Nelson Shin， Godfather of Animation

Dubbed the ″Godfather of Animation″ here in Korea， he is behind some iconic animated characters such as the Simpsons， Pink Panther and Transformers. His work also extends to live action， including the famous Star Wars lightsaber. In Person with this this week is Nelson Shin. Nelson， it′s great to have you on our show tonight. Thank you. I′m pleased to be here. You know， it′s quite difficult to know where to begin with you， because you′ve been responsible for so many of the world′s best loved cartoon characters. But， let′s kick things off with my favorite － the Simpsons. I think we did about 1989. Main production only. Does not belong 100％ to us. All motion produced， put together in Korea. Akom is your company. How big a company is it？ 1，700 people working in the production. 7 different buildings. Since 1990 converted to digital. Basically， do you use software to better create films？ We use software， hardware... And， finally your movie ″Empress Chung.″ It was the first full－length feature you did entirely from scratch. You wrote the script for it even. And， in 2005... it was released simultaneously in South and North Korea. Tell us how that happened. I was planning to Shimchungjeon. I wrote it based on Korean folktale. I started thinking why can′t I work with North Korean artists. I bumped into them at several festivals outside of the country. I proposed why don′t we work together. Main production in Pyongyang. Pre－production in South Korea and main production in Pyeongyang studio and post production in South Korea. What was your experience like working with North Koreans？ I taught them how to do animation. This is animation. Not only just movement of action. You have to learn natural science to make it beautiful. It took almost 3 years. Finally， KJI oked the release of theaters north and south first time we engaged， produced and released together. Do you have a goal in life？ Maybe I can produce another movie. I don′t want to settle down and relax. I′m always challenging the future with young kids. Animation is fantastic art. Thank you so much for coming in to share your experience with us. Thank you.