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Keys' Little Anime Cel and Animation
Art FAQ |
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| What is a key cel? | | | A key cel is a cel produced off of a douga which was produced directly from a
genga. Basically, it was one of the 'key frames' that the gengaman/key
animator drew. In Japanese, these are often referred to as 'genga number'
cels.
It's important to note that the key animator never touched the cel, only the
genga that led up to it. Cel creation is the job of other staff.
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| What is a key master setup? | | | 'Key master setup' is a US animation term used to describie a cel set
containing all the layers (often all the start cels or all the end cels) and
the background. The cels are all key because they are start or end. It's
also just a way of saying 'you get the full setup for this cut'. |
| What is an end cel? | | | And end cel is the last cel in a cel sequence. It is often marked with 'End' or 'E' or sometimes even 'tome' (meaning stop). All end cels are also key cels because the last frame in a sequence is drawn out by the gengaman/key animator.
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| What is a multi-layer cel? | | | A multi-layer cel is one where the image is composed of more than one sheet of acetate. These are often created when just the eyes, hair or mouth is moving or when one character is still and another character on a separate layer is moving.
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| What is a tome cel? What is an A1 End cel? | | | A tome cel (vaguely pronounced toe-meh) is a cel that is 'held' on the screen
for a longer period of time than most cels. You can think of it as a 'still
shot.' The kanji for the 'to' in tome means 'stop' or 'hold' (it's the same
kanji you see on the streets in Japan near intersections/stop signs).
A1 End denotes that the layer is the A-layer, is the first cel in the sequence
(1) and is the last cel in the sequence (End). Tome cels are often A1 End
(sometimes marked A1 Tome). However, an A1 End cel is not necessarily tome
because while it might be constant, there could be a B layer moving on top of
it, making the shot no longer still. Confusing matters more, sometimes the A1 End layer (like a still character face with a B layer of lips moving) will just be marked 'A Tome.' The shot is still generally not considered 'tome' though. |
| What is a book cel? | | | A book cel is a cel with either a foreground and background or a multi-layer
background. The term book implies that the foreground and background make for
'covers' on a hardback book (the acetate being the pages). However, I've
seen it apply to cases where the cel is not in the middle (as in a multi-layer
background). It still applies in the case where the foreground is done
background style on a piece of acetate.
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| What is a harmony cel? | | | 'Harmony cel' is a term used for cels where the
bulk of the image that is usually a cel (mostly
characters, mecha, etc) and the usual background
is painted on background stock. Usually these
come with a normal 'acetate' cel with just the
black lines to give the image definition. Most
harmony cels I've seen have been watercolor on
background stock.
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| What is a backlit cel? | | | A backlit cel is one where light was shining through from the back during
filming. It's a kind of special effect. Often this means the cel had no
visible background stock (but not always). So that the light doesn't shine
through the paint, the back of the cel paint is often painted over in all one
color (most often black). I've also seen paper (black construction paper,
card stock) taped to the back of cels to achieve the same effect.
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| What is a pan cel? | | | A pan cel is a cel where the camera moves across it (vertically,
horizontally, or diagonally) during filming. Most of these cels are
significantly oversized in one or more directions to accomodate this kind of
shot.
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| What is an oversized cel? | | | An oversized cel is a cel that is bigger than the normal size. These can be
'slightly oversized' (maybe an inch or two bigger in one direction) or 'hugely
oversized' (maybe twice as long in one direction).
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| What is a settei cel? What is a model cel? | | | A settei cel is a model cel that shows how characters and objects are to be
painted/shaded. There are often multiples made of these so that many can see.
In addition to multiples, often the same set of trace lines are used to show
other sets of colors (night tones, sunset tones, special colorations). These
can also be called model cels.
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| What is a hanken mono cel? | | | The term 'hanken mono' means copyrighted object. A hanken cel is a cel that was used for such copyrighted promotional purposes. These were the basis for things such as magazine ads or stories and images on books, shitajiki, trading cards, CDs, DVDs or other goods.
While many hanken are very large to accomodate the detail and quality required, they can come in all sizes. The familiar images can become quite valuable. Many hanken have hand-inked lines and are produced with much higher quality than a cel used for animation. However, others might be less detailed and cheaper if they were made for purposes where the detail and quality wasn't required (used for a very small image in a book or for a cheap set of trading cards).
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| What is a mook cel? | | | A mook is basically a book with a magazine style feel and layout. A mook cel would be a cel created for such a publication. This makes a mook cel a kind of hanken.
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| What is an OP cel? | | | OP stands for 'Opening.' An OP cel is a cel that is used in the opening sequence of an animation.
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| What is an ED cel? | | | ED stands for 'Ending.' An ED cel is a cel that is used in the ending sequence of an animation. |
| What is an eyecatch cel? | | | The eyecatch is the piece of animation (or freeze frame) used before and/or after the commercial break. Eyecatches are also sometimes simulated for OVAs. An eyecatch cel is a cel used in one of these sequences.
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| What is a bank cel? | | | A bank sequence or shot is one that is re-used time and time again in the animation. Bank sequences include OPs, EDs, eyecatches, repeated transformation, repeated attacks and the like. These sequences are essentailly 'in the bank' for repeat access and use. A bank cel is a cel from one of these repeated sequences.
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| What is a waza bank cel? | | | The term 'waza bank' basically means 'attack bank,' a repeated sequence for a special attack. This could be things like Sailormoon's 'Moon Tiara Action' or Voltron's 'Form Blazing Sword'.
I have often seen the term 'waza bank' mis-used to mean repeated attack (for example, a special 'Moon Tiara Action' that is not re-using any cels). Be careful and know your repeated pieces of animation.
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| What is a henshin cel? | | | The word 'henshin' means 'transformation.' Henshin cels are cels used in a transformation sequence. Often henshin sequences are banks. However, it is important to know your series well so if a cel is marked 'henshin' you can tell whether that means it's a transformation bank cel or just a cel of a transformation.
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| What is a title card? | | | The term 'title card' refers to the cel, background or other piece of animation art used to show the title of the series. For example, in an opening of the series Ranma, this would be the screen that says 'Ranma 1/2' in Japanese. In Martian Successor Nadesico, this would be the 3D CG title that says 'Martian Successor Nadesico.'
I've also seen 'title card' refer to the piece of animation art used to show the title of the episode.
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| What is a cut cel? | | | The term cut cel can mean two different things. Perhaps the more common meaning these days is a cel that has been literally cut (trimmed) post-production. This is sometimes done by people who want to frame the cel at a different size or by people trying to force the image to be more centered. For clarity, some people refer to these as 'trimmed cels.'
However, cut cel can also mean a cel that was cut from production. It was originally created to appear on the screen as part of a sequence but for whatever reason the scene was dropped or shortened and the cel was 'cut out of the finished product.'
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| What is a laser background? | | | A laser background is a background where instead of being painted on background stock, it is laser printed on background stock. Some production backgrounds these days are done that way. It is especially useful for effects like a blurred background or very simple backgrounds.
Be careful though, some people use the term 'laser background' to mean 'laser copy background.' This is where the original painted background was photocopied and placed with the cel.
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| What is a copy background? | | | A copy background is a sheet of paper xeroxed/photocopied off of an original production background. It is included with a cel for presentation purposes. It is not necessarily matching though.
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| What is a game cel? | | | A game cel is a cel that was used in the production of a computer/console game.
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| What is a CM cel? | | | CM stands for 'Commercial.' A CM cel is one that was used to produce animation for a television commercial.
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