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Ochibi-san Stop-Motion Short Film Gets Making-Of Video
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The IndieGoGo campaign for manga creator Moyoco Anno and director Masashi Kawamura's short film based on Anno's The Diary of Ochibi-san manga updated with a making-of video on Thursday. The campaign is seeking to raise US$3,000 by February 07, 2015.
The update notes that the "Spring" part of the short is complete after eight days of shooting.
The short film is part of Hideaki Anno's Japan Animator Expo project with his Studio Khara and the media company Dwango. The project launches one new short each week for a planned total of 30 shorts.
Hideaki Anno selected the script based on his wife's manga and the manga's editor Yōhei Sadoshima picked Kawamura to direct the project. Kawamura plans to use real objects representing each season, a theme that is also present in the manga.
"For example, the story of spring is about a short story under the cherry tree, so I am animating it using food inside a picnic lunch box under the cherry blossom tree," Kawamura explained, "Summer – Ochibi will be drawn on a Japanese fan, autumn- Ochibi will be made out of fallen leaves, winter- Ochibi will come to life as a painting on a tea cup."
Dwarf, inc will convert the animation done by Khara into stop-motion animation for the short. Kawamura is using the money from the campaign to fund the stop-motion process.
The Diary of Ochibi-san (Ochibi-san) is currently running in the Monday edition of Asahi Shimbun. Crunchyroll published The Diary of Ochibi-san online. Crunchyroll describes the story:
"I can help you laugh, but I can't take away the tears you've shed." In Mametsubu-cho, a town somewhere in the ancient Japanese city of Kamakura, Ochibi-san lives a relaxed, easy life. With his friend Nazeni the dog, Jack the naughty kitten, and Pankui the hungry dog, Ochibi-san's year in Mametsubu-cho is filled with encounters and new discoveries! Flower-viewing in spring, swimming in summer, collecting leaves in fall, and eating yummy food in winter. The changing seasons are drawn with a light touch.
Campaign rewards include an exclusive online screening of the completed short, a digital copy and physical copies of the manga volumes, a special tea cup used in the "winter" segment production, a fan used in the "summer" segment production, a storyboard by Kawamura, a reproduction image signed by Moyoco Anno, Ochibi goods, and character figures.
