A candid interview
SCOTT FRAZIER HAS BEEN ACTIVE IN THE FIELD OF JAPANESE ANIMATION for nearly ten years in various capacities. When I asked Scott for an interview, he was very kind and agreed to answer question after question without complaining. (At least, without complaining to me!).
Since Scott's first appearance at Anime Expo '93, he has become a favorite with the fans, partly because of his devious sense of humor, but also because he is genuinely willing to talk to anime fans and share his experiences with others. Far from a shrinking violet, Scott is always ready to answer questions and talk about Japanese animation.


 EX: For the benefit of our readers, please explain briefly in what capacities you have worked in the animation industry in Japan.

SF: Right now, I'm the president of Production I.G. (USA) and a producer on the Japanese side. I'm doing some directing as well. I also do a digital graphic novel called TRANSCENDENCE (which appears in COMIC ON) for which I do all the art, sound, authoring and so on. I am a producer at the company that does COMIC ON, GENESIS DIGITAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. As if this were not enough, I am a Far East Consultant for CAMBRIDGE ANIMATION SYSTEMS helping users set up and produce animation with the ANIMO computer assisted animation system. I could easily take on a job as a Sleep Deprivation specialist as well...
I have worked as an inbetweener, key animator (briefly), animation checker, cell painter, cell checker, Ink & Paint department chief, cameraman, background artist, production assistant, production manager, production coordinator, computer/digital systems consultant, ANIMO operator, teacher for most of those subjects, director's assistant, producer and most recently director. (If you want to count TRANSCENDENCE as animation (some do) then I guess you can say story, scriptwriter, sound director and character designer as well.) Although it wasn't in Japan, I was the president/owner of my own animation company in Bangkok, Thailand - TAO.
I learn fast and companies feel compelled to move me around a lot. When I go to a new company I try to go into a job that I have never done before so I can get stronger at it. It is stressful for everybody in the beginning but gets better soon.


EX: Which of these jobs did you like best and why?

SF: Of the artistic "manual" jobs I guess I liked background painting the most. It allows you to be very creative and is difficult but very mellow. It feels good to do BG's. I love directing. Drawing storyboards, figuring the scenes and working like mad to get it to all come out is very enjoyable. I also enjoy teaching very much. I'll teach anything I know anywhere somebody needs it. I love helping people.


EX: Which did you not like?

The worst for me was inbetweening because it was grinding, long work and I could only produce a few seconds a day. You get the feeling that no matter how hard you work you won't even have done enough to make one TV episode's worth before you die. Cel painting is frustrating for this reason as well. Neither are really creative jobs because you are really just tracing and slightly modifying somebody else's work.
I also really hate "money jobs" where I have to go and pick up jobs and money for the company and schmooze and all that. Sales is detestable to me and one of the reasons that I quit the jobs that I did before anime.


 EX: You mentioned ANIMO earlier. Can you explain what ANIMO is used for and give us an example or two?
SF: ANIMO is a complete system for studios (or individuals) who want to enhance or replace their traditional cel-based animation production. There are two ways of approaching it. You can use ANIMO Ink & Paint and do the drawings by hand and scan them in, color them in the computer then composite them with backgrounds and effects. You can also use ANIMO's Animator module to create (2D) models of your characters, pose them and have the computer do the inbetweens for you. These methods can be mixed as well. Once you get everything composited you can dump it out to video of whatever format (I.G. uses Betacam and D2) or to film. You can output to print or individual files as well. You can render out files and take them into another program and convert them to QuickTime, AVI or whatever. Some people use the files in Macromedia Director for multimedia work and others use them in games. ANIMO is basically a creation / processing / compositing / finishing tool that makes great images that you can do whatever you want with. (continued)