Animation Portfolio

Hayao Miyazaki

Figure 1: Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki aged 71 born in 1941 Tokyo, Japan. Hayao is one of the most influential

animators to date that has inspired so much internationally, he has directed and animated

many movies with his founded company ‘Studio Ghibli’ him and his team have created film

after film of amazing originality and story to shock and amaze the world with his creativity.

In his youth Hayao had a tendency of drawing tanks, planes and battleships while in

secondary school, he had trouble drawing people and facial expressions so this kind of set

him back for what he wanted to become, Feldman states; “In his third year, he sees the first-

ever Japanese feature-length colour anime, HAKUJA , and becomes interested in animation.

Hayao decides he wants to become a comic artist but--having previously drawn only planes

and battleships--finds he can't draw people”. (Feldman, 1994). One of many influences that

got Miyazaki to pursue animation was the film ‘Tale of the White Serpent’ by Taiji Yabushita

which left a strong impression of what he wanted to become and how much hard work and

determination it would take to get there.

Soon after graduating Gakushuin University with a degree in political science and economics

in 1963 he was offered a place at Toei Animation (in the same year) one of the leading

animation companies in Japan to this date creating such animations like Dragon ball Z and

One Piece. He worked there for 8 years building his way up to chief editor of concept art

and scene designer for a feature length animated film ‘Hols: Prince of the Sun’.

Figure 2 - Studio Ghibli Logo

After working at Toei for 8 years and moving in and out of other companies for a while

Miyazaki then had a golden opportunity to change the world of animation as we know it, by

setting up his business ‘Studio Ghibli” with Tokuma Shoten in 1985, but then got the rights to it

all in 2005.

Studio Ghibli has been a massively influential animation company to so many young people

across the world. Its art attracts all types of audience with its various storylines and ever

growing enhancements of animation technology with such inspirational feature length films

like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Laputa Castle in the Sky etc. He’s expertise in

directing such heartwarming and jaw dropping animations has lead him to exceed further

then such films like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone and even Titanic making a total

earning of 30.4 billion Yen, were as the Titanic only made 26.2 billion Yen. Matsutani states:

“With ticket sales of ¥30.4 billion, "Spirited Away" is not only Miyazaki's biggest hit, but the

biggest movie ever in Japan, according to the Federation of Japanese Films Industry Inc.

Coming in second and third are "Titanic" at ¥26.2 billion and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's

Stone" at ¥20.2 billion”. (Matsutani, 2008).

Figure 3 - Ashitaka fighting Nago

With Miyazaki’s animations still hitting high expectations, the company then moved onto

computer technology adding hand drawn animation to be redefined and adjusted on

computers. As you can see in the picture above it is a film still from ‘Princess Mononoke’ the

part that has been computer generated is the black worms on Ashitaka’s arm and the rest is

hand drawn. Nigel states: “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”. (Nigel, 2005). With the traditional and computer generated

animation with Studio Ghibli Miyazaki can take his ideas further, faster and much more

efficiently to bring more wondrous films to inspire more and more people everyday.

Bibliography

Sources:

Feldman, S. (1994) Hayao Miyazaki Biography.

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/miyazaki/miyazaki_biography.txt (Accessed on:

16/03/2012).

Matsutani, M. (2008) Japan’s Greatest Film Directors.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20080930i1.html (Accessed on: 16/03/2012).

Nigel, A. (2005) Japan's visionary of innocence and apocalypse.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/698539fe-2974-11da-8a5e-

00000e2511c8.html#axzz1pbCw9MlM (Accessed on: 16/03/2012).

List of Illustrations:

Fig 1: Miyazaki, H. (2009) Self Portrait of Hayao Miyazaki [photograph] At: listal

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/609990 (Accessed on: 16/03/2012)

Fig 2: Studio Ghibli Logo. (1985) From: Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind. On

studioghiblidvd http://www.studioghiblidvd.co.uk/ (Accessed on: 16/03/2012)

Fig 3: Ashitaka fighting Nago. (1997) From: Princess Mononoke. On wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mononoke_hime_cgi.png (Accessed on:

16/03/2012)