Movie 4 Production Diary

[Patches]

Okay, we've got two today, to make up for the blog downtime yesterday.

C-part continuity complete

Earlier, I was finally able to finish the C-part continuity and go home.
When I looked at the clock, it was 4:00 (in the morning, of course)
I had intended to get it done before the changing of the day, but deciding on the color scheme for Kikyou's armor form and the production meeting, time really got eaten up.

At this point, the last thing I have left to do is check the final part.
But I've already gotten a pretty important task, so I'll start working on that tomorrow (er, today).

In any case, this one has a lot of action.
It's a problem that the various people working on the continuity have variations in their style of drawing.
For instance, taking the "Kaze no Kizu" as one example, since we've already tested just about every approach, it's next to impossible to come up with a novel way of doing it.
(even though searching for a way is part of the fun of continuity)

Besides, the physics that need to be incorporated into drawing are rapidly increasing, and the scenes I'm talking about need to be compared four or five times.
The number of cuts is also increasing, so the burden on each scene has become greater.
At this point, the schedule is quite nicely not rolling along.

Even so, there are flowers in that nice action scene, so there certainly is the power to wash those hardships away.

2004/09/11

Clearfile/Poster

The other day I was sent a sample of the clearfile that came with the advance ticket.
There was an image of Hamtaro on the back.
Regretably, there was no Takahashi-sensei artwork this year.

The poster was just one of the things we met about in a publicity meeting to discuss various propaganda developments.
I usually only attend the first poster meeting.

Since this year Hamtaro comes as a package deal, the request was that the top half of the poster be an oblong size and the pamphlets be like a B4 size sheet cut in half.
This is rather bothersome, since there's no way to frame it (you'd inevitably cut something off).

It's all about how many people the poster can attract.
However I say it, the best way is to sell the movie at a glance.
Since the word from this year's title is "Crimson", the concept is to include a lot of red.

I gave my original concept for the poster to animation director H-san to work on.
I had thought of the themes for the first and second films, and based on the opinions of the production committee meetings, animation director M-san finished them up. (naturally, the backgrounds were done by art designer I-san)
Last year's draft came from M-san. It was pretty cool.

The animator Frank Thomas died on the 8th.
One of the original "Nine Old Men" of the Disney production team, we wish him the best from above the clouds.
Dead at 92. We pray for you.

2004/09/12

Here's an article on Frank Thomas, if you're interested.

[Patches]

Keeping with the theme of the day. ^_^*

TV final episode party

There was a directoral meeting at 1:00pm over the last half of C-part.
This part was handled by Studio 1, who worked on the TV series.
The director was S-san, also of that studio.
This was my first time working with S-san, but I have heard that the studio's general supervisor H-san and part supervisor T-san are reliable.
He seems like a really honest person, so I have high expectations that I have gotten my hands on someone who can work on the continuity quickly and reliably.

Last week I was waiting until 1:00 in the morning for the continuity to be finished, but because my part was late, I should have gone into the studio one more time on Sunday to give it another look-over.
S-san, I'm sorry.

At the moment, Studio 1 is busily preparing for a new program in October.
Additionally, the number of cuts is exceeding expectations, so it must be a burden to have the movie going on concurrently, but they gratefully said "We'll do it" and took on the project, so I'm quite thankful to everyone in Studio 1.

After that, the Studio 1 staff attended the finale of the TV series.
It was watched by everyone during a final episode party in a conference room, is what I'm saying.
I wanted to attend as well, but since I haven't finished the continuity yet, I didn't have the guts to show my face in front of YTV's S-pro.
(Ah, people are so little...)
According to the people who went, a fair number of the seiyuu came as well.
The general supervisor of the TV series H-san also had work he couldn't get away from. Too bad.
And A-supervisor was sick, so couldn't come...
In any case, thanks for these three and a half years.

At night, I was chatting with the animator A-san.
A-san is a special animator who wanders from movie to movie, working on things like Steamboy, Howl's Moving Castle, and Naruto.
He's a serious, gentle, and very candid person, so it was interesting hearing various things from him.
The Naruto schedule is also very tight, so he asked "Are TV series movie (schedules) always like this?"
Mmm... I think so. (cold sweat)

2004/09/13

[B-chan]

For instance, taking the "Kaze no Kizu" as one example, since we've already tested just about every approach, it's next to impossible to come up with a novel way of doing it.

I know! I know! Why don't they animate it from the target's view point? Making it look like Kaze no Kizu is going to hit the viewer, wee!

At this point, the schedule is quite nicely not rolling along.

Gee that sure is a nice way of saying they're running late.

Even so, there are flowers in that nice action scene, so there certainly is the power to wash those hardships away.

Sure they may be killing each other but that's okay, there's flowers.

[Patches]

Inuyasha rice bowl

Animedia was collecting data this afternoon around 12:00.
The editor O-san has been doing this for four years.
In all honesty, we'd intended to do the data-gathering last week, but with the continuity running late, we had them wait until today.
With only half the time to do the data-gathering, they'll be in a pinch to meet the deadline for the next issue.
Animedia is the anime magazine that puts the most emphasis on Inuyasha.
This year as well, it looks like they'll be picking up Inuyasha information for the next three months.

In the evening, there was a meeting with general supervisor H-san at Studio 1 over the main villain's final form.
Also in attendance was assistant supervisor O-kun, to get designer Y-kun's opinion over what sort of visual we wanted.
In any case, at yesterday's finale showing, all those in attendance received a "Inuyasha rice bowl" with a Takahashi-sensei drawing on it.
Drat... I should have gone...
Takahashi-sensei was at the finale as well.
It was the final episode, but it was also a solemn moment.

S-san, who is in charge of the final E-part, showed me an image of Inuyasha's special attack from this time only.
He only showed me the original draft, but S-san's not the type to change things.
Sure enough, just that one image exuded the feel of a big power-up.
He wanted to disregard the person himself and do this as an original, so of course it is on this point only that S-san and I agree.
Heh heh heh, S-san, you can't escape.

2004/09/14

[Patches]

Cellphone

I do not have a concealed cellphone.
I had one a few months ago, but it broke.
It didn't break in some unforseen accident, I destroyed it myself.
I was finding it impossible to deal with the tight schedule of the TV series (not Inuyasha. Just an example), and I was getting angered with my own shortcomings, so I took out my frustration on a nearby cellphone.
I bent the hinge on it backwards with all my might until it broke in half.
There are no words to describe how good that moment felt, but the next moment, I realized that I'd lost all my data.
It was too late to think "crap". I'm an idiot.
Since then, I've cancelled the contract, and up until now I still don't have one.
Well, in any case, at this point since the work is piling up and I don't have a cellphone, this can't be good for my mental health...

2004/09/15

It's okay. I don't have a cellphone either. That's what e-mail is for.

[Chafa-kun]

Japanese, without a cell phone and talks about Kagome's skirt...

man this guy gives me the creeps xDDDD

[echolalia]

Hahahah!

If there's one phrase in Japanese that I must know, it is definitely, "Crap. I'm an idiot." I would use it every single day. X|

[Patches]

"Crap. I am an idiot", huh? Well, in his post, that was "Shimatta. Baka desu ne." Anyway, here's his latest offerings:

Finally the continuity is really working out

At tomorrow's (Friday's) directoral meeting, we'll be doing the continuity check of the first half of E-part.
The one in charge is the guy from countless times before, S-san.
Originally an animator and illustrator, ever since he made his continuity debut in Inu movie 2, he's become a regular continuity member that the Inu movies can't be drawn without.
With his splendor and speed, he is the most fitting for Inuyasha's intense action scenes.
I remember jealously thinking, "Why didn't I come up with this kind of cut?"
He's the one who did the battle with the giant serpents in the second film and the battle in the bamboo thicket last year.

He loves B-movies (C-movies?) and is a storehouse of absurd trivia, and while on that topic I was talking with our irreplacable assistant supervisor, O-kun, and he said that no one hangs around with him.
Though you tend to see people hang out with people of a similar crowd, S-san shares some similar hobbies as O-kun, and he's mad about it.

This time he's in charge of the climactic battle with the main villain.
Because of being able to freely move about in a special setting such as an island, the feelings of speed and scale are intensified, so we figured it was the appropriate subject of the climax.
On the other hand, the intensity of that scene looks like it's making director T-san sweat bullets....

2004/09/16

[Chafa-kun]

man he should STOP using those confusing "s-kun", "C-part", "B-movies", he's so freakin' confusing me!!!!!!!! xDDD

Nice one though. It's always nice to know they're delayed but not THAT much

[echolalia]

Chafa-kun said:

man he should STOP using those confusing "s-kun", "C-part", "B-movies", he's so freakin' confusing me!!!!!!!! xDDD

Heh. Not sure if you're joking about the last one or not, but just in case:

B-Movie "Low Budget Film." Akin to the term "b-side," this originally designated the second film in a double-feature. The first film was called the "a-movie." The term took a down turn as the movie industry started pumping out lower quality films made specifically to fill the "b-movie" role.

At least, I assume that's what was meant. ::shrug::

[Patches]

Er, um... gah. I'm not going to translate the comments readers have left on the blog entries, but there's been quite a few posted regarding Inu's new special attack in the movie. One of the commentors posted that it would be neat if Inuyasha got to use Tenseiga, and the blogger responded, "Hey, that sounds interesting."

Dear god, if they put something like that in there, I will murder something. First of, how would Inu even get ahold of that sword? Sess certainly isn't going to lend it to him, and it would sort of degrade Inu's character if he stole it. I guess the only option would be a movie 3 scenario where Sess loses it for a moment. For another thing, it wouldn't be fair at ALL. Sesshoumaru always gets burned whenever he tries to use Tessaiga, so I'm going to guess a similar failsafe would be in place if Inu ever tried to use Tenseiga (those who would carelessly kill can't use Tessaiga, those who would carelessly restore life can't use Tenseiga).

Granted, this was just a suggestion from a commentor, so there's no definite word that something like this would appear, but... I really hope not. Or that the blogger was just humoring him by saying, "Oh, interesting."

[bomhammer]

tenseiga has a mind of its own.

most likely inuyasha could touch it but couldn't use it.

unless tenseiga wanted him to use it.

[Patches]

E-part directoral meeting

This morning, I went to pick up my car, which had finished its inspection, and went to the studio.
S-san was sitting in front of his computer drawing pictures while looking sleepy.
It seems like it's been a while since he's stayed overnight at the studio.
At 7:00 in the evening we had the directoral meeting to do the continuity check.

In the middle, we got a phone call from I-pro, who had a hangover (?).
He says we're supposed to have a PR meeting next week.
It will probably be about making the fall-season trailers.
However, the deadline for the continuity is the end of next week. I don't really have time to take on other tasks next week...

Before the meeting, the two photography supervisors, T-san and O-san came in with the CG demo tape.
We dissected the test of the waterfall, the CG pattern of the ocean surface, and the swarm of poisonous insects.

After the designated 20 minutes had passed, we started the directoral meeting.
It was just for the action scene, but that's an important topic, and as the meeting progressed, director T-chan's face turned red.
However, that part of this movie has the most spirit.
If we can get that part good, this movie will be a hit.
For not following the schedule, I have sort of an unforgivable feeling, but this part is definitely important for T-chan.

The meeting ended around 9:30.
At this point we finally only have 10 minutes left.
(although the ending is still left, too...)

After that, I decided on the colors for the villain's weapon with color designer U-san.
Today U-san was all proud that his poochie got featured in an article in a dog-lovers' magazine, showing himself off as a dog fanatic.

Main supervisor H-san gave me the rough sketches of the three forms of the main villain.
I got in a minor discussion with designer Y-kun and assistant supervisor O-kun. I gave in to them on two or three points.

Furthermore, I got information on the middle part of the main title cut from CG director F-kun.
It has a good feel for the texture of stone. You won't see much rock texture in the finished product, but he still made it.

I left the studio at 11:30.
Ah~ I'm sleepy.

2004/09/17

Note: the word I translated as "poochie" was actually "wan-chan", which is a cutesy nickname for a dog. "Wan" is the sound dogs make, so it's like saying, "look at the little bow-wow!" or something.

[Patches]

XD This guy just doesn't catch a break.

Lockout

I arrived at the studio before noon.
I figured I'd go inside so I put my hand on the doorknob and... it didn't move.
It's strange that there'd be no one there. (astronomical probability?)
I didn't have my master key with me, and there wasn't a key for security hidden anywhere.
I don't have a cellphone with which to contact anyone, and I don't know anyone's number, anyway.
I figured I could just go to a nearby family restaurant to work on the continuity, but I didn't have any blank sheets.

Because of this, I decided to wait a little bit.
During that time, I started to ponder what sorts of things I would buy if such an astronomical probability decided to shine good fortune on me. I can blame the stress on making me greedy.
A Canon EOS D20 or a Brompton bicycle or an iPod mini... and then I want a canoe, and come to think of it, my hiking boots have gotten old, and I also want an electric piano... and while I was tossing around all these wild ideas in my head, I suddenly returned to reality.

It didn't look like anyone was coming.
I had no choice but to go back home to work and leave a note.

At yesterday's meeting, a particularly difficult (for this time) cut appeared, so I needed to fix that part. I continuously worked on E-part until the middle of the evening.

At night, the desk worker H-kun called.
I frantically apologized that there was nothing I could do.
After that, I lightly discussed with S-san about the method of the villain's final attack while working on the coninuity.
I've got one part of the continuity, and with the two of us working on it, this sort of collaboration has become necessary.

2004/09/18

I know he keeps talking about "continuity" this and "cut" that, and I realize that they use different terminology for some of our filmmaking techniqes. Continuity is the storyboard. Here's a sample of the continuity from the first episode. It's basically a rough play-by-play of everything. When he says the word "cut", he means... uh.... "shot", I guess. Like "cut to Inuyasha" or something. Every single time the camera changes what it's looking at (besides a pan), that's a cut.

[panoramacon]

This thing is supposed to come out in December and they are still working on the storyboards and designing the villian!? Chop chop people!

P