Animated Film 'MERAH PUTIH ONE FOR ALL' Allegedly Result of Asset Purchase, BINUS Lecturer: Depends on the Producer

According to Victor, it is perfectly acceptable for an animated film to purchase assets or modeling. "If animation generally has a story, we model according to the story, this animation has a story but the modeling is taken, bought," he explained during an online interview with Kapanlagi's editorial team on Monday (12/8).

"I do not blame the buyer, because I also do not know, I did not read the license for the purchased assets in detail," he continued.

Victor mentioned that there are many licenses for animation assets ranging from personal use, some for commercial use, and so on. However, he regrets that the film MERAH PUTIH ONE FOR ALL was not produced in their own studio.

"But even though it is allowed for commercial use, it feels like I see it is not proper. An animation studio is not prohibited by that rule, but ideally, as a storyteller, when wanting to tell something, all visual elements should come from the production process in that studio itself," he said.

Victor himself admitted to having purchased assets while working on an animated film, but he was upfront and clearly stated this to the client. 

He revealed that there is a buy-out system from the asset creator to the producer. The assets can then be freely modified but must still be used according to the license purchased. 

"It depends on the producer, the one who creates the assets. If the asset creator indeed has a buy-out option, I would call it a buy-out in layman's terms. Sell it, and it's up to them whether they want to modify the character designer's assets, change the clothes, that's up to them," explained Victor.

"If it is for commercial use, if it is for personal use only, it cannot be commercialized at all. It depends on the details of the license attached to the assets," he concluded.