Original subtitles

Crawling the closest onto the ideal point every moment...

the whole those procedures make what one calls the works." Hayao Miyazaki

October 30, 1997

4 months after the completion of the work

Director Miyazaki was yet in turmoil trying to understand what exactly he's described.

I haven't thoroughly digested the themes of the film.

The film Princess of Mononoke is

a story of a cursed boy and a cursed girl meet in a severe reality of the world

searching for their ways to survive

-Without the descriptions of the very problems we are facing right now,

the filmmaking becomes meaningless.

I wonder how anyone could just ignore this problematic chaotic side of the reality,

and how could just say we're going to be alright!

Suppose if the motifs be already made up beforehand,

and that would make the filmmaking an easy work, I would say

or imagine a propaganda film encouraging people to save green, for example,

and I would call it boring as well because we already know it

I'd rather make a film not knowing what becomes the end of it until I get there.

Well, what if mine turns out to be a bore as well? I don't know...

filmmaking should be that much thrilling series of work though. I believe...

a series of quests in other words...

The filmmaking is a series of quests And so is making a documentary.

(Higashi-Koganei Station) Director Toshio Uratani:

My being a pure amateur of the animations,

I decided to make the most of my ignorance as a weapon

when I got this chance to work with Studio Ghibli.

My instinct told me to see the every day life at the studio

for understanding the basics of anime.

So I commuted to and from the studio as much as possible

using this small camera not to disturb the air at site

and I got the tapes to roll for 300 hours overall in 2 years

This documentary is the record coming out from the pure curiosity.

Kajino town, Koganei city in Tokyo

We are now at the Studio Ghibli,

a manufacturing factory of the animations

Our crew got through this entrance hall dozens of time

while Miyazaki-San kept telling us there's nothing remarkable happening here

for nothing so visible is going on, he says

Certainly there is this fact the staff crouching down to desks day in day out

drawing and drawing in silence at the site of the animations production

In rainy days and stormy days

that doesn't stop the animators grip onto the pen.

White cornus in spring

Hydrangeas in rainy season

In steaming hot summer

Cosmos flowers in autumn

Ivy turned crimson in winter

They are yet glued to the chair aeons of time and that seems to be about it.

Or wait, don't forget the exception of the phenomenal events

that are upwelling each moment every day!

We've witnessed those superb dramas interwoven by Director Miyazaki.

Dramas of Planning and Implementations as well...

The works of precision and delicacy, specified as those of Studio Ghibli

Such authentic works have stunned many.

And here come the 5 starred voice actors,

whose talents sparking against one another!

Magnificent moments at the site of recording music...

Extraordinary challenges Producer Suzuki and PR reps have undertaken

gradually led "Princess of Mononoke" to a form of Social Phenomenon.

Now we gratefully look back the whole 2 years of this filmmaking

the procedures even the director himself thinks unfathomable

Dramas On The Paper

Planning and Plotting Far Away to Go

Director chatting with Producer ignites the fuse at Studio Ghibli.

Producer Toshio Suzuki

I hear Miyazaki is eager to make a classic adventure film in old Japanese time

And I knew from the days we met he wanted to do it sometime

Around the time were thinking of the next project after "Whisper of the Heart"

while we were actually thinking about making Princess of Mononoke then,

we had another plan called "Caterpillar Boro" came up around the same time, too.

It was an adventure story of a Caterpillar called Boro

who crawls down from one roadside tree and makes it to the next tree,

a story roughly on the same line of "My Neighbor Totoro".

When we came up to decide which choice to take,

I showed him 3 conditions to count before making a decision.

Firstly I said "Miya-San, you are getting old.

I mean if he wants to make an action movie, this is the last chance.

Secondly, it was about our Ghibli trainees we had been hiring

who were reaching their 30's, developing their skills in the process

and I thought now is the time to see their blossoming technique

And thirdly, our Ghibli works luckily made some success,

and I couldn't think of better time to invest money on the new project.

He agreed nodding "I see now is the time to spend money, alright..."

An illustrated book of Princess of Mononoke made in 1980

using which as an original plan, the images of a historical drama came out

hinting a bit of Kurosawa's films

A huge wildcat as Mononoke (Doppelganger or Evil Spirit)

and the 3rd (San) princess of a manor as the main characters

"San", name of Princess of Mononoke, derives from here.

The idea of the two flying on a spinning chevalet

had been already used in "My Neighbor Totoro"

And soon the plot came to a total deadlock.

It didn't go so well and there was only one reason for that...

that 16 years had been already passed back then

since Miyazaki came up with the original plan

Many changes of our surroundings in due course

And what created 16 years before we found not fitting in.

One more problem: the stuck image of feuds between Samurais and Peasants,

-a typical topknotted-haired Samurai character swinging a sword

Just the thought of it discourages me.

For there is nothing new to move our heart in there

Then what about a Peasant character obedient to the Samurai,

it doesn't work either

because they are 180 degree different but standing on the same ground.

In such a turmoil came an offer from "Chage and Aska", well-known singers

Because we wanted to get away from incomplete Princess of Mononoke,

we soon got completely absorbed in this new project.

The consequence: Miyazaki made up his mind to dump this half-baked Mononoke

and start to make a brand-new version

He then suggested to do it again in Yakushima

Well, by saying "again" we have this anecdote...

that once he had a chance to go to Yakushima and see the ancient forest

which eventually took a form of the film "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind"

a setting in Fukai of Ishigakijima. Okinawa

At those important moments he tends to make it a joke

such as his kidding "Suzuki-San. Why don't we do business wlth Yakushima again?"

Miyazaki must've had a reminiscence of his own "Journey of Shuna" back then.

Shuna, a hero character, as a prince of a small poor country,

who launches a journey to the west with his loyal El Yukul

searching for a golden seed to prosper his people.

He encounters a Jigo-Bo figure a on the way

and advised to go to the end of the world where an Epoch Land exists.

He comes across with an ill-fortunate girl "Teah", sold as a slave,

and saves her from the slave traders.

Shuna eventually makes it to the Epoch Land,

but gets so worn out that loses his memory,

caused by the extraordinaire he experiences in the Land.

Now it's Teah helping him back to the recovery.

Excepting the hero's motivations toward journey

the both versions have an amazing resemblance in structure.

-How much of time do you usually have as preparation?

This one took me very long I didn't have a clue how

which I don't right now either, ha-ha.

I always have Neurotic Gastritis once every single preparation period.

Honestly I've been quite eager to do this for long

that many factors piled up in my mind.

There must've been so many elements piled up till now.

-Oh yes, I admit. Too many of them.

I mean 3 or 4 ideas entangled together.

None of which extracted what I exactly desired, unfortunately.

Director: a walking machine of mass-producing tons of image boards.

From what left we can recognize the struggles of his battle.

Showing us the familiar main characters

but has completely a different story progression.

For instance; the Forest Spirit licks on Moro's wound,

and a bullet comes out and gives us a happy ending.

We can also see a Synopsis jotted down on a storyboard

hinting us the plot was getting solid around then.

Introduction: Assassination of the Forest Spirit

Development: Dramas in Iron Tow

Turn: Battles

Conclusion: Resurrection of the Forest Spirit

The images then gradually took more embodied forms...

Especially so for Ashitaka a hero character

whose hood was originally intended as protection against leeches

Many other specifics such as his costumes, shoes, and equipment.

"San": a heroine character, brought up by the Wolf God

as a fiery, proud girl.

Let's compare 2 different images of San here.

A completely different image of "Moro

A wild boar transformed into the Demonic God,

whose hatred sparks out like snakes...

A Lookout Tower in Emishi village,

in a different shape from what we see in the final version.

What makes us surprised most of all

is the image of "Kodama (Tree Spirits)"!!

Quite scary should this version the one shown on the screen?

Iron Town: the main setting

with it's detailed geology and historical background.

Unexpectedly, Jigo-Bo was the one cast as a leader of Iron-making.

Assigning Lady "Eboshi" instead

seems to have brought this film way down to a profound level.

Ishibiya (Guns with stone bullets) in Muromachi era: also remarkable

Amazingly enough, a monk from Ming of the Chinese Dynasty

was planned to appear In this version

What Jigobo indicates as The Masters Board" could be his group

Shishigami the Forest Spirit: with bush-like antlers, a mysterious face a deer body,

the God of Life and Death

Part of whose image as a legendary giant "Daidarabocchi"

Storyboards: Planning Schedules

With assembled ideas, Miyazaki directly gets down to the storyboards,

without any scenario-writing.

The larger boards are specifically ordered this time

liberating the animator to express the longer scenery sequences.

Also not to stand too closely to the main characters

but rather to have a shaken-off view lens.

Using the smoother back page as front

pressure his hand feels.

February 1996

The storyboards was only a halfway through when our crew got there.

Inside the board book pops out a bloody fierce battle scene.

Director's passions are recognizable as your own.

An idea came up that these boards themselves could be a film.

Let's just try it out.

"Something's coming!"

says Ashitaka running up to the tower and Frame Out,

whose climbing a monkey-like smooth.

"What's that, Grampa?" "Don't know, but not human..."

"Great-gramp's calling everyone out"

"That's coming now!" Ashitaka, spotting his arrow

Edge of the woods; mysteriously arched

Let's watch the final version of this sequence then.

"Something's coming!"

"What's that, Grampa?" "Don't know, but not human..."

"Great-gramp's calling everyone out"

"That's coming now!" Ashitaka, spotting his arrow

Edge of the woods; mysteriously arched

The metamorphosis: a proof of the talent Studio Ghibli contains...

February 27, 1996

Our crew's officially commenced recording

Miyazaki's adding more lines to his storyboards.

No one has a clue what becomes of the story at this point.

Supervisor of Animations Masashi Ando

Just as if a novel on the paper.

He's consulting with Ando-San once in a bit of drawing.

The 2nd floor: Ghibli's animators' room

A total of 40, all of whom just bending down to the desks

doesn't make a decent video, says Miyazaki.

Truly, they are just concentrated in drawing in silence.

Absorptions in each different matter simultaneously,

while wearing headphones listening to music.

Each owns and runs a separate nest

Compared to shooting Motion Pictures

where the staff focus on one thing under Director's supervision,

no recognizable ties between the staff members here.

Not knowing what to spot,

we decided to record the bulletin boards

the bulletins for Ghibli's 100 staff to share a common perspective.

Then we noticed so many and many of memos jotted down on the boards,

instructing so many details...

This one is about the girls in Enishi Tribe,

whose clothing inspired by that of the Bhutan,

and drawing that was an enjoyable series of work, says Miyazaki.

This one explains about the arrows Ashitaka owns.

Arrowhead: the Obsidian Stone Arrow shaft: 3 Feathered

Let's check this out now.

Saw that?

Certainly it's 3 feathered.

A sword that Kaya holds

and the one Ashitaka grips on

with their unique straight shapes

derive from "Bracken-handled swords" of the ancient Tohoku region,

the weapons the Emishi might've used.

Cautions for the positioning of Obi-belts: also intriguing.

Trues/ Falses list of wearing Kimono to amend the modern minds,

with a big exception for Ashitaka's Kimono,

adopting Actor Mifune's style in Kurosawa films, it reads.

Well we'll check this out.

A scene introducing Ashitaka here

Truly. Obi-belt is positioned higher,

implying the immaturity of his age.

The difference more significant if compared with people in Market Place.

The Obi of Jigobo's especially set in the lower position.

A massive rows of colorful paint bottles in corridor downstairs,

next to which locates the Refining Room.

A total of 10 staff add colors on the cels in here.

Tuck in a carbon between a finalized drawing and a cel sheet,

and slot the set into this tracing machine

so that the drawing gets carbon copied onto the cel

Then, paint each cel as instructed with strict color specifications,

and that'll make a work at this Refining Room.

A sequence of Ashitaka on Yukul going through the woods of sunshine.

42 manually colored cels for this 3.5-blinking seconds' shot!

Refiner: Minako Oshiro

What an artisanry series of procedures!

This particular cel appears in this...

...first scene right after the title Remembered?

Their delicate, painstaking artisanry finesse, to say the least.

Michiyo Yasuda: a decision maker of all color specs on the cels.

Also a Comrade-in-Arms of Miyazaki's from his Toei Film Productions days.

As many as 50 color-specs files we've found just for this film...

This volume shows the default basic colors used for each main character.

The Specs for Ashitaka: while restricted by the film's historical timeline,

his clothing, equipment, arms, etc are still of a variety of colors

with careful considerations of what each part is made of

Color Designer: Michiyo Yasuda

-While I have this notion of Muromachi Era as the time of sapless, dull-toned colors,

Miya-San tends to prefer the brighter colors that significantly contrast one another,

to give them more symbolical qualities.

So we DO have some adaptations of altered color variations,

such as red getting more reddish or indigo dyes becoming paler...

San, since brought up by the mountain dogs, wears this white fur.

About the color of her hair...

-Oh. OK. Basically it's black,

though as the old Japanese expression says "so black as emerald green"

we've decided to regard the greenish colors included as black.

Actually we'd thought about making it red, too

but decided not to. That'd have been too modern.

Crimson colored Tattoos to express her fierce temperament.

Also her earrings, necklace, ribbons etc, make her quite fashionable.

She IS the heroine, alright

Since all what her eyes reflect is so important,

even a tiny circle of her pupil shouldn't be underestimated indeed.

As for Lady Eboshi, we made her just cool, cool and cool.

I like what she symbolizes as a woman...

We wanted to make her gown much darker at first.

By the way, her lipstick must've been so rare that cost a fortune realistically,

but still, I preferred her wearing burning red lipstick and dark gown flapping in the wind.

Though again we decided not to

but rather to synchronise her with her surrounding background.

These are the paint samples of all the colors used in this film,

extending as many as 580 gradations of colors.

We've luckily come across with a meeting of Director and Color Designer.

-How about Lemon Yellow as the highlight?

-There's no highlight in that part.

They seem to be discussing the color of Gold Ashitaka possesses

-Reddish Gold might work quite well... -Oh, no. Gold must be glittering gold...

-How about this one? -Or rather, that one might work.

-Isn't that looking too reddish? -No, not at all I think...

-Why don't we just do it shamelessly? -We've been quite shameless already.

He then agreed on the red, but for a reason of a very Miyazaki-like king of Trivia.

Alright, I remember the gold leaf in Hiraizumı of Tohoku region had a reddish color,

the color of placer gold they found around there.

It's Gold mixed with some other specific agent

and this kind of gold I heard people specifically searched for to gild edge

Yasuda-San is re-checking the color samples.

Selecting a certain color is the work of selecting a pair:

one in spotting light and the other in shade.

Looks like she's chosen a pair; "S-5" for the lighting outline,

and the shade color...comparing with an option, she's taken the original decision.

That is "Mo-ORK-9" she fills out.

The two are now discussing a wooden measuring box.

-Thinking about a highlight on this side -We don't need highlights here

Miyazaki's preference for the clearer. - brighter colors is pushing her

-What about the contrasting inside color? -Oh, this is a tough one...

There's a so-much-energy-taking process on selecting just one color.

-Isn't this one OK? -OK, that's colorful enough...

-That darker one and everything's OK. -Alright. Better go on to the next, right?

Let's check out the final version.

It was about the gold and the measuring box we now see, alright.

Hayao Miyazaki's Working Styles

Director kept drawing storyboards.

We sneaked a look at something Ando-San was checking,

and found a scene of Jigobo's group escaping from Okkoto

Only, it's completely a different version.

I'd thought it funny Jigobo and the other two bolt away in a row,

but maybe not... I'd do it anyhow, though...

I want Jigobo jumping "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat" but had better not do it...

Well, he DID it all the same! Now let's watch this.

But wait, this proves a huge quantity of differing storyboards are dumped.

When not drawing Miyazaki checks and corrects all drawings submitted to him;

a very line of work acutely distinguishes Miyazaki from other Anime Directors

-The problem is, you see there's no coherence of one file to another.

Absolutely, it's just hodge-podge of this and that he receives.

It's not as if you'd retrieve the exact cuts of a sequence instantaneously

but a kind of work you couldn't do without a thorough comprehension of the details.

Now let's make it clear the overview of anime-making processes:

Firstly, meetings to bring up layouts of each cut from storyboards;

namely, it's a process of cameraworks if compared to Motion Pictures

adjusting angles, frames, lenses and movements if any.

We've witnessed a lot of photocopies of the cuts from Miyazaki's storyboards

at 201 magnifying percentage.

Secondly, a layout gets divided into backgrounds and moving objects,

the former placed to the Art Department and the latter to the Animation Dept.

Likewise, the objects at Animation Dept, get broken down into Genga and Doga.

Genga (the original): drawings of broken-down movements

Douga (the animation): fill-in drawings to smooth movements.

Timing for Genga gets calculated on a time sheet:

This makes a structure of movements

while Douga sheets fill in between a couple of Genga

and all of them get cleaned-up and fair-copied in the end

This can be compared to a producer's producing a stage

or an actor's acting in Motion Pictures.

Miyazaki's correcting all Genga means he's producing his anime

in the exact way he wants it to be.

A completed Douga gets carbon-copied onto a cel as we've seen

and gets painted at the Refining Room

while the Art Dept. paints the original background images based on layouts.

A combination of cels and backgrounds makes one shooting cut.

Now Director doesn't seem satisfied with an ox's movements.

-I don't get why this ox looks so stopped here,

maybe to emphasise it's neck shaking around...

-Or to emphasise it's foot stuck. -Wouldn't be recognizable enough.

He immediately starts on a revision.

-We're still on a planning stage... a stage of developing ideas...

Revisions make a difference of maybe only 6 cuts out of a second

though those 6 cuts, or even 2 make a huge difference, really.

Now what? Oh!-Oh! How should I do??

Rice bags should be gone

looking pretty collected, aren't I? The truth is; on the edge of insanity

The hard chores of revising Genga might be the core of Miyazaki's Anime,

to find the exact positioning of objects other than Miyazaki couldn't find,

that we want to know how.

Thus, we make ourselves glued to his table.

This scene shows Eboshi's party bounced off the cliff by Moro.

On 12 March 1996, we witnessed the basic of the basics of Anime

in a scene of Ashitaka carrying the injured on his back.

-Arito-kun, give Ito-kun a back ride, why don't you?

I remember I did this before... about 8 years ago...

Regista's Assistant Director's Assistant Koji Aritomi Hiroyuki Ito

-I've got it!

The basic of drawing seems to be in a careful observation.

The "8-years-ago piggyback ride" is this, by the way

in "My Neighbor Totoro"

What an animator does is etch an observed image in the brain

and retrieve it on a paper.

An observed movement gets broken down to a cut to another,

and a series of cuts regain the power of movement.

He's timing the seconds required for a shake-up on the back.

-A sheet of drawing gives us a inclination as if it were a complete expression

but without carefully calculated timing a sheet itself doesn't hold any power.

So, a sharp sense of timing is indeed an important attribution of an animator.

If a try isn't enough, I'd do 5 times or so and divide the sum.

Miyazaki must have an extraordinarily developed shape-memory

in his optic nerves, while a VCR rolls on in his brain.

For us the amateurs, there's a convenient machine called "Quick Action Recorder".

Record Genga or Douga with this camera and input the timing for each to appear

and you can create a simplified version of film.

Flaws of lines or timing get more visible this way.

Some residual images shown here get turned down

On 21 March 96, we came to understand the savors of anime-making

in a sword-fight scene of San and Ashitaka.

Miyazaki's trying to figure out something.

San's sword flashing close by Ashitaka,

to insert this or not, that seems the question.

Supervisor of Animation Kitaro Kousaka

He starts to discuss it with neighboring Kousaka-San

-I usually prefer this heavy version, but...

Just an image right before a swing and another right after

without anything between makes a plausible enough action, he says.

-Any between-cuts would make a scene a bit too slow.

Director takes a chance on Ando-San.

He's betting on Ando's picking the heavier cuts and the result is...

A leading question! "A matter of preferences", he says

while pushing his own out front. It's no longer a discussion, is it?

-This one's way too heavy, don't you think?

-Umm, the faster version looks better... -See? The faster the better, he says!

Now he looks satisfied, regardless of his losing the bet,

chucking off the between-cut without hesitation.

Wondrously enough, we DO see the between actions all the same.

That's one fun illusioning effect of Animations.

Miyazaki's lecture continues.

-I'm searching... searching for the very nature the kinetic holds.

There must be the most comfortable feeling lines somewhere.

Much easier to find them in a drawing, but in continuing actions, it's different...

Make them too fast and you'd lose the gravities or the dynamics.

Unless giving a moment pause, I'd make it have no impressions.

Doesn't seem to be my day today...

Let's be honest, we DO have no good days

A description of San shifting her grip is intriguing, too.

Let's break down this scene.

Here, the moment she revolves it.

Now let's watch it again as it is.

Ando. Animation Supervisor, has mostly been up drawing till 4 in the morning.

(Fragment not translated)

(For a summary you can check nausicaa.net/ miyazaki/mh/MakingOfMH/Part1.html)

Miyazaki's Creation Circuit: Decipher the Winds of the Time

Miyazaki always looks struggling when drawing storyboards.

Shaking his leg is one sign of it.

Look at his leg and you'd tell whether he's working on Storyboards or Genga.

In the former cases, the storyboards don't go so easy to him.

A writer's agony's visible here

Not today, please...

-The sweetest moments of all. -Come ON, it's not sweet at all.

-I hope the ending becomes the end -What if it doesn't...?

Alright, there's nothing more unpredictable than this.

It's NO unusual he's feeling stuck in making this film.

For, too many heavy issues are packed up for an entertainment film.

Firstly, about Emptiness or Voids that many kids are holding in their heart.

Many of the youth feel about themselves as cursed or hurt,

having been unreasonably unfairly tormented somehow.

Consequently, they come to not bear any hope in the present society or the future.

Secondly, the problem of Unavoidable Diseases and Discriminations

Any sorts of discriminations are around us, Disease. Race. Gender, to name a few...

Thirdly, about the Relationship between the Human and the Nature.

We get a way to survive by ruining the nature forgetting it's the nature let us survive.

The forth issue is the Negative Human Instincts (Karma).

Our fighting instincts easily come up on the surface by Hatred. Rage.

The fifth. Our Ambivalent Position, the Heart in Awe vs. Pragmatism.

While we feel awed to the unearthly events we yet tend to rationalise everything.

You're grabbing so many issues and that concerns me a little

And all of them are Unsolvable issues. You're right.

Well, we've been focusing on the dissolving issues only so far

or rather, we've limited ourselves to do so.

We know, however, that these conventional methods wouldn't give a scratch

to the very problems we're facing right now in the present society.

Thus, this film doesn't contain any solvable issues: The unsolvable ones only.

And that's NOT good for my peptic condition of course, ha ha...

I look at those who make the easy-going films and kind of feel envious of them.

Maybe we've already made too many films.

I've spotted the bright elements only, but there's no cheerful aspect this time

I made it clear to Producer Suzuki that it would be OK for me

if this one'd turn out to be the last Ghibli film. Still, they let me do it.

I also have many subsidiary issues that I wish picking up

but ignoring far more serious problems would make me a liar. I believe.

Alright. I could make a story of a girl meets a boy, lived cheerily ever after

and I'd make it without lying, maybe by suggesting it's up to you young guys.

I suspect those subsidiary elements would have quite a bit of possibilities if spiced up

but that kind of thing should come at the real end of my carrier.

In the films I've already made, the chief characters have always

been the ones to rescue, or supported by those who to rescue, basically

This time. I didn’t show it so crudely, but the main characters are the ones

who've been clearly declared as "Not-Wanted"

and whose brave actions don't get compliments.

I mean they are told "You're just not desired here"

by not doing anything wrong, but by doing the justice.

I'm wondering what kind of audience get attracted to this kind of entertainment.

Well, you'd never know.

There are those who've unfortunately taken the Joker physically or mentally,

and what they'd gain from this film, I wonder.

All the same, this theme holds true for all the young generation.

This dead-locked feeling we sense in our time must've been sensed

the way we do so repetitively in many places at many historical times.

Miyazaki wishes to cleanse up the stereo typical image of his well-reputed works.

I begin to hear of Ghibli as "Sweet" or Healing", and I get an urge to destroy it

For, basically my job is to continuously go against the audience's expectations

Should I just come to follow those expected images, l'd be finished!

Now we're in the Productions Staff Room upstairs.

We find Producer Suzuki writing down some memo.

He's jotting down making a summary out of Miyazaki's storyboards,

and amazingly: with his own drawings (quite good ones) attached here and there,

Those keep me have a better memory

and the better memory of the important cuts gets quite in handy

when I think of the ads or the other things.

I felt the words aren't enough, and started to pick up some cuts to draw from the boards.

This way, I feel it more convenient in making a billboard, an ad or so forth.

This Ashitaka character has nothing in need of his protection

Doesn't he get uneasy of this hero figure as a Producer?

Ashitaka is in search of what he should protect,

and I know it's San that counts one, but wonder what comes next, then.

That's the thing Miya-San himself hasn't figured out yet

so naturally I haven't a way to know it now but get the excitement of it with him.

The evening of 21 March 1996, an unexpected visitor came over to Ghibli.

It's Tetsuya Kawamoto. Producer of NHK's "The 20th Century in Moving Images."

You happened to be in the documentary programs, "The Silk Road Journeys"?

I did the interviews.

-I must have been the best watcher of "The Silk Road Journeys" in Japan.

Oh yeah? how many times? Don't know but till the videos worn out.

Ghibli's held many sessions to watch NHK's "The 20th Century in Moving Images"

and today's is the study meeting with its Producer himself.

Mononoke" and "The 20th Century" seem to have something in common

in terms of the hard tries in understanding the human-being.

We picked up a plenty of records to show the atmosphere of the time

so that the audience could experience the historical events once more.

And hopefully learn some lessons, but basically man repeats his doings.

We're not to judge if it's good or bad, but to understand our Karma (Human Nature).

I felt quite cozy watching this special documentary series,

and thought whoever'd made this had full of malicious intentions

Or indications that after all man is nothing but a whole bunch of Karmas,

and that was persuasive enough to me.

But our staffs positions got split up with regard to this very point

The 20th Century's images were tremendously intriguing to me

to the extent I got a kind of kicks out of some blood shedding scenes.

-Yeah, I agree. -Yep. I certainly felt some pleasure, especially at the beginning.

It was some kicks AND exhaustions as well

and that made me really think twice.

Many scenes went with a narration "Not Open to Public before 19XX

except for restricted number of people."

That must have a strong tie with our today's Mass Consumption Society by the way

but I couldn't help wondering of what used to be strictly banned

from the general public could now get so wide-openly broadcasted.

Honestly. I wished to see the whole each of restricted films while watching the video.

While many critics accuse this series of containing excessive dead body images

Miyazaki persists in a different position,

like a guy with full "Keloidosis" came begging house to house

deliberately showing the inflammations.

Or from the pictures of piled up corpses in the library books,

who died of the 1923 Earthquake or the Air Raids on Tokyo during WW2.

Or some grown-ups babbling around about their actual killings in China

I've been surrounded by plenty of those,

which led me to read and watch furthermore throughout my puberty

I suspect it's the same story for Mr. Kawamoto,

but the things the Japanese Army's done in China, to begin with,

I've forced myself to be a fair witness, and I expected the same for the young.

Then I noticed nothing had been transmitted to the children.

Thus, my appreciation to your great project this time.

Those heavy issues had been neglected as "Not Cool" stuff to talk about

till very recently but we came to feel rather comfortable dealing with them

and this shifting means a lot to us.

It's about time we'd better dump our "Live a Life with Hope" kind of belief

For, this doesn't seem to help us grasp our present conditions any longer

We'd rather want to see what happens next when the hope ends.

Incessant World Affairs after the collapse of the Berlin Wall

gave a great impact on Miyazaki with a sensitivity of catching the tides of the time.'

Intense conflicts between the ethnics/ religions, as in Bosnia-Herzegovina

with Hatred and Vengeance fueling the massacres,

show us the corrigible nature of the human-beings

We also experienced a series of shocking incidents here in Japan.

Kobe Earthquake and Tokyo Sarin Gas Attack on Subway in'1995

The tides of the time made a clear shift then

and a writer might find a way to integrate those changes into the unchangeable

April 4: 1996: We had one clue of how Miyazaki's considering about the ending.

This simple scheme makes enough sense in an ordinary film,

though this grudge fight is so banal as well.

I don't want any of those predictable Fast-going Easy-ending kinds of fights.

We find Director's thoughts go on following with his own diagrams

Here we see the Samurai’s powers overwhelming the Forest and Iron Town

and this power crash seems to lead a tragedy or a catastrophe at the end

The biggest smash is seen here, not in the process of getting here

Many incidents in the real world actually happen as this yellow arrow indicates

and in most cases their motives or preliminaries are hardly worth bringing up

The Samurai'll appear in full arms so that it must be easier to tell.

Are we going to hint the Samurai's power at certain point?

Yes, we'll just hint it when Eboshi and Jigobo get understood as acquaintances

As for Eboshi, she keeps a stern position

and without this green arrow, she might get opposed to the yellow arrow here

Only, we don't want any of their fighting scenes, though

The ending comes with an explosion of Shishigami, the Forest God,

a huge power pointing at the human's world

These are some simple diagrams

or maybe not.

Are you letting Ashitaka come back again to the Iron Town?

Precisely, he moves from Shishigami's Forest to Iron town, back to the Forest,

and finally to the Town once more

For, the final explosion should take place in the human's world.

Ashitaka's last trip goes all the way through the 3 arrows and ends in the yellow here.

So the order of incidents goes reverse.

By the time he meets the wild boars, the boars've been killed long before

he's already met Jigobo in the Forest and is seeing the continuing scenes

Suddenly he turns into be at the present time that moment.

That moment means..?

I mean the incidents get deployed dramatically without any inductive clues

so that Ashitaka's Saga gets to be sensed as if the audience's own.

Miyazaki says he's already seeing the ending in a vague shape,

but could it be a convincing end?

His struggles yet continue.

Isn't this enough, really? The same story again and again.

It's one bad day for me. Or rather, another bad day.

Then he begins self-mocking by saying he's good at staying in a slump

He picked up a notebook before I know it.

Looks like a creator's notebook,

in which he starts to try a configuration, of Eboshi and Jigobo entering the Forest

He draws diagrams here again with differing patterns to examine.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work out for him this time

Here we see Yasuda-San again with a couple of color options

Miyazaki prefers the brighter one,

but with the darker shade to achieve a clearer color contrast.

This highlight gets too shiny here! Could be even brighter...

Yasuda-San persists

This combination looks unthinkable to me. We don't need to get everything so bright

In those cases Miyazaki tends to get someone else involved to take his side.

Miyazaki's taking one step farther to counter Yasuda-San.

Yasuda-San responds him by suggesting a less pale color

Hmm, that's actually not bad, is it? It isn't really, this subtle change works.

Let's see the final version then.

Here! Such an instantaneous one! Let's watch this again

Spring is the season for freshmen in Japan

Spring is the season for freshmen in Japan.

April 6, 1996: A Welcome Party's held at Studio Ghibli with liquors and munchies

-There'll be plenty to overcome in this difficult time but we expect a lot from you

I'll do my part by growing beards and feeling like a freshman.

-Kanpai (Cheers)! -Kanpaaai!

9 new staff join in this year (for Douga. Backgrounds, Refining, Direction.)

I'm feeling a bit shy somehow. Mm what for?

In this section sit the Non-freshmen mostly females and they ARE energetic!

The freshmen are trolling "Frog's Song" upon a request of doing a performance.

Animation Supervisor Yoshifumi Kondo

Training's begun: Mr. Kondo/ Ms. Otani are the supervisors at the Animation Dept.

Genga Atsuko Otani

You made the Kinetic Curve a bit too lowering here

Each object seems to have its own moving track called "Kinetic Curve".

Because of the gradual incline here. I rather wanted you to draw lines as such

A new Assisting Director Ishizone-san's given a nicname "Mr. Promising"

whose promise might not come true without practices as we see.

Miyazaki's correcting Genga

A scene of working women treading plates to fan the forge.

Here we'll see a good example of how he quests for the kicks of Anime

Director doesn't seem to like this cut,

he dislikes simple descriptive expression to be exact.

Genga Hiroshi Shimizu

It's a simpleton's way to draw a painful expression for a painful situation.

Look at a marathon runner's face right before falling down

We see their pain because they ENDURE It.

If you had a clenching-your-teeth sort of hard work,

you'd feel it painful of course,

but your face'd rather go blank and deadpan before fainting.

You're overdoing it in a word!

Going like this, she'd come down in a next moment.

Without a Counteractive Agent for a painful side-effect of an action,

one would just become a feeble person.

But people tend to build up a character as you did in most cases,

rough face for rough time and a happy face for happy time.

Make it more COMPLEX: happy but not showing it, or tragic but smiling etc

especially in a situation when one's working

Or, when YOU are working, you know?

I see, a physical action generates its side-effect and counteraction as well,

Without those inward power balances, a character'd look superficial

Sometimes a Genga-man brings up an unexpectedly original idea.

Here we see some villagers intimidated by Gonza's roughness.

Don't they look like banging head to head while conferring?

Shinsaku Sasaki is the one who drew them,

Miyazaki's thinking to pick up whose good points

This guy's petrified for one second and then starts sheepishly

I mean he fidgets around very sheepishly

Shall we watch it through?

Except for some unnecessary cuts. Sasaki's idea seems good enough.

To verify it, we'll now see his Genga on Quick Action Recorder.

Let's watch this...

His turn's hilarious.

The 2 Animation Supervisors seem to agree.

This guy's really turning around anyhow.

Sasaki in fact DID the acting of this part by himself

-Just imagine him practicing it. -He actually acted? -He did it over there.

-I keep missing the other cuts.

The turning guy looks like you.

-See? -Yes, you mean this guy? -Yep, watch this as if you were him.

The good parts of his stay untouched while his others got corrected

For it is Gonza who comes atop of the list in this sequence.

The one has to move most is Gonza, you know?

Yes, I got it, sir.

Director made a tough comment, but his expression showed the opposite

The final version is this

Don't you rather keep watching the villagers now?

Miyazaki's Creation Circuit Our Climate and Living

April 20, 1996: Miyazaki's busy correcting a background Art Dept. submitted,

to clarify the blurred perspective.

Assistant Director Hiroyuki Ito

This is beautiful but why doesn't it have a shooting clarity as well?

The painter told me he'd already seen this in his dream before painting

-Or, he must've been to some other place. I suspect

He'd been fascinated with the scenery before waking up with a total oblivion

Oh, that's exactly what I do. The work's always just done in my dream

Please don't follow me, OK?

(Fragment not translated)

(For a summary you can check nausicaa.net/ miyazaki/mh/MakingOfMH/Part1.html)

Mononoke's deluxe backgrounds are the collaboration of 5 Art Supervisors:

Nizo YAMAMOTO painted the Ancient Forest where Kodama (tree spirits) live;

Naoya TANAKA expressed the scenes of Ashitaka's starting his journey;

Satoshi KURODA worked on the Rubbly Area and the Bald Mountain;

Yoji TAKESHIGE depicted the Iron Town and Moro's Cave;

Finally, Kazuo OGA described Enishi Village and Shishigami's Water Area

Oga'd also supervised "Totoro", "Only Yesterday", "Raccoons", "Heisei Battle".

In May 1995 Ghibli's Chief Staff took a step on the land of Yakushima in Kyushu,

to have a first-hand experience in the main setting of Mononoke

by seeing, feeling, sensing its Ancient Evergreen Broadleaf Forest.

This trip to Yakushima's not purposed to pinpoint any specific scene

but rather to just feel the atmosphere there.

All the same, we can trace back some specific outcomes as well.

The moss with gem-like waterdrops is one of them proved on a storyboard.

"Uncountable waterdrops twinkling (witnessed in Yakushima!)"

were adopted in a critical moment when Ashitaka's coming back to life.

Yamamoto-San from Kyushu region had a refreshing moment there, too

I had a joy of feeling the-never-felt with my body

and seeing the-never-seen with my eyes

It's a difficult task however,to paint the Evergreen Broadleaf Forest.

I imagine all Ancient Forests are the same, but it has NO hiatus or opening.

Maybe it does at the lower levels, but from the top it's like a giant umbrella.

I had a difficulty in describing its depths because of it.

Tropical Rain Forest

It'd be easier to paint a Tropical Rain Forest that contains many different sise of plants

but the one I painted looks as if fully covered with Ivies

Another thing is an Ancient Forest doesn't have any integrated color variations

Unlike a Beech Forest where the same sort have integrated seasonal color changes.

The former's complex color variations are mixed in each different and difficult way

Now let's enjoy the beauty of Yamamoto's works

on Shishigami's Forest where the Art speaks itself up.

Tanaka-Jan is another Art Staff who also participated in the trip

As for the backgrounds where San and Okkoto in blood ran away in the Forest

I asked Director about the scene, and he told me to make it like "Shiratani":

Shiratani (White Valley) is the first spot we've been to while in Yakushima

and it was truly beautiful with waterdrops on the moss glittering in the sunshine.

So I told him I couldn't think of but its beautiful images

and he advised me to use my imagination if I were a professional,

and make it the darkest possible because the scene's supposed to be grisly

I kept remembering its shiny images while painting and tried hard to delete them

Director's thoughts are always at the more profound level than mine.

For, whenever asked for advice, he always suggests much more.

So I stick tight and try hard to get down to his depth somehow.

Everything's from his wisdom of life I suspect, or am I talking too much?

This is the scene where's modeled after Shiratani of Yakushima.

Miyazaki's interest in the Evergreen Broad leaf Forest Culture derives from a book

"The Origin of the Cultivatable Plants and Agriculture" by Sasuke NAKAO, PhD

The author's theory on the Broadleaf Forest Culture is quite audacious

insisting there's NO such thing as the Rice Farming Culture.

Such a theory that people in Kyoto'd be knocked over by that

I got totally freshened up by his theory

Basically he insists there be NO Hierarchy in Papua New Guinea

where people live in a harmony by planting Taro and Yams (Root Crops).

Although there's no literal reference of such Non-Hierarchism in his book

you'd kind of get it between the lines, and that was so impressive to me.

Dr. Nakao explains the Japanese Culture's Not originated in the Rice Farming Culture

but in the Evergreen Broadleaf Forest Culture of the much older time.

With a distaste for its damp climate, Miyazaki's got so lightened up by that.

Moreover, the latter Forest Culture has its wide range from Bhutan to Japan:

Sasaki and the other good scholars followed Nakao

referring further as the Beech/Oak Forests in Eastern Japan be the origin

where the living seems more comfortable.

And where Jomon Culture started 16,500 years ago that'd make more sense.

(Fragment not translated)

(For a summary you can check nausicaa.net/ miyazaki/mh/MakingOfMH/Part1.html)

-We should add some blue somewhere. Reality and painting are different

I'm wondering if we should go that much supernaturally.

Maybe we'd rather save those looks until the last minute.

Partly I'd agree, though. There're godly rays of light if it’s the same sunlight

the kinds that would make you think it a special day

In this case rays of light shine in not because they're supernatural

but because light sneaks in despite of Shishigami's blocking the sun

Having understood Director's points Oga-San painted the final version

Now let's check out how it's done.

If you're awake, thank Yakul for guarding you the whole time.

We can recognise the camera angle's been changed here.

And here, too, from another angle

How to Control Space and Time

Working on camera works is one of an animator's jobs

Miyazaki is being a camera himself now

Here the camera tracks back while Ashitaka's carrying San on his back

though mostly the camera works have been digitally synthesised this time.

-We wouldn't need the digital synthesis that much.

We'd rather do otherwise with these kinetic momenta

OK, I'll do this over.

He finds a wide lens here doesn't work out for this background

Do it decisively is the only way.

I'm doing a camerawork here

We're already used to watch telescopic pictures in anywhere.

Interviewer: Jun SUZUKI (cameraman)

but until while ago we'd had NO clue how a telescopic scenery'd look like.

Shooting a car from way up there and lowering the camera in the same size

that kind of Anime'd have been regarded as insane before the telescopic lens time.

Animation's cameraworks have more commonsense than Motion Picture's.

For, you'd feel some discomfort if your assumption's radically turned over

Since the background gets wider as the camera's tracking back,

Director's specifically checking on its positioning by using a Frame Cel

I make some parts a bit crooked, or otherwise it'd look so crammed up.

For, it's our head that decides what we are actually seeing.

I mean our brain cells synthesise parts by parts and makes a straight line etc.

So, I intentionally settle 2 center points or so forth without a hesitation.

That kind of drawing gets closer to the human's perceptions.

A "Perspective View" is one illusion the Europeans've come up with.

Perfect computer graphics wouldn't be so interesting

or at least, not interesting to me at all.

Cranky lines are rather soothing to us, and so is a cranky person

We'd better make ourselves more crankish, I believe,

with the paths not that straight, or the mountains being so muddy

No sooner had the background been finished than another issue came up.

This time, a lighting problem

Ando. I've made a huge mistake here. The light is streaming from both sides

Do you think this OK? Yes, I think it all right.

Indeed, his face gets light from the left while his body takes it from the right

Let's check out the final version then.

So darkened is the background, which Miyazaki's that much particular about.

Let's watch it again.

Miyazaki now talks about the Manga (Cartoon) Culture

-You said Manga tends to get ignored but think it's wrong.

Manga occupies the center place as an addresser of the culture.

Manga's especially prevailed around Korea, Taiwan, and parts of China

where the economy's drastically growing

Their such prevailed "Manga ways of thinking",

by which I don't mean Kids' ways of thinking,

but their specific "Manga ways' thinking" hadn't existed until 20-30 years ago.

And I'm concerned about their altered sense of time etc.

I've found the words "Oh my Japanese Anime" written on a storyboard.

-What's this "Oh my Japanese Anime"? -Oh, that's one convenient thing

about our Expressionism of expanding a moment as much as you will.

Only, we get quite Arrogant about our space and time by doing it

The Motion Pictures have the same problem on this, too.

No matter how much or least you've related with Manga

Manga ways of grasping anything anyhow get so much prevailed

Without getting over these, we'll NEVER obtain decent International Sensibility

I really believe so.

Assisting Director Ito-san's layering objects and so-called "Book" cels

onto a quite long base background

He seems to prepare for a shooting of Ashitaka on Yakul dashing down a cliff

We'll take a look at this shooting

There are 2 shooting cameras in the basement of Studio Ghibli

one of which Miyazaki calls "Musashi kun" and the other "Yamato-kun"

The background is now put on a computer-controlled conveyer

2 cels are inserted: one for Ashitaka on Yakul, and the other as "their shadows"

Camera Supervisor Atsushi Oku

Camera Assistant Tamaki KOJO

Kojo-san's eliminating static electricity so that cels don't get dusts

Then, Books (backgrounds on cels) get added that move faster than the base.

The shooting'll finally begin then

This way of shooting's called Multi Contact Filming Method"

The filmed cuts get checked out on Saturday Mornings,

in a style so called "Rash Preview".

This is the one we've just seen

The way Yakul's jumping side to side, that's a real tough one.

Director meant No and the staff had a reshooting. Check this out

This one's also shot by the Multi Contact Filming Method"

Guess how many sheets of cels are layered on here.

The grass on the front seems to go a bit too fast

That's a bit, just a little, or rather way too fast

We'll then look at how they redo the shooting

Camera Staff Junji YABUTA

Yabuta-san's placing the base background at the bottom.

A "book" of a scenery across the path comes next.

Another book for the trees grass along the path.

And one more for the grass on the front.

Each of these separately gets fastened with a conveyer frame.

There's another more for the front of the front!

We see the far front grass is doubled.

Now starts the shooting.

Ashitaka's and Jigobo's cels get tucked in

Those plus the Backgrounds add up to as many as 7 sheets!

Each background (from front) moves at 4.5; 4.0; 2.5; 1.0; 0.5mm per frame.

Now watch the final version.

-We don't want to be busted while sleeping. Let's run, shall we?

We'll see another way of filming with a rotating table.

In this case, backgrounds rotate. Any idea which part it's from?

Here is the scene where San attacks the Irontown.

Camera Supervisor Atsushi OKUI

This specific camera's the one I designed and completed.

While I was at another Film Studio. I once had this opportunity

to work on Miyazaki's "Porco Rosso" and he called me in that time.

An Animation Studio's including Camera Dept. means that

Director can estimate the final images in advance when he starts to draw.

Because Camera Professionals with techniques and know-hows are inside.

Animators can build up their materials based on those data

I mean we'd test and decide fully the ways of filtering etc, before shooting.

Since the Cels are fragile and prone to scratches if repetitively used,

it'd be an advantage if we could avoid continuous reshootings.

Miyazaki and Kosaka are having a meeting

on the cut we've just seen where San and wolves attack the Irontown

Animation Supervisor Kitaro KOSAKA

Place them in the right positions, you know

Kosaka-san's keenly looking at the dogs on an Animal Encyclopedia

For, an object's bone structure is what an animator wants most in drawing

-As long as you know its basic bone structure,

the rest you'd do is either contract of magnify it.

Kosaka-san's been struggling with depicting the Wolves

Yet he's supposed to draw San, a girl brought up by a Wolf God, as well

The outcome is: magnificent wolfish structure and outline.

We see San's dashing away on the roofs in here

The note reads "San runs like a Wolf

which sheerly became true!

Now let's watch the complete version of San's attacking Irontown

San's agility is convincing us enough of her being a child of Wolf God

Don't miss the coming frames!

Miyazaki's Creation Circuit. His Childhood Experiences

One day I found Miyazaki's absorbed in a mysterious handcrafting

making countless snicks in a piece of paper

-It's done!

Amazing! It's a Impromptu Comb.

He's preparing for a TV interview at the Ghibli's roof terrace

where he emphasizes the importance of one's childhood

-It's neither about our economy nor multimedia that I'm most concerned,

but whether the kids are lively and in good shape that I most worry about.

I mean as long as the people're doing fine, it doesn't matter if a nation's in poverty.

What our generation's done to the kids is the biggest mistake we've ever made.

The Childhood is NOT meant for the Adulthood, but for the Childhood itself

to experience the most unlikely events if not in Childhood

A kid's 5 min. experience gives much more impacts than that of 1 year for an adult.

To think about some kind of Trauma might generate around that time.

That much importance of Childhood. How was Miyazaki's own like?

The one who knows him most may be his 2-year-senior brother, Arata-san.

Brother Arata MIYAZAKI

He used to draw wherever there's a piece of paper.

He would already draw somewhat differently from us, the other kids.

Doing well in drawing the tanks and the mechanical stuff

Hayao MIYAZAKI: born in Tokyo In 1941 (the 16th year of Showa Era)

in 1942 Hayao at 1; with Arata.

At the age 3; evacuated to Utsunomiya, where he stayed till at the 3rd grade.

Having heard the Utsunomiya house still exists, our crew flew to the site.

Where the future creator's talents were nurtured...

-Alright, you can take a look at upstairs -Oh, could we really? Thank you

Fortunately, we've obtained a permission to go upstairs

It was the staircase that struck our attention,

as we've definitely seen this before!

Come out, my blackly sooties!

It's in "My Neighbor Totoro" where girls go see the blackish creatures.

"Hayao gave me a hard time by following me anywhere, just as Mei does to Satsuki"

confessed Arata-San to us.

Arata felt amazed by how well Hayao could do a sketch

when they drew the garden from the upstairs balcony.

This classic Japanese housing shows the fine effect of lights and shadows.

His Terror and Curiosity upon darkness must've given him a writer's qualification.

To our question whether Hayao was a boy with full of fantasies.

-He was good at disguising some live broadcast whenever in the bathroom.

Such as "There's a fire, there's a fire! I see a firetruck's coming right here."

and it'd continue forever for 30 mins. at his crouching position.

So he seemed to have certain kind of imagination we couldn't think of.

And he'd end it with his shouting "Toilet Paper!"

Actually, Miyazaki has this one acute anecdote at the age 4:

in July 1945, he got the American's air raid that completely burned down the city

The Miyazaki's decided to temporarily evacuate under a railroad bridge,

where his uncle came picked them up in a small truck.

Mom/Baby next to the driver, and Dad/Brother/Hayao on the rear deck

covering up in Futon Mattress to avoid the fire sparks

when a woman with a baby ran up to them, crying out "Take us with you, please!"

Without a reply, the vehicle drove away; to Kanuma where Father's Plane Factory was.

The Miyazakis' house in Kanuma city

A Traumatic Event of his not capable of taking her side then

Later, his Anime Characters came up to represent his wishful counterpart,

and his source of creations must lie in this experience.

After the end of the war, the Miyazakis moved back to Utsunomiya city,

where he and his brothers started to attend Nishihara Elementary

instead of neighboring Nishi Elementary that had burned down during the War.

Many things en route caught his eye where he'd loiter a lot after school.

Especially he liked to drop by at the blacksmiths.

-We'd always watch their treading blast pedals, or beating iron on the way.

Hayao must have a clear memory of those blacksmiths, too

Quite wondrous moments to see the burning iron getting sharpened up.

I just loved to watch the black smiths' work even in later time.

Well, the blacksmiths manifested a fundamental image of manufacturing

that attracted me most to the extent I longed to be one of them

because it looked the most wanted, necessitated job in every village.

Initially, it was only the interest with quite an amount of respect I felt

upon those who bleached and manufactured the iron

But gradually I became to realise the true meanings of making the iron

and this one motif has been changing its meanings in my works as well:

His long-held interests upon iron-making

burst out in Princess of Mononoke.

Iron-making's boosted up our industrial capacity so dramatically

people continued to magnify their desires.

Now let's see the relationship between the Japanese and the iron.

Yasugi city, Shimane: its iron used to get distributed everywhere.

Steel Museum of Japan in Yasugi We can see a mass of rock-like iron

produced by an iron manufacturer in the old time.

Only small part of which could be qualified for the Japanese Swords.

Iron-making in Japan is said to have started in the 6th century at the latest

Iron-making in Japan is said to have started in the 6th century at the latest.

This shows the late 6th century's iron-making procedures

Since the Iron sand melts down only at as high as about 1500 Celsius

A use of bellow had an essential role in the technological innovation.

Soon came the one with treadboards.

Though a huge furnace and a bellow in the film was from Miyazaki's fantasy.

The balance bellows appeared in the Edo period.

The board steppers ("Banko") made a contribution to its work efficiency.

Banko stepped on these boards all through for 3 days and nights

to produce the mass we've seen in front of the museum,

whose expression we now use as "kawari-banko"

Iron-making also generated a unique architectural establishment

called Takadono (High Beamed) Style.

There is only 1 Takadono left in Japan now in Sugaya, Yoshida Village

Sugaya Iron Place

It's roofed since humidity is an enemy of Iron-making,

and the roofs set high to avoid tall fire sparks from the furnace blowing it up

Takadono Style was the ideal for manufacturing good iron.

Iron-making demands huge amount of Charcoal and Sand Iron per operation

To produce 3 tons worth' iron, 10 tons of charcoal was required

to gain which about 100 square meters of forest was cut down.

As for Iron Sand, 12-13 tons was needed for each operation

It was to crack down the granite with 1-2% iron and let it stream in the water.

In essence iron-making was to utilize as much natural resources as required

for the human's own advantages

This is the cut where the iron making first appears on screen.

The details of burning charcoal and streaming sand are precisely described.

Because of this streaming, the river where Ashitaka meets San looks muddy

In this cut we see the sluiceways on their background

A fort-like Iron place must imply a partly self-governed society

Iron-makers worship the Goddess of Iron Child,

Kanayako Shrine

whose figure's often been described as a Goddess on a Fox with 2 tails.

Don't they remind us a little of San and the Wolf God?

After all, Chugoku Region hasn't got bald from all that deforestation

For, the nature in Japan's prevailed with its water-holding capacity

Hayao Miyazaki's Creation Circuit. His Powers of Memory and Obsession

What one's seen or felt when little, those memories get revived

through Miyazaki's works

This one always reminds me of the dog I used to live with.

What emotions to express when a dog pants with its mouth open?

Is the tongue moving while a dog's panting? anybody knows?

My dog I think might be moving his tongue...

-OK, if you think he might. I'll do it.

He keeps pulling at the details out of his memory while drawing.

Isn't moving!

Director comes to remember exactly how his dog used to be like.

His pencil gradually gets more convincing

It's not as if he's panting because of the heat

but in a way to express his emotion right?

OK, looks like it IS alright.

I truly regret I didn't grow up with a real beloved dog

Now let's watch the final version of a panting wolf and verify his emotions.

A Discussion Session for a new Project was held on July 6, 1996

on a hypothesis of a comic book "Kill Gonta" by Ayahara being the theme.

Remember it's NOT good enough reason to choose a subject

out of your appreciation or preference on a book,

but you should select the one that gives you inspiration

strong enough inspiration that'd lead you to make the most of it

What did you think about the motif of "Death"?

As the Death being the chief character, how to deal with it is the theme here.

-There's NO use of arguing whether there's anything after death here,

Alright, let's say there's the Death's River dividing the worlds here.

And this Maki-Chan girl dies and her spirit comes across the River.

So, this example's showing Maki-Chan might exist on the other side.

There're anecdotes of the dying stopped by the dead Granma from the other side,

which imply us the existence of the dead

According to Philosopher Umehara, the good ones come back within 75 days

while the bad ones are kept for a while and take more time to be back.

This doesn't make sense to me, however:

For, a good old Granma advising not to come becomes the bad on then.

Our religion has this thinking of that we're circulating in a wheel of life.

But "individuality" is the very issue we want to pint out the most here.

Let's say our Tsuruppe dies/comes back as a pretty girl as you are now.

Though the individual called Tsuruppe dissolves the moment she dies

and maybe returns with a name "Tsuruko" instead,

which means her life doesn't continue

We used to think it continuing in the old time

and now we think it as completely cut off here

to think about these differences.

And the idea of this disconnection screwed up the whole thing.

The bottom line is we cannot get away from our "Death" issue anyhow

and should sort it out before we go on to work on this film,

would any word related to death appear on the slogan? -No, none

Miyazaki keeps spreading out his power of obsessions on any issue.

Outspread the wings of obsessions

Here's this banal looking house with glittering neon

and it gets noisy at night since there's "Valhalla" down here,

where the pagans' heavenly places all gather around.

Valhalla is people's nightlife district with liquor pond and pretty girls

Only, the Aging Problem exists in there, too since the Viking Fleets're gone.

But still they play around loudly while looking down the hells beneath,

the source of pollutions and infuriate the girls living in the house up there.

OK, now you know this is' the other side of the world

whose social structure's exactly like our real world, as one has to got to work

while irritated by the noisy surroundings and punches her timecard at work.

Her figure might be like this; crows were once believed to be the death before.

Anyway, I was showing you an example. The ideas might develop like this.

-Well what you showed us wasn't bad at all but...

-OK, remember dealing seriously with the issue of death doesn't mean

you'd get the core of it Get it from the whole aspects:

Such as what if the death grows up.

By that, the meaning of "Growth" would be questioned once again,

which'll lead us to think "if the human grow up in a true sense?"

For some say the human's growth might be a sheer illusion.

I hope some of you stand up and carry out such unique ideas.

Truly, this is the main problem at our studio here: I'd like you to have a try

but sadly nobody's gutsy enough to be willing to.

What a unique system we do have. Yeah, a quite unusual style I admit

June 20, 1996: A Director's meeting with Yamamoto-San

on the important cut where the Forest God appears for the first time

-Why don't we go with that?

-Well, I worry about this being a little... -Not to worry, or we'll always worry!

-I mean this part looks too clear to me. -Alright, let me explain with this camera.

The camera lens becomes Ashitaka's eye and goes deeper of the forest,

when the Forest God turns up.

-This one's good, and let's keep this up. -OK. I understand your points.

What Yamamoto-san's working on surprised us quite a lot.

For, what we see is merely a small part and many others're covering up on it

All of which we asked him to show us here.

Here's the 2nd sheet;

and the 3rd one's this;

the 4th sheet;

the 5th sheet;

the 6th sheet;

the 7th sheet;

One more, the 8th sheet;

The digital composite's adopted in this case with this number of the cels.

Let's watch the final version of this now.

Now watch closely Ashitaka's eyes in surprise.

June 27, 1996: Recruiters Training Session's coming close to the end

and today's the refining practice they're undertaking

to understand how difficult the coloring procedure could be.

We see Miyazaki's taking a glance at their working objects once in a bit

and how he comments on this and that, the accuracy of which's really surprising.

-Well, one thing I can say on this is it looks Yucky. -That's lethal, isn't it?

If you were to criticise this picture, how'd you make your comments?

-About this carrot, concentrate not only on the colors but on the shape as well.

Carrots are difficult. Don't make them have a blurred look

unless you specifically want them to look that way

Now look at the color of that meat, really!

Ghibli always seems to take the low keyed colors except for the food

-These are the delicious looking colors up there.

Down here, all those look yucky,

those yucky colors are the ones we've had quite a hard time to create.

As for food, vivid colors look more attractive for us to put into mouth.

Another thing is the burn mark of the steak: for this being part of the food,

blackish color is what we want the least to eat; some tribes never eat it.

So even the burned part has to be nice, delicious looking brown color.

It seems that the wooden tray has the most delicious look of all in here

while it's the very thing supposed to look completely dead

Now the man is utterly in shock

when another shocking material's delivered to him:

An ad flyer of the Steak Restaurant's, which is totally defeating him!

-OK, now I'm getting this

We cannot find Kosaka-San who's always sitting next to Miyazaki

Here, he is: working on a little cooking for everyone's late dinner.

Actually, the staff take their turns and cook something for the late night work

-Mr./Ms. Work Forces in the Studio, Spaghetti's ready

We also have some Potato Salad. Please come join us.

Alright, let's have it. Bon Appetit!

-The rumor has it that his cooking skill's far better

It's already 11:30 pm. and still so many staff are working.

Genga Exam:

Douga Animators take this exam if one wants to switch to do Genga

The assignment is the 1057th cut,

where all the basic actions as Running, Jumping, swinging are packed up.

The Examinees couldn't have too much preparation time for the test.

Miyazaki even give some advice for that

-He's swinging it like this with such power,

whereas yours looks quite feeble.

One of Director's points is how this Samurai swings his long-sword here.

-Why don't you just do it yourself? -Yes, it'd be the fastest way, do it.

I wish he wore Samurai Armour.

-Do it like this with your full voice

Do slow motion, and your voice from abdomen!

Your legs are getting funny Yes, watch out your legs

-He's just a modern boy -Yeah, lacks a sense of gravity.

-Oh, this is it? finished? -Why everyone's standing here?

-His feet got turned in at the last part. -Yeah, his feet were kind of cute.

July 1, 1996: It's the exam day today.

Since it's holiday we only see the examinees (and Director) at this hour.

-Don't worry so much about the details of the Armour.

-Good morning. -You've already finished?

Here are the examinees: Ms. Makiko SUZUKI

Ms. Kuri SAWA

Ms. Kazuko SHIBATA

Ms. Misuzu KURATA

Mr. Kazuyoshi ONODA

Mr. Masaru MATSUSE

Mr. Kojiro TSURUOKA; 7 examinees in total

The exam time is 11:00-24:00.

Miyazaki has brought some Soba Noodles and green onions

so that he could cook this and serve it to everyone

-This green onion's from my Home Garden,

Since his mother's sickly condition in his childhood,

all 4 boys at the Miyazakis used to take turns and cook meals.

So Director and his brothers are all good at cooking.

-Ha-ha, this IS really amazing!

-Sprinkle sprinkle sprinkle sprinkle...

At 19:00: everyone flocks together and enjoys the Soba.

Despite its being a holiday, we can recognise all the chief staff here

Miyazaki's Soba and Tateno's veggie-fries all look nice.

It's midnight and the time's up. Hopefully their preparations reflect on the results.

They're now submitting the sheets at the Production's Desk

-Did you put your name on the sheets? -Ah, well no. I didn't...

July 2, 1996: The next day is the day for evaluations.

The test examiners are: Director MIYAZAKI,

Animation Supervisor Yoshifumi KONDO,

Animation Supervisor Masashi ANDO,

a total of 3 examiners

-No one seems to know how to use this long sword.

And absolutely NO emotional outburst is significant here

I can see they're just thinking "What if I miss this test?"

Now let's watch 7 examinees Genga: Observe how the long sword goes.

We can see a single storyboard could be interpreted in many different ways here.

Still, none of which has any intense power in a swinging action

Director makes kind, accurate comments to each examinee.

Remember this part goes fast

Though, it'd look too weak if the arms stayed at the same position

Don't just go like this

What we want most here is the gravity of this sword, remember that.

Without its gravity shown on the screen one cannot call it a swing really

To show this gravity, hold it here as much as you could.

In Animation, exaggerate the fist half as really slow and quickly go very fast.

-We actually DID the vacuum cleaner thing in the room, though

-Yes, you all should really perform and observe the others do it carefully

-Speculate upon the balance between the Gravity and the Speed,

and everything starts with the such if you want to make an Animation.

In the case of a great animator Yasuo OTSUKA when he was at his 30s,

all of his animation had such Dymanics with its each SO peculiar pose

The question is; if he could have done the same thing 20 years later,

and the answer is; NO, one could NEVER do the same, strangely.

So there IS such a thing as what once could only do at certain age.

Dynamism of which's NOT from Technique but from Innate Ability,

or rather, from certain Energy welling up out of one's body

People at their 40s and 50s say this and that from their experiences

but as for something truly energetic, it'd be the younger generation.

Remember this Energy Release'd be a good opportunity for an animator

to howl out a great deal of inner Emotional Turbulence.

There's another issue about Yakul's running positions before jumping

NO preparatory force toward a jump is significant in anyone's Genga

-Isn't it difficult how to show the saved energy force right before jumping?

It's difficult I admit but otherwise, it wouldn't be a jump.

You have to make a necessity for a jump before a jump

and think of how Yakul's movement'd differ from a normal running case.

-No plunging or holding pressure before a jump is recognisable here at all.

There must be a brief hold-on-to-the ground moment somewhere

With the forelegs inside while the hind legs spread out

None of the examinees passed the test after all.

It turned out to be an authentic veteran Kondo-San who drew the final cut.

How different an animation could become depending on who draws it

as an example of which, let's now watch his final cut here:

Because no one passed the test, a question was posed to Director:

"Is that because they've got the feeling but cannot draw it,

or they just don't get the feeling"

-Alright, those who don't get the feeling are Inadequate,

and those who get the feeling but cannot draw are... Inadequate as well.

-Ah, now I know this is the reality. I really should think about closing 'down Ghibli

as everyone seems to be more calculating than anything.

After all, in our modern system we watch more and create less on our own.

-The older people rather go take much more radical ways in these days

or more specifically, the middle-aged guys.

As for the younger generation, some may go focus on specific area and try their best in it,

but usually no one wants to spread out their hands to catch everything ambitiously

except for few exceptionally obnoxious ones

Individuality is believed to be some thing different from the others

but I think the ideas of "Individuality" or "Uniqueness" are totally misunderstood

The correct definition of which should be in

how large a scale of things one could share with the others as something in common.

Where there's large enough quantity to share, there be certain individuality too.

so I have absolutely NO reason to look for some Individuality for myself.

It's out of the question if one hasn't fully worked out on enough things to share.

Ashitaka Tumbles:

July 6, 1996; We saw the whole picture of Trial-and-Error in Animation.

-We might need a frame with his crouching position

If I fall I know l'll go like this, but from here I'm not so sure.

Director makes the most of his senses, memories to pinpoint accuracy

-Once I climbed up a fence at a mountain lodge and it was when I jumped

I noticed a downslope there and rolled down so stupidly

I try to recall it clearly but it's difficult.

Whatever I draw must be related to my childhood experiences somehow

whether I remember it or not.

After a while he's found one critical mistake:

-I'm stuck with an idea to show his face here, for his being a main character

but if I did it: he wouldn't be falling in the right way

How could I not notice such basics.

Drawing such clunky positions is the farthest from physiological comfort

and for that reason it's very demanding for an Animator.

-OK. I got this... Look, he IS falling

Now, this part needs a little. His hand tries to catch the ground

but there isn't any ground there.

Um, maybe I'm trying to be too logical. For all those positions look too stable

He stretches out his arm but it's too late, that's the idea.

A slight difference of his arm angle'd give such a different impression

His butt loses balance here and he tries to use his elbow I see.

But he's already outside of the frame at this point.

Barycenter must be a little more to the front.

Since he knows how to do the defense, his body doesn't fall off to the side

And around here, he got out of the frame with his legs spread like this

Ah, this should be more to the right, shouldn't it?

What a painstaking procedure!...Well, I'm kidding. It'll be finished soon.

No sooner had it been almost finished than he noticed the ground needs a fix.

Some trouble where he's tumbling down.

Too much weight on the kinetics'd make him look like a vulnerable person.

So there must be falling energy and the conflicting one against it.

Here he's lifting his leg, by which I wish the barycenter'd move more to the back

but it looks more like he's falling to the side instead

Alright, my correcting this part's produced another flaw here, ha-ha.

Certainly not like this. His body should be more spread out

At this point he's already spent half a day.

-He's getting less and less energetic

This slower part requires more sheets than usual.

I'm pretty sure there'd be more problems while I do the clean-up

but anyway the Rough Boards are done now!

-What a cursed profession this is I see it very well now. -Ah, do you?

That was truly a Crawling-the-Closest onto-the-Ideal-Point Procedure

In which there's NO such thing as that you could see any Ending from the Start

You'd only begin to see it by continuing to do it

Now don't miss this 1.5 second final shot.

PART B: -Kick your ass and draw!! -Don't you laze around, NO lazing

The Storyboards are still at a slow pace.

The basic structure's done but needs to be materialized in the promptest way.

One day Miyazaki began to utter out of the blue

- I worked on the last Sunday. -Right

-And that screwed up everything. -Um, you should rest on holidays.

-Well, I did it at home but couldn't sleep later out of the excitement;

Excitement AND Angst I had that night.

Reminded me of bitter sweet memory, though.

"Excitement and Angst: those must be given as an honor to a creator

who would get NO idea about what exactly he's doing while in the process."

says Miyazaki. "A film tries to become a film by itself.

And I function merely as a Slave or Footman of the film's."

To tell things one already knows is NOT Expression But Transmission:

Expression be attainable only in severe struggles to get a hold of the Unknown.

I looked at how Miya san'd been doing with his storyboards

and felt a bit of concerns about its ending.

One thing was about the appearance of San, the Princess Mononoke

I mean if it takes 20 mins. before a heroine appears

usually it'll make a 3-hour movie.

So I pushed him a little to shorten it, for which he asked "Why?"

and my reply was "Well, looks like a 3 hour film we're making

Because Miya-san'd always keep up appearances in such cases, he went

"To make a 3-hour worth film a 2-hour- sharp IS the true Professional's Skill."

Is what Miyazaki manifested going to be truly true?

To verify which, look forward to the coming 2nd Chapter...

To Be Continued