As a funny start to this blog, It would be wrong not to mention how Ufotable got its name. Started out in small flat room , as an idea to gather a team around a table where members can discuss their idea, director Hikaru Kondo came up with the name "Ufotable" through his destined meeting with a piece of furniture from a dealer in Scandinavia : a coffee table , which shape like an ufo...As it happens to be in line with the idea Kondo want to express about his team, the name of "Ufotable" was given to the studio, along with the actual table being bought by Kondo and later on are featured in many of the studio's expo booths.... I know, it's so weird....
This is the table
Returning to the main topic, as mention earlier , Ufotable are well-known for their visual quality, which have propelled them into the limelight of the modern anime industry and got alot of people talking. Many would link this success to the use of talented staff, ( similar to the case of many other studio like Madhouse ) and by all means, its partly true . However , the key defining reason for their performance was not individuals, instead, it was their excellent organisation, structure, and use of teamwork. To say "teamwork" is the definition of ufotable production method would not be exaggerating , with the studio being split up to a significant amount of divisions, ranging from digital, animation , art, manga ,....even a claymation department ! This rooted from their past experience as a smaller studio, with teams of usually 3 ( an animator, a producer ,and a marketing ) taking care of the studios early projects, and even the manga that derived from them. This ability to consistently produce content led to their early fame, and also more importantly , form the base for their structuring later on .
When they're weren't doing work, the teams would turn into mangaka
Fast forwarding to today, ufotable has builded up a sufficient number of departments , with the mentality of keeping every aspect of production in-house , as much as possible. This is something that played a huge part in their ability to keep hold of talents and consistency in works , as contrasted by the situation in Madhouse where the overuse of outside studios and freelancers led to the disconnected and visual inconsistency in many of their works. But if we are to single one of the key traits that is responsible for the incredible visual and shook the whole anime industry, its more than just 2D animation ( although of course it has to be acknowledge that the animation , especially in the action sequences of Fate stay night is truly wonderful , full of flair and dynamics.), its the in-house Digital Team and their CGI . Having a in-house visual effects team that was one floor above the animation department , meant that the 2 teams can communicate very easily , making the process of adding visual effects upon the animation very streamline and consistent, which includes combining 3D and 2D animation within the same scenes, virtual camera movements that involves the position of director of cinematography and the use of 3DS Max and After Effects .( which is very rare in the anime industry ) , and all other aspect from weather effects to lighting, ....these are all handled by Ufotable digital team.Moreover , their work are connected to not only the animation team , but spread out into the art team which handles colour and backgrounds, who they share the floor with
From the fight scene above form Fate/stay night (2014) , only the action of the character is animated everything else, from dust to explosion to the portals in the above image are added in post-production by the CGI team, which enhance the visual style of the whole fight dramatically.
The process of utilising visual effects to enhance quality is something that I can relate very much as an digital artist. I myself take pride in my lighting skills, which more than often dramatically improve my paintings, as it helps to fit characters into the environment they are in, and I'm glad to see that used in a similar way in 2D animation.
With that said, Ufotable still has a long way to go , especially with fierce competitor like Kyoto animation which also has an incredible digital department, and in somecase, their policy of producing everything in-house can back-fire, as in the case of the 2014 God Eater series, when the time frame between finishing the Fate series and debuting God eater was so narrow, that 3 episode in , Ufotable had to bring in additional staff just to keep up , but still end up having to delay the episodes by months .
All in all , Studio ufotable , represents an exciting future for anime , and with the introduction of new 3D technologies ( mostly in the backgrounds, ) it is safe to say that they will only get better and better
Fate/stay night
backgrounds from Tales of Zestiria , with the city being 3D
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