-- Animation produced by the separation of powers

Source@和evil society

In the past two years, various large video sites in China,Invested heavily in the introduction of Japanese animation,Every season you can always see the list of new authorized introductions made by major video sites,Many people may directly think that "authorization" refers to the new animation copyright,In fact, this is our preconceived concept。 Today, I would like to introduce you to the production of Japanese animation, the copyright and broadcasting rights system. I would like to add here that one of the biggest reforms of Chinese TV stations in the past few years is the separation of live broadcasting, the essence of which is the separation of production and broadcasting. And the fact that Tudou Anime and TV Tokyo can come together to introduce animation is also a very typical example of Japanese animation broadcasting rights in a sense.

The production of any animation is a complex project that consumes time, effort and money, and TV stations play a vital role in the production of animation. The production model of Japanese TV animation is basically similar to the contract model of TV drama production. Animation is mainly a three-step process. What we are talking about here is macro animation (such as storyboard scripts, etc.)

(1) In the animation planning stage, animation manufacturers and advertising agencies are required to submit a plan for animation production to a key bureau, and the TV station will decide whether or not to adopt the project. In fact, the key bureau is that Japan's five major private television stations (TBS, Nippon TV, Fuji TV, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo, these five are also known as the five major private broadcasts) submit proposals. After the proposal is approved by the key bureau, if it is an adaptation of an animation, the animation producer must first obtain the authorization of the original author (such as a novel, manga, game adaptation), and if it is an original animation by an animation company, there is no need to authorize the step. This is followed by a sample of the pilot video to be provided to the key sentence for reference by the TV station and the main sponsor.

(2) When the animation pilot sample is affirmed by the key bureau and the sponsor, the animation production zuò has entered the fund-raising stage, and the five major Japanese civil broadcasters and local TV stations in Japan have to share the cost of broadcasting rights, and the key bureau only has the broadcast right of the animation but does not have the copyright of the animation, and the animation copyright belongs to the animation producer. The specific process of animation production is decoupled from the TV station, and the specific production is handed over to the animation production company. When the producer submits the animation proposal, the TV station will reserve a time slot for the advertisement to be broadcast. Sponsorship is awarded by playing ads provided by sponsors during this time.

(3) In the end, the animation manufacturer became the general contractor of the animation company, and the animation company could subcontract the animation task to other animation manufacturers at a lower price, or even three or four layers of subcontracting. If it is subcontracted to an animation company outside of Japan, it is called "outsourcing", and 80% of the animation production in Japan is outsourced. The general contractor handed over the finished animation to the TV station and completed the production.

In this three-step animation production process, animation is actually divided into broadcast rights and copyrights, although the major television stations only own the animation broadcast rights, in the purchase of broadcast rights contracts, the key bureau will generally require a one-year share of 10%-20% of the commercialization revenue of animation works. However, China's domestic video websites only introduce the broadcast rights of animation in Chinese mainland, and there is no revenue sharing clause, and domestic video websites spend money to buy Japanese animation broadcast rights, which is to negotiate the broadcast rights with key bureaus or their designated agents, rather than to negotiate the copyright with Japanese animation producers (and do not sell after negotiation).

Nowadays, the animation production zuò usually adopts the method of "production committee", the "production committee" came from Miyazaki Hayao no Kazeya, and carried forward the EVA of Hideaki Anno, the initial purpose of the "production committee" is to reduce investment costs, share risks, and share benefits, changing the single sponsor model, and making it easier to raise fees for animation production. The "production committee" is mainly composed of television stations, production companies, advertising agencies, trading companies, publishing companies, record companies, performing arts studios, toy manufacturers, and online video service providers headed by key bureausThe members of the "system committee" bring income. The emergence of the production committee only changed the amount of money contributed by the TV station and the sponsor, but did not change the separation of powers in Japanese animation. Obviously, our online video bigwigs have not yet obtained the status of the production committee, and we are still far from the core capital circle of Japanese animation production, and we belong to peripheral enterprises. Japan's separation of powers makes the TV station not isolated from the animation production system, although it does not interfere with the production of the company, but through the capital connection built by the money transaction, the TV station will take a cautious attitude in the face of the proposal provided by the animation company, and carefully consider the profitability of the work, which is also a double-edged sword, on the one hand, to ensure the quality of Japanese animation works, on the other hand, the separation of powers and the system committee model make Japanese animation fall into the quagmire of excessive commercialization, The industry is full of speculative mentality, giving rise to a growing bubble in Japan's local animation.