SEOUL (Reuters) - [font=arial][size=-1] Homer Simpson, his dysfunctional family and his friends from the middle-of-the-road American town Springfield were sent to Seoul long before exporting job overseas became a hot-button political issue in the United States. [/size][/font]
[[img]http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20050302/amdf880119.jpg[/img]](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050302/photos_lf/mdf880119)
Reuters Photo
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[font=arial][size=-1] A stone’s throw away from a highway that tears through Seoul and upstairs from a convenience store called “Buy the Way,” Homer, Marge, and the rest of “The Simpsons” have been brought to life for about 15 years at South Korea (news - [url=“http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/nm/lf_nm/korea_simpsons_dc/14452578/*http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=web-storylinks&p=South%20Korea”]web sites)'s AKOM Production Co. [/size][/font]
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[font=arial][size=-1] The company has been animating “The Simpsons” at its studio in western Seoul since it premiered as a TV series in 1989. [/size][/font]
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[font=arial][size=-1] Behind every blunder by police chief Wiggum, beer downed by Barney and wisecrack by Bart is a team of about 120 Korean animators and technicians who create the 22-minute episodes based on an elaborate storyboard and animation instructions from the show’s creators, Film Roman, in the United States. [/size][/font]
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[font=arial][size=-1] AKOM gets the storyboard, camera and coloring instructions, as well as the voice tracks. It then turns out the episode about three months later. Music and other finishing touches are added back in the United States. [/size][/font]
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[font=arial][size=-1] South Korea is one of the leaders in what is known as original equipment manufacturing (OEM) animation where a cartoon is drawn according to a storyboard provided by a client. [/size][/font]
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[font=arial][size=-1] Nelson Shin, chief executive officer of AKOM, said “The Simpsons” ended up in Seoul because of the high quality of work.[/size][/font]
Artical From: Yahoo! News
