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Hamano:
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Japanese celluloid sheets are fixed in place so they don't move, while American celluloid is made to move. Animation systems probably differ in the two countries in other ways as well. I've heard Disney America uses computers a great deal. What about celluloid?
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Tokunaga:
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The entire system is digitalized.
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Hamano:
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You mean celluloid isn't used at all?
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Tokunaga:
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Not even one sheet of it.
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Kamiya:
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This might surprise you, as Japanese animation is practically synonymous with celluloid, and fans would be able to get their hands on celluloid pictures sometimes, but today you find less and less celluloid in Japan. Toei Doga's Gegege no Kitaro is now being made digitally, as is the two-hour Meitantei Konan TV special scheduled for spring. A two-hour feature made entirely with digital technology is probably a first in Japan, so we were saying among the staff that it'll probably get people talking in the industry. It would seem that the age of celluloid is in its dying days.
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Hamano:
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So you're saying the Kamiya-signed celluloid that my daughter's looking forward to is a thing of the past?
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Kamiya:
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I suppose so. I've been in this business for 28 years now, and in the beginning everything was drawn by hand. Then Xerox copies made such work a lot more efficient, so output went up. And now we've got the computer.
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Hamano:
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Kamiya-san, have you ever worked on any Disney projects?
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Kamiya:
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Yes, I played Iago in Aladdin. You can hear my voice in the theater version, the video special and in other videos of that series.
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Hamano:
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Many young people today aspire to become animators, and in that connection I heard something interesting: that the reason 14-inch televisions still sell today is that a 14-inch screen is the same size as a celluloid sheet, so would-be animators stick paper on the TV screens to practice drawing on celluloid. This was an equal-opportunity way for young people to hone their skills, but what Tokunaga-san has just told us makes it obsolete.
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Kamiya:
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That's true. Today, even those whose job it is to color the pictures are told to use computers for that, but I've heard that some stubbornly insist on hand-coloring to preserve their art. I suppose that might be fairly common in a transition phase...
What in fact is the difference between computer colors and celluloid colors?
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Tokunaga:
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Ultimately, you check color after transferring the picture to film, so it doesn't make any difference.
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Kamiya:
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One more question: even if you color by computer, the colors will look different depending on the monitor you use, right?
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Tokunaga:
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At Disney, we use only Sony monitors for that reason.
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Hamano:
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Tokunaga-san, did your company make animators who worked with celluloid switch over to computers?
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Tokunaga:
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Some people switched over, and as Kamiya-san mentioned, others obstinately refused.
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Hamano:
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How do you train them?
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Tokunaga:
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The software we use is American. We have someone come from the U.S. to train the Japanese staff, and to oversee the whole project until its completion.
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Hamano:
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From the name of the company, Walt Disney Animation Japan, can I assume that your animators all speak English?
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Tokunaga:
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At Disney, animators work with tapes of voice actors reading the script. So I get asked that same question a lot, but the answer is that many animators do not speak English ﾑ they work with what they hear in much the same way as listening to music.
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Kamiya:
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Here's an interesting story. In the olden days, Disney movies were dubbed into Japanese using just one director. We usually work with all the voice actors there, throwing the lines out. If actor A puts in a really strong performance, then everybody else has to work that much harder to match him. Since that's how we're used to doing it, one Japanese voice actor said he didn't feel confident performing alone, and that the result would not be as good as when working as a group. The director's answer was very American: he said the actor should just follow his direction, and that the rest of the dialog was in his head. I didn't really understand that when I first heard it, but now I think I see that Disney regards each character as unique. And that's why, no matter which country you go to, that character has to be acted with the same voice and the same way of talking. That director I just mentioned had the essence of each character pinned down, and he wanted to bring it out. Even if nuance changes somewhat from language to language, intonation is universal. I think that's what he meant.
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Hamano:
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Tokunaga-san, you mentioned someone comes from the U.S. to train your staff in using the computer software ﾑ is such training conducted in English?
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Tokunaga:
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The trainer is accompanied by an interpreter specializing in computers.
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Hamano:
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I see. With regard to training, I'd like to ask Mr. Hindman a question. In Japan, we have schools for animators and for voice actors ﾑ how do animators in the U.S. learn their craft?
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