From: dan@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Dan Parmenter)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation
Subject: Re: Aeon Flux trivia factoids :...
Date: 28 Sep 92 18:51:09 GMT
Organization: /home/fsg/dan/.organization

It's very simple.  American animators "farm out" animation to Japan.
When Japanese animators are being cheap, they "farm out" stuff to
Korean groups.  Interestingly enough, another common cost-cutting
technique among Japanese animators is that many animation cels are
painted by housewives!  Apparently it's a common way for housewives to
make a little extra money, like stuffing envelopes or selling greeting
cards.  

The headaches of this form of international animation are huge, from
what I've heard.  For example, since anime rarely features lip-sync
(American animators record voice tracks first and animate to them,
even the cheapest Filmation or HB show has lip-sync.  ANIMEtors record
the voice tracks after the animation is done and simply estimate
roughly how long the dialogue will take.  AKIRA was of many sporadic
uses of lip-sync in anime).  So key drawings and all lip-sync work is
done domestically and then sent to Japan for the real work, where it
may end up being further farmed-out to Korea and bored housewives.

Of course, nowadays I suspect a lot of original TV animation produced
for the American market is done without cels at all on some of these
digital set-ups that have been all the rage for a while and are even
used in theatrical animation.  A fairly large number of shows still
seem to credit ink and paint departments though, so for now, the
system still seems to be in place.  

What I'd like to know about Aeon Flux though is this: Is this chick
the villain?  I hated the segment at first because it seemed like
further proof that SF films and tv are being taken over by brutal
murderers a la Arnold S; howeeveer, in later segments we were
treated to a more sympathetic look at her victims and the suffering
she caused.  From that point, I was more intrigued.  Also, is she
suposed to be really ugly?  Or are the animators simply too
incompetent to draw a sexy woman?  Or is it a subtle commentary on the
American fanboy conception of beauty, as exemlified by Heavy Metal
magazine?  

Which brings up our next point - the only real comparison between Aeon
Flux and Heavy Metal (the movie) is that the AF chick's get-up is
vaguely reminiscent of er, Taarna, in HM (remember? The incredibly
derivative bit with the bird stolen from Moebius and the rotoscoped
dame with white hair?  Easily the worst segment in a mostly awful
film).  For all of its faults, it's a much slicker looking product
than Taarna or any of HM.  HM is a pretty sloppy-looking movie
overall.  I also give AF credit for some pretty cool character
designs, which seem to owe little to the usual anime aesthetic of big
dewy eyes and wispy hair.  One also has confidence that if the main
gal spoke, whe wouldn't have some squeaky-cute voice, nor does one
have fear that any of the gags will involve absurd and embarassing
bits of cheesecake.  

--
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
| Dan Parmenter       |"Everybody don't like something and we all |
| dan@gnu.ai.mit.edu  | don't like you" - Richard Thompson        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------