Miracle Animation Studios Inc.

     As we were still finishing the animation in July, I started to polish the pitch bible for the first season. When I was done with the pitch bible for season 1, I began reading the script for season 2, but I could not read past the fifth episode; I felt the script was redundant and the whole episode needs to be rewritten. We needed to do new stories for each episode rather than having one story for the entire season to keep the interest of the audience.  Since mid-last year, we already finished the character models for season 2 but we could not write new episode scripts for season 2 this year;  so doing the pitch bible for season 2 was no longer possible. So I focused on fixing minor problems such as correcting the poster for the cartoon and enhancing the blurred logo of the company.

      It was early August this year that I learned from Grace, that Alstaire would be going to the Tokyo Game Show for the first time this September 16 to 22. The organizer of the show – the Asean Japan Center invited willing participants from the Philippines to exhibit their works and services for the exhibit. The organizer will subsidize the hotel accommodation and round trip airfare; offer free animation studio tours and exhibit booth for one individual per company not only from the Philippines but for other Asean countries as well, like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore with smaller delegates from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei Darusalam under the Asia New Stars Area. Only 5 companies per country is the limit, but the Philippines added 2 more companies as Brunei only sent 2 companies. Without the subsidized and free offer, I doubt it that there would be small Philippine companies would be present in this exhibit as the costs to attend the exhibit are prohibitive.

     Since mid-last year, we already finished the main storyline for the mobile game, the poster, the character models for the villains, the look of the game for the mobile phone and the game document; what we still need to do is fine tune the game document and the programming . The story for the game is not related to the first season of the TV series, and the under the game, I shortened the title to “The Crop Circle Warriors®” but Jobert and his friends are still the main characters. I’m not a  gamer, so I’m not in tune with what’s in or out, nor am aware of what’s popular except for some household names like “Angry Birds” and “Flappy Bird“. I conceptualized the main story line with the villains but the details with regard to the movements and action, I left it for Alstaire to do.

Sample of “Crop Circle Warriors®” for the mobile game

Concept Drawings for Jobert

Concept Drawings for Jessalaine

     Sometime in early August; Anthro – the animator who went back to Dumaguete a few years ago coincidentally called Alstaire and told him that he missed doing the action scenes for Jobert and he was bored with doing just some poster art work. So Alstaire gave him some job for the trailer for the mobile game of the “Crop Circle Warriors®” which would be exhibited at the Tokyo Game Show. Anthro was able to finish the drawings last September 2, 2014 for the trailer. I was not even aware of Alstaire’s plan to do a trailer for the mobile game, which I only learned later on since he said he needs to show something at the exhibit aside from the other two mobile game concepts that Top Peg Animation had a tie-up with.  But that is not a problem with me, as I am prepared to invest in the mobile game and have it available online hopefully by the first or second quarter of next year. This game will extend the property and introduce the animation to the gamers who will download it on their mobile phones. This is a breath of fresh air for me, as we got stuck  producing the animation for the longest time. I’m looking forward to finish this in the right manner and as fast as we can so that we can move on to do other things.

     The exhibit will enable Top Peg Animation to market their animation services for gaming companies, while at the same time give exposure to my products. I’m very excited with the exhibit as this will show not only our mobile game to prospective clients but it will also show our TV animation to the various people who might also be distributors, producers and writers for animation as well. The expected visitors for the show is about 220,000. Alstaire will also have the chance to attend seminars and take a look on what other Asean countries are doing. Other exhibitors from around the world are there from large multinationals like Sony and Microsoft and many creative independent firms. We will definitely learn a lot about gaming in this show, and from what we will learn there – we’ll apply it to our mobile game before having it programmed. Below are some of the pictures for the Tokyo Game Show 2014.

     I asked Alstaire to write his experience in games and how Top Peg was invited to the Tokyo Game Show. This is his story:

How Did We Get Into Doing Game Art?

     Back in 2009, a client from New York called and scheduled to visit the studio. He said he was visiting different studios to find one that would match the style for a project. When he arrived at the studio, the first thing he asked was if we have experience in animating in Disney style or something like “Spirited Away”. We told him that the Disney style of animating was where most of us trained. They were doing a new side scrolling game based on the classic game – “A Boy and His Blob“. The story is about a boy who meets an alien blob who can transform to different objects when he is fed different flavoured jelly beans. The art director wanted an animated feel to the game. He also needed a studio to do the backgrounds for the game. He liked what he saw and we got the project.

     There were many adjustment in doing game animation from TV animation. First, the animators were limited to a specific number of drawings for each action. Like a “standing punch” should only be four drawings. Second, all the action should be returned to the same drawing, like whether it is from a “run” or “jump” animation, they should all go back to the “idle” first animation of the character. Because of this, it is strictly checked that all handouts for the different animations had the same first and last pose of the character. Third, they had a specific software that they were using, which wasn’t compatible with any other version of that software. So we had to find that specific software with the specific version as well. Finally, we had to learn how to use a drawing tablet (WACOM). It took us a week or two to finally adjust to all the requirements and the client was happy with the results, that he also had us animate the Intro Cinematic of the game.

     The game company that hired us for this game has been a regular client since then. We have done game art and animation for at least 9 games already, this includes Bloodrayne Betrayal, Batman: the Brave and the Bold the Video Game, Ducktales Remastered, Shantae Hero, A Boy and His Blob, Spider-man, Lalaloopsy and Barbie and the 3 Musketeers. The art director who visited us eventually transferred to a different game company, and because of his confidence in our work, he recommended us to supply the game art for this new company – we did another side scroller game called Pug Run. After this, we now added game art and animation to our services, after which we were able to get another game project called “Taurean Revolution” for an independent game designer from the Netherlands.

Joining GDAP

     Our game experience paved the way for us to join GDAP, or the Game Developers Association of the Philippines. Joining GDAP gave us opportunities to be invited to different game festivals and Business Networking in different countries every year. One of the events was the Games & Creative Content Networking Phils 2014 held last May 19, 2014 at the Manila Peninsula Hotel. There were 40 Japanese delegates from different game developers, animation and merchandising who were interested in establishing contact with Philippine gaming and animation companies.  Grace and I, with the help of two former Japanese clients, Mr. Hayasaki and Mr. Sekiguchi, along with their translators, Jenny and Erika, enabled us to talk to most of the Japanese companies who may need our services. But most of the companies were looking for 3D animation for their games and one company was one that produces animation for slot machine games in casinos. The said company also needed 3D animation, although they liked what we presented and they said that they will consider our services when they will need our expertise. At this event, the Tokyo Game Show 2014 was also being promoted and it was only late in July 2014 that Grace told me that I was going to the show instead of her. 

Mr. Sekiguchi (in white), Ms. Grace and Jenny with a Japanese exhibitor

Participants from GDAP and ACPI

Mr.Sekiguchi, Ms. Grace and organizer for the Tokyo Game Show

One of the Japanese speakers

Pierrot Co.,Ltd. – the official distributor for Naruto merchandising

Ms.Grace, Mr.Sekiguchi with exhibitors from Pierrot Co., Ltd

The Crop Circle Warriors Mobile Game

     Back in 2012, with our experience in gaming and the advent of mobile apps for Android and iOS phones; we were imagining if “Jobert” was a video game. So it was good to hear that Edward was also interested in creating a game for Jobert and his friends. Since this will be our first in-house game, we decided on doing a mobile game and since we had some experience in side scrolling action games, this was what we decided on.

     Based on what I knew in developing a game, I created a game concept for “Jobert”, with some inputs from Edward. I used the different game documents that we had from the games that we finished and then showed it to a friend from the game industry – Martin Jimenez, who at that time was working for Kamikase, a local game company. His first feedback was that our game concept was more on the creative side and had little information on the programming side. He gave me some pointers on how to improve it, as well as suggestions to start small. He said my initial concept was a bit too big, which means expensive and time consuming to do; as I had six characters with six different powers. He even said that if he were to quote a price, it would be around P1 million and it will take a year to finish. So I went back and started to rewrite the document that would have information for both the creative and programming side and minimize the characters. The document should have the detail of the game, from the art style, different animations and physics as well (for example, what happens when the character jumps then hits the ceiling?). Also included was the storyline, the different levels, timeline and other details that would help in making the gameplay understandable to all the contractors involved.

     I finished the the document sometime in the 3rd quarter of 2013 but I needed some feedback for it. I knew that some of our voice actors in the TV series for “Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors®” were working or worked for game companies. There is Bea Lapa (Krystel), who is an indie game developer and professor at the College of St. Benilde, Jei Vencer (Zem), who worked as a 3D animator for Anino Games a few years ago, and who is now in Singapore and Victor Cabazor (Moleth and Balhalya), who was working as a Game Developer for a local company doing mobile games. I contacted Victor since he was the most accessible at that time, and when he learned that we were doing a game for “Jobert“, he was excited that he immediately scheduled a meeting between us and his boss at his company. When I initially met him and his boss at a coffee shop in SM Megamall, the first thing he said with our game was that he was really interested in it. He also said that the document that I did still needed a lot of polishing. Victor was perfect to design the game, because he knew the story and he had connection with the characters. We agreed that he would do an Official Game Document, since that was his job as a game developer at the company he works for. The price they gave was reasonable enough and we agreed on the terms but I never gave them a copy of the game document, I just showed it to them. He said to give him 2 weeks to study it, and he will set meetings as we go along. This was the first step and it was exciting. After my first meeting with Victor, Edward was already ready to meet them and discuss the issues for the game document for the next meeting.

    Around November 2013,while we were waiting for the next schedule for a meeting with Victor and his co-workers; Victor suddenly had a heart attack and died. After this event, we haven’t heard from Victor’s boss, even though I emailed him for a follow up. As of now, I still have the original game document that I created, hopefully we’ll get another game designer to start our vision for the game after the Tokyo Game Show.

    I asked Grace A. Dimaranan to share her experiences and lessons learned from the ASEAN Copyright Awareness Contest and Seminar held in Bangkok, Thailand last July 18 – 19, 2014. The contest is relevant for animation students and professionals alike, as this will give them the opportunity to learn and  show their talents and creativity in the Asean region in the future.

  I was invited to judge an animation contest (part 1) where animators submit their story/concepts/character design and then they will pitch in front of the judges and the audience. The theme is ASEAN Copyright Awareness.

 Grace A. Dimaranan with the other judges reviewing the entries

      The judges came from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, the United States and the Philippines. Some of the judges were also speakers for the event like Professor Koji Mikami of Tokyo University of Technology and Stephen P. Jenner, Director of Communications in the Asia-Pacific region, working for the Motion Picture Association – International.

       Stephen P. Jenner, Grace and Lak Taechawanchai

                              Philippine team in semi-formal attire (Randy Valiente, Zenar Sayson, Ross Tec) and some Philippine delegates

   There are 24 teams of contestants which came from the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The judges chose the first final 12 who will pitch in front of the audience in our presence. The Philippines was included in the final 12. After the pitch, the final 6 were chosen. These 6 teams will be given 10,000 Baht to produce/animate their pitched content. The final animation judging will be on August 28, 2014. If you want to see the storyboards of the 6 teams, here it is: http://aseananimationcontest.com/news_details.php

   Judges with the top 12 finalist

     Some did not understand the concept of the Copyright Awareness. Among the 6 finalists, the three from Myanmar are the most prepared in their materials and has the best storyboards for presentation. However, they have difficulty in speaking English. Their topics are dramatic and deep, and they have catchy taglines. The one in Thailand has a good concept too. The Malaysian entry came from an animation professional working in a studio. The last one  from Indonesia has a cute catchy character design that can become a mascot of a campaign program for the ASEAN Copyright.

   Judges with the 6 finalists

     Although the pitchings were good, I have some apprehensions on the outcome for the animation production. The 3 from Myanmar have little experience in animation, as they are just starting off as animators on their own. I am more confident with the Malaysian and Thai as they are professional animators with good output. I just hope the Indonesian can do good animation work and justify her cute designs.

    Since I am always on the judging area and not the conference area; I can only hear the speakers talk after we have finished the judging. So I only heard a portion of some of the talks  and discussions. I also had the chance to go around the exhibition areas only on lunch breaks and after the seminars.

      The topic of Stephen Jenner is about the theatrical distribution cycle. He says in the film industry, distributors treat this cycle as a “pregnant woman” and each stage should have its own development or else, the “baby” or the film will  not come out right or will have “flaws”. The cycle covers everything from script, talents, partnerships, distribution and marketing, target audience, marketing materials, translation, publicity,various media advertising, partners etc. up to release date, reviews and analysis.

     The topic of Professor Koji Mikami is about incorporating 2D and 3D together. He says since its the digital age, 3D is now the preferred medium of most producers. But it doesn’t mean that 2D will be lost. It is still an essential part of animators to learn to incorporate it in their 3D work. He showed the history of Japanese animation and the changing medium up to the modern times.

      Another speaker was Ms. Sopita Santitrakut, Managing Director of Homerun Entertainment in Thailand. She talked about Thai animation production and she showed some sample clips and shared practical experiences in the Thai animation industry.

   Ms. Santitrakut in the middle and Professor Mikami (with blue tie) second to the right

      I didn’t catch her talk much nor saw the samples of clips and pictures. I caught her in the Question and Answer forum and the pitching time. A Philippine representative asked her; “We have outsourcing work in the Philippines and this has been the dominant practice in the country. How can we produce and improve our content creation?” She answered:”Who cares? You have work coming into your country through outsourcing and that’s good! While you have money doing that, then do some original content on the side so that you can create your own Intellectual Property (IP). I don’t see any conflict in outsourcing and content creation.”

     Overall, the effort to promote ASEAN copyright awareness is going to the right direction. As I have heard from all the countries, Piracy is a dominant issue giving content creators a hard time. The pitching tips, techniques and exercises from the speakers were also good learning experiences for the audience.

     The Thai organizers have been very attentive to the needs of the participants, the program flowed well, we were all well fed and the schedule for the topics were all on time. I have heard they spent a good amount of money for this event. They paid for all the airfare and accommodations of the 24 participants and the judges. For the judges, we also had some special dinners and tours too.

     Last August 28, 2014, the judges had an online scoring for the six finalist and the results were:

1) Winner: “Don’t Let Creativity Fall, Respect IP” – Myanmar – Team: Linn Htet Maw

2) 1st Runner Up: “Beyond the Production“ – Myanmar – Team: Neutron Animation Group

3) 2nd Runner Up: “Protection” – Myanmar – Team: Ye Win

4) Honorable Mention: ” Do It Right, Copy Right“ – Malaysia – Team: Giggles

5) Honorable Mention: “Spender“ – Thailand – Team: Rocky Dally Studio

6) Honorable Mention: “Kopas the Thief“ – Indonesia – Team: Kopas the Thief

     Last July 3, 2014, ICON Manila held an Entertainment Design Conference at the SMX Convention Center in Manila. Top film industry designers in the US shared their passion and design philosophies in animation, live action, games, advertising and illustration. The conference is sponsored by ICON for Missions, a non-profit humanitarian based organization. Their mission is to use their success to help people in need.

     The conference was attended by art students, art professors and professionals in the various visual media. The picture below are the artists and animators who worked on some of the biggest animation film block busters as well as live films, television shows and computer games. Just search their names to look for their backgrounds and portfolios.

     In a nutshell they talked about understanding the visual language, 3D visual development, design evolution from concept to the final product, character design, qualities, traits and practices to be a successful artist,  film concept design, the best art is created by combining craft and creativity, production design and background animation. They shared their experiences and showed some of their portfolios (cannot be shown here due to copyright).

     Entertainment design belongs to the pre-production phase in the animation production process. I picked up some pointers and ideas for concept and visual development and character design but their in-depth practice in the industry cannot be applied in our case or in the country. As the artists are commissioned by large companies such as Disney to create character models, concept design for backgrounds, props, costumes and others for movies or television shows that are too elaborate and detailed. And many of their excellent artworks will be rejected and not be used for whatever reason. They also have tons of designs for one character and sometimes the final character model will be chosen after five years. So we are talking about big budget to pay top artists to produce  superb artworks that may be only rejected or used after many years. All of them specialize in one field or another, as the industry needs specialized professionals to bring out the best output. Unlike in what we experienced, due to low-budget, the artist needs to work on other things other than what he specializes in. After seeing the speakers’ artworks, I’m sure we don’t have that level of artistry done in any of our industry, since we don’t have the industry nor the market for the kind of high caliber works, whether its just a background, a tree, a rock, a character, props etc. Their entertainment environment enables their artists to become the best they can be in their profession as there is always some work for them to create better works than before.

      I asked Alstaire if we have some process for visual development applied in the Jobert and the Crop Circle Warriors© series, and he can only laugh and said that there is none. But on the good side, there are two Filipino artist among the speakers and that speaks about the talent of the Filipinos in the arts if given the opportunity and the right environment. So the conference was ideal for students and young artists who were there and have the aspiration, talent and drive to be the best they can be in their chosen visual arts field if they go to the US.  The best opportunity for animation is still in the US and not some third world country. I overheard one of the participants resignedly told a fellow participant that most graduates of a certain local art school with an animation course usually end up in the  advertising field. There is nothing wrong with advertising as it is a dynamic field where young professionals can contribute and develop their talents and many even come to love this profession.  Many animation students have to adjust to the economic realities after they graduate as pure animation work will not be available to all the graduates. The graduates will just have to be more resourceful if they want to purse the animation field, maybe they can work on it as a sideline, till they have built enough skills and portfolio to do professional work as an independent artist or apply to big studios locally or abroad.

     Given the situation of our country, there is no way we can reach or compete at the level of excellence in terms of the original animation output by the media giants in the US. They have the budget to hire the best and the market to earn back the millions that they have invested. But this does not mean that we can’t produce good works and market it internationally, as the level of technology and the reach of the Internet can help our talented artists and resourceful small studios in the country to succeed.