/XX/ said:
Maybe that difference is accentuated (and explained) by Masahiro Ando exceptional work as a storyboard maker, no? I mean, what Masahiko Minami praises the most of Mr. Ando labor at BONES since RahXephon has been his storyboards. He has a base knowledge in that area, frames the pictures in a clever and subtle way to make the most of the action scenes, and that reflects in his efficient work as a director. Akiyuki Shinbo work, on the other hand, feels like an experimental approach to direction, acute but a bit amateur, and his extreme and non traditional focus in composition certainly takes advantage of digital editing (I suppose that is one of the reasons Mitsutoshi Kubota impulsed the DIGITAL@SHAFT department at the same time Mr. Shinbo is appointed as supervisor).
Also, duckroll, do you think Mr. Ando will return as a director of another important BONES production? Or is he so implicated with P.A. Works that he won't come back (to be in a major role, that is)?
Sorry, I totally missed this. Blame the thread moving fast during periods when I'm not reading it!
I agree that storyboarding is a very essential skill for a director to have, especially in animation. Even when we're not taking about animation, James Cameron is a director who is known to be an excellent artist who can do detailed storyboards and layouts for his entire movie before shooting it. Not only does this help visualize the vision to all other staff members, but it also allows him to tweak and adjust this vision before spending actual resources and valuable time/money into producing the shots he wants.
Ando's capability as a storyboarder in turn comes from he himself being a trained animator and his years of experience working on various movies from Production IG especially. Understanding the art of detailed animation, and using it to reproduce realistic film-like cuts is something which comes in very handy when you have to layout and storyboard such shots from scratch based on your own ideas.
This is why I say that Ando has a traditional style when it comes to directing. He starts from the basics of establishing the shot based on the content first and foremost. First there is an idea of what he wants to convey, then there is the storyboard, then comes the actual animation process based on that.
Shinbo is completely different. You are right in saying he is experimental, but I would say that he is also more of a camera man than a storyboarder. He is the sort of director which you see emerging in Hollywood from directing music videos, commercials, documentaries, or fashion shoots. In that sense, he is more of a cinematographer in terms of skills training. His interest in direction is completely in establishing the shot based on what he can do with his tools, and how he can make the shot interesting visually. There is very often no direct relation to actual content or story, but merely the feeling of what the visual style conveys.
His style is also one which is very effective in lower budget TV animation, because it is one which does not rely in a lot of detailing, or creating a sense of realism or believability. It is definitely style over substance, but it can be argued that the style IS the substance. So with his clever camera tricks and stylish uses of shadows and contrast, he can get a positive response from audiences even with a low or non-existent budget. On the other hand, we have clearly seen that a lack of budget greatly hinders Ando's ability to deliver what he really wants, because his traditional directing style is one which truly shines if he has a large budget and strong production staff, on a movie-scale.
As for whether Ando will ever work with BONES as a director again, I think it's really up in the air. It is obvious that after Sword of the Stranger he wanted a different sort of challenge. He said so himself in interviews that he forced himself to work on episodes of True Tears because he wanted to know for sure that he could do something other than just action. With Canaan he tried to convey a sense of action with hope and positiveness in a modern setting. Unfortunately the writing and budget was garbage, and the designs made everyone go blind. So he failed. Clearly with Hanasaku Iroha he is treating this as his true test as to whether he can succeed on something other than being typecast as an "action anime director".
Whether he works with BONES again will probably depend on what challenges he seeks after this. That's my opinion anyway.
