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Published on July 30, 2007

Shuzo Shiota, chief executive and president of Polygon Pictures, the oldest and largest computer-animation studio in Japan, said Thailand enjoyed a manufacturing tradition and should turn its mind to animation.

He added that the country should integrate the benefits of that valuable tradition with the software sector, such as computer graphics or computer-generated animation, to create "the perfect animation works".

He said the country's manufacturing tradition benefited process management, economy and efficiency of production, quality control and staff management.

"India is a big outsourcing market for animation. There are a huge number of Japanese animators outsourcing work to India. However, with higher production costs there, between 25 per cent and 30 per cent more expensive every year, Japan is looking for other possibilities," Shiota said.

He added that China could be the next outsourcing country but Japanese companies faced barriers, such as language.

Shiota said Japanese animators embraced international production practices by emphasising quality and efficiency.

Shiota said animation in Japan achieved revenues of ¤1.4 billion (Bt64.37 billion) in 2005, mainly from box-office receipts, television-production fees, DVDs and broadband sales.

Approximately 100 new titles and 3,000 episodes are produced annually. More than 5,000 new DVD titles were produced in Japan in 2005 and 767 new titles sold in North America last year.

He added that revenue for animations, including character-licensing and merchandising, was estimated to be around ¤12.3 billion a year.

Shiota said the downside of animation in Japan was its market domination and television and advertising-agency dictatorship.

Few production companies can retain rights to programmes, he said.

He added that this had led to smaller spending on production. A typical 22-minute programme costs ¤30,000-¤90,000. As a result, many productions are farmed out to less-costly countries.

Also 3D productions are unheard of for television series and rare for features. There is a limited window for "original" animation. Most titles are derived from manga cartoon books or games.

Shiota said there was a serious shortage of skilled animators in Japan. Generally animators there work 10.2 hours a day. About 65 per cent are paid less than ¤18,400 a year.

He added that many Japanese animators aimed at the West. The Japanese market itself could not provide enough money to support 3D animation productions. International markets, however, embrace Japanese-style animation, he said.

"Original development gives us the opportunity to be on top of the food chain by combining Japanese aesthetics with universal story-telling to attract a bigger crowd, hence bigger business," said Shiota. He said computer-animation studios in Japan were trying to break out of the domestic-centred market and aim at the West. They try to create original content with a Japanese "scent", but with international appeal, he said.

Tomoharu Ishikawa, secretary-general of the Visual Industry Promotion Organisation, said television and the Internet were surpassing the film industry in Japan.

The number of theatre screens in Japan declined gradually from 7,500 in 1960 to 1,785 screens in 2000 but has rebounded yearly since then to about 3,060 last year, following the development of new shopping and entertainment complexes.

He said audiences had declined gradually from 1,014 million in 1960 to about 127 million in 2000 but rebounded to 160 million last year.

There are five major domestic film production-and-distribution companies in Japan, Toho, Toei, Shochiku, Kadokawa, and Nikkatsu. However, some television networks make about 10 films a year. Films made by other media. particularly television and advertising agencies, are more successful.

Kwanchai  Rungfapaisarn

The Nation