Whether you’re watching Nausicaä or Totoro,
Studio Ghibli never fails to impress. We are transported to fantasy worlds
taking us back to our childhood, introduced to characters that capture our
hearts and immersed in stories told to us through stunning,
hand-drawn animations. So how do they do it? Let’s take a look behind the
scenes at Japan’s top animation studio.
Traditional
Hand-drawn Animation vs. CGI
The majority of Studio Ghibli films are made using
traditional animation techniques. So what does this mean? EVERY SINGLE FRAME is
hand-drawn by animators, before being put together to give the illusion of
movement and create the film. This is a very repetitive and time-consuming
process but the studio’s co-founder Hayao Miyazaki believes that “hand drawing on paper is the fundamental of
animation”.
Despite Miyazaki’s preferred choice being hand-drawn
animation, CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) has been used in several Studio
Ghibli films. CGI can help animators with scenes that would otherwise be overly
complicated to create using traditional animation techniques. In Princess Mononoke, digital paint was used
to speed up the process and finish the film on time. My Neighbors the Yamadas is the only Studio Ghibli film to
be entirely made using computer animation.
Delivering to Deadline
Everybody knows that things always take longer than expected.
And making films at Studio Ghibli is no exception. Since each frame is
hand-drawn, and thousands of frames are needed to create a feature film, the
whole process takes a lot of time. The progress of each section is mapped out
on a chart to estimate when the film will be completed and delays are not
uncommon. In this case, each staff member is assessed and pushed to complete
their work faster. Often new employees need to be hired towards the end of
production to ensure that the film is completed on time.
Animators have to work long, exhausting hours, often working
until after midnight in the final months. They can spend over a year drawing at
the same desks! Animators must work efficiently whilst at the same time being very
observant and paying attention to every detail in their drawings. It’s a tough
job but this balance between speed and quality is essential so that Studio Ghibli
can continue to deliver the highest quality films...On time.
From Script to Screen
Ok so we’ve established two things: that Studio Ghibli films
are generally hand-drawn and that they take A LOT of time and effort to
complete. But how do the directors get their ideas from script to screen? Find
out by checking out the step-by-step process below.
Note: The
following steps and accompanying images are taken from the ‘Making of Only Yesterday Featurette’. Although the film was made in 1991, many of the techniques
used then are still used by Studio Ghibli today.
Like other films, all Studio Ghibli creations start off as
an idea. This idea is then developed into a script outlining the story – including
all scenes and dialogue – so that all members of the team are (quite literally) on
the same page.
Next, the characters and their costumes need to be worked
out. The way the characters dress is used to reveal their personality and place
in society, as well as the time period the film is set in.
A storyboard is created from the script. It is to be used as
a foundation for all the drawings, illustrating the key frames and basic
movements of the film.
Each scene must be sketched out, frame by frame, so that
when put together the pictures will move. After this, the drawings are put on
carbon sheets before being burnt onto transparent cells.
It’s time to add some colour! After the colour scheme is
determined, colours are hand painted onto the cells using watercolours. By
using different tones for objects in front of and behind the characters, the
image is given extra depth.
Let’s not forget the backgrounds! They are drawn separately
from the characters.
The cells are now placed onto their corresponding background
and each frame is shot individually. Yes, all this is for just ONE FRAME of the
film! But the hard work isn’t over just yet.
The film now needs some dialogue, which can be recorded
either before or after the drawings. In this case, the voices were
pre-recorded. Animators then watched the video recording of the actors and focused
on their facial muscle movements so that they could replicate them in their
drawings.
The director has the very time-consuming task of making sure
that the images and dialogue are perfectly in sync. The timing is very precise,
particularly the dialogue which needs to match the characters’ faces. No one
likes a badly-dubbed movie!
There’s still more audio to be recorded. As well as sound
effects and background noises, the theme music needs to be created. In this
case, there are 28 live musicians in the studio.
The developed film is edited with the cinematic film
which contains the audio recordings. These days of course everything is
digital!
The film is now ready to be screened to all of the crew
members! Months of hard work have led up to this moment. The animators
anxiously wait for their cut to appear on screen whilst the director watches
their vision finally come to life.
And there you have it! The film is now ready to be
distributed to the general public, who, like you and me, can’t wait to discover
the latest Ghibli masterpiece.
References:
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