HAYAO MIYAZAKI
Film director
Screenwriter
Character designer
Nickname: the Japanese Walt Disney
He is also a co-founder of Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY:
Director, screenplay, and storyboards
The Castle of Cagliostro
1979 film: written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki (who also co-directed the first Lupin III TV series and directed two episodes of the second) before he formed Studio Ghibli.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
1984 film
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Castle in the Sky
1986 film
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My Neighbor Totoro
1988 film
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Kiki's Delivery Service
1989 film
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Porco Rosso
1992 film
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Princess Mononoke
1997 film
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Spirited Away
2001 film (winner, Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, 2002)
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Howl's Moving Castle
2004 film (nominee, Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, 2005)
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Ponyo
2008 Film
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OTHER WORKS:
Pom Poko
Whisper of the Heart, 1995
Film: Screenwriter, storyboards, executive producer, sequence director
The Cat Returns, 2002
Film: Executive Producer, Project Concept Designer
The story follows a girl called Haru, a quiet, shy and unassuming high school student who has a long-suppressed ability to talk to cats.
MIYAZAKI had remained largely unknown to the West, until Miramax released his 1997 Princess Mononoke. By that time, his films had already enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan. Princess Mononoke was the highest-grossing film in Japan (until Titanic [1997] came out a few months later), and the first animated film to win Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards. His later film, Spirited Away, had that distinction as well, and was the first anime film to win an Academy Award, topping Titanic in the Japanese box office. Howl’s Moving Castle was also nominated, but did not receive the award.
Miyazaki's films often incorporate recurrent themes, such as humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. Reflecting Miyazaki’s feminism, the protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women; the villains, when present, are often morally ambiguous characters with redeeming qualities.
Miyazaki's films have generally been financially successful, and this success has invited comparisons with American animator, Walt Disney. In 2006, Time Magazine voted Miyazaki one of the most influential Asians of the past 60 years. In 2005, he was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People.
Anime directed by Miyazaki that have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award have been Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
in 1984, Castle in the Sky in 1986, My Neighbor Totoro in 1988, and Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989.
CREATION AND ANIMATION STYLE:
Miyazaki takes a leading role when creating his films, frequently serving as both writer and director. He personally reviewed every frame used in his early films, though due to health concerns over the high workload he now delegates some of the workload to other Ghibli members. In a 1999 interview, Miyazaki said, "at this age, I cannot do the work I used to. If my staff can relieve me and I can concentrate on directing, there are still a number of movies I'd like to make."
Miyazaki uses very human-like movements in his animation. In addition, much of the art is done using water colors.
In contrast to American animation, the script and storyboards are created together, and animation begins before the story is finished and storyboards are developing.
Miyazaki has used traditional animation throughout the animation process, though computer-generated imagery was employed starting with Princess Mononoke to give "a little boost of elegance". In an interview with the Financial Times, Miyazaki said "it's very important for me to retain the right ratio between working by hand and computer. I have learnt that balance now, how to use both and still be able to call my films 2D." Digital paint was also used for the first time in parts of Princess Mononoke in order to meet release deadlines. It was used as standard for subsequent films. However, in his 2008 film Ponyo, Miyazaki went back to traditional hand-drawn animation for everything, saying "hand drawing on paper is the fundamental of animation." Studio Ghibli's computer animation department was dissolved before production on Ponyo was started, and Miyazaki has decided to stick to hand drawn animation.
INFLUENCES:
A number of Western authors have influenced Miyazaki's work, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Lewis Carroll, and Diana Wynne Jones. Miyazaki confided to Le Guin that Earthsea had been a great influence on all his works, and that he kept her books at his bedside. (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki)
TRADE MARK:
Likes to make films with stories that have flying as part of the theme and the action.
His films usually focus on young protagonists or have children that play key roles in the plot.
Frequently includes scenes or sequences in which characters fly.
Frequently uses music by Jô Hisaishi.
Frequently makes references to nature, ecology, and polution by man in his films (My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away).
Films often involve human protaganists entering a strange land that are forbidden or otherwise inaccessible (ie: the floating islands of Castle in the Sky, the forests in Princess Mononoke, the spirit land in Spirited Away).
Films often have two main characters (male and female) one of which is magical or has an unusual past.
Usually includes scenes or stills during the closing titles that let the viewer see what happened to the characters after the events described in the movie.
[Labour] Films involve scenes with labour or hommages to working class people and children or women helping out (esp. in "Spirited Away" and"Mononoke").
[Aliases] Main characters often have an alias, like "Princess Mononoke"or "Porco Rosso" and are seldomly referred to their real names.
Often sets his films in Japanese-influenced versions of European cities.
Films often feature incredibly complex machines maintained by strange male characters. (The pirate's airship by the old man in Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta; The bathhouse boiler room by Kamaji in Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi; Howl's moving castle by Calcifer in Hauru no ugoku shiro.)
Female protagonists often become part of residences which are monumentally dirty in some respect and need their skills to clean it. (Howl's moving castle by Sophie in Hauru no ugoku shiro; The large bath in Yubaba's bathhouse by Chihiro/Sen in Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi; The pirate's kitchen by Sheeta in Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta.)
Many of his films criticize the use of violence as a means to an end while promoting peaceful reconciliation with one's enemies. (from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0594503/bio)
The story begins with a prologue set in late 1960s Japan. A group of tanuki is threatened by a gigantic and ongoing suburban development project called New Tama, in the Tama Hills on the outskirts of Tokyo. The development is cutting into their forest habitat and dividing their land.
The Borrower Arrietty
2010 film: Planning and screenplay
