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| © 2004 MIND GAME Project |
Grand Prize
Mind Game
Long Animation
Artist : YUASA Masaaki / ROBIN Nishi
(Japan)
YUASA Masaaki
Animator and Director. He is mainly known for working on the TV animation series' Chibi Maruko Chan (storyboard, scene setting, original picture, etc.) and Crayon Shin-Chan (script, storyboard, setting design, supervising animator, original picture, etc.). He also worked as the director, script writer and producer for Nekojirusou (2001). He has proved his abilities in many different fields, and is now flourishing as a director. The "high tension" images he has produced have received considerable recognition both within and without the animation industry. The film, Mind Game, is his first foray as the director of a feature film.
I am keenly aware that producing animation is a collaborative effort, so I conceive of this prize as having been given to all of the staff and cast involved with this film, beginning with the author who wrote such a funny cartoon, and the producer who undertook to make it into a film and acquire sufficient funding for the enterprise. I was lucky enough to be able to join this project as one of the staff and I really appreciate having been granted this prize. I hope that our film will be watched by more people. Thank you very much.
Combining highly skilled animation techniques and expert sense of story telling, this work has blazed a trial to, and has likely reached the summit of, the expression which can currently be achieved only by cell animation. This piece does not rely on only its beautiful imagery alone, but also attempts to seek out and face the meaning of living "the present". Although there are several questionable moments within the film, we eventually judged these necessary to the achieving of its impressive climax. There was a concentration of entries this year with rich visuals that were produced through lengthy and complicated process. Amongst these, it was a pleasure to be reassured of the power of the well drawn line to exude life. After all, the origin of the word animation is "to put life in."
What kind of medium did you choose for your work when the first time you were aware of your "creation"?
I was drawing manga on notebooks using a ball-point pen. I preferred flat animation pictures to those elaborately drawn using brushes. I thought the image produced using a ball-point pen looked clearer and would be better to show to people. I rarely made mistakes, which allowed me to draw frames using a ruler without any preliminary work, and to paint out using a ball-point pen. I preferred using book style notebooks.
And, how old were you and what did you make?
I was drawing various kinds of manga stories from the age of 7 or 8 until junior high school and was always being influenced by the popular animations of the time. I would think out spectacular stories and, as I was drawing them, imagine the scenes depicting their climatic conclusions, but I never seemed to reach the end of the stories; most of them therefore had only the beginnings. Baseball story manga was popular amongst my peers and so I often worked on this subject. I learned some useful things during this time and was always drawing with the expectation of showing my manga to my classmates.
Do you have any consistent subject matter or theme through your works?
As I am shy, it took a long time for me to acquire an interest in the outside world. I only realized after I had grown up that the world is full of interesting and amazing things. It might have been fun to know that earlier.
Animation can describe things in both simple and abstract ways. I would like to show the younger generation some things about the world that I think are “interesting”, but which are submerged beneath the flood of modern information.
When do you feel the connection with the technology in your creative activity?
What is the difference of the sense of Media Art from the one of traditional fine art?
In the animation field, methods of production have been constantly changing since the advent and utilization of personal computers. Methods of production often change as a result of the introduction of new software, sometimes even in mid production. When I duplicate something, I put my little laptop on a huge table, which has line after line of switches on it, but mostly I do my work only with the laptop. There are also a variety of means for personal projects. I think the development of technology brings advantageous change, but sometimes this leads to a redundancy of human skills in our industry.
How does your choice of medium affect on your works?
In another words, what kind of expression does your choice of medium allow you to make?
The use of computers has meant that camera work, which used to be restricted by fixed shooting tables, has become remarkably free. Computers make the work quicker and allow us to introduce real images into animations more easily. They also provide us with a range of production choices, meaning that we now have the opportunity to introduce some challenging schema into otherwise unstoppable creating operations. More negatively, since we now have so many options, it has become bothersome to find a reason to choose a means.
Do you feel that your theme of your works and the digital art will change along with the shift of the society?
I believe that changes in the media compliment changes in the themes of my work, which also reflects my own personal growth. It is also possible that media which we consider to be normal parts of life, such as television and cinema, which have existed now for almost a century, will become almost unrecognizable in the future. If that happens, then I do not want to be a dinosaur stuck in the mud of the old ways. I want to be flexible and adjust myself to changes in technology, but above all I would like to keep doing what I am interested in.
What kind of field you are best at in your works?
And how do your works fit within and affect on this society?
First of all, it is the movement and abstract expressions that are peculiar to animation, and also, I suppose, the timing. In this industry which tends to be partial to change, it is not in fact difficult to find a way to surprise people. Although a well made animation will need a lot of work behind it, I think we also need animations which require less effort. As I am a man of balance, I would like to create that which is lacking, which is what I want to see, and what I think other people want to see. Therefore, I observe the animation industry and avoid popular kinds of manga.
What is your motto?
Nothing especially.
What kind of situation in every day life do you get inspired most?
Some people say that they get inspiration when they are walking, but for me I can only concentrate on walking when I am walking. It is usually when I am sitting at my desk that I get my inspiration, sometimes whilst listening to suitable music, or sometimes in the library when I am looking through books I am interested in. However, as the creation of feature animation films is a cooperative enterprise, I believe that it is desirable to take in as many of the ideas produced by the creation team as is possible; I believe that it is this, in the majority of instances, that is the key to making a successful and fruitful film.
What kind of vision do you have in your future development as the creator?
The most important thing is to keep working and earn money. I am not particular about keeping to the old ways, but at the same time I am willing to learn from the past; in this way, I hope to keep up with the advancement of technology. I would like in the future to have the opportunity to join a great project, but at the same time wish to develop and improve myself. I want to learn many things in many fields, ideally fulfilling my own daily life at the same time. I have something in mind that I want to try one day, when I have acquired more skills and experience, but I am not in rush.
Please name of the people or phenomena that you have got most influenced by as the creator.
Images of mudslides on television
It might be imprudent to say, but I was really shocked by the images of houses being washed away. At that time I was desperately seeking stability in my life and the sight of supposedly fixed properties being washed away was a revelation for me. I realized afterwards that nothing stands still in life, not even the earth upon which we live. It was then that I decided to stop seeking stability and to start trying to enjoy my unstable freedom. I tried to reflect this thought in my work, perhaps even as a way to convince myself of its truth..
Video cameras
I sometimes examine videoed television and film images, but have found it more useful to use a video camera and record my own movement in order to get the exact material needed for a given project. There are new discoveries to be made every time I use a video camera. It might be a moment of unanticipated pose, an unexpected view from an unexplored angle or perhaps a change in how an object fits into the frame, and so on. Even when the image itself was not especially interesting, there are many things to learn from sketching or observing it..
Video players
With the advent of video players it became possible to study every moment of the movement of a recorded image by playing it frame by frame, or by pausing it entirely. Stable visual images were once only available to us in books. Now, even if an image, scenery for instance, is shown only for a split second, it can now be recorded, paused and sketched. For animation as well, we can now examine every frame of a work at home, something which was previously only possible in a studio; this is a big change. Nonetheless I still believe that the best way to appreciate an animation is to watch it all the way through.
It might be imprudent to say, but I was really shocked by the images of houses being washed away. At that time I was desperately seeking stability in my life and the sight of supposedly fixed properties being washed away was a revelation for me. I realized afterwards that nothing stands still in life, not even the earth upon which we live. It was then that I decided to stop seeking stability and to start trying to enjoy my unstable freedom. I tried to reflect this thought in my work, perhaps even as a way to convince myself of its truth..
Video cameras
I sometimes examine videoed television and film images, but have found it more useful to use a video camera and record my own movement in order to get the exact material needed for a given project. There are new discoveries to be made every time I use a video camera. It might be a moment of unanticipated pose, an unexpected view from an unexplored angle or perhaps a change in how an object fits into the frame, and so on. Even when the image itself was not especially interesting, there are many things to learn from sketching or observing it..
Video players
With the advent of video players it became possible to study every moment of the movement of a recorded image by playing it frame by frame, or by pausing it entirely. Stable visual images were once only available to us in books. Now, even if an image, scenery for instance, is shown only for a split second, it can now be recorded, paused and sketched. For animation as well, we can now examine every frame of a work at home, something which was previously only possible in a studio; this is a big change. Nonetheless I still believe that the best way to appreciate an animation is to watch it all the way through.
