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CineSource Collective Narrative
Great Japanese Animator Miyazaki, and Funky W. Oakland Film Fest
As if he wasn’t busy enough directing animation at Disney, as well as Pixar, John Lasseter recently facilitated a mini-tour for Hayao Miyazaki, the great Japanese animator, part of which graced the East Bay. The reclusive Miyazaki was a bit reluctant until Lasseter said he would be there every step of the way, which he was, at least up until San Diego, where he interviewed Miyazaki at Comic-Con, Friday, July 24.
Before we get to Miyazaki, we want to note the 15th Annual Brainwash Bike-in Walk-in Movie Festival (see brainwashm.com), is coming to West Oakland, home to Pixar Studios (well, Emeryville) as well as CineSource MagWeb. It will be held on Fri, July 31 -Sat, Aug 1, 9:00 pm, American Steel Building (recently purchased by Dan Das Mann, of Burning Man massive sculpture fame),1960 Mandela Parkway, Oakland (cross W. Grand, first exit over Bay Bridge). The Brainwash Fest always features striking shorts, some of which become instant classics.
Miyazaki, meanwhile, was here to promote a feature, “Ponyo," his latest, undoubtedly also to become an instant classic. Done on cell animation, in his dreamy style, it is about a boy and his mermaid girlfriend and their mythical perigrinations. In the course of Comic-Con, Miyazaki sometimes fielded his old friend Lasseter’s queries with a little tongue-in-cheek, for example: “My process is thinking, thinking, and thinking about my stories for a long time.”
But, the next day, at Zellerbach Auditorium, where he received the 2009 Berkeley Japan Prize, Miyazaki was a bit more forthcoming, if only slightly (see transcript below). Conducted by Roland Kelts, the author of “JapanAmerica," “It was a spirited cat and mouse exchange,” noted CineSource's observer, Russell Merritt, a Univ of Cal Berkeley film/animation professor.
“Miyazaki was a delight, usually beginning an answer with a rumbling growl that turned into a child-like giggle… and his answers were rich in self-effacing irony,” continued Merrit. “For all the talk of Miyazaki's bluntness and temper, he was utterly unflappable, turning away questions that he plainly feels deeply about, such as the future of cell animation, the corrosive effects of TV on children, with a light hand.”
"What advice he would give a young animator?" Kelts queried. “Sketch what you see with your own eyes, and find a teacher who won't coddle you." Why are there so few evil characters in his films? "It is not pleasant to draw evil characters, so I don't draw them." Overcoming creative blocks? “You have to smell blood,” in your brain.
In the course of forty-eight years, Miyazaki visionary, meticulous and emotionally rich films turned him into an animator’s animator outside Japan. Inside, he is beloved by artists, children and critics alike.
Miyazaki started his own animation studio, Studio Ghibli, in Koganei City on the outskirts of Tokyo, in 1985, after the success of his second big feature “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” a proto-environmentalist piece that takes place 1000 years after the earth’s destruction. Although the studio is headed by Miyazaki, who storyboards each film, he gets some help from long time associate, Isao Takahata, as well as Disney.
Although Ghibli films are distributed in Japan by the noted Toho company, Disney soon got involved for the worldwide rights, notably for the acclaimed "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away," the 2002 masterpiece, which won the Cartoon Oscar, the first for a Japanese film. Roger Ebert called it, "The best animated film of recent years...” and Miyazaki, “The Japanese master who is a god to the Disney animators."
The most acclaimed film from Ghibli, "Grave of the Fireflies," was helmed by Takahata, and focuses on two war orphans during the Second World War — touchy material terrifically handled. Among other Ghibli films are: "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988);" Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989); "Princess Mononoke" (1997); "Spirited Away" (2001; Oscar winner); and "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004; Oscar nominee).
Below is a partial transcript of the Zellerback Interview with Ronald Kelts, who started with a rumination: Realism is in service of the imagination and imagination is in service of?
Miyazaki: Animate means to breathe into; to bring to life. Many young people live in virtual worlds, i.e. video games, television. There is a danger that they might lose imagination.
K: The subtext of many of your films is the apocalyptic theme. In “Ponyo” there is a great Tsunami.
M: Nature is included inside people, nature is not outside people. The tsunami is a cleansing for people, for their town. I use my imagination about an apocalypse, a disaster. Disasters make people behave better, they look after each other. For me, natural disaster is not equated with bad, evil. Evil characters, I don't like to draw evil figures. So, they're not in my films.
K: Ponyo was a fish, yet it's a girl, what's going on?
M: Ponyo started out to be a red tin toy frog, but I couldn't make a story from it. Main character is a goldfish but it doesn't look like a goldfish. Nature is beyond understanding. The eyes in Totorro, you can't tell where they're looking or what the character is thinking. He said he told his animators to draw the eyes looking somewhere else.
K: You use a lot of fantasy in your work.
M: “Spirited Away” has an entry point into a fantasy world. I am always looking for one and it was the tunnel.
K: There are female protagonists in your films?
M: Studio Ghibli has 22 new animators and of these only four are male. Our school has 22 animator students and only 1 is male. The women are very good. Films roles of boys and girls are different. In my films there is a need to fulfill promises made. This is very important.
K: In Anime feature films are usually based on Manga. But your films are not Manga based. Why?
M: I enjoy Manga by just reading it. Better if you do not make it into animation. Manga and film have very different time and space. Manga can become very boring if animated. Condensation of time is a salient feature of Manga. We draw time in animation.
K: You do storyboards yourself. Why?
M: In Japan it is normal for the director to draw the storyboard. It is a condition to become a director. A director who can't draw a storyboard is not considered a director completely.
K: How do you get your ideas?
M: Like me, I tell staff that they have to struggle hard, ‘til they find it's useless or impossible and then, they'll find something. You have to smell blood.
We have to find the best ending or the best ending finds us. We want characters to become happy. When I make a film, I just manage to get through it. I don't want to see it again. I try to forget about it.
K: What about the challenges of finding and keeping young talent?
M: It is difficult to keep animators. We are sending work to China and Korea. We keep drawing with a pencil. We want to keep jobs in Japan.
K: There are virtues in Miyazaki films but you may be a row boat amongst speed boats when we look at computer animation and your studio.
M: Yes, drawing by hand represents a lot of drudge work. But we hired a computer specialist artist and we found our hand drawing was faster. We're free-er in hand drawing. It's easier to get emotions than by computers. I encourage many of my colleagues to draw by hand. We're training animators who want to draw by hand.
K: What about making films for the international audience?
Miyazaki: Japanese audience supports us. We make our films for that audience.
Questions from the audience: What is important advice to students of animation
M: Sketch what you see and seek strict criticism.
Audience: What advice for creative block?
M: Think hard. I smell blood deep in my notes. Something might come to me. Three regions of our brain: the surface, the subconscious, and a deeper place. The deep place is the most difficult to get to and that's where I smell blood.
A: What is your goal in your films?
M: Give children the power to dream. My direction hasn't changed. These are not my films, they are our films. I'm thinking of my early years in the animation business and my colleagues, i.e., directors, animators, ink painters, others, when we wanted to make better films- not trashy films. Now we're making OUR films.
A: What is the concept of true love in “Ponyo.”
M: That's what life is. To deal with difficulties. When we overcome them, that is true love.
A: What about students or artists struggling to make animation in the face of hardships -or something like that?
M: Those who want to make films – should be making films!
A: Which artists have influenced you?
M: I've been influenced by many artists and I've gotten ideas from them. I'm in the business of making entertainment. I like Lasseter of Pixar and Aardman studios.
A: Would you like to make live action films?
M: Landscape has changed in 50 years. Roads, buildings have changed. Even people's faces are different.
A: Which of your films do you like best?
M: you can't differentiate in your children, you love them all. All my films are precious.