the Heron is a recent one: its production seems to have been pretty leisurely, all things considered, and Ghibli went all-out on the budget.
Outside Japan, we haven't seen that many crunch horror stories from state-owned animation studios. Those have a smaller presence than they did during the Cold War (when much of the world was heavily communist), but they're still around -- the National Film Board of Canada being one. And then you've got American animated features like Disney's. Those can be really challenging in their own ways, but (at least in the union jobs) nothing like the anime industry experience.
TV and advertising tend to be the most difficult in terms of deadlines, which has always been true (Richard Williams' team spent many nights sleeping at the studio for projects like A Christmas Carol back in the '60s and '70s). Beyond that, it can be case-by-case, studio-by-studio, project-by-project. A good practice, especially if you go the independent route, is to set limits for yourself. Animation is a career that can absorb as many hours as you put into it and then ask for more. Getting that work-life balance often requires a proactive approach, plus working smarter rather than harder. There's no perfect answer, but there are ways to make it more livable. Hope that helps!
Thankyou. Excellent.
Very glad you enjoyed this one -- Yamamoto may not have the instant name recognition that some Ghibli artists do, but his story is amazing and we just had to cover it.