VFX production in Japan.. what's wrong?
Hello everyone. It's my first post..
So I'm currently working as a VFX coordinator, and I just wanted to know what people outside of Japan thought about Japanese CGI/VFX companies.
I was wondering why we never get the chance to work with Hollywood movies..
whereas productions in China and Korea have such opportunities.
It would be great if anyone can share with me some opinions that can't be heard from within.
Thanks in advance. 
Replies
I dont know a ton about China's VFX industry but I know Koreas VFX industry made its mark internationally more or less, with The Host in '06. I cant really remember if Japan has really had a breakout international VFX integrated film like that, which say "We're here and open for business."
Edit: i just remembered "Red Cliff" in '08 that films vfx more or less said "Look what we can do" for China.
Same with games in Japan, they put a lot of effort into the characters, but environment wise they usually don't care much.
CM's on the other hand. I remember seeing this CM for the first time and thought "Damn, I wanna see this movie..."
just and few examples,
they took 3 years to make "stand by me" the doraemon movie, and it is not even looking good.
they spent more than 4 years for captain harlock, and all the sub characters are super creepy.
the normal maps of darksouls 2 characters are made in photoshop with the nvidia plugin.
they produce for sure good stuff too, but it is rare and most of the time the pipeline is totally fucked up.
they really need to renew the entire industry, they are stuck in the 90s.
(I work in japan from 10 years ago)
Your post seems to reinforce what was said in the FF15 thread where someone mentioned that the character artists had to rig and animate their own models.
I mean I used to work under those conditions.
in my opinion the problems are 4 and they are related to the pipeline.
1* the artists are not motivated, because the companies use to put stupid rules to overcontrol the freedom of people, see Konami. And often they use the artists like tools, not like artists.
In my Japanese career it happened more than one time to see companies spend a lot of money to hire some good artist from other country to bring some fresh air in the pipeline and suddenly put on top of him some of the old guy that didn't permit any change. So the good guy left, the japanese learnt nothing, end of the story.
2* 99% of the time the pipeline is simply wrong, they don't know how to comunicate each others, they always pass through the hierarchy.
example: I am a senior modeler, I need to talk with a senior animator to solve a problem, well most of the time I have to ask to my lead to talk to the animator lead that asks to the animator he info I need. its easy to understand how awful is work like this.
3* the people tend spend the entire life in a single company, japanese people love to have life terms contract, even if they have to sign for a shitty salary and shitty conditions. So a lot of the big guys in the companies are really old and they simply don't want to listen, they are really scared to lose their leadership because they know that the NEVER gonna find another job in the industry. Thats why a lot of artists didn't left konami after Kojima left. Even the scandals even they are going to make pachinko for the rest of their lifes. In Japan is also really complicated to fire someone with this kind of contract.
4* everyone has opinions and no sense of humor in work enviroment, if I'm working on a character I have to listen the opinion of the concept artist that doesn't match with the opinion of the cg director that doesn't match with the director, So to not hurt the feelings eachothers they tend to find super stupid compromise, that basically ruin the original concept.
BUT, even those HUGE problems, I see a spot of brightness, at least Japan has still some nice ideas and IPs, they trust in their power, they have money to invest to develop good products and they have good history about innovation.
cheers.
One thing I wondered about Japan though - it seems there are even less people who speak English than in China. And here in China we have problems with finding the latest learning materials for the latest apps in Chinese. Introducing Substance wasn't easy until we translated and made out own trainings. How is that in Japan?
Oh I know lol
About Final Fantasy XV team restructuring:
http://www.famitsu.com/matome/ff15/interview01_EN.html
--“So with all this going on, how did you tackle the project?”
Tabata: I brought together the game team, movie team, and technical team to create a new, independent team. This team then merged with the former FF Versus XIII team to make FFXV, forming the predecessor to the current Business Division 2.
We reset the hierarchy of the whole team. We had section leads who had been in the position for a dozen years. This of course led to a clearly defined hierarchy among the staff, which not only affected the team’s chance at succeeding, but also forces each team member to adhere to the subjective values of their supervisor. In the hope of putting aside the unnecessary hierarchy that existed between them, I told the team that we were equals in a free-for-all environment. (laughs)
--“You created a meritocracy.”
Tabata: Yes. Before anything, I met with each member of the team and told them, “It’s up to you whether you stay or not. If you stay, you’ll have to abide by my changes. I don’t care how things were done in the past.” To get a clear idea of what each individual could bring to the team, I asked them what they were capable of. Next I assigned them their positions; mixing things up by assigning an all-round, balanced developer to head the preproduction phase, telling a former lead that for certain phases they’d be working under someone else, as although the quality of their work was impressive, they were less great at coordinating their section and negotiating with others. We really argued back and forth!
--“I bet you did…!”
Tabata: But there were a lot of people who were upbeat about the changes; many of them felt they were learning and growing, so spirits were high. We removed the invisible power balances and streamlined the chain of command, so everyone was making the most of their abilities. Many were trying their hand at something new, something previously out of reach, and this was being reflected in the game itself.
--"Sounds like you were thorough. I feel the success of your restructuring pivoted on the fact that each member of the team shared the passion to create a successful FF title, to rally their strength and, dare I say, make a comeback."
Tabata: That's right. The FF franchise might be struggling, but deep down I think each of us knew we were yet to be defeated. People often talk about how Japan has been trailing behind the West since entering the HD-age, but we want people to know that battle wasn't lost by us, we're only just stepping up to the plate. I was certain that Japanese games would be able to compete on the world stage, but as we ourselves weren't working with HD platforms at the time, we hadn’t even entered the race back then. That's why we're keen to take up the mantle and succeed. Don’t count us out just yet, we’re just getting started.
See, some of them do want the situation to improve.