The Animation Process - Lessons from the Production of Dragon Ball Z

Today our animation process is all digital, but it’s important to understand what these digitals tools have been adapted from. Watch through each of these videos and note down the relevant information to answer the questions below. If you are not sure, watch through again listening closely for key terminologies. This is just as much a test of how well you can listen and extract information from a research source.

How Dragon Ball Z Was Made-The Animation Process

The Production Secrets and Process Behind the Dragon Ball Z Anime

  1. Explain how the storyboard/ekonte is laid out on a page. Describe each section/detail it should include. What is the purpose of the storyboard?

Essentially the blueprint of the episode. Allowing to pre-visualise the animation. The number on the top left is the sheet number, the first column is the scene number, and next to it being the cut number, like shots, and if it is continuous. The third column being the larger drawings, used to represent the actions of the characters, the shot of the scene, camera movement and even the choreography if needed. The quality of these drawings doesnt need to be good, as long as it roughly shows what's meant to happen in the scene. Stick figures with the characters name is good enough if the director can not draw well. Being drawn outside the box can be used for panning shots. The 4th column, being the contents, includes more detail of the scenes. Various techniques, like fade ins/outs, camera shake, distortion, etc. can be written here to be a part of the animation. Next to it, is the dialogue present. The Time column is there to indicate how long the scene will be played out for. Finally the music and sound effects are there to indicate, if any specific things were needed to be added as the sound, usually were not filled out at all.


  1. Why was the name Dragon Ball Z chosen by the original author?

Because it was the last letter of the alphabet, and that the creator was starting to run out of ideas for dragon ball.

  1. Within the anime production team, who draws the storyboard?

Usually the Director, but this work can be split into a designated storyboard artist, or even one of the animators.

  1. What is the layout? How well does it have to be drawn?

On the top left, the name of the show, episode number, and hand drawn number, as well as the cut number. The drawing indicates the depth of the scene, perspective, and the shot. The drawing doesn’t need to be of good quality yet, as the line work, rough outlines, or even scribbles or sketches of the scene can be enough, whether it is due to time or the person’s drawing ability. The bottom of the layout can be used for notes to be written, like to indicate if the background needs to be painted, if it is a black and white shot, etc.

  1. What important responsibility do the animation supervisor and/or animation director have to do after the artists/animators have roughly drawn the layouts?

They don’t necessarily check for any craftsmanship or the quality of the work, but rather to check if the characters in the scene are aligned with the character sheet, making any fixes, or quality of life adjustments that would be needed, like adding in a note. But due to the time limit, most drawings were accepted without fail, and sent out to another studio in a folder.

  1. What does an in-betweener artist do and how does it differ from a key animator?

Their role - what do they draw exactly?

Key animator

They draw the defining key frames in an animation

In-betweener artist

They draw the frame in between the key frames, as to smooth out the animation, the artist may not input their own style into the animation, but it is still an important job nonetheless

  1. How many drawings were needed for a 20+ minute episode of DBZ?

An estimation of 8,000 to 10,000 sheets of drawings were needed for a single 20+ minute episode of DBZ.

  1. How many different departments are involved to animate, edit and prepare a single episode of DBZ? How long does it take them to produce a single episode?

The production of a single episode of Dragon Ball Z involved several departments, including the storyboard, planning & scriptwriting department. These people are in charge of writing the episodes in scripts or storyboards, as well as planning out the animation. Usually these departments are one small team, but for an animation like DBZ, they split these departments to speed up production. The animation department is the team that does the main animating bulk, drawing each frame out on pieces of paper, but also the animation department can be divided into further chunks, like a small team or person for key frames, and a group for the in between animations(the process of smoothing out an animation by drawing in between the frames). The background department works alongside with the animation department, or right before them, depending on how they want to schedule the animating, they are incharge of drawing background art. The editing department is the post production part of the animation process, sometimes they are in the main production to coordinate with animators.

  1. Based on how this production works, where within the production process would you like to work? Explain which roles and why.

I like animating, but I think it would be an exhausting process, so I would like to be the storyboard artist, or be in charge of making the animatic. I like making concepts of scenes, being the one laying the foundations for how the animation will be. I would receive a script, as then to turn that into drawings of each of the scenes, write notes for its supposed to be, etc.