Japanese Culture in New York - Chopsticks NY

©2009 Nibariki-GNDHDDT ©2008Nibariki-GNDHDDT

---- Returning to Hand Drawing in Ponyo

*Studio Ghibli is the anime production led by Oscar® winning anime director Hayao Miyazaki.

Yoshida: Art directors draw backgrounds––in other words, we create the space of the scenes: landscapes, rooms, and everything except characters. It's like a production designer in live-action movies. We even set up night and day. Designing background structures, thinking about color schemes... that's what we do. Yoshida: There are scenes where the backgrounds move, but when it comes to moving images, that's what Mr. Kondo is supposed to do. In the beginning, Mr. Miyazaki and Mr. Kondo plan a total visual design. When they decide, "Let's make some movement here," that job goes to animators. In Ponyo, there were many scenes where the background itself was one means of expression. For example, the ocean, grass, flowers, trees... they were all animated by animators. Kondo: It was our objective in making Ponyo to express as much as possible using hand-drawing techniques. This is obviously the animators' job, but this time, Mr. Miyazaki wanted the background images to come closer to being animation characters. In other words, the background images should act more like characters instead of existing just by themselves. This is what Mr. Yoshida had to make possible. Kondo: Yes. Drawing continuous images with pencils is the very basis of the film. Yoshida: So is background art. Usually we paint with watercolors and poster paints, but this time we used pencils, crayons, and pastels as well. This successfully added different nuances and textures to the images. Yoshida: We both brought ideas. Kondo: First of all, the reason we employed that style was that we wanted to create a world where anything is possible rather than tell a realistic human drama or deal with serious issues. We thought it would be more appropriate to set up a "broad-minded" space. For example, when we drew straight lines, we intentionally used somewhat loose lines to leave room for happenings. It's a space where it is okay that ocean waves transform into a human. Kondo: I think so. Also, it was the right time for us to do that, and our choice meant a lot to us. Up until then, we aimed to use minimum labor to have maximum effect in order to keep up with the commercially oriented industry standard. Although we knew we could make it more expressive if we drew more images, we were mindful of the budget and time constraints. At the time we started producing Ponyo, we were a little free from these constraints, so Mr. Miyazaki decided to pursue how expressive we could be by spending more time on animation. This industry is being overwhelmed by 3D and CG today. I don't criticize that, because they are definitely a means of expression. However, when we thought about ourselves, "What is our specialty?" and "What is important to us?", we came to the conclusion that hand drawing with pencils is our heart. This is what we intended to realize in Ponyo. Kondo: Well, "determine" is not the correct word. My role is to level the uneven parts, fill the holes, and raise the bottom in terms of the expression of images. Mr. Miyazaki draws storyboards and provides solid visual images, so we trace them and make clear lines. Yoshida: Hmm, it's hard to pick one. All of them, actually. If I am asked to choose the scene where I put my feeling most, it would be the sunset scene. Kondo: In the scene where Ponyo comes back from the ocean by riding the wave, the weather changes drastically. And a beautiful sunset appears after the rain. We redrew this sequence again and again and again. Yoshida: That's one of the scenes that Mr. Miyazaki himself particularly labored on. He tackled that scene with all his power. Kondo: The scene IS the spirit of the film. Speaking of the part I like, I am personally excited about the sequence in which Ponyo enters into some kind of pot—some strange nuclear fusion reactor kind of thing. Then she transforms into a girl, comes across a big fish, drops into the ocean, and is discovered by Sosuke's father. Basically she runs away from home because she is sick of her life under the sea. Kondo: Exactly. That's the sequence demonstrating the essence of this film. Jump, bound, and fly! With this impetus, Ponyo throws herself into Sosuke. I like this sequence. I actually find that Mr. Miyazaki's films always have those kind of climactic sequences in the middle. Like the sequence where Pazu snatches Sheeta in Castle in the Sky. Yoshida: I agree. There is always a cathartic moment in the middle. Yoshida: Livening up water was one of the themes of this film. So, yes, that's where we put our effort, too. Kondo: It was originally our mission to use water as one of the main characters. Water should not be treated as part of the background, but rather it should exist as one of the principal cast members. Yoshida: Mr. Miyazaki told me this in the very beginning, so I put special importance in making water expressive. For example, it is common to draw the outline of water with color to produce a softer image. But instead, I used a black outline for water, just like I do for human characters. In other words, humans and nature are considered to be on the same level. Yoshida: That's true. Something like animism is always an undercurrent in his films. Kondo: That's also what we intended to experiment with. The idea came up in the very early stages of production. Kondo: Hmm, I think I found drawing by hand was the best, after all. That's what fits me. In a way, this film clearly taught me that hand drawing was the method that I should stick to. Yoshida: It used to be all drawn by hand back in the days. Kondo: If we drop the hand drawing, that means we are not Ghibli anymore. I'm pretty sure we will keep this style. We'd never say, "Okay, we switch to 3D tomorrow." If we can't draw by hand, that's the end of Ghibli.

------ Interview by Hideo Nakamura

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