| 1. | (2 posts) | Studio Ghibli Eyecatch |
| 2. | (3 posts) | Region 2 "Grave of the Fireflies" DVD |
| 3. | (6 posts) | Why You Like Miyazaki |
| 4. | (5 posts) | Gods and Location |
We looked at 82 posts by 45 different contributors.
Back in the swing of things.
Ryoko Toyama responsed to a question about the Studio Ghibli logo that appears right before the film starts, "The eyecatch of Totoro was first used when "Omohide Poro Poro" was theater released in Japan in 1991. Hence, there was no eyecatch for the films (Nausicaa, Laputa, Totoro, Grave, Kiki) that were theater released earlier than that. However, the eyecatch was added when these films were video released by BV. . . The eyecatch was used because the name of "Ghibli" was relatively unknown compared to its past films and the names of Miyazaki and Takahata. People saw "Totoro" as a "Miyazaki's film", not "Ghilbi's film.". . . Miyazaki-San drew several designs. One of them was a MGM parody, in which Totoro was barking out of a circle. "
Chris Kuan commented, "Heh. He could have used the night-time flying scene when Totoro lets out his big roar!
Or maybe just quietly playing the ocarina... :-)
Michael Kerpan shared some thoughts on the Region 2 "Grave of the Fireflies" DVD, "This release is absolutely stunning. The image quality and color is spectacular. I don't know what the US DVD looked like, but the US video release is quite drab and flat by comparison. We barely recognized some scenes,because the visual impact was so much more overwhelming. It also uses different, seemingly more literal sub-titles."
David Griffiths didn't share the same feeling, "to be perfectly honest, when I started watching, I was dismayed at the video quality. . . the video black level is inconsistant throughout the movie. At the beginning of the movie, the black level is too high, so compression artifacts are very visible throughout the opening sequence on a properly calibrated TV. The levels are OK at the end of the movie however. . . Here are some unretouched sample frames pulled directly from the MPG source file
http://www.nogami.senkou.com/storage/graveopening.tif
http://www.nogami.senkou.com/storage/graveend.tif
the transition point is at 11:27 - at the scene change when the kids start climbing up the hill. . . It's possible the problems were simply a result of the master tape they encoded the DVD from, but it would've been easy to color correct it before encoding. . . The only real solution is to adjust the brightness of your set down at the beginning of the movie, then turn it back to normal when the proper levels appear later. . . I got my Yamadas DVD in the same shipment. . . No problems with Yamadas - it's a great job of DVD mastering (and a great movie too!).
-In this shot, you can easily see the MPG compression artifacts surrounding Seita - blacks look grey instead of black
-At the end of the movie, things are much better, there is a slight artifacting around the skyline, but the stars are visible in the sky and the picture looks much more consistant.
Michael replied, "Our TV is obviously not calibrated properly, as we did not notice the problems you describe (though we have seen these in some other DVD releases). <g>"
A great DVD to have is "Video Essentials", which guides you through a calibration of your home theater (audio and video). The difference before and after is substantial as the comments above attest.
Lucius Furius wrote (in reply to a message about themes in "Mononoke Hime"), "I think the fact that you noticed many Christian concepts in PM is testament to the power of Miyazaki's artistic abilities. If Miyazaki wanted to, he could have made the movie as specifically Japanese as possible, but it seems to me that he chose to leave it somewhat universal. . . I think you will find this phenomenon in any great literary classic you read, or in any great symphony that you hear. I think it is because Miyazaki has mastered this one thing (among many, many other things, of course) that everyone enjoys his movies so much. . . I'd like to hear what other people have to say as to why they like Miyazaki (I'm new to this list)."
Sandy Straubhaar added, "consciously or unconsciously, he seems to "channel" archetypical elements found in heroic-quest narratives from all over the world, and not in a cheesy "oh, I can tell where he got _that_ from" way, but in an organic way that keeps the story's inner logic. . . I'm having more fun anticipating a course I've proposed (and had approved) for _next fall_, on The Heroic Archetype. . . There will be a section at the beginning of the semester on "The Hero Encounters Evil, Is Scarred, and Leaves Home" where I'm thinking I'll use the appropriate footage from PM"
MrSpiffy (who I've discovered also makes Chrono Cross tabs) wrote, "The reason I like Miyazaki so much is simple: he tells a good story. . . Using animation as a medium, Miyazaki can tell a compelling story that anyone can love. I'm sure that if Miyazaki was a live-action director, I would still enjoy his work (but then again, I like his animation style too :)."
Michael Wojcik chipped in with, "All of them, though, show real dedication and craft; they're the products of an artist and studio that are heavily invested in their work. That's one reason. Another is that Miyazaki clearly cares about his characters. Even when those characters are larger than life (Nausicaa and Ashitaka) they're allowed to display human qualities, particularly in reflective moments, which Miyazaki seems to have a particular knack for. . . And, of course, the children's films are charming, and the adult ones offer grist for the intellectual mill. And they're all pretty and at least occasionally funny, which shouldn't be discounted either."
IronMouse added a good chunk of text, "I can't explain why I liked Nausicaa so much as a 6 year-old, but I can say he has that special "touch" worthy only of the greatest directors. Every film he makes has some sort of personal signature on it, and it *sticks* in the minds of the people who watch it. . . This has been the subject of great dinner-table discussions at my household, and we all have differing opinions on what it is we like about Miyazaki the best. My dad the great cinema critic thinks it's his choice of colours (!). . . no-one else he'd seen can use colours like Miyazaki. He's convinced it's the number 1 thing that makes Miyazaki's films different from live-action films.
My sister reckons Miyazaki has a great sense of humour combined with great action scenes (as expected, Laputa is her favourite film). As for me, well, I'm obsessed with things like plot coherency, and Studio Ghibli films have very well-thought out plotlines with no gaping holes or loose ends. Miyazaki's films always has impeccable "form". . . All of Miyazaki's films go from start to finish without any feelings that there should be a prequel or a sequel.
Raz Greenberg wondered, "Are the God entities in the movie (the different gods of the forest) based on (or maybe they are actual) god-entities from the Japanese Folklore? Does anyone has any idea? While at it, is the two of Iron-Works based on a real location?" The movie he's referring to is, of course, "Princess Mononoke".
Chris Meadows tackled the first question, "You probably know more about this than I do, as it sounds like you took a course more centered on mythology than the Japanese History intersession course I just started taking. . . we learned an overview of the Shinto religion, in which most objects have spirits, and the various Japanese clans adopted the spirits of their local regions as their ancestors. I would assume that these are normal Shinto-type spirits of the area (one can assume wolves and deer are common animals in a forest, and the Boars are specifically mentioned as having travelled all the way from another island"
Tom Wilkes answered the second, "You can read about the origins of Iron Town (called "Tatara-Ba" --literally "Foot-bellows Place" -- in the original Japanese) in the summary of Part 1 of the documentary "How _Mononoke Hime_ Was Born".
As for the geographic location of Iron Town in the movie, it is thought to be somewhere in or near the Izumo region (on the northwest coast of Japan). Ashitaka would have had to travel across most of the main island of Japan -- from the Eastern end to the Western end -- in order to reach Iron Town from the Emishi village.
Miyazaki-san turned 60 on January 5th. Cynthia noted that "Panda Go Panda" placed 45th on Amazon.com's critic list for 2000. Funny site about Mononoke (no, that *that* one). An official English subtitled version of "Nausicaa" exists, but you can't see it (yet). Anthony likes the Hisashi soundtrack to "Brother" (publisher is Polydor). Sharon Westfall described the "Princess Mononoke" DVD sales situation in Hawaii while I found a sales listing for on-line stores.
Alright! The 2001 Back Issues page is now open for business! ^_^