Like
Ridley Scott, director Osamu Kobayashi got his start as a director of
television commercials and music videos. His break into the world of
longer films came when his commercial work was spotted by Masao
Maruyama, the head of the Mad House animation studio. Maruyama put
Kobayashi, who had previously worked on series such as Gad Guard and is
still helping prepare the forthcoming Paradise Kiss series, to work as
the director of the Beck anime, based on a manga series. "I think
working for Mr. Maruyama was a big risk," Kobayashi said. "I'd only
worked on short film and I'd never done any serious films. The reason I
took the job was because I looked at the manga, thought it was
interesting and took the job. He (Maruyama) is a person who, if he
doesn't like something, he really says it. I'm the type of person if
someone tells me to do something, I quit. Maybe that's why Mr. Maruyama
didn't say anything to me." Kobayashi approached the Beck anime as
other directors have approached shows based on manga, by making
changes. "The manga is different than film as a medium, so I adjusted
the manga to match the film." Ironically, Kobayashi made an adjustment
that matched the art decisions made by comic artists; he changed the
realistic character designs to something "more cute," which resembles
the decisions of comic artists who choose simple, iconic characters in
the hopes that audiences will more closely identify with them.
But
while simplified character designs can make audiences identify with a
character, simplified character personalities don't work for Kobayashi.
"In the case of a cartoon, the characters are very one-sided...I think
the kay thing is to illustrate a character as being real. What I want
to do is to illustrate a character with several sides," he said,
offering as an example Zordyke, the Blue Submarine Number Six character
who wants to change the world for himself and ends up nearly destroying
humanity. Kobayashi was one of the staff who helped develop the Zordyke
character for Blue Submarine. He is one of the filmmakers who compares
the role of actors in live action film to animators in anime, saying
both kind of artists need to be skilled to sell a story. And
Kobyasahi's experience in short and long film has taught him the
importance of pacing scenes to keep an audience's attention. "As a
filmmaker, it's important that there's a rhythm to the film. If not,
the audience gets sleepy."
Like
Ridley Scott, director Osamu Kobayashi got his start as a director of
television commercials and music videos. His break into the world of
longer films came when his commercial work was spotted by Masao
Maruyama, the head of the Mad House animation studio. Maruyama put
Kobayashi, who had previously worked on series such as Gad Guard and is
still helping prepare the forthcoming Paradise Kiss series, to work as
the director of the Beck anime, based on a manga series. "I think
working for Mr. Maruyama was a big risk," Kobayashi said. "I'd only
worked on short film and I'd never done any serious films. The reason I
took the job was because I looked at the manga, thought it was
interesting and took the job. He (Maruyama) is a person who, if he
doesn't like something, he really says it. I'm the type of person if
someone tells me to do something, I quit. Maybe that's why Mr. Maruyama
didn't say anything to me." Kobayashi approached the Beck anime as
other directors have approached shows based on manga, by making
changes. "The manga is different than film as a medium, so I adjusted
the manga to match the film." Ironically, Kobayashi made an adjustment
that matched the art decisions made by comic artists; he changed the
realistic character designs to something "more cute," which resembles
the decisions of comic artists who choose simple, iconic characters in
the hopes that audiences will more closely identify with them.
But
while simplified character designs can make audiences identify with a
character, simplified character personalities don't work for Kobayashi.
"In the case of a cartoon, the characters are very one-sided...I think
the kay thing is to illustrate a character as being real. What I want
to do is to illustrate a character with several sides," he said,
offering as an example Zordyke, the Blue Submarine Number Six character
who wants to change the world for himself and ends up nearly destroying
humanity. Kobayashi was one of the staff who helped develop the Zordyke
character for Blue Submarine. He is one of the filmmakers who compares
the role of actors in live action film to animators in anime, saying
both kind of artists need to be skilled to sell a story. And
Kobyasahi's experience in short and long film has taught him the
importance of pacing scenes to keep an audience's attention. "As a
filmmaker, it's important that there's a rhythm to the film. If not,
the audience gets sleepy."
