Hey Guys!
Emily here; I really wanted to start the conversation on this film, since it's my all time favorite Miasaki movie. Some things I wanted to discuss (in the comments or in your own post):
- The use of environmental animation
- Detail in hair, fur, and leaves
- Mood as created by the environment and how it was animated
These, I believe, are what really make Miasaki's movies masterpieces.
Do you guys think he employs different artists to animate background things (such as the rainbow-glowing dragonflies, sparkling butterflies, plants blowing in the wind, leaves crashing against Ashitaka as he ran through the forest on the wolves' back) as opposed to life-animation (Ashitaka, the wolves, the apes, all characters, etc)?
The trees blowing in the wind. Hold on little guys!
Honestly, the use of environmental animation in this film is astounding. Even when the scene changes from the Boars charging, grenades detonating beneath them, the war against ironworks and the gods of the forest - to Ashitaka and San lying in the Moro Clan's cave together with the leaves and grass blowing through the cracks in the rocks. It sets the mood of the forest and its fragility so wonderfully, highlighting the forest's dire importance and beauty in such a subtle way - even as it's being destroyed by Ironworks.
Here are some examples I could find from my favorite scenes.
Look!
Ashitaka lying in the Deer God's pond, about to be healed. The water cradles and covers him, setting a calm yet eerie mood. He is dead (I think!)
The Deer God then visits, and heals his wounds. Here, since he can both give and take life, I see the Deer God transferring the plant's life into Ashitaka.
Ok this might be my all-time inspiration to animate. LOOK AT HIS FEET! LOOK AT THE PLANTS! They come to life, they die, they demonstrate the Deer God's power without words, lore, or any explanation needed. So brilliant.
Here's a great example of the rainbow dragonflies in the foreground - if you can see them!
The story was wonderful, but this is something that ties the entire theme of the film together, all in the background.
What did you guys think?
Dear Emily,
Thank you for breaking the ice! The wind blowing through the trees always reminded me of an animal's fur. The forest as a living organism and the trees as its skin. I am reading the Codex Regius (or the Vikings' mythological lore). There, they refer to Odin's beard as "cheek-forest".
We must remember that ancient religions in Japan were animistic...meaning that everything had a soul. For this reason the forest was fundamental in ancient religions. Miyasaki has mentioned that urbanization has had a great impact from an environmental point of view, but also in spiritual terms.
Jose
I really enjoyed the film especially because this was my first time seeing it. I love the environment and the animals. It look me a while to accept that the animal spirits could talk. I also really like the little guys in the forest. They had such personality and they were so memorable like the sootballs in some of the other Ghibli movies. I also like the designs of the main characters. However, I did not like the design of the Deer God. He looked ok and mystical when he was back-light but not when they showed his face.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the fact that they did not rush then ending. The whole story just seemed to flow nicely from the beginning to the climax to the ending. I am very excited to see the next Ghibli movie!
Emily - Interested to know more about why Mononoke stands out for you in the Miyazaki canon - thematically? Emotionally?
ReplyDeleteThe animation in Mononoke is certainly gorgeous, and interestingly I notice that you focus on the animation of the environment, and its derivatives: the wind in the trees, the growth and decay of the footsteps - and let's not forget the horror of the demons. These elements work in a definite contrast against the human characters of the film, who are on the whole more limited in their animation than you find in many of Miyazaki's other features, and rightly so. However, even when "holding back" the animation of the human characters is masterful in their subtleties, and this is where I believe Miyazaki achieves greatness. He fully understands his characters, so that the audience believes in their humanity entirely, both by the type of storytelling Miyazaki employs (notice how none of Miyazaki's characters exist simply to create a plot development) and, as we notice upon any character's introduction, the way that they move.
So important is this last point that it in many ways explains the faults that lie in the Ghibli films that Miyazaki produced the screenplay for, but did not direct (e.g. Arrietty, Poppy Hill) - - Poppy Hill especially so, for a film that could have been made very complex and enticing it comes across very lifeless, unvarying, and uninteresting.
Conner! I'm so glad you'll be joining us on this blog too!
DeleteIn comparison to the other films he's directed that I love - such as Castle in the Sky, Howls Moving Castle, Whisper of the Heart, and The Cat Returns - Princess Mononoke stands out because of all the creatures and critters it features (fictional and real).
Personally, I love seeing the strangest and most gruesome characters an animator/storywriter can come up with and be able to work it into the story, make them relevant, make their deformity relevant, make them important in all their freakishness without the actual freakishness be their focal point. Only once is anyone described as 'ugly' in the film, which is Sen by the Wolf Goddess Moro, her 'mother' (ironically enough). I adore how the theme of hatred in this film deformed and defiled the Boar God in the beginning, creating the entire conflict Ashitaka faces when he's cursed with the scar. Even the slithering fleshy leeches on the Boar God in the beginning aren't what deemed him 'ugly' or 'demoic' or 'dangerous' - it was the hatred it sprouted from, which is what the characters were truly afraid of; espcially Ashitaka, who throughout the film tried to diffuse the hatred between the humans and the forest creatures entirely in order to create peace.
Whoever directed the design and development of the Gods, the Kodama, the Apes, the Mice, Sen (who she herself could even be called one of the creatures), and the Nightwalker should be applauded for their outstanding work. Each creature had such a distinct personality and role that stayed true the entire film. I just love it.
I really liked this movie. The film has many of the characteristics that other Miyazaki films share such as the male and female dual lead, beautiful backgrounds and character designs, interesting side characters, and touches of the surreal supernatural. The animation itself is absolutely gorgeous, especially the water in the Deer God's pond and the growth and decay of vegetation when the Deer God walks (I agree with alice on the Deer God's design, didn't really work for me.) I also find that Miyazaki films typically have well animated blobs and fat rolls... (No Face in Spirited Away, the Swamp Witch in Howl's Moving Castle, and the Deer God when he's looking for his head). For the use of the environment, I feel that the hyper realistic environments really emphasized the importance of nature in this movie, and the sublime beauty in nature, which added to the story in general. In all, I really liked this movie, and we should watch more. Like, right now. Side note, those Kodamas are adorable and I want three hundred of them.
ReplyDeletePrincess Mononoke was amazing. This was at least the third time I had seen it unfortunately, but it blew me away nevertheless. I still felt drawn in, and hushed in amazement at certain scenes, such as those with the Deer God. Although I agree with Alice in that the Deer God was unnerving, Miyazaki did an amazing job giving it an ethereal, supernatural quality. The animation is stunning, and I was especially impressed with the use of silence, something uncommon in films.
ReplyDeleteHe did indeed use multiple artists for various components of the animation. Although hard to tell, 3D rendering was used many times. The easiest to spot is the demon tentacles surrounding his arm at various times, but it also applied to the blood tentacles and partially the nightwalker. You may also notice very smooth transitions of Tatari Gami's decomposing, as well as the blooming plants. The hardest of all to tell is the background, for much of the terrain was started with 3D composition and later had effects drawn over it.
So you were right: he did use different artists for background objects, such as leaves and dragonflies and other particles. Foreground artists did primarily the character sketches using digital paint CG, while much of the secondary visuals was at least based on 3D CG.
Sorry for not adding to the conversation but how did you post onto the blog?
ReplyDelete@greg: If you got invited to be an author properly, there should be a "New Post" link in the very top right corner of the window.
ReplyDeleteHey this is Mari and my computer is all jacked up so I'm using Alice's computer. I really liked Princess Mononoke. This was the first time that I've ever seen it and I was really impressed with everything about it. I loved the backgrounds they were super pretty and had that HUGE feeling to them that makes you feel like the world is endless. I also found the story line really interesting because they presented a moral problem but didn't condemn either side. It was almost a human versus nature scenario but the humans were not fully demonized. They had their faults but really the problem was a lack of understanding. I also really loved the sound effects and how in sync they were with the movements and the way even the slightest movements made sound. All in all it was beautiful Ghibli's people's foreheads still weird me out a little but I can see past that and enjoy the fluidity and care put into this movie.
ReplyDeleteYo waz up Sydney in house. The thing that I loved the most about the most was that their was no clear villain. All of the people that could have been considered the antagonists had very good reasons for doing what they were doing. The Lady Eboshi wanted to build a home for herself and the women and in order to do this she needed to kill the Gods of the forest. The Gods only wanted to protect the forest and their tribes. The guy with the least reason was the hunter. But we were introduced to him early and shown that he was a nice guy. All in all I loved the movie.
ReplyDeleteSimon the Raccoon,
ReplyDeleteI loved the movie, it had two raccoons in it. We raccoons aren't represented in film enough, and its good to see us get some screen time.
So it's no secret how excited I was to watch this movie when we were in the theater. I adore this movie, to me it's Miyazaki's magnum opus and one of my all time favorite movies. And amongst every environmentally fueled movie, Princess Mononoke stands out as one of the strongest and most realistic, even with the fantastical elements included, because you believe these characters could exist as real personalities you encounter instead of mouthpieces for a black or white argument over why the environment needs to be protected (coughs at Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind for years).
ReplyDeleteEven aside from the strong environmental themes, the movie's strongest message is about life and finding meaning to live a fruitful life that gives you meaning, no matter where you end up or what the circumstances are, it's better to find reasons to live than to give up. Almost every character Ashitaka encounters, especially Ashitaka himself with his curse, has faced hardship or faces hardship within the narrative and even in adversity they find reasons to keep living, which influences him to save himself and the forest along with himself. It gives his life purpose.
This was already brought up a ton, but what's really incredible about this movie is how real everything feels, especially the environments. A lot of fictional settings have a way they're organized so you can easily imagine moving around the set and remember the details clearly (like the bathhouse in Spirited Away or Howl's Castle). In Princess Mononoke, the world is massive and incredibly hard to map out, and places like Ashitaka's village, the massacred village, Iron Town, and the Deer God's pond are landmarks on a massive world map. It really works to the movie's advantage because Miyazaki is trying to show how nature is not a benevolent part of the world, it's mysterious and vast, but forgiving and healing and people need to learn to live side by side with nature because it can be loved and feared.
And good lord, the designs are so memorable for me, these characters are very real, even when they're fantastical gods and demons, especially San.
I need to rewatch this movie immediately.
Dear Emily,
ReplyDeleteThank you for breaking the ice! The wind blowing through the trees always reminded me of an animal's fur. The forest as a living organism and the trees as its skin. I am reading the Codex Regius (or the Vikings' mythological lore). There, they refer to Odin's beard as "cheek-forest".
We must remember that ancient religions in Japan were animistic...meaning that everything had a soul. For this reason the forest was fundamental in ancient religions. Miyasaki has mentioned that urbanization has had a great impact from an environmental point of view, but also in spiritual terms.