Lining up the next film
“Animation industry workers were the ones who shouldered the burden of our brashness and ignorance [about the production process],” recalls Wang.
Metson, who was already a well-known comics artist, brought a certain daring to the designs and the storyboarding, and even became involved with the voice acting. He says he hardly slept for eight months. “I wanted to show the world that Taiwan could create its own original animations.”
At one point, the Korean company that was animating Grandma and Her Ghosts asked Wang to deliver 250 “key frames” within a week. These key frames are images that show the animators where everything in a scene needs to be at “key” moments. The animators then animate all the movements in between. She was working around the clock to get the frames done when animation industry veterans Pongo Kuo, Fish Wang, and Chen Weisong stepped forward to help, aiding her with the composition.
Wang Shaudi confirms that the foundation of Taiwan’s animation industry is deep and strong. That base, coupled with the desire of young animators to work on an original property, enabled the Grandma and Her Ghosts miracle. Metson agrees that Taiwan has plenty of capacity to create original work, but adds that many directors don’t have an opportunity to develop a second project after completing their first. He explains that Taiwan’s animation environment pushes many of its outstanding talents out of the industry.
What’s the next step for original animation in Taiwan? Metson argues: “You first need the opportunity to do this work continuously.” He points out that Hong Kong used to shoot countless films each year and was once the world’s number-two exporter of movies. He recalls one Hong Kong director telling him: “Of course we’re shooting! If we weren’t, how would our lighting and craft services people eat?” When the work is steady, talented people naturally begin to emerge.
Engine Studios’ Vick Wang shares Metson’s view, agreeing that Taiwan has an abundance of creatives, but lacks people to organize and integrate the many parts of the production process. Wang breaks down the steps which go into producing an animated product: conception, the assembly of a management team, budgeting, story development, design, production, and postproduction. Studios should begin planning their next production the moment the market provides feedback on whatever they have just released. Hollywood’s animation pipeline has a rhythm that grows out of its experience producing thousands of animated works. Taiwan’s industry, on the other hand, hasn’t produced enough original animation to really hone its skills, and it has therefore had a hard time developing the necessary management professionals.
The production process for animation is different than that for films. There are no star actors or directors, and it’s harder to find funding. Moreover, many people in the animation industry are compelled to fill multiple roles: creating the property, raising the money to produce it, and then marketing the result. Metson hopes that the government can help create an environment that facilitates the development of animation in Taiwan by, for example, reducing or waiving taxes to attract corporate resources and relieve creators of their financial worries. Vick Wang aims to hone the survival skills of small and medium-sized enterprises, teaching them how to negotiate with banks and arrange loans so they don’t have to rely entirely on government subsidies.
Metson dove back into animation production a number of years ago with a project titled Tie Nanhai (“Iron Boy”). He has put some NT$25 million into the project, but is still NT$250 million short of what he needs to finish it. Even so, he hasn’t given it up, explaining, “Not completing it would be tantamount to giving up our right to speak in the virtual world.”
Vick Wang came back to Taiwan after working in animation in New York for nearly ten years, giving up steady work to found his own company. “I wanted to stand on this platform and claim my right to speak,” he says, “so I could talk about our culture, our lives, and our values.”
The concept for Grandma and Her Ghosts originated with Huang Liming (right). (courtesy of Rice Film)