film and architecture section: Studio Ghibli analysing urbanism: three films (Princess Mononoke, PomPoko, Kiki's Delivery Service) by Miyazaki and Takahat, architecture and film appreciation

category: Architecture and Film, Imaginary architectures of studio Ghibli

film index: 70-72 (Ghibli index 08-10)

relationship with architecture:

A critical as well as mournful stare to the rapid urbanization of cities. in both Monoke and Pompoko, the gihibli view to urban cities have taken shape of metaphoric battle between nature and manmade. kiki's delivery service on the other hand is the opposite, celebrating the new urbanism through metaphors of wish, love and affection. all three film.. pure romanticism, and magic all around and reminds me of "Genius Loci" of Christian Norberg Schultz

film: Princess Mononoke, Pom Poko, Kiki's Delivery Service

details and Download:

film: Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)

director: Hayayo Miyazaki

writers: Hayayo Miyazaki

production: Japan, Studioin Ghibli

release: July 12, 1997

playtime: 134 min

visual: colour

Language: Japanese

Subtitles:

Genre: animation, fantasy

reference: raiden-rs.blogspot.com, avaxhome.ws, warezws.com

Description and Download:

It is a period drama set specifically in the late Muromachi period of Japan but with numerous fantastic elements and concentrates on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources as seen by the outsider Ashitaka. "Mononoke" is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster.

Princess Mononoke is mostly hand-drawn, but incorporates some use of computer animation during five minutes of footage throughout the film. The computer animated parts are designed to blend in and support the traditional cel animation, and are mainly used in images consisting of a mixture of computer generated graphics and traditional drawing. A further 10 minutes uses digital paint, a technique used in all subsequent Studio Ghibli films. While most of the film is colored with traditional paint, delays towards the end of production forced the producers to install computers to make the set Japanese premiere date, which they successfully met.

Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000 cels in the film, and is estimated to have redrawn parts of 80,000 of them. This is the only film directed by him that does not feature a flying sequence, his well-known trademark.

Miyazaki did not want Ashitaka to be a typical hero:

Ashitaka is not a cheerful, worry-free boy. He is a melancholy boy who has a fate. I feel that I am that way myself, but until now, I have not made a film with such a character. Ashitaka was cursed for a very absurd reason. Sure, Ashitaka did something he should not have done - killing Tatari Gami. But there was enough reason to do so from the humans' viewpoint. Nevertheless, he received a deadly curse. I think that is similar to the lives of people today. I think this is a very absurd thing that is part of life itself.
—Hayao Miyazaki

He stated that Lady Eboshi was supposed to have a traumatic past, although it is not specifically mentioned in the film. She had a strong and secure personality, evident in the fact that she let Ashitaka move freely through the settlement unescorted, despite his unclear motives. She also almost never acknowledged the Emperor's authority in Irontown, a revolutionary view for the time, and displayed an atypical attitude for a woman of that era in that she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice herself or those around her for her dreams.

When director Miyazaki was creating the Jigo character, he was unsure whether to make him a government spy, a ninja, a member of a religious group or "a very good guy." In the end he decided to give Jigo elements of all of the above groups.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119698/
Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Mononoke

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sneak peaks:

film: Pom Poko (Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pompoko)

director: Isao Takahata

writers: Isao Takahata

production: Japan, Studioin Ghibli

release: 1994

playtime: 119 min

visual: colour

Language: Japanese

Subtitles:

Genre: animation, fantasy

reference: raiden-rs.blogspot.com, avaxhome.ws, warezws.com

Description and Download:

s the human city development encroaches on the raccoon population's forest and meadow habitat, the raccoons find themselves faced with the very real possibility of extinction. In response, the raccoons engage in a desperate struggle to stop the construction and preserve their home.

Consistent with Japanese folklore, the Tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs, Nyctereutes procyonoides) are portrayed as a highly sociable, mischievous species, able to use "illusion science" to transform into almost anything, but too fun-loving and too fond of tasty treats to be a real threat (unlike the kitsune and other shapeshifters). Visually, the Tanuki in this film are depicted in three ways at various times: as realistic animals, as anthropomorphic animals which occasionally wear clothes, and as cartoony figures based on the manga of Shigeru Sugiura (of whom Takahata is a great fan). They tend to assume their realistic form when in view of humans, their cartoony form when they are doing something outlandish or whimsical, and their anthropomorphic form at all other times.Prominent testicles are an integral part of Tanuki folklore, and they are shown and referred to throughout the movie, and also used frequently in their shapeshifting.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110008/
Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom_Poko

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sneak peaks:

film: Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo no takkyûbin)
director: Hayayo Miyazaki
writers: Hayayo Miyazaki, Based on the book by Eiko Kadono
production: Japan, Studioin Ghibli
release: July 29, 1989
playtime: 102 min
visual: colour
Language: Japanese
Subtitles:
Genre: animation, fantasy

reference: raiden-rs.blogspot.com, avaxhome.ws, warezws.com

Description and Download:

This is the story of a young witch, named Kiki who is now thirteen years old. But she is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a talking cat named Jiji by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home.

After "Totoro" was finished and released, Miyazaki took a closer look at Kiki’s Delivery Service. He started by writing a screenplay himself, and since Majo no Takkyūbin was based in a fictional country in northern Europe, he and the senior staff went to research landscapes and other elements of the setting. Their main stops were Stockholm, Adelaide, South Australia and the Swedish island of Gotland. The city's architecture also owes debts to Ireland, Paris and Tokyo's Ginza district.

The time setting for Kiki's Delivery Service was a subject for discussion among the movie's fans for some time: Kiki carries a transistor radio apparently of 1950s vintage, and some characters are seen watching black-and-white television sets, but the cars and some of the aircraft seem to be from an earlier period. Specifically, a plane resembling the Handley Page H.P.42 is seen during the opening credits, although all eight of the H.P.42 aircraft had been decommissioned or destroyed by 1941. The controversy was settled when Miyazaki said the story took place in the 1950s of an alternative universe in which both World Wars never took place.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097814/
Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiki%27s_Delivery_Service

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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Studio Ghibli analysing urbanism: three films (Princess Mononoke, PomPoko, Kiki's Delivery Service) by Miyazaki and Takahat, architecture and film appreciation

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