Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibil 

Studio Ghibil is an animation company based in Japan. It is the most famous Japanese animation company and is sometimes known as the 'Disney of Japan'. The company was founded by Hayao Miyazari and Isao Takahata in 1985. 

The company has won many awards for both short and feature length films, including 'Spirited Away' which won a Golden Bear and an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It currently holds the spot for the only 'non-speaking English' film to have won these awards.

The studio is known for it's work with anime and mostly create 'anime' works. As well as films, the studio has also created TV shows such as Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z which both have become huge success across the globe.

To create their animations, Studio Ghibil use Cel animation. This is where the animators hand draw or paint the animations onto a piece of film. This can take a considerate amount of time and effort, especially when creating a full length feature film. Although Cel animation takes time and effort, many people still enjoy watching the films as it gives off a classic feel to the film. As Cel animation  is drawn onto a piece of film, the images tend to be flat and don't have a 3D effect to them.
When drawing or painting on the Cels, there is not just one artist but a team of people who go through various stages when compleeting the animation. The lead animator, takes control and draws out rough sketches, who then passes the sketches onto the assistant animator who cleans up the rough edges of the drawing. The sheets are then passed onto another artist who begins to draw the rest of the scene and other details on a seperate piece of sheet.

 

Once the drawings are complete, a pencil test is doen to check that the animation flows and is in the right time and colour, most importantly, making sure nothing is missing from the scene. After the pencil test is approved, a clean-up artist traces the rough sketches to ensure that the line work is the same from frame to frame. The artist then passes on to the inker, who transfers the cleaned up drawings onto Cel's before they are given to the paint department to colour in.

Backgrounds of scenes are painted by special background artists. Because the background is seen for longer, and cover more area than any other part of the animation, they are created with a lot of detail, with attention to shading, lighting and perspective.

 

In 1989, the company had it's first Box Office success with 'Kiki's Delivery Service'. The filmed grossed just over $18 million dollars and was seen as a stepping stone for both the company and anime. The film was also given the award 'Video of the Year' by Entertainment Weekly.

In the late 90's a deal was stuck with Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli which allowed American audiences the chance to view other 'Ghibli' films but under the Disney logo. Although the studio was now working with Disney, they still got recognized for the work and the anime's they produced. 

In 2004, 'Howl's Moving Castle' was released as a joint project with Disney and was a huge success across the globe. As the film was released world wide, it had two different sets of cast to play the characters. For Americans, well known actors such as Josh Hutcherson, Christian Bale and others played the voices of the animations. The film was also released in Japanese and had a star studded cast that was well known in Asia.

On the opening weekend of the film, it grossed over $427,987 in America and $1,444,469,305 in Japan alone. The film was a huge success world wide and opened the door for more major anime films to be released.

My own animation

Using Photoshop I was able to make my own short animation. Photoshop allowed me to import a short video which I was able to trace over using the rotoscoping technique. To do this: I needed to change the settings of Photoshop so it was able to break down the frames of the video I selected.

Next, I hd to add a new 'black video layer' and add the onion effect, which allows me to see what I traced in the previous frame. 

Once I had everything set up, I started to trace the rabbit frame by frame until I had a resemblance to movement and it looked like the rabbit had changed positions. After creating a few frames of movement, I then added a simple background to resemble the rabbit sitting on grass.

I also realised that the rabbit looks like it is eating due to it's movements and so I decided to add carrots to the background to add to the effect of the rabbit and it's movement. Although it very short, I was really happy with the animation because it was the first time I had ever animated anything.