JAPAN: FIRST JAPANESE COMPUTER ANIMATED FILM "VISITOR"

Record ID: 344564

  • Title: JAPAN: FIRST JAPANESE COMPUTER ANIMATED FILM "VISITOR"
  • Date: 4th November 1998
  • Summary: DIRECTOR OF THE MOVIE 'VISITOR' ATSUSHI TOKUDA WORKING ON COMPUTER TOKUDA SAYING: (SOUNDBITE JAPANESE) "I WAS ASKED 'WHAT IF WE MAKE A LOW COST FULL 3-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER GRAPHIC DRAMA', AND I WAS INTRIGUED AS WAS THE PRODUCER SO WE BOTH DECIDED TO TRY IT OUT."
  • Embargoed: 19th November 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BMF4EHEJK03TG842SZPLM7MR
  • Story Text: The aliens could soon be landing on your doorstep now that Japanese software makers are boldly venturing into the world of computer graphics.The techno wizards are vowing to make computer graphics films the next generation of cyber-entertainment and put it on terrestrial screens.
    The Japanese are blasting off into the world of entertainment.
    On Saturday (November 7) a Japanese satellite station will be airing Japan's first ever full feature computer animated film.
    Called 'Visitor', the science fiction saga revolves around a mysterious object that ventures into the solar system and begins devouring human settlements.
    Unlike the United States' first full computer animated film, Antz, the Japanese version aims not at conquering new technological heights but at making money out of it.
    Working in a small office in downtown Tokyo, the seven employees at Com N.T.Inc worked around the clock for nine months to produce this film -- at nearly a tenth of the cost and three times the speed of an average computer animated film production.
    All members of the team are disarmingly honest that their first aim was to keep costs down.
    Their 200 million yen bugdet indeed seems small when compared to the cost of making a single computer game...
    often five times as much at around 1 billion yen per game.
    The film makers aim to target people familiar with Japan's booming video game industry...and are planning to make a video game based on the film.
    In the past few years, video games have blossomed in to a culture of itself in Japan.Some of characters from the games have come to life and are now being idolised by their more warm-blooded fans.
    One such popular game which continues to conquer the hearts of many in Japan and even overseas is the Sony Playstation role-playing game 'Final Fantasy'.Since its release in 1997, the last of the Final Fantasy series -- Final Fantasy VII -- has sold over 6 million copies.
    On Wednesday (November 5), Square Productions -- the developers of Final Fantasy (FF), and Columbia Pictures of the United States announced they were joining forces to create a totally new version on celluloid.
    Called 'Final Fantasy -- the Movie', it is expected to be completed and released in two years time, or 2001.
    Columbia Pictures President of Production, Christopher Lee admits he hopes to capture the same audience as the FF fans.
    However, unlike the movie to be released on Saturday, Columbia Pictures is putting in a whole lot more money into the project (though the exact figures are confidential).
    That bonus however is something that will assure it that visually at least it will be a complete new world of computer graphics.
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