Issue Seven\Based on the big picture I discussed in Issues Five and Six, I can basically answer the question raised at the beginning of Issue Five, which is: when studying animation, should one go to university or to a training institution?\By now, you should be able to see that creativity is more important than technical skills. I'm not criticizing training schools for only teaching technical skills, but at least the mainstream environment there is probably focused on technical skills. Just imagine being in a place where people constantly ask each other, "How should this material parameter be adjusted? How should this modeling topology be done?" In such an environment, do you think you will be thinking more about technical skills or creativity?\Some people might say that you also can't learn much at university. I admit that universities nowadays have problems, and significant ones at that, but their mainstream atmosphere hasn't changed. University life is actually very relaxed—so relaxed that you might not even know what you should be doing. But nobody will be telling you about software parameters every day, and you can break free from a purely technical mindset and freely pursue what you want to do. Reading more books and watching more films can subtly improve your aesthetic taste.\Of course, you can attend university while also going to training classes to learn software, but I suggest you first live three carefree and free years, then start learning software in your senior year. One student I used to guide spent almost his entire senior year studying Maya at IDMT in Shanghai. He came back to tell me about his experiences. When their course was about to end, all the students had to collectively produce a short film. At that moment, the differences between those who attended university and those who didn't became apparent.\For example, with a script ready, they needed to write and draw storyboards. Those who never went to university couldn't do this, while those who had taken related courses in their freshman year did the storyboarding. Character and scene designs were also done by the university students, following specific standard views and notation formats. Especially in post-production, when it came to controlling the visuals and fine-tuning the colors, the university students could manage that as well.\This is the difference—the difference in comprehensive abilities. Maybe those who went straight from training classes without attending university are very strong in a specific area, such as modeling, materials, or lighting, but when it comes to handling the entire animation production process, they might find it more challenging.\Of course, I'm not talking about everyone. If someone thinks what I just said is wrong, you can ignore it; I'm just sharing my own experience and feelings.Of course, there are currently many significant problems in university education, and I do not shy away from this fact. Moreover, the responsibility does not necessarily lie entirely with the universities; there are also many inexplicable misguided instructions from 'relevant departments.' In the summer of 2009, I participated in the 'Vocational Higher Education Animation Teacher Training' organized by the province. Before teaching the 2D animation course, the supervising leader approached me and gave me a textbook, telling me to follow it for teaching, saying it was the national unified standard textbook.
This book was published by Higher Education Press, titled '2D Animation Production—Macromedia Flash 8.' Yes, you read that correctly. I took this course in 2009, and I was supposed to teach Flash version '8.' At first, I thought it was just an old book from a few years ago that was being reused. But when I checked the publication date: it was the fifth printing in January 2009.
By then, Flash had already reached version CS4, yet I still had to teach using version 8, a version three generations outdated. Some experts might say Flash 8 is quite practical. True, I still have this version installed on my computer because higher versions of Flash often cannot export to SWF format, so I save the files in Flash 8 format and use Flash 8 to export them.
But this is teaching. To be honest, we almost always use the latest software versions in education so that students can master the latest technology. Think about it: if we teach Flash 8, when the students graduate and start working, they will find that the company uses Flash CS4, and they'll have to readapt. Wouldn't that be very inconvenient?
So I questioned the leader about whether this book was really suitable for the training. The leader waved his hand and said I didn't understand. After this training, students were supposed to take an animator certification exam, and this was the prescribed textbook.
I looked at the back cover of the book and saw printed words like 'CSIA China Software Industry Association,' 'ACAA China Digital Art Education Alliance,' 'China Software Industry Association Vocational Skill Certification Designated Textbook.' Opening the book, the content was indeed old technology from a few years ago, with many errors, and the teaching examples were very basic. It was obvious that it was written by a computer major teacher rather than an animation professional.
There was no choice, so I taught using this book for four days, and the course ended. The entire training lasted only about ten days. On the afternoon the course ended, we had to participate in the so-called 'Animator Certification' exam.As a result, before the morning class even ended, the relevant department had already obtained the afternoon exam questions and asked me to stay a little later to explain the entire test paper to the trainees so they could take the exam in the afternoon. So I picked up the test paper, and as soon as I looked at it, I realized there were many questions I wasn't sure about. Don't laugh at me, but I've been playing with Flash since Flash 5, and I've done various Flash projects that probably add up to several hours, yet I never realized Flash could be so intricate.\For example, a true-or-false question reads: 'Flash animation cannot be imported into other applications.' The sentence itself is ambiguous. Flash animations could be in SWF format, they could be directly exported as AVI or other video formats, or exported as GIF or other image formats. How am I supposed to judge what 'Flash animation' means in this context? Let's assume that the expert meant SWF format. It's true that SWF format can hardly be imported into any application, but there are always exceptions—there are small programs designed to crack SWF formats that can import SWF Flash animations and extract the components and audio. Would these programs count as applications?\In short, this set of exam questions frustrated me a lot. In the afternoon, the trainees went in for the exam, and everyone came out in 15 minutes, smiling from ear to ear. Of course—they already knew the questions in advance; this exam was really easy. Some trainees even excitedly asked me, 'Teacher, did you get this certificate right after graduation? Is this certificate really useful?'\So, now, having never taken this kind of certification exam myself, all I could do was laugh bitterly.\I originally thought these questions were already ridiculous, but the final exam for Photoshop prepared by our school itself was even more overwhelming.\Our college of Art and Design assigns basic software courses to the Computer Department. The original intention was for them to teach basic software like Word, Excel, etc., but they are too ambitious and even taught software like Photoshop, which should be our responsibility. Then, for the final exam, they prepared a set of questions following the computer major's exam format.\That time, I happened to be supervising the exam. As soon as the test papers were distributed, I looked at them on the podium and immediately panicked. Many questions I simply couldn't answer—note, 'couldn't answer,' not 'unsure.'\What crushed me the most was the last essay question: 'There is a 1.4M PSD file with three layers. If you want to send it to someone over the network, how should you do it? Please explain step by step.'At that time, I was very embarrassed. After coming down, a few of us colleagues who were good at software studied this question together, and not a single one of us could solve it. Then we very creatively came up with a relatively plausible solution: 1. Open QQ; 2. Open the QQ window of the person you want to send to; 3. Click 'Send File.' I wonder if the teacher from the Computer Science department who set this question saw this answer, would they give us a big red cross.
In addition, due to the increased promotion of animation in recent years, our university's Continuing Education School (Chengjiao) and International Education School (Third-tier colleges) also offer animation majors, and we also have to attend classes there.
You'd think if we attend classes, they would follow our pre-set curriculum, right? But no, the relevant leaders of the college don't discuss with us. They just make a big stroke and set up a course schedule from who knows where. When we looked at the timetable, it even had strange courses like 'CAD Drawing.'
The funniest one was a course called 'Interior Animation Creation.' We were completely confused by this definition. What is it? Making animation indoors? Nowadays, who goes outside to make animation anyway? Could it be interior roaming animation? That should fall under the Environmental Art department, so how are we supposed to take that?
You'd say this teaching plan is ridiculous, but some people strangely like it. Because our university was the first in the province to offer an animation major, for a while, groups from other sister universities would come, supposedly to 'visit and study' before enrolling in the animation program. The scene: the program leader would bring a big group of teachers newly transferred to this major, show them all our equipment and works. When it was time to leave, they would vaguely suggest, ‘Could you give us a copy of your four-year curriculum plan?'
Our department head was firm—no matter who came, even if the relationship was very close, this material would definitely not be given out. But they had their ways; if they couldn't get it openly, they would do it covertly. Steal!!
You ask, isn't this something the head of a legitimate university department wouldn't do? But someone actually did it. They stole from our Continuing Education School and International Education School without even asking if it was suitable and just used it in their schools. And indeed, someone even managed to steal the regular four-year curriculum plan of our department.Now we've also become skilled. In the latest revised teaching plan, the course names aren't specified at all—just written as 'Animation Design A,' 'Animation Design B,' 'Animation Design C.' Insiders know this actually means 'Character Design,' 'Scene Design,' 'Action Design,' and so on. Software courses are named similarly, like 'Digital Art Design A,' 'Digital Art Design B,' etc., so even if outsiders steal the info, they wouldn't know what it means.
There's no other way, we're forced into this!
End of Issue Seven
Look forward to Issue Eight...
Supplement to Issue Seven
Let's talk about this 'Animator Certification.' I've always admired the imagination of the relevant national departments—they create a new industry, and immediately a so-called 'certification' for that industry is introduced. But how useful is this thing, really? It's simple—it's useless, at least for the animation profession.
This kind of certification can only give the holder some psychological comfort, like their skills have been nationally recognized, but when applying for a job at a company, they always ask for a portfolio and almost never look at this so-called 'certification.'
The government hasn't issued policies like 'animation companies must have a certain number of certified employees,' so no one pays attention to it.
But why does this certification still exist?
The following set of data was sent to me by a training school, encouraging us students to take the exam. I won't bother with all the messy explanations, just the essentials:
Training for Level 4 Animator costs 2,380 RMB, Level 3 Animator costs 3,380 RMB, and the certification exam fee is 190 RMB.
So everyone understands—the main purpose of this certification is to stimulate domestic demand and encourage consumption. Beyond that, it's almost useless.
Nowadays, besides the above official certifications, there are numerous international certifications from various software companies, such as the so-called 'international certifications' for each software. Are these useful?
To be honest, when these certifications were stricter in the early days, they were somewhat useful, but nowadays, obtaining them has become relatively easy.
Recently, a regional manager from a major animation software company contacted us, hoping our school would purchase their genuine software and allow the software's authorized training center to be set up at our school, promising that after payment, they would give us two international instructor certifications for the software for free.Some of our teachers doubted saying that some of our teachers have never used this software, and it seems unrealistic to pass this international certification in a short time, especially the authorized instructor certification. Then the person in charge gave a strange smile and said that is not a problem; it doesn't even matter whether you take the exam or not. As long as the software is purchased, everything else can be easily solved.
Previously, a colleague of ours was chatting with the head of the animation program at Donghua University. The head said that all the software courses in their program have been canceled, and students are required to attend external related training and obtain the relevant international software certification before a diploma will be awarded.
I laughed after hearing this and thought to myself, students nowadays can even get the CET-4 English certificate, so why be afraid of such a not-so-strict international software certification? This policy can only be considered a pleasant fantasy.
But our colleague took it seriously and said, why can't our school do the same? I said, forget it; nowadays, students won't even learn something if forced, let alone if you give them free rein, hardly anyone will study software.
My colleague said it's okay, we can run private training classes. Look at the XX department in our school as an example: they also canceled software courses, then in the evenings let a young teacher from the department run a software training class, charge tuition, enabling students to learn software and generate revenue at the same time, killing two birds with one stone!
I was speechless again...
Hehe~
The article may be a bit messy, jumping around topics a lot in each issue. I didn't list any outline, it's all just my thoughts, so please forgive me!!
Issue 8:
Back to the main topic, let's continue talking about Chinese animation.
This issue is something everyone should be concerned about—the issue of animation investment.
I often receive calls regarding animation investments. Basically, they say that they want to invest in animation but aren't familiar with the industry, and hope to partner with me, then meet up to chat and so on.
When I first started working, I treated these people with courtesy. Once, a person from the media, working at a major newspaper but running two companies in his spare time, asked to meet me at a cafe.
He came straight in asking: I know animation has been very popular lately, and I like animation very much. I want to invest in animation, can you tell me how to go about it?\I was a bit stunned by the questions right away. I said, 'I'm not the one saying how we should do it; it's about how you plan to do it.'\ He said it was simple: 'I provide the money, you do it. I don't understand animation.'\ I said, 'So who gets the final say?'\ He glared and said, 'Of course I do.'\ I said, 'So all the decisions about the characters, script, and scene settings are up to you.'\ He said, 'Of course, I'm providing the money.'\ I said, 'But didn't you just say you don't understand animation?'\ He chuckled and said, 'Just because you've never seen a pig run doesn't mean you haven't eaten pork. I watched animation when I was a kid; it's just something for kids, something that can be watched casually. The real key is promotion. With my years of experience in media, even if it's crap, as long as the promotion is right, it can sell for a good price.'\ We were greedily sipping coffee that cost dozens of yuan a cup, and I almost spat it out when I heard that.\ Don't get me wrong, at least this person was sincere, planning to invest money. Even worse, there are always people who come with claims of a great script or strong connections but no money, asking you to make animation for them for free and then share profits later.\ I ran into this kind of thing at least three times. A typical example: a friend I hadn't contacted in ages suddenly called one day and said there was a big animation project. All the preliminary scripts, character and scene designs were done, the later distribution was all sorted—it was a guaranteed money-making project. As long as I joined, soon enough, money would come pouring down on me like Niagara Falls.\ Hearing that, I was overjoyed, shaking the guy's hand hard, with tears and snot in my face, thinking, 'Finally, I have money. I can charge 3 yuan for a bowl of spicy soup, and even dare to add extra sesame cakes to cold noodles.'\ But when I got to the production site, it was just a two-bedroom apartment with a single computer. He let me see his script—one episode had more than 20 pages, giving me a headache. Then I looked at the characters—none of their facial features were right. Then I saw the scenes—it was just an extremely tacky apartment complex built based on their designs.\ I said, 'Buddy, this won't do.' He waved his hand and said, 'You're the expert. If you say it won't do, we'll change it. Redesign the characters, the scenes, then make one or two episodes, 30 minutes each.'\ I said, 'Buddy, are you joking? I alone can't possibly produce all this.'He said, 'Don't you still have so many students under you? Bring them all in, everyone can do it together.' I said, 'Well, they probably wouldn't do it for me for free either.' He said, 'Ah, buddy, don't worry, we won't lose out on you. We just don't have money right now, so how about this: you cover the costs first, and when the film makes money, you'll get a bigger share.'
What could I say? After going home, I immediately deleted that kid's number and never contacted him again.
Some of you might ask, 'Isn't there anyone who genuinely invests money to make animation?'
There really is. A friend of a friend of mine encountered one. Let me tell you, that person is truly an anime enthusiast, no doubt about it. He was over 30, and his daily dream was to elevate Chinese animation. Then fate smiled upon him: a boss who constantly goes to Xinjiang to gamble on jade (for those who don't know, Google it) noticed his small team. The money was poured in; whatever they wanted, they got. Each person got a few thousand yuan a month, chauffeur service was provided, plus bonuses, and even meal receipts could be reimbursed.
So that guy really tried hard—after three months he finished a script called 'Little Mudman Looking for Mom.' Those three or four people who had just learned Maya actually dared to plan to make the entire animation with Maya. The result? The visuals were unbearably horrible.
I was fortunate to witness it. The scenes were dark and gloomy, it was pouring rain on muddy ground, and with that little mudman, the whole visual was nothing but poop-colored yellow.
It is said that the boss completely broke down after seeing it and swore never to deal with animation again.
You might say, 'Isn't there a combination of a good boss and a good team?'
There is. A few years ago, an animation company suddenly emerged. They had just opened and were aggressively hiring—right out of the gate they wanted 100 people. We were shocked at the time. Over 100 people? Years ago, in our inland city? They must have been planning to make a huge production.
At the time we were too shy to even peek. Once, at an anime expo, their company's booth was right next to our school's booth. By chance, that day I was helping a few guys set up our exhibition and in the rush, we forgot tape. When I looked around, their company had just finished setting up and there was almost a finished roll of foam tape on their table. I shamelessly went over and said, 'Hey, buddy, I'm at the booth next door and forgot our tape. Could I use yours?' He glanced at me and said kindly, 'Use sparingly.' I took it, and there were a dozen or so panels; I could hardly save much anyway.It depends on those few people in their company. They stood behind us, watching us use tape with sympathy, saying: "Return it after you're done."
The next day, at the expo, I had nothing to do, so I wandered over to their booth. I saw the introduction, and that guy—it said that dozens of their animations were broadcast on major TV stations like CCTV, with each series having dozens or even hundreds of episodes. I said, wow, they really have实力.
After a while, one of my students went to work at their company. When I saw him, I asked how much he earns in a month. He replied, somewhat irritably, "Two hundred." I said, no way, after making so many projects, it's just this amount? He said nonsense, their company hasn't actually completed a single series in years. I said nonsense, what about the dozens on the display board?
He said, you don't understand, those are all new hires at their company. They just wrote down all the projects from their previous companies on the display board, claiming they did them themselves.
I said: nonsense. This is a harmonious society in China; how could there be such shameless behavior? He said, come on, the investors give them funding every month and very rarely interfere. So they have no sense of urgency, drag things out, and after years, they may only produce a few dozen minutes of animation. During the last Beijing Olympics, they even had the energy to shoot a music video "Beijing Welcomes You," with everyone in the company appearing to sing a line or two.
What great investors, not interfering with internal affairs. Too bad they encountered such professionals.
The above is just my personal experience and does not represent everything. You can see these events as a microcosm of the current Chinese animation industry. My current impression is: competent, responsible animation investors are too few, and capable, responsible animation production teams are also too few. These two rarely meet their match; often good investors encounter irresponsible teams, or capable teams run into hurried, short-sighted investors.
But such intersections do exist, and if you encounter them, please cherish them.
End of Episode 8
Looking forward to Episode 9…
