The impact of the new technology is not limited to films or visual images requiring special photography, it applies to all computer generated images, including animation. The result is an ever greater merging of film photography and animation production methods.

In Japan a new type of movie has appeared, which incorporates animation into the script, and there are several animation directors who use ordinary film pieces in their animation works. And while animation/film cross-usage in Japan is different in its characteristics from Hollywood, it clearly is a movement in the same direction, of merging the production methods of photographic images and animation.

Further, many video game production companies, which have long utilized computer graphics technology, have expressed their intention to make production fully digital. This shows that the visual images industry of Japan, with animation production at its core, is about to undergo a fundamental change.

All these facts go to show that the borders of animation as we know it are growing broader, and that the importance of animation as a form of expression is growing.

Japanese animation is a strongly rooted, mature form of expression, and the introduction of new digital technologies is bringing a wave of change to an industry of long tradition. Animation Kobe was created to contribute to and promote the visual images industry, whose core is animation production. We are delighted to see growing public awareness towards the issues Animation Kobe has set as its goals. And it is our hope that this event will form a public support base for the work of animators and other creative persons, and will provide them with a venue for exchange of opinions and information.