https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/22/politics/us-animation-studio-sketches-korean-server/index.html>In addition to drawings for an upcoming season of the Amazon Prime Video show “Invincible,” the files also contain sketches and videos that resemble work for “Iyanu: Child of Wonder,” a superhero series slated to air on Max, the streaming service that, along with CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. >The documents include a series of Chinese instructions that have been translated into Korean. They call for making adjustments to the size and style of the animation. Among the documents, there is also an editing sheet written in English with specifications for animation work with “Invincible” printed atop.
>>143307691Surprised CNN reported this.
>>143307691Why would those documents be in a North Korean server of all places?
>Outsourced South Korean animators outsourcing their own work to North KoreaAmazing, I'm reminded of this video: https://youtu.be/rYaZ57Bn4pQ?si=kK777hTtZFiBr5rA
>the people we outsource animation to are outsourcing animation themselves
>>143307691>>143307739It's turtles all the way down, holy shit.
>>143307734the most logical explanation seems to be>invincible outsources to south korean studio who outsources to chinese studio who outsources to north korean studio
>>143307734Two ideas, either some animation studio got hacked or a daisy chain of outsourcing ending up to a NK studio.
>>143307791>north korean studio
>>143307691>After discovering the files, Roy shared them withhis friend Martyn Williams, a North Korea expert and senior fellow at the Stimson Center, which analyzed the files. Williams and his colleaguesconcludedthat they looked like part of a work order.>“It looks very much like this is all working-level editing files for these animations,” Williams said.>“The North Koreans have a lot of software companies set up in China that act as kind of fronts and will send information, send work back to Pyongyang, where the work is done,” Williams told CNN.
So if I get a Amazon Plus or Vought Plus or whatever that shit is called subscription I'm supporting North Korea?Based.
>>143307804Yeah it's called SEK Studio. They famously worked on the Simpsons movie, and the 2003 TMNT series before the sanctions>North Korea’s main animation studio is Pyongyang-based SEK Studio, which was founded in the 1950s and has contracted with a range of foreign companies over the years. The US Treasury Department sanctioned SEK Studio in 2021 for being connected to the North Korean regime.>“Seemingly fueled by the desire for unreasonably low-cost labor, foreign media companies continue to subcontract animation work toSEK Studio,” the Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions. The studio uses “animation workers” in North Korea and China, the department said.
>>143307863>They famously worked on the Simpsons movie, and the 2003 TMNT series before the sanctionsProof?
>>143307918nta but the korean film council put out a white paper about collaborations from 1999-2004. It's presumably where the tmnt thing comes from but it's in korean so i don't knowhttps://kofice.or.kr/z99_include/filedown6_1.asp?filename=%EB%82%A8%EB%B6%81%20%EC%95%A0%EB%8B%88%EB%A9%94%EC%9D%B4%EC%85%98%20%EA%B5%90%EB%A5%98%20%EB%B0%B1%EC%84%9C(%EC%B5%9C%EC%A2%85%EB%B3%B8).pdf
IN ORDER TO BEAT THE ALLEGATIONS, THIS COMPANY IS GOING TO HAVE TO BE...https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/invincible-production-company-denies-north-korean-involvement-with-tv-series/
>>143307691Reminder North Korea Is a Mafia Country
bump
It sure is good that the North Koreans can apparently benefit from offshoring. I guess it really does trickle down, somehow. I mean, nobody likes these guys, not even the Chinese. They're like their Israel.
>>143309065Half of the World's population are part of religions that consider the land of Israel to be Holy Land.
Best Korea's animation industry is...
>>143309106Good job at capitalizing unnecessary words and missing the point, I guess.
>>143307691Seth Rogan??? Cucking to the North Korean??? You don't say.
>>143307691>the US government will put sanctions on Robert Kirkmankek imagine
>>143309207I hey what you are saying, I just wanted to mention why there are plenty of people that Will defend anything the country of Israel does, something you wont see people do with North Korea
>>143307691Does this mean they could still make Squirrel and Hedgehog?
Oh please. It's been known for years US companies hire Nort Koreans to do cheap work for them. Typical American hypocrisy as usual, shit on NK but use them as cheap labor.
I have a book from 10 years ago where a French guy went to NK to supervise the animation of some show. I will post it as soon I can get back home an find it. Western hypocrisy knows no shame
I mean it would explain the animation quality
>>143307804the north korean work a lot, they even import people who are willing to teach animation in the country
>>143309255Good, Kirkman is human filth and deserves it.
>>143307715>Surprised CNN reported this.Why would you be surprised? North Korea is an enemy of the United States and American companies are using North Korean slave labor in defiance of the law which has sanctions in place against North Korea.
>Uncle Sam: noooooo you can't outsource the slave work to north korean animators, only filipinos, south koreans and chinksErrr, based?
>>143309681The only reason it's news now is because the US put sanctions on their animation studios in 2021. Before they looked the other way, now it's under more scrutiny
>>143307691If foreign money is going into North Korea, I'd much prefer it be for arts & entertainment than weapons trafficking or human exploitation.
>>143307691how are norks allowed to do american work
>>143311786americans outsource it to south korea who outsource it to china who outsource it to north korea
>>143307734I mean we outsource to N.Korean studios all the time, IIRC we straight up had Disney putting Norks to work on the fucking Lion King back in the day.
>>143307691Based
>>143311589>North Korea is an enemy of the United StatesYeah exactly. So is CNN
>>143311768the arts money is funding the nukes bro
>>143307691>Unknowingly
>>143307691Surprised that Disney wasn't involved since many artists on the animation industry always call them out on the lack of animators credits on Disney TVA shows
>>143307791hello secondary sanctionsJeffy's in danger>>143311888that was a looong time ago, SEK Studio specifically has been sanctioned since Dec 2021
>>143307691I don't see the issue. Are they acting like outsourcing animation is new? Everybody did that, even in the 80s and 90s.
This is the end result of globalismYou can only cut production costs so much and outsource so much in order to artificially prop up quarterly profit growth until you have to outsource to supposed rivals who reoutsource to your actual enemy. Of course they know and of course they don't care, people will pretend to bitch in media but that's itMore a sign how unsustainable everything is. So much so that we can't even do puppet rigging in the US/Japan and we can't even just outsource to South Korea, now it has to be outsourced to North Korea with that low of a payment being made
I like how all this jumping through hoops and collabing with multiple dictatorships just results in meaningless and ugly capeshit. It's genuinely funny. You go through all that work just to produce ugly goyslop for the lowest common denominator.
>>143307691This almost sounds like they're accusing Amazon of being apart of an espionage ring.
>NOOOOOO YOU CAN'T OUTSOURCE THE WORK WE OUTSOURCED TO YOU!!!!!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!
>outsources to make more profit>the outsource also outsources to make profit>the outsurce outsource outsources to also make a profit>was animated for literal penniesLMAO
>>143307691It's a shame these workers probably aren't able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. What a shitshow.
>>143307691Question: Why do we outsource animation? Why don't we do it?
>>143313539because people from shitholes like SK do it for cheaper
>>143311768W-what do you think the NK government is doing with the money they make off of the animation slave labor?
>>143309749I know that book, it’s on Internet Archive.
>>143311888No they didn’t. That was some sort of misunderstanding. You must have been thinking of something else.
>>143313539Money
>>143313539there is a correct answer, but it's against the rules to say it on a blue board.
>>143307691To be fair, they all look the same
>>143313539Because Americans want actual pay. And because we've been outsourcing to bugpeople for so long, it'd be hard to find Americans who can even do it. We can relearn it, but that'd take time ,and, you guessed it, money. When bugpeople can do it practically >for free.
>>143313960Does it have a name??
It's all a race to outsource to the bottom. At this rate every big "reputable" company is going to become a middleman that doesn't actually do anything besides skimming profits off of whoever ends up doing the real work.
>>143311888>Norks
>>143313539Because we are in the final stages of a economic system where unlimited quarterly gains are the sole benchmark strived for by corporations and politicians in their pocket and we have reached a stage where we can't pay westerners to make animation, even puppet rigged animation, without it affecting the quarterly profit margins usually seen via domestic cuts which means everything needs to be forced out to cheaper countries
>>143307691>Unknowingly Yeah...sure...
>>143313539Because when you outsorce to a good studio you get good shit like the Clayface episodes of the 90s Batman cartoon
>>143314033It’s called ‘Pyongyang’ by Guy Delisle.
>>143313995Kikes?
>>143307737over in yhe tv forum it was suggwsted it was outsourced to China who outsourced to Norks. Makese sense since China is allies with North Korea and South Kotea is very against the North. As much as SK loves capitalism and making money and NK would be cheap to putaource to, I wager their dislike of the communists in the North is greater.
Big Mean Rat whip up! We are slaves.
>>143314147based TMS enjoyer>>143311888pretty sure it was South Korea if anywhere for Lion King
>>143309299what chronic /pol/ does to a mf
>>143313539Do we not have the skills to do it?
>>143309749>>143313960>>143314033It's Pyongyang - Guy Delisle, you morons. You're talking about it like it's some obscure thing and not one of the most acclaimed 2000s graphic novels.
>>143307739>NK outjewed the jewHory SHIT
>>143307691>unknowingly
>>143313539White people refuse to work for slave wages.>>143314344Plenty of indie animators online doing it on spec, just no industry level population to exploit en mass, it takes years of study and generations to impart the knowledge, that's all gone.
>>143314456Quarter century is a long time, you old coot.
>NORTH KOREA BAD>b-but they're all malnourished and useless >NORKS HAVE A THREATENING MILITARY >b-but it's all 50 year old slavshit held by brainwashed tweenagers >KIM BAD HE HAS NUKES >literally every missile fails to reach mainland anything Amerisharts will do everything to convince people the Cold War has-beens are still dangerous will simultaneously being fucked by India and China
>>143313539We will do it again here... with ai.
>>143314016>Because Americans want actual payThe reason of all outsourcing and wide open borders. The White man and White woman want to be paid more than pennies.
>>143314650People do that about every group they dislike.>group is gross, incesty, dumb>controls everything and makes people miserable somehowI'll let you fill in what group it could be, the stereotype applies to multiple.
>>143314745Suits says other wise, blame the "jews" all you want, but this is the system you live under and claim to be the best in the world.
>>143314745/thread
>>143314745>White womanhaving them enter the workforce was your first and most consequential pozz
>>143314108>>143314745Based and correct posts.
>>143308026am Korean. pg 42 has info about north korean studio working for 4 kids and they used tmnt as example
>>143314320I am animator in Korea working for 3rd-tier studio and we love this sequence. We quote in all the time.
>>143314930how's the pay?can you live on it?
>>143314782
>>143314994LUNA~!!!
>>143307691>north korea secretly digging their fingers into hollywoodno wonder shit's so bad now
>>143313539Because globalism (or late stage capitalism, whichever term you prefer)
>>143315088The US hasn't had capitalism in decades.
>>143314861Sorry I don't partake in the gender war, Goldenstein. :) Whites are equal.
>>143311768DPRK is an authoritarian Confucist divine monarchy dressed up as an authoritarian communist state. Every dime goes back to Kim who puts it in the military and weapons.
>>143315269>it wasn't actual communism
>>143315269I'm pretty sure he puts a little aside for sushi and cavier ;)
>>143312334The issue is that the studio is sanctioned so doing business dealings with them is illegal. Skybound better hope that they can successfully throw the South Koreans under the bus, otherwise they're fucked.
>>143314147They only used Clayface in 4 episodes due to how expensive he was to animate (5 if you count his non mutated human self)
>>143315234Based. White women bad rhetoric is for 85 IQ literal mutts like Tate and Fuentes.
>>143315269you should email them to change their logos and shit so peoepl don't confuse them for another failed communist state... very embarrassing
>>143309681Well now North Koreans have to pretend to be Americans so that they can work WFH jobs to support the grorious regime.
>>143315285Communism is shit but yes, most of these Asian states were little more than nationalist peasant revolts who claimed communism because they needed big allies and the US wasn't allying with them. Ho Chi Minh literally approached the US first and only proclaimed communism after Truman blew him off.
>>143315462Truman, what a fucking retard, why did he blow Ho Chi Minh off?
>>143315477He was retarded
>>143314147Japan outsources all the time now too.
>>143315494>nowfor ~50 years, yes
A lot of seethe for my sweet li'bro here.
>>143314610*proceeds to work for mcdonalds*
>>143315564not for long~https://youtu.be/KJVOfqunm5E
>>143315559>my brokek
>>143313539Korea (either one) or China can legally charge slave wages and they've got people who have been doing this shit for so long that they are practically irreplaceable when it comes to getting anything made in the amount of time people expect these shows to take.So, not only would it cost much more to produce it stateside, but since so few people have the skills and studios would expect people with full animation degrees to be their in-between drudge workers, you'd have people demanding high pay (which they'd deserve. Animators are tragically underpaid these days) to work fewer hours (thus extending production time and cost) to create something that would very likely be inferior (because most animation schools have been in quality freefall for decades) and none of it would be truly profitable enough for anyone to actually want to try it more than once
>>143315477Because of the French. Vietnam was a French War, just like Middle Eastern wars are British.
>>143314745More specifically, people in the west can't afford to be paid pennies in a way that disqualifies them from being able to work at all. Too little pay and they can't afford a shitshack house and a beater car, let alone food, insurance, bills, etc. It barely even works in China, and if not for a far lower cost of living where people set up permanent residence in case and mandatory live-in slave factories where employment also provides a bed and food (albeit at extremely low quality) they'd barely be able to pull it off over there either.
>>143315269based
>>143314930wait... Which Korea??
>>143307804what's so difficult to believe?You really think every single citizen is a literal brainwashed soldier that marches the streets 24/7? The citizens of that country have regular lives too
>>143315285It's not a case of some leftist screeching it's not real communism. You can say that about basically every failed communist/socialist state in the Americas. But Asia? Their own leaders basically said "Marx got it all wrong. Here's MY version of communism!" And it's always a mix of [medieval era royalty] with a democratically elected(not really) cabinet of retainers to make all the bills said royals will rubber stamp into law.
>>143316372Marx even wrote of a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" before transitioning into "true communism."There is nothing uniquely "asian" about tin pot dictators.The end result of communism is ALWAYS totalitarianism.
>>143316297Every one in NK must is either a literal brainwashed robot or has learned to convincingly act like a literal brainwashed robot.
>>143316434Norks are as brainwashed as any mutt seething about whatever fabricated drama jews made up this day or the next.Mutts at least get to eat their fill... a bit too much food lmao.
>>143316127There's Shit Korea AND Worst Korea.Kpop bitches are hot tho.
>>143316372>it wasn't actual communism, I swear!
>>143307691I knew this show looked exceptionally shit. How hard is it to make 6-10 one-hour episodes in the US? If they can spend $200M on live-action goyslop cinematic universe they can surely spare $5M an episode to make a good animated show?
>>143316851the money goes to the producers and stars, animation budget is always fixed to the lowest possible amount
>>143316851The first thing you do if a show becomes a hit is cut the production budget, since the punters will show up regardless.This is the Jewish, I mean entertainment rule-book no.1, lmao.
>>143316880Should be the other way around. None of these celebrities or producers have any merit whatsoever after the all the liquid sludge that's slipped out of Hollywood's asshole the last 8 years. It's infuriating. It's gonna eventually implode the film industry if they let these fucks get the dough and make terrible decisions a chimp could avoid.
>>143316851In muttland animation = kiddie trash. No exceptions. Financing it properly there is like admitting to be mentally handicapped.
>>143316897>In muttland animation = kiddie trashJapan thinks that lowly of animation?
>>143316897Its how things have to be. Doesn't help the average cartoon enjoyer is mentally ill
no wonder the animation looks like shit
>>143314456It is obscure to the zoomzooms who infest this board who were born in 2004.
>>143307739>>the people we outsource animation to are outsourcing animation themselvesthe absolute state
>>143316897Should accuse them of hating children with that mentality. Watch them squirm their way out of that. You can't argue that animation can be for adults to them, but you can ask why they hate kids so much.
>>143313539Cheaper
>>143313539Its cheaper because no one wants to pay American animators real money.>>143317220Nothing wrong with hating kids in Hollywood land. Its why they end up the fleshlights of the execs.
>>143313539Because Californian twitter soibois won't work. Not even for extra payment. They're permanently lazy. For them hard work is racist oppression or some shit.
>>143314016Yeah
>>143315285>>143315269Gee. It's almost as if communism can take many forms. Almost as if govetnment is complex and multiple forms can exist and suppliment each othet in horrible ways.
>>143316454If you like plastic Barbie dolls, sure.I'll stick with J-pop.
>>143309299Autism
>>143314332Yup
>unknowingly
>>143316430I would argue that the Khmer Rouge is an exception to the "real communism has never been tried" cope. /Pol/ Pot did the exact opposite of everything Karl Marx said a communist nation should do.
>>143316975They pay their animators peanuts in Japan so...kind of.
>make a meta joke about how animating is really hard>turns out your show was animated in north korean sweat shops
>>143314650Nobody in America except boomers and idiots that still watch the evening news think that North Korea is a threat. The worst North Korea can do is threaten South Korea, Japan, and China with threats (and only threats) of nuclear annihilation and nothing else.
>>143316465I mean yeah, it about as communist as it was democratic. They even came up with their own name for their communism 2.0. Juche. Better example of communism would be Cuba.
>>143319825When. When Communism fails in Cuba, I'm sure tankies are going to say that it was never "Real Communism™" because of reasons. Mainly America Bad.
What happened is that America and Japan outsourced to China, and since chinks have a pathological primordial need to avoid doing any kind of work, they outsourced their work to fucking North Korea.
>>143319964Pretty sure they're saying it already since it seems to be on its way out. Cuba's failing because it was in no way capable of supporting a communist system. >inb4 communism is impossibleSome countries can do a better job of faking it. Cuba can't even do that. Norks are basically the Joseon dynasty but they call their emperor a president instead, and they'll call themselves whatever China wants as long as that aid money keeps flowing in.
>>143318758Japan is just as bad with the pay disparity, if not even worse. there used to be an image posted on /a/ of how much the producers and voice actors there make compared to the animation team, and it's no different from here. The people who do the actual work get fucked over, regardless of the country, it seems.
how did these files even get found
>>143307863That name looks familiar. Did another show get caught for this before?
>>143309106The World is Full Idiots What Else is New
Cha bu duo bro, cheat and cut corners at every opportunity.
>>143318494>Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Official Music Video)
>>143307691Alright, so now that we know that the shitty animation was outsourced to north korean drone servants for cheap, literally what the fuck did they spend all the budget on?
>>143322852Producers and big name stars for voice acting. At least JK Simmons has a decent amount of voice acting experience. Steven Yeuns voice acting is basically just be Steven Yeun.
>>143314147>'member that one time a good thing happened in the 90s?
>>143323158Yes
>raceswap and rewrite the story to make the show more progressive>send money into a third-world dictatorship
>>143313539Because the stock market encourages (and legally forces) companies to penny-pinch in every way they can imagine to appease stock holders that have zero interest in the company outside of making money. Or Jews.
>>143313539People in high positions like money.They don't like spending money on things they aren't obsessed with (you know, cars, shoes, etc)So they cut costs as much as they possibly can while retaining (or attempt to) as much "quality" as they can.So they can spend more of their money on cars and stuff.
well better that than starving
>>143325529>the starving still happens
>>143307739>>143307691kek
>>143309572Probably not. Kim Jong Un seems more focused on live action dramas right now.
>>143313539jews
>>143315494>>143315507cope and false
Isn't it funny that so called "ESG/Woke/politically correct" products are made with unethical policies? All we need are products that are "problematic' that are ethically made and that would complete the circle of irony.
>>143307734Why were US spies hacking into a N. Korean animation studio?
>>143317255>why won't you do hours of hard work for literal pennies like the communists we outsource to? Must be lazy.
>>143307691>unknowinglySomeone knew.
>>143307691>researchersHm yes, gotta love those researchers researching other people's computers in restricted areas of the internet. Very legal research going on here.
>>143318477>communism can take many formsvery true, each one worse than the next
>>143318748And it would have created The Workers Paradise if the fake commie Vietnam (under orders form the CIA, obviously) invaded Cambodia and put an end to the genocide, I mean, reforms!!!
>>143319964To be fair, America is bad.>>143320736Because they are an open secret, no one actually cares unless somebody makes it their business to write about them and embarrass the suits enough.
>>143322852Expensive meals at 4 star hotels and baby sealskin office chairs.
>>143307691Oh hey I read this issue not too long ago
>>143323700It's a POC dictatorship, it is progressive!
>>143326017Nips started outsourcing (subcontracting) to Gooks in the 70's retard.Mutts just went to the source in the 90's after using them during the 80's.To be sure, Japan is better since they do the keyframings and such unlike lazy ass mutts who sends it all to Koreans with "storyboards."
>>143326074Everyone hacks everyone all the time.ALL THE TIME.
>>143326074North Korea uses a busted system of Linux. Easy to exploit if you know how to get in. And people have.
