Author: LIAR/Anitama Cover Source: Little Two Heroes (2008)
Speaking of Oshii Mori, his debut film "Fukusei Kid", adapted from Masamune Shiro's "GOHST IN THE SHELL / Ghost in the Shell" and the subsequent "INNOCENCE", as a member of the creative group HEADGEAR, he participated in the OVA, TV animation, theatrical version of "Mobile Police Pattaboro" and the subsequent live-action TV series and film version, and in terms of movies, "Red Glasses", "AVALON", "Aerial Killer" Experimental works with fictional themes have led the trend of Japanese video.
Previously, Hayashi Talked about Oshii Mori in the third issue of Anitama's "Yuki Tomino and the Animator Series", and I would like to introduce Oshii Mori at a public lecture attended by Oshii Mori and his royal sound supervisors Wakabayashi and Hiroshi on August 10. The full text is divided into three issues. In the first issue, let's start with Oshii Mori entering the industry.
Oshii graduated in 1976 after six years of college (2 years of repetition), and after graduation, he participated in the inauguration activities as a film director, but various unsuccessful things did not go well, and he was not admitted to the film company, and then he entered the production company of the radio program, and because the salary was too small, he retired from the company after only half a year. Just when he was in a "jobless" state, he accidentally bumped into the production company of Dragon's Son, which was the premier in the animation industry at that time.
Once I happened to see a job advertisement posted on a pole, so I went to the Son of the Dragon for an interview. Before that, Oshii had only seen "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" produced by Dragon Son, which was also the supervised debut of his master Torikai Nagayuki, and for him, it was like a movie, and it was a very big impact.
In October 1972, the original manga artist and noko-no-ko-kun, the founder of "Science Ninja Gatchaman", Ando Yoshida, Ying Hai Yonggyo. Rinoko Production Co., Ltd. (Ryunoko Production Co., Ltd.) established in 1962, renamed in February 2013, "Tsunoko Production" (Tatsunoko Pro).
During the interview, Oshii was full of confidence, "I have seen all the works of your company. "Nature is deceitful, anyway, let's fool around, in fact, he has only seen a little bit of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman." Clip me too. "After all, I have done broadcast-related work before, but I have cut not film for photography, but tape for recording. Then the interviewer asked, "So did you draw too many mirrors?" "Of course!" Oshii replied without hesitation, although he only drew a little when he was making independent films in college. The Son of the Dragon was really understaffed at that time, and it was of course good to have such a master, so Oshii Mori was immediately admitted as a "miscellaneous affairs".
At that time, it was also the beginning of the animation boom, in addition to "Science Ninja Team", Dragon Noko also had several other plans at the same time, and although the company had a complete production system from planning to photography, it was almost 5 episodes of work every week, and the painting, background, and photography sometimes had to be produced by outsourcing companies. The only thing that cannot be entrusted to outsiders is the duty of "performing", which is one of the principles of the Son of Dragons. For specific performances, you can check "What the Performance Is All About - Hongo Talks About Performance Work".
After The Science Ninja Team, Dragon Child did the same route as the New Creator Kasha, the Ladybird Song for families and children, and the TimeShip series for longtime box sellers. So how many employees did Dragon Son have at that time? About 200 people. At first, Dragon's Son was only a contracting company that worked for Insect Production and Toei Animation, and in line with Toei Animation, Dragon's Son gradually had a complete system including planning, performance, painting, background, photography, and editing.
Mizuho Nishikubo, Koichi Manashita, and Koichi Mishita, and Yuki, Mizuho, and Yoneshi Yoshihito, were known as the "Four Heavenly Kings of the Dragon's Son" along with Mori Oshii, and were well known in the industry at the time. Of the four, Oshii was the last to join the club, but he was the eldest of the four. At that time, Ryunoko not only emulated Toei Animation in the production system, but also cultivated fresh university graduates as performers in educating People, so the other three entered Ryunoko earlier than Oshii Mori, who had been in the university for two years. In this regard, Oshii Mori is very modest, considering himself to be the junior of the three, saying that "although the age is above them, the animation studio still relies on technology, and the important thing is the accumulated experience." And Mizuho Nishikubo, who is 2 years younger than Oshii, still calls Oshii "Oshii Jun".
"Son of the Dragon Four Heavenly Kings" in the relationship with Oshii Mori best Nishikubo Mizuho (pictured right). The two also have a number of co-authored works, including the supervisor of the theatrical anime "Miyamoto Musashi - The Dream of The Two Swords" in which Oshii Mori served as the script, and Mori Oshii served as the superintendent of "Fukusei Kid", "Mobile Police PATLABOR 2 the Movie", "GHOST IN THE SHELL / Ghost in the Shell", "INNOCENCE", "Tachibana Chronicles", "Aerial Killer" and other works.
As mentioned earlier, Oshii was admitted to the Son of the Dragon as a "chores", and on the first day of work, Oshii only used the morning time to learn about the tasks to be responsible for the next from the office, and after eating at noon, he was taken to the performance minister for questioning. It was only the first day of work, and the performance minister went straight to the point, "I heard that your goal is to become a performer." Okay, anyway, first cut me a storyboard to try. "That is, the people above want to put Oshii Mori to a test. Draw a random script from the finished animation and give it to him for a period of one week. During the week, Oshii was doing chores such as photocopying while facing the challenges given by the boss. In the end, it was miraculously completed and received praise. It took only 3 weeks to become a show.
Oshii attributed the reason for the performance's debut to "insufficient manpower". It takes 3 years for the seniors of the same agency to become performance assistants, and 5 or 6 years to become a performer. Oshii recalls, there was not enough manpower at that time. The photography department, the original painter, and the old lady in charge of coloring were all arrested and tested. Oshii was most impressed by the work of sound supervisor, who was in charge of the sound supervisor when he first entered the battle. When adding recordings, effects, and background music, "no need here" and "that's superfluous" were deleted so much that I couldn't even recognize how I drew the original storyboard.
But it's really a great learning opportunity. For example, when switching from vista to close-up, it is very difficult to insert music. Therefore, there needs to be a longer transition here, and it is more convenient to master the rhythm of the music. During this period, Oshii also gradually mastered the basic skills of performers such as "how to consider the production of pictures from the perspective of sound, and how to subtly switch shots".
Oshii Mori attaches great importance to the use of sound and music in video works, and even once said that "half of the film is composed of music". Music critic Toshihiro Ma baba left a message on the video mall TOWER RECORDS online store: "Angel Egg", directed by Mori Oshii and designed by Kitaka Amano during the popularity of OVA, as an initial experimental work, before Oshii met Kenji Kawai, the classical musician Yuhiro Sugano produced background music, and asked for the use of contemporary classical music creation techniques, from the arrangement of wind instruments to the use of pianos, percussion groups, suppressed strings, and choruses. None of them are the techniques that Kanno has touched in the past, but they seem to be particularly strange, as elegant and luxurious as Baroque music. As a commercial work, "Angel's Egg" is a failure, but its strong artistic color and gorgeous music have been appreciated by all walks of life.
The cover of the soundtrack disc "Angel's Egg Music" of "Angel's Egg" was handled by the art director of the game, Kitaka Amano (then known as Amano Yoshitaka).
Although it has become a performance, this title does not mean that its status has also improved. At that time, the net working in the animation studio was some 16- and 17-year-old young people, as a 26-year-old large newcomer, in order not to be considered a waste of wood by these young people, they had to use the "shortest distance" to learn.
Oshii's debut was the 28th episode of Ichigo Taijun, which aired on April 2, 1978. After that, he was responsible for the appearance of the small robots in "Little Two Heroes" from the mouth of the giant mechanical dog "Little Man Wang Wang(ヤッターキング)" to the final explosion scene. While being in charge of this scene and being asked by the superintendent to do this and that, the second half of the anime directly becomes the "general assistant supervisor" (Nomura and Shi name), that is, the performance assistant directly under the supervision. In 2008, the second of "Little Two Heroes" paid tribute to Oshii Mori, and specially designed a mascot that even said "Pity (おしい)" "Pity Starman (オシイ星人)" (see head image).
Various small robots from the mouth of the giant mechanical dog "Little Man Wang Wang (ヤッターキング)" are swarmed scenes, the proper noun is "ゾロメカ", the literal translation is one after another in teams of robots, at that time Oshii Mori was mainly responsible for this scene, and was also crowned with the title of "ゾロメカ専" ("専" is special). ※ Since I can't find the source of the original "Little Two Heroes", I have to use the screen of the 08 version here instead.
In this way, Oshii Mori has been working in the Son of the Dragon for more than 2 years, and there is no problem in terms of work, but he is so busy that he has almost no vacation during this period. However, Oshii felt that it was not easy for him to be trusted by his colleagues and recognized by other departments, so he did not say anything about it. Of course, that's all he can do.
The ugly point is that it is an errand runner, and the Oshii Code refers to the job at that time as "Super Jack-of-all-Trades" (スーパー convenience house). Slowly Oshii Mori began to tire of this life of hard work, and doing so could not become the "ideal performer" that he had woven in his head. You can't just do performances for other people's films, you have to become a supervisor yourself, and you have to do the movies you want to do!
As a result, Oshii decided to get rid of the reins and leave the Son of the Dragon.
(To be continued)
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Original: m.anitama.cn/article/e411ef055271e498?utm_source=toutiao