Animation made in Okinawa, Japan
By Emmanuel Itier
Emmanuel with japanese actors friends.
The ultimate experience while at the Okinawa film festival was the visit of the CGCG animation studio which has the biggest motion-capture set up in Asia (http://www.cgcgstudio.co.jp/eng/ ).
No only CGCG Studios is doing motion capture but they also are producing 3D computer graphics video using motion capture technology. The studio is now located in Tokyo and Okinawa in Japan as well as Taipei in Taiwan with just under 200 employees under the direction of CEO, Koji Matsumoto. Needless to say CGCG has become the most competitive partner for movies, tv and gaming with series such as “Blade & Soul” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_%26_Soul ) or the Kamen Rider Battride War games (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamen_Rider:_Battride_War ) or even the iconic “The Clone Wars” produced mainly in the Taiwan operation (http://www.cgcg.com.tw ).
On a sunny afternoon we got lucky to be welcomed at CGCG studio by Mr. Takeshi Yamazoe in full motion capture costume to explain us the process of filming sequences using these high tech resources. Mr. Yamazoe explained how this studio is unique as it belongs both to the city of Okinawa and to private investors. It’s used as an education center as well as a commercial vehicle to produce state of the art programming. Motion capture is now used in most special effect driven features, animated series and games manufacturing. With the team of CGCG studio the future is bright for this Okinawa hub.
To further our animated experience we also got introduced to the maverick young prodigy: Ujicha, director of “Violence Voyager”. For his animated short Ujicha, who graduated from Kyoto Sag Art University, used the technique called Geki-mation. It’s a process where paper cutouts are moved in front of a background and special effects are added. This is a unique technique giving a vivid, life like appearance to the animated endeavor.
Truly, one can only be impressed by the richness and diversity of the CGCG studio team and we can understand their leadership position in the region. We can’t wait to see what is coming next with this ensemble of splendid magicians! Bravo!
