Hayao Miyazaki

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Who is Hayao Miyazaki?
Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1941. His
brothers and father worked at Miyazaki Airplane,
and when helping them he developed his love for
flying machines. He started drawing them, and
designing some of his own. With the effect of
manga, he started drawing people as well as
vehicles. He became interested in animated movies
in 1958, after seeing Hakujaden (Legend of the
White Snake) which was Japans first colored
feature anime. After graduating from Gakushuin
University with a degree in political science and
economics, he joined Toei Doga studio, where he
met his future partner, Isao Takahata. In Toei
studio, he did all sorts of animation jobs, such
as drawing in-betweens, creating stories, and
designing characters. In 1973, he started working
for Zuiyo Pictures. He directed his first feature
Lupin III The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979. It
was successful, but it didnt lead to other
feature film, so Miyazaki went back to TV
animation. He started drawing a manga series
called Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which
afterwards turned into a feature animation. With
the success from the film, Miyazaki formed a new
animation studio with Isao Takahata and Toshio
Suzuki called Studio Ghibli.
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Filmography

• Lupin the Third Part I (1971-1972)
• Panda Kopanda (1972)
• Yukis Sun (1972)
• Panda! Go Panda! The Circus in the Rain (1973)
• Future Boy Conan (1978)
• Lupin the Third The Castle of Cagliostro
  (1979)
• Sherlock Hound (1982)
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
• Laputa Castle in the Sky (1986)
• My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
• Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
• Porco Rosso (1992)
• On Your Mark (1995)

• Whisper of the Heart (1995)
• Princess Mononoke (1997)
• Spirited Away (2001)
• The Whale Hunt (2001)
• Koros Big Day Out (2002)
• Mei and the Kittenbus (2002)
• Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
• Looking for a Home (2006)
• The Day I Harvested a Planet (2006)
• Water Spider Monmon (2006)
• Tales from Earthsea (2006)
• Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008)

These films are either directed by Miyazaki,
written by him, or both. The films he only
produced are not mentioned.
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Themes and Motifs
There are certain elements in most of Miyazakis
films. Some of the films are formed around these
themes, whereas in others they are just little
details. In this presentation, I am going to
mention some of these elements with examples from
Miyazakis films.
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Environmentalism
Environmentalism is one of the main themes.
Miyazaki includes this either as the main
subject, as in Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa of
the Valley of the Wind, or as a side theme, as in
My Neighbor Totoro. But sometimes, the idea of
being in harmony with nature may not be enough
in Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Ponyos wish to
be human disturbs the balance of the world.
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Flying
Flying creatures and machines is another main
theme of Miyazakis films. We can see this in
almost every one of them. Warships and Howl
himself in Howls Moving Castle, Haku and Yubaba
in Spirited Away, Totoro in My Neighbor Totoro,
the flying ships in Laputa Castle in the Sky.
Flying stands for power and freedom, and it also
gives a chance to Miyazaki to design his worlds
independent of gravity and ground.
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Children
The main characters are generally children. The
reason behind this is they are more able to see
the magical worlds and creatures than adults,
because they have not yet developed a sense of
logic and reasoning. They are also used in these
stories as another point of view, looking at the
mess the grown-ups created. In My Neighbor
Totoro, the two sisters can see the forest
spirits while the father cant. In Princess
Mononoke, both Ashitaka and San had to go through
the war.
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Morphing
Morphing can be seen throughout most of
Miyazakis films, whether it is animals having
characteristics of humans, as in Spirited Away,
characters in the form of an animal, as in My
Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke, or humans
turning into animals, as in Spirited Away and
Howls Moving Castle. In Ponyo on the Cliff by
the Sea, an animal turns into a human.
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Worlds within Worlds
Miyazaki creates fantasy worlds within the real
worlds in his films. These can only be seen by
either children or the elderly. In My Neighbor
Totoro, only the sisters can access Totoros
forest. In Howls Moving Castle, Sophie sees the
real and fantasy worlds, both as a girl and an
old woman. In Spirited Away, there is a parallel
world, in Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the
world of Ponyo can not be seen at all by humans.
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Japanese Culture
There are some elements of Japanese culture that
can be found throughout Miyazakis films. These
elements include bathing, taking off shoes before
entering the house, food, trains, and school.
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Japanese Religion and Mythology
Although there are no direct indications of
religion in Miyazakis films, some aspects of it
still take place. In the religion Shinto, there
are gods and spirits in everything, and living in
harmony with nature and respecting it is a result
of this. Kami is the name for the spirits in all
things. Obake, a part of Japanese mythology, mean
spirits that can transform themselves. Also,
dragons are a big part of Japanese mythology.
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Storytelling
Although some of the stories themselves are very
simple and without a very particular message,
like My Neighbor Totoro, they are backed up with
beautiful backgrounds, strong characters, and
lots of emotion, generally love. This makes the
audience feel connected to the characters, feel
their pain, their anger, their feelings for one
another, creating a very good animation overall.
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Backgrounds
The backgrounds of Miyazakis films are very
detailed, whether it is a house, a mine, or the
room of a magician. Sometimes they show the
persons character, like with the girls father in
My Neighbor Totoro. All of them are shaded and
textured with attention, so that they reflect the
characteristics of the materials used. According
to the mood of the film, the coloring changes. In
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, almost all of the
backgrounds have lively colors, since the mood is
positive. In films like Princess Mononoke,
Spirited Away, and Howls Moving Castle, the
colors in the background change reflecting the
good or the evil, the anger or the love.
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Animation Techniques and Technology
Most of Miyazakis films are created using
traditional techniques. However, starting with
Princess Mononoke and continuing with Spirited
Away and Howls Moving Castle, CGI is also used.
In Princess Mononoke, it was used to speed up the
production process and for some coloring effects.
In Spirited Away, it was mostly used for steam
and smoke effects, and for applying hand-drawn
textures into 3D objects. In Howls Moving
Castle, most of the CGI animation was used in the
castle itself. Miyazaki went back to just
traditional animation after that, and so Ponyo on
the Cliff by the Sea was all hand-drawn.
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Timing
The timing is used successfully in all of
Miyazakis films. It is used to increase tension,
like a pause in the film, increase the feeling of
that scene, or to give an idea of the weight of
someone or something.
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Budget
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was one of
Miyazakis pre-Studio Ghibli films, and it was
produced within a limited budget. After the
formation of Studio Ghibli, the budgets of his
films were increased. According to Isao Takahata,
a budget between 100 and 800 million is needed
to produce an animated film in Japan. Thats
between 1,100,000 and 8,800,000. These are very
low numbers compared to the Disney animations,
but the product seems to be just as good, or
maybe even better.
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Estimated budgets of Miyazakis films and
comparison to the U.S. animated films. The
numbers are in million dollars.
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Sources

• Picture on the 1st slide http//www.andysartwork
  .com/gallery/HayaoMiyazaki.jpg
• http//www.listal.com/list/hayao-miyazakis-filmog
  raphy
• http//www.answers.com/topic/hayao-miyazaki
• http//www.rizawerks.com/how/12principles/1220pr
  inciples.htm
• http//www.scene-stealers.com/print-reviews/ponyo
  /
• http//www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/t_cor
  beil.html
• http//www.animenfo.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t14
  886
• http//www.moria.co.nz/index.php?optioncom_conte
  nttaskviewid2670Itemid1
• http//www.curiosite.com/scripts/news/ennews.php?
  frmIdPagina10231
• http//www.ghibliworld.com/
• http//www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/peop
  le.php?id51
• http//www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/
• Studio Ghibli The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and
  Isao Takahata
• Odell, Colin, Le Blanc, Michelle, Kamera Books,
  2009