A staff talk show for "Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash: The Witch of Circe," the second chapter of the theatrical anime film series "Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash " (directed by Shuko Murase), was held on April 21st at Shinjuku Piccadilly (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo). Cinematographer Yoshihisa Oyama, art director Kinichi Okubo, setting designer Risuke Akiyama, and producer Keisuke Kasai appeared and talked about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the production.
◇Cinematography director, art director, and setting production work
Okubo explained, "I was entrusted with the backgrounds and art, excluding the characters and mobile suits," and thanked the staff, saying, "The art section is quite large, with about 100 people just for the regular drawing, plus people who create the CG, and it was completed thanks to everyone's help." He added, "It makes me incredibly happy to think that (the fans) are also paying attention to the backgrounds."
Oyama explained, "I think everyone is familiar with the work of filming... It's the process of combining materials such as drawings, 3D models, and monitors to create a single screen for every single shot." He added, "There are a lot of different types of monitors and 3D models, making it a very complex project," and revealed, "There were about 100 staff members involved in the filming, which is something you wouldn't normally see in a typical production."
Akiyama described his work as "a special job," explaining, "I work with director Murase Shuko to create various settings, such as mecha, characters, and art settings. I also handle product-related checks and supervision, as well as proofreading books and articles." Producer Kasai added that Akiyama was the model for Wave, a character in the film, to which Akiyama smiled and replied, "Director Murase has brought that to life in the film."
◇Put your clothes in the dresser!
When the topic of each person's particular preferences came up, Okubo revealed the difficulties he faced, saying, "It's not so much that I was particular about something, but rather that Director Murase was particular about it. We were 'made to be particular' (laughs). Please understand that it wasn't my decision, but Director Murase's. He said it couldn't have a CG look or look too much like a photograph... The order was to add human touches and create an exquisite expression that was neither CG nor a painting. If we added too much detail, we would get comments like, 'It's starting to look like a painting...' Even though we were actually drawing pictures."
Okubo said, "Of course we use CG, but it's no good just using CG as is. It was very difficult to get the hang of it. After rendering the CG models, we add hand-drawn aging effects to the furniture and other items for each shot to give them a worn look. We have different people drawing each shot to get the texture just right. Director Murase casually says things like, 'Just do the lighting with CG once!' or 'Just try it once'...and then we move on to hand-drawing. But even before we start the hand-drawing work, we go through a lot of steps, like modeling and lighting." He spoke about the intricate process behind the scenes.
"Darkness is one of its characteristics," Oyama began, adding, "There are many scenes where you can feel the change in brightness when you go from a dark place to a bright place. I used depth maps in almost every shot. I use them in other works as well, but I usually only use them in limited ways. There is a 3D scene where the entire display design is pasted onto the monitor (inside the submarine). It is a common way of making things in live-action, but it is an unusual way of making things in animation."
Oyama explained, "What's really unusual about this film is that the art director and the cinematographer are working in close proximity. Normally, each department is in a different company and works in a different location, but this time they're working together." He gave the elevator scene inside the Valiant as an example, saying, "When director Mamoru consulted me about the elevator, we created it using filming rather than 3D. We used After Effects' 3D layers to change the angle and forcibly pasted them onto the movie to make it move. But the actual shot that was used was only for a brief moment." Okubo recalled, "I wonder how many elevators I drew..."
"It's typical Hathaway behavior. Like, 'Put your clothes in the dresser!'" producer Kasai added, to which Oyama responded with a wry smile, "Even though you can't see it, even though it's hidden, it's there! They've really gone into detail..." The staff members were excited, saying, "Everyone is possessed by an 'imaginary Murase Shuko'... They're all thinking, 'Director Murase would say this,' and then they're the ones who are going to request retakes."
◇The smoke continues to linger and spread.
When the topic of Director Murase's meticulousness came up, Okubo recalled fondly, "In the scene where Gigi looks out at the sea at sunset from the terrace of Göttingen House, you can see Mount Apo in the Philippines. Director Murase was very particular about this scene as well. When we drew Mount Apo in a position that looked good in the art department, he said, 'I think the position is wrong,' and 'Are the coordinates correct?' (laughs). In the end, we drew it using the correct coordinates." He then laughed as he recounted that the first thing Director Murase approved was "a shot of water droplets taken during filming, which didn't have any people or mobile suits in it."
Okubo introduced a scene showing the "Valiant's captain's cabin" as one of his points of focus. "In areas that aren't visible, the back of the captain's cabin is the bedroom, where there's a cat tower and cat food. It's not shown in the main story, and the Valiant has sunk, so it's unlikely to appear again in the future..." he explained, describing the setting that was being revealed for the first time. "There are traces of Shiharu's claws gnawing on the captain's desk, so we've included some small details," he added.
Oyama spoke about the "flame dome" that appears in the battle scene of Alyuzeus, commenting, "Although we toned down the colors during filming, the reddish tint makes it quite an interesting effect." Producer Kasai explained about the "flame dome," "The Gustav Karl 00 explodes the moment it hits the ground after being shot down. The container missile also explodes at this point, resulting in a very large explosion (flame dome). In typical TV series, once an explosion occurs, the smoke eventually disappears, so directors tend to skip the shots showing the smoke disappearing. However, Director Murase wouldn't allow that in this work. He said, 'The smoke will linger, and it will spread,' and wanted to show it fading over time, so I consulted with Oyama, asking, 'What should we do?'" Akiyama said, "It's a scene that was completed by skillfully connecting the transition from the hand-drawn explosion to the 3D-created smoke, with the cinematography and special effects teams working together."
As the event drew to a close, producer Kasai expressed his gratitude once again, saying, "This is all thanks to the hard work of the creators, including the filming team and the art team!"
Finally, Okubo said, "Based on the information we've gathered today, I think there will be several more opportunities to see it (in theaters). I also want to see it in theaters, so please continue to support us." Oyama said, "I wish we could have talked about more things. I think we were able to have some pretty interesting conversations. I hope to see you again." Akiyama added, "There will be more books and articles coming out in the future that delve deeper into the creative aspects of the film, so I hope you will continue to enjoy ' Hathaway's Flash' for a little longer."
