Episode 77: The Otherworld’s First Animation (2)
To put the principle behind animation simply, it was an optical illusion that used afterimages, deceiving the human eye and brain into thinking that drawings were gradually moving.
Well, I couldn’t deny that if someone saw animation for the first time, it seemed perfectly suited to make them shout template lines like, “Aah! It’s a picture possessed by a ghost!” or “You fiend, what sorcery have you used?”
It was absolutely! not some curse of black magic, but a scientific method.
And because that was the principle, its advantages were clear as well.
‘With the current level of technology in this world, there’s a high chance it’ll be easier to produce than movies or dramas.’
Both filming and editing, that is.
Because we could control and embellish the content by drawing only the parts we wanted from the start.
That said, the fact that animation was also a work requiring large-scale effort, manpower, and technical skill did not change.
“Mm, to be honest, I can’t quite understand it from an explanation in words alone.”
“As expected?”
“I understand the method of connecting similar drawings together to make them appear as though they’re moving, but...
Since I haven’t seen what it actually feels like in person, I can’t quite grasp it.”
And when I summarized and explained all that to Professor Logic, who would be in charge of the necessary technical side among those things,
Professor Logic wore an ambiguous expression, as if he both understood and didn’t.
Sssup, I guess it wasn’t easy to immediately understand a concept that had never existed until now after hearing it just once.
Then again, it had been like that when I first explained games last time too.
If that was the case, it couldn’t be helped.
“I’ll show you a simple example.”
I had expected that it might be difficult to understand through words alone.
So I had prepared a simple way to help him understand what animation was.
“Could I borrow a few sheets of paper and a pen?”
“Here you are.”
“Good. Please wait just a moment.”
The universal go-to method for times like this.
Using the pen Professor Logic gave me, I drew a series of similar-looking stickmen along the edge of the paper.
Since I wasn’t very good at drawing, even the simple stickmen came out crooked and each one was a different size.
But after several rounds of trial and error, I finished drawing the stickmen in the composition I wanted.
“Now, if I gather these like this and flip through them.”
Frrrrt—
“Oh! This is fascinating. It really does look like it’s moving.”
“Right?”
When I gathered the papers with the stickmen drawn on them and flipped through them,
The stickman drawings passed by quickly, and the remaining afterimages created an optical illusion that made it look as though they were moving continuously.
Professor Logic’s eyes shone with wonder at the sight.
It was a crude and short sequence of nothing more than a stickman extending one straight leg upward to kick, but he seemed to have clearly understood what the principle of animation felt like.
And it seemed his interest and curiosity in animation had risen as well.
“The animation I’m thinking of is something that shows this effect with more, finer drawings.
Imagine it. Not my shoddy drawings like this,
but beautifully drawn characters moving more dynamically, conversing, expressing emotions, and progressing through a story.”
“...That would truly be wonderful.
Even when I first saw comics, I was startled, thinking the characters had come alive and started moving.
I’m certain this thing called animation will show us something beyond the shock and emotion I felt back then!”
Mm-hmm. I thought so too.
In a way, animation could be considered an evolved form of comics.
Of course, that didn’t mean it was a complete superior evolution.
“If it weren’t a work by Author Wei, who has presented countless innovative ideas, including comics,
you might have been dragged away for making a picture possessed by a ghost or cursed with black magic.”
“Haha. Surely not. You’re joking, right?”
“No. I was being quite serious.”
“....”
“....”
Sssup.
Looking at the serious face of that engineering nerd, who didn’t seem capable of joking at all, suddenly made me uneasy.
I wouldn’t really get dragged away, would I?
No, no. Professor Logic just said it too.
If it was my work, it would be fine.
If anything, the fact that it could provoke that kind of reaction meant its impact was certain, so I should consider this good news.
“I’m glad I won’t be dragged away.
Then, since there won’t be any problem like that, could you help me make animation?”
“Of course! Please make sure to include me.
If I were unable to participate in something this interesting, I would regret it for a long time.”
“Good! Then, Professor, I’ll ask you to handle the filming technology to quickly flip through the drawings and record that as a video.”
The editing issue would definitely be smaller than in movies or dramas, but the technology to film it as a video without making it feel awkward was a separate matter.
“Understood. I’ve found another interesting research subject after the production of Gigant.
However, please understand that it will inevitably take time until it is completed.
And it may perhaps fall a little short of what you are expecting, Author Wei.”
“That’s fine. Since it’s the first time, we have to take that much into account.”
In any case, I wasn’t planning to just sit around while it was being developed. I intended to plan the story of the animation we would make this time and proceed with creating the original art concepts.
And even if the technology turned out a little lacking,
we could solve it by hiring more animators or pouring in capital.
‘If I tempt people who aspire to become comic artists by saying it’s a chance to build drawing experience and receive professional education, wouldn’t I be able to gather quite a number of animators?’
Naturally, I intended to pay them proper wages too, not passion pay.
In my previous life, where plenty of animation was already being made and competition was fierce, there were many controversies over passion pay.
But in this world, where animation was being made for the first time, each and every animator would be a difficult-to-replace, skilled professional.
Since they would be people doing tedious work with a large workload, repeatedly drawing similar pictures, we had to treat them preciously to prevent them from running away.
“Ah, for dubbing the characters’ lines, we can use the recording technology and method we developed while making the dating simulation game as is.”
Animation could get away with a bit of exaggeration, and unlike movie or drama dubbing, there was no need to realistically match the mouth shapes, so it would be easier.
“Haha. I never imagined the technology we made back then would be used like this now.”
“Indeed. This is all the power of culture that we’ve steadily accumulated until now.”
Should I say that it felt worthwhile to have worked so hard to develop this world’s culture?
As expected, the power of accumulated culture did not betray you.
So much so that it was hard to believe there were places that built up such culture well, only to smash it apart with their own hands.
Anyway.
Since the discussion with Professor Logic regarding the technical aspects was finished,
it was time for the next step.
Unlike the technical problem, which would be over once I entrusted it entirely to Professor Logic, an elite engineering nerd,
this was something in my field, so I had to pay more attention to it.
“We don’t have any know-how for original art composition, frame adjustment, or saving labor and time by cutting back on unimportant parts.
We’ll have to build it up by trying from the very beginning, right?”
Phew.
From now on, it was truly time for the grind.
****
I had boldly stepped forward, saying I would produce animation,
but naturally, I did not expect quality comparable to the masterpiece animations I enjoyed in my previous life.
‘How are people making animation for the first time, in a world without even any examples to watch and learn from and with insufficient technology, supposed to imitate that?’
Of course, this world had the new technology called magic, so we were somehow closing the technological gap,
but there were still many lacking aspects.
Therefore, it would be difficult to show something as smooth, splendid, and dynamic as the masterpiece animations of my previous life.
We had no choice but to lower the quality in various areas.
‘In other words, something similar to low-budget animation?’
Of course, if we received the help of magic and hired a lot of manpower, it might come out better.
On the other hand, for things like direction, there were no separate experts, so I truly had no idea how it would turn out.
In the end, what mattered was how quickly and how much know-how the hired personnel realized.
Let’s set aside our worries for the countless trial-and-error headbutts that would happen in the meantime...
“At least it’s fortunate that securing manpower wasn’t difficult.”
“Haha! It’s work you’re doing, Author Wei. Isn’t that only natural?
Even I would have set aside everything else to participate!”
As Rex, the head of the publishing guild, said while bursting into laughter every time he met me, perhaps because he was so delighted to have been chosen as a collaborator this time,
when I, the Midas hand of the industry, called the Apostle of Culture and exploding with success in every work I touched, said I was trying something new,
applicants apparently gathered like clouds.
Thanks to that, even after selecting only fairly skilled people, we were able to recruit close to a hundred.
If we lacked hands, I was thinking of recruiting more from here.
However, Aria, who had always helped me and played a key role in situations like this until now, unfortunately ended up participating only in the idea and direction meetings this time.
“I really wanted to take part in the production too, but the serialization of [Magic Armored Divine Machine Gigant & Knight]...”
Well, Aria was currently busy serializing [Magic Armored Divine Machine Gigant & Knight] as its main author, so it couldn’t be helped.
Still, just having her participate in the idea and direction meetings would be quite helpful.
Right now, more than frontline laborers, we desperately needed people who could serve as the brains of the operation.
As a star bard and the first comic artist, she had considerable experience and authority,
so she would also be a great help in controlling or teaching the writers under her.
“Now then. Since everyone has gathered, shall we begin work?
Since this is the process of creating a new culture that has never existed in history, there will be countless trials and errors, so everyone, please prepare yourselves!”
And in front of all the manpower I had hired to make this animation... no, in front of all the project team members, I formally declared infinite headbutting.
After all, I knew nothing about the production method or know-how of animation, and we had to make it solely based on my fragmentary knowledge.
The only knowledge I had was the fragmentary knowledge that came from “an anime about an animation production company” I had seen in my previous life.
I didn’t even remember all the details.
Of course, it was far better than starting from nothing with absolutely nothing, but even so, it was only natural that a difficult road lay ahead.
Therefore, we had no choice but to ram our heads into it ourselves and move our hands countless times as we established our own know-how and methods.
“That is what it means to be ‘the first.’
You must always agonize, feel uncertain, and pioneer a new path.”
After pausing here for a moment and gathering everyone’s attention,
I spoke with my voice full of solemn resolve.
“However... the first animation created that way may perhaps remain in history and grant all of you immortal fame!”
The glorious record they might obtain.
Their names, which would remain in the history of the cultural world and be passed down for generations.
And even the implicit implication that in order to obtain such fame and record, they had to make it as well as possible.
At the very least, we had to avoid producing something like the legendary cabbage-cutting scene for the prestige of being the first animation to survive, didn’t we?
So let’s all do our best and bash our heads into this!
“Wooooh! Yeah, let’s just give it a shot!”
“Who am I? A producer of the first animation!
How could I possibly resist such incredible fame?
And the experience and assets I’ll gain while working will be countless too!”
“Yeah! If you’ve become an author, you ought to leave your name in history at least once!
When people think of animation, I’ll make sure my name comes to mind!”
Fortunately, perhaps because the people were excited by the achievement of being first and the fame that would follow after it, they became filled with passion and morale, cheering roughly in response to me.
At that enthusiastic reaction, I smiled with satisfaction and thought,
‘Good. With this much, they won’t complain even if I work them a little harder, right?’
As expected, motivation and morale were important in group work.