Hello everyone and welcome back to The Word Count! The short shorts that are comfy and easy to wear teach you about anime terminology.
This time we look at layout レイアウト which I alluded to at the end of our talk last time with genga. But what has layout got to do with genga? What’s the difference between them? Why do our friends at the Sakuga Blog compare it to skeletons? In any case, this article won’t be spooky or anything. It’s July.
Imagine a burger…
OK you’re going to have to bear with me on this one. I’m doing this for all the Americans reading this but please, imagine a burger. That burger is a Genga Burger. What’s in the Genga Burger doesn’t really matter because the vision is all you need for this exercise.
Genga is what happens when you get the burger completed and it looks perfect (well, at least they try to make it perfect) and is exactly what you’re expecting when you want a nice, juicy burger.
Layout on the other hand, is the result of you following the recipe for that burger to the letter. Adding everything you need to make the burger. The problem is, you’ve not got a lot of time to make the burger. Anton Ego is in the room next door, judging you. You just wanted to be a cook, not a mecha animator! You make your burger, but luckily, you have other cooks in the kitchen there to make sure that everything is perfect before it goes to the customer. The sous chef, the head chef, the general manager, they’ll all be checking! Once they’ve given their critique, they’ll tell you what to change or more likely than not they’ll ask some other guy in the kitchen to make those last minute alterations, because you’ve got to make even more burgers.
Now this burger will also be served with other items as well. You might want to have it with some chips, onion rings or if you’re feeling really fancy some mozzarella sticks! But you’re not cooking those, other people are. You need to make sure you tell those other cooks exactly what you want for those sides because things can go wrong if your instructions aren’t clear!
In actual terms, layout animation is like the first draft of the animation. It’s done quickly and follows the instructions given by the storyboard. Though, this animation is not what goes out when it’s time to show the anime on telly and on your favourite streaming service. The Episode Director and Animation Director still need to look it over once it’s done and apply their corrections to it though. Those corrections will then either be handled by you or somebody else. That somebody else is something we’ll be covering in a later instalment!
Layouts also need to contain instructions that go to other staff handling different aspects of that cut, such as the backgrounds or the compositing. These instructions are handled by writing on the frames themselves, helping staff in those departments know what is required.
I’m feeling a bit peckish now…
I hope you’re peckish for anime! Maybe even peckish for knowledge! Layouts are the foundation of every second of animation we watch for our favourite anime. Though that’s not the end of the story. For every great cook, there’s a little chef hiding in their hat, piloting that cook. I’m sure you want to know more about that but I’m afraid you might get to burning and I have to avoid causing my readers to self-combust like that.
Until the next instalment of The Word Count, bye-been!
Read the previous instalments of The Word Count here!
