THE 2ND SINGAPORE

The 2nd Animation Fiesta was a 3-day event held from 19th to 21st June at the beautiful Jubilee Hall at Raffles Hotel.

The programme was packed with plenty of well-known names - Kathleen Helppie-Shipley (Warner Bros), Dato' Mohd Nor Khalid (Lat), Karen Goulekas (Godzilla), Professor Mark Langer etc. - each sharing his/her expertise and knowledge.

Unfortunately, by the time I decided it was worth taking leave to attend, the 3-day passes ($60) were sold out.  I had to contend with picking up loose tickets ($6 per session).  Even so, many sessions including my top choices, the animation screenings "Tombstone of the Fireflies", directed by Isao Takahata, and "Sailor Moon R" directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara, were sold out. *sniff*.  By then, my enthusiasm had somewhat waned, but I was thankful I got a ticket for Ikuhara's talk "The Production Process of Commercial Animation in Japan" - on Japanese Anime style with reference to his works Sailor Moon and Utena.

See my sub-standard notes (below) from Ikuhara's talk - I meant to make scans of the awful, scrawly and disjointed notes I took during the talk but my scanner was down.  Here's the stuff all typed out:

Sailormoon - full hand painted cels, flat 2D characters.

Utena - CGI and hand painted cels, higher quality production.

Anime has Manga roots.  Manga is basically Japanese comics.  However, unlike its counterparts in the West, Manga uses cinematic expression - of motion in still pictures - giving a sense of power and pace on a 2 dimensional platform.  Likewise, similar techniques are harnessed for Anime productions.

The Manga roots means that Anime has much more detail and much less exaggerated body movement in relation to the constant motion of American animation.  For e.g. in interpreting an identical scene, Japanese staff focused on the lips of a character speaking, while American staff featured the full facial and bodily expressions. 

In Japanese Anime, one frame could linger for 2 minutes with no movement, only atmosphere.  (e.g. Evangelion - Death & Rebirth).  Or several still frames could pan in/out all directions on screen in 10 seconds.

Tight budgets mean that merchandising is extremely crucial in gaining royalties.

Here's my very brief narration of the only event I attended at Singapore's 2nd Animation Fiesta (I meant to go for three - but the other two were sold out ~_~):

When I first found out about this event - The Production Process of Commercial Animation in Japan - I wasn't sure what to expect.  The program didn't reveal much; it was to be a "talk" - lecture? workshop? seminar?  To be honest, I made no effort to find out.  This was mostly because the event organisers, while helpful, sounded awfully busy and hassled.   (My thanks to Ms Wahida who entertained my calls and requests for info through the fax).  In any case, I had decided that I would just GO (right after I found out that many events were sold out).  It was afterall Kunihiko Ikuhara.  And it was such a rare event.  If anyone remembers, the last Animation Fiesta, the very first, was sometime in 1996.

It was dark when he stepped out onto the stage When the lights came on, he stood there - a thin, scrawny man with chiselled cheekbones and visibly tinted gold-brown hair.  He looked thinner and much younger than I expected. 

Unfortunately, he conducted his talk entirely in Japanese.  Unlike subbed Anime, I did not enjoy the "subbed talk".  As the material was read rather than expressed, the advantage of having it in Japanese became irrelevant.  Plus, it was difficult having to keep my eyes on him and read and absorb the essence of the material being projected (by some sort of OHP) all at once.  

For many, the highlight of the event must have been when an episode each of Sailor Moon R and La Fillette Revolutionnaire, Utena, was shown.   It certainly felt different watching Anime on a large screen.  Here was something that was on par with Disney and yet remained mainly small-screen and underground.  It was as uplifting as it was upsetting.

The Q&A session got off to a slow start.  No one was gungho enough to ask anything when Q&A was thrown open to the audience.   Then as the crowd warmed to the Q&A, many did not get the opportunity to ask anything due to time constraints.  That was a pity because it showed so much interaction potential.   What the Q&A did do however, was to reveal how some fans remain amateurish and childish - ignorant of basic production and distribution processes.  I was thoroughly embarrassed.  I do not profess to be an expert on Anime, but honestly, a little homework wouldn't kill! 

As the event closed, fans mobbed Kunihiko Ikuhara for his autograph.  I slunk away sulkily - half-embarrassed and yet half-tempted to do the same.  Perhaps if it was Nobuhiro Watsuki...

WHO IS KUNIHIKO IKUHARA?

Kunihiko Ikuhara was a series director of the TV show Sailor Moon for 3 years, and also directed the animation feature, Sailor Moon R.  His unique directing technique has pioneered a new field and attracted many animation fans.  He directed the TV version of La Fillette Revolutionnaire, Utena, which is currently being shown in Tokyo.  Currently, he is working on the feature version of Utena to be released in 1999.  Ikuhara is seen as a leading force in the next generation of Japanese animation directors.  He won the Kobe Award at the Kobe '97 Animation Festival.