Except for those people who have worked as overseas supervisors, there's not a lot of knowledge in North America about what actually goes on in the Asian studios where animation is produced.
There's a blog by Midodok about animation in South Korea. While the reporting is fairly lightweight, it's still nice to get a better sense of what the studios and artists are like.
South Korea has a high school devoted to teaching animation, so animation is considered to have some importance there. I would love to know how South Korean animation artists view working on North American and European projects and what work they do for their own local market.
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Sure it's a high school and not a college? Could be a translation error... I know that for Dutch, my native language, "hogeschool" litterally translates as "high school", but but actually means college, while American "high school" is what we'd call "middle school".
I'll have to agree with Benjamin, its more than likely a College. But from what I hear, all animation courses in South Korea are at the least Bachelor Degrees. I don't know if that means the standards are higher, but that has to be better than the half dozen Art Institute Animation programs we have in the states.
There seems to actually be an interesting animation community in South Korea. They also seem to have some interesting comics too.
I lived in Korea for a year and went to their annual animation festival in Seoul. In my opinion, it seems like Korea is on the cusp of doing some really ground-breaking work. It would be nice to see in the midst of the "Korean Wave", that a Korean animated film could be made that was really fantastic.
The films "My Beautiful Girl, Mari" and "Wonderful Days" could hint at some of these possibilities. Niether of these films were financially successful. In my opinion, they weren't quite entertaining enough, but they are certainly a start. It's like the Korean animation community is still searching for a sense of identity. I think they want to do more than simply imitate the Japanese.
--Adrienne
The Art Institute animation programs are usually for a Bachelor's of Science.
My friend Brenda Chat is working in Korea, and has been for some time. I can put you in contact with her if you like.
I'm also taking a trip to Singapore in about ten days' time. I'm told a lot of Asian animators and producers will be visiting the festival. You'll receive a full report after I'm back (you can check my blog, too)
Mark, thanks for sharing my blog!
Benjamin and Peter, I did some digging and happened to have a brochure from the animation high school. It is indeed a high school which also offers programs in culinary arts and beauty courses. It is called Byeongcheon and their website is: http://www.bchs.hs.kr However, there could be more.
Hi. I'm a resident here in South Korea. There are couple of "high schools" in Seoul that have majors in Animation. Aside comic and other art realated majors.
And there are also lots of Universities offering Bachelor's Degrees. They have programs somewhat different from the ones in the US.
If you'd like some more information please send me an e-mail.
wenonot(at)hanmail.net
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