It depends on perspective. It seems that outsourced Korean studios are cheap outfits. But then consider that Korea is practically the animation capital of the world, since most US, Japanese, and Canadian companies choose Korea first when they outsource. If you are expecting sweatshops be surprised at the state of the art facilities that they have. Their "low" wages is only because of exchange rates. Salarymen and contract workers have basically the same experience all over the world, with non-union ones costing much less.
My parents used to recall how at one time they were laughing at the cheap Japanese products that flooded the market after WWII and how crappy they were. Times have changed and now Hyundai is a premium brand here and in India. If I recall correctly Mushishi had chinese names in the credit list (why they spelt them with roman alphabets I have no idea) This is envious because the only Filipino names I see credited are the directors in Precure, mostly the whole 100+ artist team is just labeled as an entity.
I am not an animator, so my life is a little more luxurious, though I am responsible for some production / technical aspects of animation. But I only need to look across the room and see what's in store.
1.) Do you want to sleep and bathe in the animation studio, going home (if at all) only during the weekends?
2.) Do you want a steady diet of coffee, coke, Ministop fried chicken, 7-Eleven hotdogs, and cigarettes?
3.) Do you want to work very hard on a scene, only to have to redo it because someone down the pipeline thinks it sucks? Or worse, because some idiot accidentally deleted it.
4.) Do you want to be assured that after the current project is over, you have no guarantee of your next work?
5.) Do you just love to bask in the condescending attitudes of the expats who make no effort to mask the fact that they dislike you because you are doing their job for cheap and who blame all bad quality on the outsourcing and subcontractors, and yet at the same time change their minds at the last minute to redo some scenes worse than they were to begin with?
6.) Do you like to work with people who did not have a good education, or who were involved in drugs at some point in their lives?
If you would love these things, then by all means aspire to be an animator! Go through it all and you might become a respected director.
Yes, it is still possible to be richer being a freelance animator than a salaryman. If you are superman and can pump out twenty feet a day, that is.
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Originally Posted by Thelastguardian
Actually, if I remember correctly, Shuffle has some scene complaining about the poor treatment animators get (in Engrish, noticed by me  ). Kagihime also has some scenes with engrish complaining about studio "selling out" (noticed by NoSanninwa). |
I must have missed that one in Shuffle, I don't recall but am interested.
One thing's for sure though. I have yet to meet someone who dislikes animation or comics. Practically everyone is a long-time anime, animation, comics, manga, american cartoon fan....except the CEO and CFO. Got a question about a comic-book? Or video-game? Someone in the studio is bound to be the expert. And we all otherwise love what we do. Last year the studio manager was complaining about a certain compositor with a bad work ethic. Said person ranted about how the whole animation industry is a pile of shiet and how he's going to get out and do something worthwhile with his life. Fast forward a year later and I see him back in the studio. -"I'm in it just for the money." - Yeah, right.
The lifestyle is similar to the other often outsourced industry--call-centers. Except that the attrition rate in call centers is high---turnover around 2 years. Me, I lasted but one year. Apart from the fresh trainees, the veterans here have over 10 years of experience and have credits ranging from Scooby-doo to Atlantis. It's just up to the next generation for replacements, who have degrees ranging from Fine Arts majoring in Advertising to Computer Engineering. They have at least one crazy inductee in me and though I do not have the artistic talent (yet), I've decided to stick through with this industry, though companies may rise and fall. It's a small country anyway, so the talent pool is the same people. Heck, even the studio manager rose from a lowly production assistant, whereas most people would head for greener pastures. That's something I respect about those I work with.