BayAnime.com

In a rare public appearance, filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki spoke to Tokyo University lecturer and author Roland Kelts in front of a sold out audience at Zellerbach Auditorium on Saturday, July 25. This was the grand finale to a two week Miyazaki retrospective which included a Bay Area premiere screening of his latest film, Ponyo on the Cliffs, to be widely released on August 14.

Miyazaki received the 2009 Berkeley Japan Prize from the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley in a separate ceremony earlier that day. He is the second recipient of this award, originally established in 2008 as part of the Center for Japanese Studies’ fiftieth year anniversary. The prize is awarded to people in all fields who have influenced the world’s understanding of Japan and Japanese culture over their lifetime. Author Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore, After Dark) was the first recipient in 2008.

During the nearly two hour long conversation, Miyazaki and Kelts discussed (via a translator) some of the themes of his films and thoughts on the industry. Miyazaki gave a little commentary on creating Ponyo as well as his own thought processes when creating films. This was then followed by an audience question and answer segment.

Kelts’ first line of questioning dealt with recurring themes in Miyazaki’s films: the presence of nature, the lack of “true evil”, and the sense of impending doom. Miyazaki explained that although most people think that they are separate from nature, people and nature are one and the same. Both people and nature carry a level of hope against disaster. He joked that it would be wonderful to see the end of the world in his lifetime, but as he knows that it will not happen, he puts it in his films.

“But it’s not a good idea to equate disaster with evil,” Miyazaki said. “It is something we live together with.” He revealed that while the most common storyline is that of good against evil, drawing the evil figure is a task he really doesn’t like to do.

The conversation shifted to what techniques Miyazaki employs to get other animators to see his vision. He singled out Ponyo’s art director, Noboru Yoshida, who he encouraged to “explode into his childness” while drawing the scenes for Ponyo. When it was finished, Yoshida had produced such vivid and energetic scenes. Miyazaki said that it was not the only surprising discovery. “The whole staff was surprised at the goodness (innocence) in us all.”

Kelts commented that although Ponyo is supposedly a goldfish, she is unlike any goldfish that anyone has ever seen before… and that is also the case for most animals in Miyazaki’s films. Miyazaki described the process of drawing a character — eyes first and the rest later. For animals, nature is beyond understanding, he said, and pointed out Totoro’s blank stare. Since Totoro is from nature he would be very unpredictable, and this is something that his eyes show. “He could be thinking deep thoughts or nothing at all.”

On the difficulty in finding and keeping talent these days within the animation industry, Miyazaki clarified that it had always difficult to find and keep animators. However, things have gotten considerably easier with the addition of computers and the ability to send some work overseas to places such as China and South Korea. Miyazaki added that Studio Ghibli likes to keep their animation hand-drawn. They did at some point hire a computer animator to do drudge work, but later found that they could draw faster by hand, as they could more easily add certain visual cues such as making the character smaller when sad and bigger when happy. Computers seem to have a problem in that area.

“Keeping with hand-drawn animation is like rowing a bark (boat) in a sea of speed boats.” Miyazaki continued explaining that there was no real aesthetic reason in keeping with hand-drawn animation because he never really looked into it himself. But because his colleagues are mostly retired, the Studio is a place where they can keep drawing. It’s also a place where younger people can train.

Kelts then turned to questions that the audience had for Miyazaki. One audience member asked for advice for aspiring animators and another asked about overcoming creative blocks. Miyazaki answered that they should draw what they see with their eyes and get someone to look at it who will give constructive criticism. Regarding creative blocks, Miyazaki said that all he can do is think about the problem. He theorized that people think on three different levels: the surface of the brain, the subconscious, and a deeper part of the brain. People should always work from the subconscious, but go deeper when really troubled. “When I really think hard, I smell blood in my nose,” Miyazaki said. “When I have to go deeper, that is when I smell the most blood.”

Miyazaki then fielded a question about who he considers his peers. He noted that he was influenced by too many to name, but considers Pixar’s John Lassiter and Aardman’s Nick Park, who created features like Chicken Run, his brothers in arms although they use different forms of animation.

Miyazaki said that he hopes that his films will still be relevant in 50 years. He would like to hear grandmothers and even mothers say to children that these are films they should watch. The goal of his films is to give children the power to dream and that goal has not changed since the original staff at Studio Ghibli. He stated that Ponyo would not be his last film, and that although he isn’t too sure what will come next, he’ll see what he’s able to do as time goes on.

This post was submitted by Ira Goodwin.