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When watching anime, I often believe to notice a relative movement of
foreground (e.g. characters, props) to the background (e.g. landscapes, 2nd
plan). I of course focus on the foreground, and only "register" the
background. I somewhat recollect that in films, finding places to shoot a
scene is a "lesser" task delegated to younger, less expensive, less creative
people. Then the creative person would evaluate 3-4 options that are
presented, and choose one venue which would then be used to shoot the scene. I
thus wondered, if drawing the background in anime is done in a similar way,
that it is delegated to a certain responsible person, and that the foreground
is drawn by the primary artistic responsible - or - are they both done by the
same person - or - is there some other delegation of drawing among different
people?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-28T15:47:35.077
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2016-12-04T17:36:53.653
2016-12-04T17:36:53.653
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question
anime-production
Are background and foreground delegated separately in anime production?


Backgrounds and characters are usually made by different people and companies
for movies and series, but there's no activity less creative than another as
your answer may suggests.

For example, [Kusanagi](http://www.kusanagi.co.jp/) is a company specialized
in [backgrounds for many
anime](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=3297)
produced by different studios like _Waiting in the Summer_ (J.C. Staff) and
_Mobile Suit Gundam 00_ (Sunrise). The [ANN article about Waiting in the
Summer](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=13448) show
companies and people involved in the process, the Art director is from
Kusanagi (backgrounds) and not from J.C. Staff (animation production).

Changing the perspective from companies to authors, this interview by NHK
shows [how Makoto Shinkai and his staff make backgrounds and
storyboard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jECqwCrJwEc&feature=player_detailpage#t=728s)
(12:09~13:40). He shoot a scene using a camera and then pass this material to
his assistants. In this case this task is taken by the director itself,
leaving the team working on the material he provided according to the
storyboard.

However, Makoto Shinkai started his career as independent animator with _Hoshi
no Koe_ , where he [do animation, backgrounds and characters
alone](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwHFwDIQo_0&feature=player_detailpage#t=292s),
so this rule doesn't necessarily apply to independent productions where staff
is limited.

In [this answer covering all key roles of an animation
production](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/2628/98), _inbetweening_ is
cited as a "relatively non-creative" job, so when you ask about a (relatively)
non-creative job there is no foreground-background (as viewer) dichotomy but a
creative-repetitive (as job) dichotomy.


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2013-05-28T21:18:31.863
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2013-05-28T21:18:31.863
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answer