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ivyeight6
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05 Apr 2021, 12:36 am

I know Katsuhiro Otomo and Koji Morimoto is known for directing segments in an anime anthology film. They're known for directing Robot Carnival and Memories. I also heard Morimoto also directed The Animatrix and many others. Now, other directors are not interested in doing one. What might be the reasons they chose not to?



shlaifu
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06 Apr 2021, 8:05 pm

Why do you think they're not interested?
Otomo and Morimoto are kind of the big dogs, their names alone guarantee some interest.
Other directors might just not get asked to work on something as free and creative as these anthologies.
To some extent, directing is also just a job, and for most directors, it means overseeing the production of some tv show episodes, making sure they feel in line with the rest of the show, and just do a decent job.
Directing shorts is way more artistic, and way more financially risky, but Otomo and Morimoto generate interest and guarantee at least a few paying customers.

But it should also be mentioned tgat short films, like in an anthology, are a different genre than long form films or tv episodes. There's not much character development, virtually now setup etc. - because who's got time for tgat on a 10minute film? So you need a certain skillset and sensitivity for this genre that a seasoned tv-show-director just might not have


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ivyeight6
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08 Apr 2021, 9:30 am

Okay. What are the other reasons?



shlaifu
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13 Apr 2021, 9:08 pm

Anthologies like Memories or Robot Carnival are themselves relatively rare - they don't get produced much. Well, lately, only very few things that aren't middle of the roadainstream stuff with superheroes get produced, to be honest.


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ivyeight6
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16 Apr 2021, 10:25 pm

Okay. When will they be more?



shlaifu
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17 Apr 2021, 7:37 pm

Hahaha.

So, the trend has been going towards either stretched out, character-development-focussed tv-series and superhero-franchises in the cinemas. Both are telling long, often convoluted stories with a recurring cast. That's pretty much the opposite of an anthology.
There have been attempts by groups of animators like the midnight work club, about a decade ago, to not just create shorts as individuals, but to create anrhologies and publish them wrapped together like that.
It worked somewhat, they managed to get two of them together I think before it fell apart again.
And there's Netflix's Love Death and Robots.

But yeah, you can count the animated anthologies of the last decade (excluding Japan) on one hand.


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ivyeight6
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17 Apr 2021, 9:47 pm

Okay. Why is that it doesn't always work out?



shlaifu
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18 Apr 2021, 5:15 am

ivyeight6 wrote:
Okay. Why is that it doesn't always work out?


With any indie-project, there's money, time and life that can get in the way.
A studio may swap every person on their project and still make the project, but small groups who work without prior funding are pretty fragile.


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ivyeight6
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18 Apr 2021, 5:17 am

Okay. What do you mean by money, time and life?



shlaifu
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18 Apr 2021, 8:30 pm

ivyeight6 wrote:
Okay. What do you mean by money, time and life?

Indie animators often work on personal projects in their spare time - so they need to have spare time.
But if they're short on money, they need to work more, and have less time.
If they're not short on money, it means they are doing well in their career, which means they are likely so busy with work and career they don't have the time to work on a personal project.
And since animation so awfully time consuming, it's hard to stick with a project that you can't continously work on.
And even if an Indie plans on teaming up with others to produce and sell a feature length anthology, it's usually self-financed and therefore a personal project until it hopefully pays off.

I myself have made a 12 minute animated sequence for a documentary film, but it took me 3 years on and off, because there wasn't much money in it so I had to make rent - and whenever a paying job came in, I had to drop the documentary animation and take the paying job to not lose my client for good, and find back into the documentary mood once paid work was finished.

And then there's life; careers and life plans develop and change, and if you're working on something on and off for years, big changes might occur, good and bad, that can lead to you reconsidering and possibly dropping your project.
If you have a team of Indie animators, the chances of that happening multiply. People have kids and then suddenly no time left to animate. People get depressed. People move and start new jobs or relationships and their whole life changes.
Animation is particular, because it just takes so damn long


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ivyeight6
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18 Apr 2021, 8:45 pm

Okay. What is that not every anime studio wants to animate these kind of films?



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19 Apr 2021, 8:08 pm

ivyeight6 wrote:
Okay. What is that not every anime studio wants to animate these kind of films?

Maybe they do, but can't get funding - a series/franchise is certainly a better bet if you have to make money to pay your staff.
Anthologies are financially risky, and they don't scale into a franchise with merchandise sales.
Compare Dragon ball merch with Genius Party merch (I'm not sure if there even is such a thing)


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ivyeight6
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19 Apr 2021, 8:22 pm

Okay. Why is that some anime anthologies get made and some that don't get made?



shlaifu
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20 Apr 2021, 8:13 pm

ivyeight6 wrote:
Okay. Why is that some anime anthologies get made and some that don't get made?


Seriously, this probably can only be answered on a per case basis.

In case of the anthologies that did get made: because all the steps from financing to distribution worked out in some way.
In case of anthologies that didn't get made: because at least one of the steps didn't work out and sunk the project.


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ivyeight6
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23 Apr 2021, 9:15 pm

What do you mean?



shlaifu
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24 Apr 2021, 7:23 pm

ivyeight6 wrote:
What do you mean?


I mean "Love Death and Robots" got made because Netflix financed it and distributed it, "Robot Carnival" got made because the big name Otomo was attached to it, which certainly helped secure financing, and so on. The reasons why these got made are very different, and I guess eventually the only thing that they all have in common is that the person who financed them was or got convinced that it's a good investment, and others went through production, and then someone distributed it. However, not all of them turned out to be the good investments the investors hoped they would be - there would be more animated anthologies, if they were reliable money makers.
So, others didn't get finsnced or got cancelled somewhere along the way for some reason -

Hope this clarifies what I meant.


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