continued from the previous article
Lastly, another role in animation that I’d like to work in is as an editor. While the artists, animators, voice acting and sound teams work hard to tell the stories in shots and sequences, there’s something very fulfilling in putting everything together and guiding the narrative to form the bigger picture. Whereas writing for animation is more vast and limitless, editing for animation is a far more precise task than it would be for live action as there arent usually multiple takes of the same shot.
Working as an editor for an animation project is a busy task from the get-go. The editor guides the pre-production and production teams so as to not waste any footage or labour and to make sure that the story is going the right way. Almost like a producer. They get to oversee the music and sound as well. As someone with fairly adequate experience working with sound and enjoying the process, the combination of working with both animation and sound is something I’m very much drawn to.
As summarised by editor Edie Ichioka, “In animation, the editor is creating and recreating a blueprint to align with the director’s vision. It starts with storyboards and scratch dialogue, and moves on to previsualization, layout, final dialogue, animation, music, lighting, composite shots, score, and the final mix and grading. Each step informs the next and often loops back for revision.”
While being an artist and animator is something I love to do, being a storyteller is also something I enjoy just as much if not more, for the reason I got into animation was so I could tell my stories using this medium. Being an editor would give me many chances to guide the storytelling process.
All this being said, if I were to go with my heart and tell what I wanted to be fifteen years from now, I would say “Art Director” with no hesitation at all, but I think the animation industry has a lot to offer me before I can establish myself as one. And I’m looking forward to it!