Presentation Script

How the animation style of Studio Ghibli has changed over time since it's creation

(Presenter walks out onto stage)
Presenter: For the past 22 years Studio Ghibli has been a major force in animation in Japan however only since the release of 2001's Oscar winning Spirited Away have they become a force to be reckoned with elsewhere in the world.

(Projector: trailer for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in background minus sound) (item 1)

Presenter: It all started back in 1988 with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. A tale of an earth ravaged by the 'Seven Days of Fire' an apocalyptic war that destroyed human civilization and destroyed most of Earth's ecosystem. The story tells of the peace loving Princess Nausicaä and her attempts to purify the Toxic Jungle the war left behind. Although Studio Ghibli was formed after its success it is still included in many of the collections of the Ghibli films.

(Projector: trailer for Princess Mononoke in background minus sound) (item 2)

Prensenter: In 1997 one of Ghibli's founding directors Hayao Miyazaki broke away from his norm of using primarily handdrawn animation and included CGI in Princess Mononoke. Set euring the late Muromachi period of Japanese history it tells the story of Ashitaka a prince wounded in battle who later finds his wound is cursed and will eventually kill him and this leads him to journey west and find a cure. It ends with a climatic battle representing mans ongoing battle with nature. (item 11)

(Projector: trailer for Howl's Moving Castle in background minus sound) (item 3)

Prensenter: In 2004 Ghibli released Howl's Moving Castle. Loosely based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones. It tells the story of Sophie Hatter, a girl who runs her late father's hat shop, who catches the eye of the wizard Howl. This angers the Witch of the Waste who desires Howl all to herself. She proceeds to put a curse on Sophie which turns her into an old woman and stops her from telling anyone about her condition. This leads to Sophie going on an adventure with Howl leading to her getting her former beauty and seeing many wondrous things along the way such as fire demons and magic.

(Projector: trailer for Ponyo in background minus sound) (item 4)

Presenter: In 2008 Ghibli released Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. A beautifully animated masterpiece it won several awards. It tells the story of the goldfish Ponyo, or Brunhilde as her father calls her, who befriends a five-year-old human boy named Sosuke, after he rescues her from a jar, and her quest to become human to spend her life with him.

(Projector: as the presenter talks about Ghibli's past corresponding images from the time are shown such as a young Miyazaki)

Presenter: For many years Takahata and Miyazaki worked for Toei Animation, Miyazaki doing both the in-between animation and directing some TV shows and Takahata directing and story-boarding. In 1968 they worked together for the first time on Hols Prince of the Son in which Miyazaki played the important role of chief animator, scene designer and concept artist. It served as a landmark film for Takahata as he directed and this collaboration with Miyazaki would continue for the next thirty years. After this project they both worked on many TV shows for Toei animation before leaving in 1971 at the suggestion of animator Yasuo Otsuka who suggested they find work elsewhere to help get their work more widely known. (item 5)

From here they moved onto A Pro were they attempted to make an adaption of Pippi Longstocking. However this never came to be as after they travelled to Sweden and met with the author Astrid Lindgren and were refused permission to adapt the novel. This however didn't stop them as Miyazaki found inspiration from the town of Visby and would later set Stockholm and Visby as the stage of Kiki's Delivery Service. (item 12)

In 1976 while working on 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, Miyazaki and Kotabe didn't agree with Takahata's direction and left Takahata. In 1979 Takahata and Miyazaki began work on Anne of Green Gables however halfway through production Miyazaki left Zuiyo to work for Tokyo Movie Shinsha on Castle of Cogliostro. It wasn't until 1984 that Miyazaki would direct his next film and start the beginning of an era. Although created before Studio Ghibli itself its success was enough to to cause Miyazaki and Takahata to start Studio Ghibli originally as a subsidiary Tokuma Shoten in 1985 but as from 2005 Studio Ghibli is now completely seperate and has acquired all the rights to Ghibli films before 2005. (item 12)

(Projector: show conceptual art and stills from the Nausicaä manga as presenter talks) (item 10)

(Audio: as the presenter talks the theme from Nausicaä is played)

Presenter: At first Miyazaki had trouble getting the idea for Nausicaä made into a film. The executives of Toei felt the film would be a commercial failure as most films at the time were based on existing anime and manga franchises. Then Miyazaki came up with the idea of getting Nausicaä published as a manga first to show that it could be a commercially successful film. This simple idea lead to Miyazaki's drawing style becoming the most widely known of Ghibli's styles and is still used to this day even in some Ghibli in which Miyazaki has no input although this is very rare. Surprisingly only a small team of animators worked on Nausicaä and it has been praised as one of the greatest films made by any member of Ghibli. (item 5)

(Audio: the orchestral theme from Princess Mononoke is played

It wasn't until 1997 and Princess Mononoke that Ghibli broke away from using the traditional pencil and paper animation style that other studios had abandoned long before although it wasn't the first to use digital sound as Whisper of the Heart was the first Japanese and the first Ghibli film to use Dolby Digital sound. The part of this film that stands out the most for its animation. About 5 minutes worth of footage is CGI and this is designed so that it blends in with and supports the traditional animation style. Another first for Ghibli is that 10 minutes worth of footage uses digital paint a technique employed in all further Ghibli films although most of the film is still still coloured using traditional paint. Producers also agreed on installing computers to get the film ready in time for the Japanese premiere date. Also Miyazaki personally checked all 144,000 cells of the film redrawing 80,000 of them.(item 11)(item 15)

(Audio: the teheme from Howl's Moving Castle is played)

In 2004 Ghibli released Howl's Moving Castle. It was the first Ghibli film since Nausicaä to feature an animated object that towers over the characters this is the titular Castle itself. It is coloured so that it blends in with the backgrounds and moves seamlessly around the world in which the film is set. Although very few people didn't enjoy the film that much everyone who reviewed it and many of the Ghibli fans out there all agree that this is one of Ghibli's most beautifully animated pieces and is often called upon as one of their most awe inspiring films. (item 13)(item 18)

(Projector: show some of the storyboard images from the storyboard cut of Ponyo) (item 4)

(Audio: the track Mother Sea from the soundtrack of Ponyo is played)

In 2008 Miyazaki decided to take Ghibli back to its roots when they released Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Miyazaki decided that he wanted most of the film to be traditionally animated something Ghibli hadn't done since the release of Spirited Away in 2001. He personally oversaw all aspects of the films animation and preferred to draw the sea and waves himself as he felt it was an important part of the film. In the end the film had 170,000 images due to the detailed drawing - a record for any of Miyazaki's films. Also the beautifully animated opening featuring all the fish was hand drawn and is now one of the most praised sequences in the entire film. Ponyo also marked the return to one of Miyazaki's greatest concerns being used as a theme - the environment. This hadn't main featured as a main theme since Nausicaä in which it played a malor role in the plot. However this time around it only played a minor role in the plot as the reason why Fujimoto hates humans so much but was still prominent enough for Miyazaki's trademark of bringing his concern's through his films to be expressed. (item 16)

(Projector: show images of Miyazaki and Takahata as the presentation ends)

Studio Ghibli's Logo

The logo for Studio Ghibli featuring their best known character Totoro from My Neighbour Totoro

Annotated Catalogue

Area of Investigation: I am going to look at how Studio Ghibli's style has changed over the time since it's creation.
Films: Focus: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Miyazaki, 1984) I have chosen this as it is considered by many to be the beginning of Studio Ghibli even though the Studio was created after the film was released. This is also the first film by Miyazaki to have environmentalist themes present, a common theme in many of Miyazaki's later films. (item 1)

Related: Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997). I have chosen this film at is one of Studio Ghibli's most popular releases as it became the highest grossing film in japan after its release but was beaten several months later when Titanic was released. Another Reason for picking it is that it has around five minutes worth of CGI which is a break away from Miyazaki's usual style of using traditional animation and hand drawn cells. (item 2)

Howl's Moving Castle (Miyazaki, 2004). I have chosen this film as it is the first adaption of a western novel that Studio Ghibli made and is their most well known of the adaptions they have done. It also involves one of the biggest traditionally animated objects in a Ghibli film, the titular castle, since Nausicaä. (item 3)

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Miyazaki, 2008) My main reason for choosing Ponyo is that it is the most recent Ghibli film to have an english dub released. It is also the most Disneyfied dubs of a Studio Ghibli film that Disney has released featuring the younger members of the Cyrus and Jonas families in the roles of Sosuke and Ponyo. (item 4)

Internet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoXRf0h-3Lo - a documentary on the works of Studio Ghibli, starting with Howl's Moving Castle. This was created to coincide with the release Of HMC. This is useful as it talks about the many different aspects of Studio Ghibli and gives an insight to the making of HMC. It also helps me with the creative side of my project. (item 5)

www.midnighteye.com/interviews/hayao_miyazaki.shtml - Interview with Hayao Miyazaki, one of the founding members of Studio Ghibli. I have chosen this as it gives me an understanding about how Miyazaki goes about making his films and how he conceives his ideas for the characters and stories. This helps with my investigation as Miyazaki is a very reclusive man who is hard to see and this is the most in-depth interview about the subject of how he makes his films that I could find. (item 6)

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/6908/ - an article written by a fan that has a lot of factual information about each of Miyazaki's films up to Ponyo. It contains information on the plot, production notes, legacy and english dub of each film. This is helpful to my investigation as it allows me to get further information on the films that I wouldn't be able to get from other sources. (item 7)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtoDJL76bI - Interview with John Lasseter on Isao Takahata and Miyazaki from when TCM aired a month long run of films by Studio Ghibli. The films featured in this are Only Yesterday and Pom Poko but John Lasseter and the presenter discuss the importance of animation in Japan and how it branches all ages. This is useful as it explains how Miyazaki's films are made to appeal to both adults and films. (item 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGK-bV4Nw70 Hayao Miyazaki and John Lassetertalk about Miyazaki's work and about Ponyo at ComicCon '09. It is useful as it gives an insight to how Miyazaki works on his characters, storyline and storyboard for his films. (item 9)

Books: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Vol.1, Hayao Miyazaki, the original source manga that helped Miyazaki get Nausicaä made into a film. This is useful as it shows what Miyazaki had to go through to get his idea made into a film. It also helps with the creative side of my project as it allows me to compare stills from the manga to corresponding stills from the film (item 10)

Anime From Akira To Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation, Susan Napier, 12 Jan 2006. This is useful as it talks about Princess Mononoke in detail and explains aspects of the film that the reader is unlikely to be familiar with.(item 11)


Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc, 26 Mar 2009. This is useful as it gives the entire story of Studio Ghibli from the start to the present day and goes into detail about each of the directors and each of the films. (item 12)

Magazine Articles:
Total Film, October 2005, Issue 107, Page 114-118 (item 13). Goes on a tour of the actual studio and ends in a talk with Hayao Miyazaki. It explains how the studio themselves go about animating the films and the expected timeframe it takes to make one of their many films. It is useful as it gives an insight into the workings of Ghibli.

Empire, June 2009, Issue 240, 20th Anniversary Special Edition, Page 174, Interview with Miyazaki (item 14) It talks about Miyazaki's feelings towards film and many other aspects that make him the man he is today.

Little White Lies, July/August 2007, The Tales From Earthsea Issue, Page 26-31, Dream Weaver: Inside Hayao Miyazaki’s magic kingdom (item 15)It is useful as it explains how Miyazaki likes to bring across his messages in films but not force them upon the viewer and how he comes up with the beautiful worlds that he gives life to in his films.

Newspaper: Telegraph, 30 December 2009, Interview with Miyazaki (item 16)

Television: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev7t8eFsGk0 - a section from the BBC series Japanorama were Jonathan Ross talks to Miyazaki about his films and the differences in reception between the West and East. continues into the 4th part. (item 17)

Dvd Extras:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds3adcHVxnQ - a documentary about the history of Studio Ghibli. Made to go along with the release of Princess Mononoke in Japan. Features behind the scenes footage of the making of PM. Was released in the West as a DVD extra on the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind DVD. (item 18)
Others:

Common Themes Present In Studio Ghibli Films

Miyazaki puts many of his own feelings about different causes

Initial Idea

I am going to look at the evolution of Studio Ghibli with my focus film being Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and my other films being Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo.