At
Animazement one week earlier, director Hiroyuki Kitakubo said the best animated
feature Oscar given to Spirited Away was nice, but worried that it would
put pressure on animators to aim for awards rather than good stories. Publisher
and producer Nobuyuki Takahashi of Studio Hard said the award would create
more business opportunities for Japanese animation. "More businesses will
be willing to invest toward the production of Japanese animation films,"
Takahashi said. "Both the animation and film industries exist because of
talented people, but talented people are expensive. If we can secure the
funding, we can secure the personnel and future projects will be a lot stronger."
In the few weeks after the award, Takahashi was able to get the money for
a major animation project. He noted that Spirited Away was not a ground breaking
or innovative film from Hayao Miyazaki, but he figured it had a better chance
of winning the Oscar than any of the nominated films - except Lilo and Stitch.
Also
at the previous weekend's Animazement, there was talk of having the Japanese
government intervene to have television networks pay more money to animation
producers who make shows for the networks. Takahashi said that the Oscar
for Spirited Away also could improve the chance of having the government
support the industry as a valuable export business. "The understanding of
animation as a cultural medium is still unrecognized within Japanese society.
There are many times in Japan where the value of a culture has to be recognized
first overseas." He compared the Spirited Away Oscar to an award that an
Akira Kurosawa film had won at a Cannes film festival, saying each award
awoke the government to the value of its filmmaker's work.
So
if animated cartoons are so popular in Japan, do American shows have a chance?
Yes, said Takahashi, pointing to the Power Puff Girls and South Park as gaining
popularity. "Other American cartoon programming is available in Japan, but
it has not been able to get as strong an audience," he said. A fan wondered
the reason the trend toward 13-episode anime series. Takahashi relied that
it's easier to get money for 13 shows, enough to fill one-quarter of a year
if run weekly, than for a longer series, because there's less financial risk
for a shorter series.
At
Animazement one week earlier, director Hiroyuki Kitakubo said the best animated
feature Oscar given to Spirited Away was nice, but worried that it would
put pressure on animators to aim for awards rather than good stories. Publisher
and producer Nobuyuki Takahashi of Studio Hard said the award would create
more business opportunities for Japanese animation. "More businesses will
be willing to invest toward the production of Japanese animation films,"
Takahashi said. "Both the animation and film industries exist because of
talented people, but talented people are expensive. If we can secure the
funding, we can secure the personnel and future projects will be a lot stronger."
In the few weeks after the award, Takahashi was able to get the money for
a major animation project. He noted that Spirited Away was not a ground breaking
or innovative film from Hayao Miyazaki, but he figured it had a better chance
of winning the Oscar than any of the nominated films - except Lilo and Stitch.
Also
at the previous weekend's Animazement, there was talk of having the Japanese
government intervene to have television networks pay more money to animation
producers who make shows for the networks. Takahashi said that the Oscar
for Spirited Away also could improve the chance of having the government
support the industry as a valuable export business. "The understanding of
animation as a cultural medium is still unrecognized within Japanese society.
There are many times in Japan where the value of a culture has to be recognized
first overseas." He compared the Spirited Away Oscar to an award that an
Akira Kurosawa film had won at a Cannes film festival, saying each award
awoke the government to the value of its filmmaker's work.
So
if animated cartoons are so popular in Japan, do American shows have a chance?
Yes, said Takahashi, pointing to the Power Puff Girls and South Park as gaining
popularity. "Other American cartoon programming is available in Japan, but
it has not been able to get as strong an audience," he said. A fan wondered
the reason the trend toward 13-episode anime series. Takahashi relied that
it's easier to get money for 13 shows, enough to fill one-quarter of a year
if run weekly, than for a longer series, because there's less financial risk
for a shorter series.
