At Quinni-Con 2013, there was a variety of panels about the process of creating anime. From drawing the art to casting voice actors for the US dub, the traditional aspects of the popular medium were well-covered.
Quinni-Con also hosted a lot of events related to a less-explored aspect of the world of anime fan culture: abridged series. Abridged series are online parodies of popular anime properties. The creative team edits down the 22 minute episodes to a shorter length, usually about 5-8 minutes, redubs all the voices, and send-ups the ridiculous aspects of the series. Popular subjects are the melodramatic Death Note (see image), 4Kidz' complete and total butchering of the much darker than it appeared in the US Yugioh, and the unbelievable adventures of a 10 year old traveling around the world to battle wild animals in Pokemon.
Sadly, very few of these abridged series are ever completed. It's certainly not for lack of interest. An abridged series is just a huge undertaking. It's surprisingly hard to get all the details to line-up for a full series run.
The abridged series panels at Quinni-Con 2013 were hosted by collaborators Nowacking and 1KidsEntertainment. The pair work on Pokemon: The 'Bridged Series. They opened up about a lot of details people might overlook when they decide to criticize the release schedule of an abridged series or dive in and create their own.
The biggest thing you need to create an abridged series is time. You have to be extremely well-versed in the anime you're manipulating. Nowacking and 1KidsEntertainment explained that you have to watch each episode enough times to know the material you can work with. Since you're not creating a series from scratch, you need to work off of the footage available in the episode. You can have a gag about a severely depressed character if she's grinning the entire episode. The only way around that constriction is to edit the art or splice in footage from other shows, which only adds onto the lengthy production schedule.
Once you know what you have to work with, you have to sit down and write the new abridged episode. The episode has to match the tone you already established for the abridged series and remain faithful to the footage in the actual anime. You have to realistically consider the talent you have and determine what you absolutely need to tell the story you want to tell.
The only real time-saver on an abridged series is that, since it's parody, you don't have to match mouth movements. The dialogue just needs to time out with the footage available, not necessarily look organic or natural.
The syncing is a minor advantage. You still need to record all the voice actors. The levels have to be right or else the audio is unusable. The characters have to be distinct enough so the viewer knows who is who even when it's voice-over without the characters present. The tone of the voice and speaking style has to be consistent with the animation and character you're trying to create.
From there, the actual raw footage has to be edited down to match the script. This is where you can insert footage from other series, manipulate the order of the episode, or alter the speed or direction of the footage for comedic effect. It's a lot of things to consider for such a short medium.
Then, once the abridged series is actually uploaded, you have to make sure it stays on your video server of choice. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and subsequent legal action, YouTube had to install safeguards to protect copyright holders. Many anime distributors upload episodes of their series in private mode and have Google scan all the available videos on YouTube for possible infringement. If your video is flagged, it's taken down. That means lost views, lost viewers, and frustration.
Fortunately, the DMCA is a two-way street. The copyright holders get much-needed assistance protecting their properties online and the alleged infringers get to defend themselves. YouTube has a form built into the site that lets you explain why you believe your video should not be taken down. The answer is simple for abridged series: parodies are allowed under US copyright law. No one will view an episode of Pokemon: The 'Bridged Series and think they're watching the actual anime so there's no actual damage to the copyright. It's a pain, but you just plead your case and wait for YouTube to put your video back up.
The next time you're watching an abridged series and find out that the updates only come every few weeks or months, take a moment to remember how much effort it takes to make an abridged series. These are fans who decided to rewrite a series for everyone's enjoyment. They're working other jobs or going to school full time because monetizing an abridged series is just going to get it flagged on a regular basis. Be supportive if you like the show, hold off on mentioning the real name of the actual series (it might impact the scans for automatic take downs), and have fun.
Thoughts on abridged series? Have any favorites? Share them in the comments below.