The Early Days of "Anno Ultraman" and Independent Filmmaking at Osaka University of Arts
We Were 8mm Filmmakers: Hideaki Anno #2
Having been obsessed with TV tokusatsu shows and anime since childhood, Anno began making 8mm films after entering high school. He created parodies of tokusatsu shows and used his art club’s budget to produce animated works, which he screened at school festivals. During his university years, encounters with various people helped Anno’s talent gain recognition, gradually leading him to larger production environments.
Encounters at Osaka University of Arts
— At Osaka University of Arts, you were classmates with Hiroyuki Yamaga* and Takami Akai. Did you start making films together in your first year?
*Hiroyuki Yamaga: Film director and screenwriter. Best known for Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987).
*Takami Akai: Illustrator and project producer. Best known for the game Princess Maker.
Anno: Yes.
— What was the first project you worked on?
Anno: I think the first one I did at university was At the Bus Stop....
— Was it animation?
Anno: It was paper animation. At the time, I was only making paper-based animation.
— Was that something you submitted as an individual assignment?
Anno: Yes, that's right. I think it was for the first FIRST PICTURES SHOW.
I heard there was a contest for short films, three minutes long, so I thought I’d try drawing something for it. I believe that’s what it was.
The next one, the tire one (“Sturdy Tires! SHADO Tires”), I think that was part of a year-long visual production practicum. It was a short film within that.
The idea behind the visual production practicum was that students would be divided into groups to make a film. In most groups, someone would write the script, someone else would direct, and they would produce a single piece together.
But in the group I was in, everyone wanted to do something completely different, so we decided to take turns directing individually and turn it into a collection of short commercials.
— I see, that’s how it was.
Anno ：When someone took on the role of director, everyone else would help out. That way, each person would get a fair chance to direct once. So I suggested we do it that way. The group really lacked unity.
And just a collection of commercials felt kind of dull, so I thought, if we’re making commercials, it’d be more interesting if there was a show they belonged to.
So separately, on my own, and outside of the school group, I made a short film based on Ultraman.
The First “Anno Ultraman”
— So that was the first work referred to as “Anno Ultraman”?
Anno: Yes, that’s right. I thought it would probably get a better reception if I made it in the style of a TV program, so that’s where my thinking came from.
That’s the only part where I paid for the production costs myself.
The people who helped me were friends who were also living on their own at the time, not part of the same group for the class project.
Yamaga was in the same group back then, but the others were just fellow students who were also living on their own. Akai was in a different group in our first year, but since he was also living independently, he joined in too.
―― You played Ultraman after the transformation, right?
Anno: Yes, that’s right.
―― Who played Ultraman before the transformation?
Anno: That was Yamaga.
―― Why did you portray Ultraman without the mask, even though you called it Ultraman?
Anno: Because it was just playacting. Since there was a color timer, that made it Ultraman. I wanted to try doing Ultraman with the minimal amount of information.
―― Kazuhiko Shimamoto drew in his manga that he was impressed by the fact that you used the real sound effects.
Anno: A classmate who loved special effects had recorded various sound effects on tape. Although the sound effects were basically just clips taken from videos and put onto cassette tapes.
―― So it was like a sound effects library.
Anno: Yes, I borrowed those to add the sounds. As for the music, there was a record available at that time, so I used that too.
―― When you made it, did you feel the importance of sound?
Anno: If the sounds are real, they change the impression a lot. Sound is really important.
By that time, I think I already had the intuitive feeling that I wanted to use those sounds as they were.
The music too. Since it was a parody, we had to match those elements. It’s basic, after all.
As for the content, it follows the basic pattern. A flying saucer arrives, an alien appears, but there's no rampaging or anything. Then the team shows up, there's a transformation, a fight, victory, and the story ends.
At the end, there’s someone seeing them off. That kind of minimal pattern. Did I have a storyboard? I think I drew a simple one.
For “Nakamu Rider,” too, there was no storyboard. We just improvised on the spot saying, “Let’s do this, let’s do that.” So I think it was done in that kind of flow.
―― That was when you were in your first year, right?
Anno: Yes, that was in my first year.
―― In your second year, you made another Ultraman, didn’t you?
Anno: That one had a different director.
―― Oh, is that so? What about the Ultraman showdown scene filmed inside a room?
Anno: That was because Yamaga had no material to submit to FIRST PICTURES, so he asked to do Ultraman. I said, “Alright, I’ll help.”
―― Did you participate as an actor in that?
Anno: Just as a performer.
・・・
<Original JP site: https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/77973>