Translator: Ichi Kanaya Reviewer: Kayoko Shiomi
I started my career working for a company
that manufactures steel.
Now, I run a company that manufactures animation.
Yes, manufactures animation -
like the ones you see behind me.
No one bats their eye when they hear
the word "manufacture" followed by steel.
But manufacture animation?
Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?
You would think animation is created
by these dudes called artists.
You know, animators, creators, what not.
But the likes you normally don't associate with manufacturing.
In fact in Japan, there seems to be a common concept,
sort of like a stereotype for people like us
in the creative industry.
Here are some of the common stereotypes.
That we tend to be eccentric,
often bordering on bizarre and unpredictable.
That we are unorganized and unruly,
because creative endeavors take over most of our lives.
And that includes sleep.
The longer hours we work on our projects, the better it becomes.
Hell, daylight sucks.
Midnight or the morning hours is when real creativity sets in.
Now, we're not much for things like
teamwork, schedule, budgets
and god awful deadlines.
Don't they know that art needs its own time to evolve?
And, that it's a personal, lonely process?
Let us be, I'll call you when it's done!
So in short,
we're sort of looked upon as people who are sequestered
in our small creative bubbles,
you know, alienated from society.
Creative types and management simply do not seem to mix.
But today, I hope to convince you otherwise;
that animation production is in fact
a very intricate and disciplined process,
and likewise, people involved are not only artistically talented,
but they are disciplined.
Creativity can, in fact, be managed.
When I interned in the steel mill in Kitakyushu,
shortly after joining the steel company,
I was blown away by the sheer size of its facilities,
contrasted by the intricacies os its operations,
and all the advanced technologies that governed it.
But foremost, I was impressed by the people working there -
how they devoted their passion and dedication day in, day out.
I remember their eyes opening up and brightening
whenever they told stories about work;
stories such as how their predecessors
harnessed the ability to control fire
and other natural phenomenon
in blast furnaces to create better steel,
using computers and sensors.
Things that were seemed inconceivable years before,
as such delicate operations
were at the mercy of eyes and senses,
and intuitions of master artisans with decades of experience.
And such masters were highly doubtful
that their human touch could ever be taken over by a computer.
Yet, they've done it.
And as a result, they were able to produce better,
more consistent higher volumes steel.
This and other stories just fascinated me.
Years on,
and when I inadvertently made the jump into the digital animation field,
I was pleasantly surprised
that the process of making animation
was much akin to that of manufacturing.
As with manufacturing,
a production line is formed, manned
by people with specific specialties and duties
all working cohesively together.
As materials flow downstream, data flow.
And, instead of steel products or automobiles,
animation content is manufactured.
Let me quickly guide you through the process to elaborate.
Any animated content must start with a story.
As John Lasseter of Pixar mentions time and again,
story is king.
Now, story may be coming from the mind of a great director,
or as with the case of our in-house production
called, " Knights of Sidonia,"
it may come from a published manga,
in this case, authored by the great artist,
Tsutomu Nihei.
The story is then turned into a script,
all the elements that arrive in the story must be designed,
and storyboards created to ensure visual continuity.
All these and others are the blueprints,
you may say, for manufacturing animation.
We head into production,
where the designs are all turned into CG models.
Modeling is sort of akin to sculpting inside the computer.
Everything you see on screen must be modeled,
including heroes, robots, heroines,
villains, spaceships, environments,
and Onigiri.
And even Natto! Because you see, heroes must eat.
(Japanese) You can't fight on a empty stomach.
Right?
So, skeletons and rigs are implemented into the models
that give the animators freedom of control.
The animators, in turn, use these controls
to breathe life into otherwise inanimate objects.
They animate frame by frame, joints to joints.
A full days work of a professionally gifted animator
can only reap 3 to 5 seconds of animation per day.
So, we need a lot of them,
working cohesively in collaboration to finish a 22-minute episode.
Lighters provide mood to the scene -
be it indoors, outdoors,
summer or fall, day or night.
All these elements are then computed
in a networked mesh of 3700 nodes of CPUs,
compiling over 9 million files,
each project utilizing over 57TB of data.
In the process of producing an animated show
like "The Knights of Sidonia,"
an aggregate of 178 people from 12 different nations,
contribute 203,680 hours of their life,
to finish 43, 000 tasks,
to composite 8,400 shots,
to ultimately create 528 minutes of finished animation.
Phew! That's a lot of work to blurt out in one breath.
So imagine actually doing it!
Luckily, artists are not the only people involved in production.
Production managers and coordinators are available
to manage the massive amounts of information and interaction
that happens on an hourly basis.
And though we work in a digital environment,
good old face-to-face communication
sometimes via video conferencing systems
with our overseas partners,
are just as important.
Good communication is still the basis for a successful production.
So, I hope you can see
that artistry is not the only ingredient
involved in cooking up an animated show.
Artistry combined with structured processes and great management,
I feel, is the only recipe for creativity.
So my hope is this.
If we can source
the vast amount of knowledge and expertise
accumulated by our manufacturing industries
regarding management and operations,
and combine them with the great talent base of artists
that arguably creates the largest volume
and most diverse range
of animated content in the world,
we can totally be on top of our game,
and that on a global basis.
For this purpose,
we conduct Kaizen practices time and again
to improve on our efficiencies,
and make technological advances.
To be honest though,
initially when we started,
we had pushbacks from some artists,
some of them saying
that our emphasis on efficiency runs counter to creativity.
That the practice of Kaizen so effective in manufacturing,
does not apply to creative endeavors.
To that, I always pushed back,
citing the same story of the blast furnace, telling them,
"The people at the steel mill devised a way to control fire
and other natural phenomenon
to create better steel using computers,
and this through constant Kaizen.
You tell me
that your mind and behavior is more volatile
and unpredictable than fire and natural phenomenon?"
After a while,
we started to see real significant results -
some of our productions improving on their efficiencies
by more than 25%.
What's more important though,
the artists started to realize because of improved workflow,
they no longer have to deal
with menial, repetitive, and unnecessary tasks,
but instead, spend the time saved on real creative stuff,
improving their work.
Instead of our initiatives deterring creativity,
it enhanced it.
The ultimate nod of approval
coming from our multiple Emmy Award wins
for our TV program, "Transformers Prime";
an accolade which is equivalent
to winning the Academy Award for film.
Thus far,
I've talked about things we've borrowed from other industries.
But there is this one management principle
that I've learned from within,
and that I prioritize over everything else that I've said.
Guess what it is?
It's "Motivation Management."
What gets you up every morning to go to work?
Sure we work for fundamental reasons.
We have to provide for ourselves and our family.
But do you go to work because you have to,
or you want to?
In our business,
we produce products that are designed to make people
laugh, smile, cry, sneer, angry or even scream.
In order to trigger our audiences' emotions,
we of all people need to be emotionally engaged in what we do.
There is no "if", "ands" or "buts" about that,
it's just so, or it won't work.
So how do we ensure that?
It's not rocket science, but it's not easy either.
We just need to be vigilant,
we need to be stubborn to preserve our self awareness.
Foremost of which is to be involved in projects that we believe in,
that we love,
that we can be proud to show.
The feedback from the audience is our ultimate reward.
Our workplace where we create this stuff must be full of positive energy,
fun and comfortable.
We need our staff to be emotionally and physically healthy.
We spend almost as much energy on our parties as we do on work,
because I feel that it fosters a festive and collaborative,
as well as an outgoing atmosphere.
And of course,
we need to ensure that our staff have enough time
to spend with their family and loved ones,
to have the time to explore life and appreciate it.
But is this something that is specific only to our industry?
I don't think so.
All businesses can and must be fun.
All businesses must be accompanied by creative minds,
just as all businesses must strive for innovation and efficiency.
Just as we've learned from other industries,
I hope that other industries look upon us,
not as the wild, kind of eccentric, bizarre, crazy guys,
but for true inspiration
for the betterment of their products or services.
Today, people do not buy just the software or just the hardware.
They buy a holistic product that will give them the right emotional lift.
Just as we learned from other industries
regarding management and operational issues,
you should look upon us
on how to add the all important emotional element
to your products and services.
Only through true collaboration,
can we make a new product or service genuinely new.
Let's do this! We're not that weird.
We're just fun.
Thank you.
(Applause)