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Transcript will begin when the panel starts.
Note: ( ) is usually commenting on the panel and was not said.

12:02:25 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (Test)
12:04:12 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (Internet signal is very weak, expect drops)
12:07:54 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> All right, let's go ahead and gets this panel started
12:08:06 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Today, visiting from japan is Atsuko Ishizuka, animator and director at studio madhouse
12:08:38 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> And Ishizuka-san had a rather unusual path into the industry, she started out with an intersted in music and graphic arts and would make short animated films on her own
12:08:58 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> and through that, she became invovled in the anime industry and directed a short animated music video for a song for minna no uta
12:09:01 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> and in 2004, she started working for madhouse
12:09:21 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> She had worked on a numbre of works for madhouse, btooom, storyboard editor, chihayaufuru...also (lists)
12:09:34 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> And co-director for Supernatural the anime
12:09:44 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> let's give a big hand to atsuko ishizuka
12:10:32 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Hello everyone, my name is Atsuko Ishizuka, nice to meet you (en)
12:11:08 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> This is actually my first time coming to Sakuracon and my first time in seattle, i haven't been here long but i'm really enjoying it...
12:11:25 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (paraphrase) (brought the supernatural DVD and hopes you enjoy it)
12:13:42 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> So there is going to be a wait, but until then, I'd like to talk about supernatural, but feel free to ask question about anything... i actually brought a id card for deen for supernatural
12:13:06 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> this is something that the (missed) got as a present from a fan
12:13:22 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (paraphrase) i wish he had come here today but he wasn't unable to come, so i feel a bit lonely
12:14:03 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Q: I'm really enjoying Chihayafuru, I'm fascinated by the animation effect using the kimono pattern, is that a filter or is that drawn?
12:26:28 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> A: It would be really difficult to draw it by hand, so yes, we do use a special technique to get the pattern effect
12:25:12 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> we creat them ahead of time and save as texture files
12:23:53 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> we then draw the scene and use a green screen effect to get the patterns on the kimono
12:23:54 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> of course, as they move, the texture has to move
12:23:55 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> so we actually have a person moving it
12:25:16 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> and it can get really really difficult and sometimes i think the get to their wits end
12:27:41 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Now, a scene from supernatural
12:26:18 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Now, Ishizuka-san will discuss more of her work at madhouse
12:26:17 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> When I started working on supernatural, one thing you ahve to know is it's the first time i worked on a non-japanese drama into an anime, which is rare... episode 1 is directed by (missed), and he and i directed the series together
12:26:22 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (lost.... about how the first ep has masculine influences from the other director)
12:26:20 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> And now we're going to ask her a few questions about her work...
12:26:19 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> I'm interested in knowing if her work in music influenced her work as a director
12:28:30 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Yes, actually before i tried to enter the animation industry, i planned to go to a music college and study music, so i played and practice music while i was in school, i played in bands and i was into electronica, there were 3 loves i have, music, drawing, and putting stories together.. and anime lets me put all 3 together (lost)
12:36:10 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> And next, we're going to find out if there were any interesting events or incidents working on Supernatural
12:36:03 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Yes, actually, during the making, which is a horror story as you know, as there are bosses and demons and ghost, and before we started working, and we had a shinto preist do an exorcism to make sure none of the staff would get possesed working on it, and this is important if you are working on a ghost show, and so he came around and did it, and then i hurt my hand and thought it was a waste because it didn't stop it, but nothing else happened after that , so i think it was just me (end paraphrased)
12:36:03 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Q: When you were working on piano no mori, did you construct the music first or match the scene to the music?
12:36:10 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> A: I might be possed by a ghost right now or maybe the microphone... this is an interesting questio, as you know it's based on a manga, when planning, we based each scene on the manga, bt when we actually animated the scenes, we actually worked fro the piano music which was recoreded by a famous artist, so we would listen to the music and base it on the music and take care to how the scene flowed that way
12:36:12 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (the microphone is going in and out)
12:36:09 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Q: I've been enjoying sakurasou no pet no kanojou, which just recently ended, and i was just wondering what your experience was like when adaption such a work, giving it life through animation, and talk a little about animating sakurasou (paraphrase)
12:41:36 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> A: Thank you for watching Sakurasou no Pet no Kanojou.
12:41:37 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> This is someting i really enjoyed working on, and i want you to know it's one of my first challenges at madhouse, most of my works at madhouse were serious, horror or action, the auddience was men
12:42:30 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> sakurasou is a moe anime, with bishoujo character, and the audience would be typically (?), and i wasn't sure if i could approach this because it was different.. but when i approached it... (skip) and i was a big ffan of the original work and had read the original work and through i would like ti adapt it one day, and i was actually working with the author as we would email back and forth and the author wrote scenarios for the anime ... (lost)
12:41:50 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> as to my experience directing sakurasou, of course i put everything i could into my role as director on the show, but i don't think can be done as an individual, it has to be done by the staff, and the workplace with all the staff pulling together is probably the best experience on any show ive worked on, i think it was the most fun, and on the 26th of the month, we had a graduation ceremony for the show
12:41:39 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (dropped)
12:41:28 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> as to my experience directing sakurasou, of course i put everything i could into my role as director on the show, but i don't think can be done as an individual, it has to be done by the staff, and the workplace with all the staff pulling together is probably the best experience on any show ive worked on, i think it was the most fun, and on the 26th of the month, we had a graduation ceremony for the show
12:46:27 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> A: So Tsuki no waltz was my first work as a professional animator, i had just graduated college and was picked up my madhouse, nkh contracted me and asked me to do this work, he thought it i was a freelancer, so it ended up involving a lot of madhouse staff and went over its budget, and it got kinda carried away, ut everyone semed to like it... it was hard for me because it was my first time... so i remember that, ut i also remember the lyrics to the music that go to it, so the lyrics have a bunch of beautiful works in japanese, so i wanted to show images that show the words in turn, so i stayed up 3 nights in tern matching up the images to the turn, when i look at the storyboard for this, i think i went a little strange when i was working on it... (lost)
12:46:43 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> this work is part of my portfoli as an animator,is like my business card
12:46:53 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> (every single one of these is an essay)
12:47:30 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Q: Did Warner brothers have an input into supernatural? Or did they let you have free reign?
12:50:16 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> A: On this project, warner bros originally contract madhouse to make the animation, so warner bros was very interesting in being involved, and rather that fighting over creative freedom, we ended up working really closely, for the scenes we wanted freedom, they let us have freedom, but it was a lot more collaboratve, both in the story iand the settings, now the original creator, eric ...he was very involved, he ended up sending messages to the work place, that's part of the reason the dvd has the actors giving the introduction.. i haven't been able to meet the actors myself
12:51:13 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Q: Since you have worked on the adaptations of many different work, what are the differences and similarities you found between dramas, light novel and manga
12:53:09 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> A: First i'd like to discuss the difficulties of doing a drama into an anime, especially a non-japanese drama, the most difficult one is writing the scenarios
12:53:57 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> a regular live action tv show has over 40 min, while animation has at most 21 min, so you have the same episode and same events that have to be cut down to half, and you can't change the desnsify of the episode, so this is where the scenario writers pull out their hair, but i think we worked really hard on this on supernatural
12:54:01 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> we worked really hard on keepign the same feelings and the ame atmosphere in each episode
12:57:05 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> when working on a light nove, in contrast to a drama, the most difficult aspect is the visuals, you have the characters who are in illustrations oin the novel, and you have to see how close you can match those illustrations, usually it's not impossible, but the problem is backgrounds, anime has lots of backgrounds but typically in the novel, the background doesn't have much description text, so the animators themselves have to come up with them, (lost), so the fun part is you can put in what you like as an animator, so that's what i find fund about that kind of adaptation
12:58:15 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> outside question...
12:59:27 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> it seems we'er running out of time, so i'd like to wrap up, the reason i started at madhouse is that i looked at what they had produced, and i thought it was a company that could approach anime as art, as (missed), as a bunch of different aspects, and this company can do it as an experiment, they have excellent staff, there are lots of excellent people who work at madhouse and directors that you've heard of, and i've learned lots of stuff from those directors, (lost), please continuing watching madhouse works and keep supporting madhouse (lost)
13:00:02 <bay|SC|Ishizuka> Let's have one more round of applause