Mamoru Hosoda & Makoto Shinkai

Ever since I got into the works of Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli back in 2005 (ish) I've been branching off and finding other Japanese film-makers that adopt a similar style and are actually close to being serious competition against Ghibli's animations.

Pictures above: Wolf Children

I consider all animation to be art but Japanese animation in particular I hold very close to my passions because the watercolour medium and traditional drawing is something I don't think the Japanese will ever let go of. I've always had a particular interest in watercolour paintings which is why I probably follow Japanese directors and animations more closely than any other form of animation. They create world's that I want to be a part of and the stories they visualise whether it be fantastical or the ordinary events that occur in family life put the meaning of animation on a whole new perspective for children. What differs the Japanese form to American or British in my opinion is there's always a reason for the story. There's a life lesson for kids to learn from watching these stories whether it's highlighting the effects of global warming and deforestation or accepting people for who they are no matter what they look like.

Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki

Two directors I follow particularly closely are Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai who adopt the traditions of drawn animation but have also begun to mix it with CGI for background characters and locations.
Mamoru Hosoda was the first I discovered after seeing 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' followed by 'Summer Wars' and 'Wolf Children.' All three have a strong focus on family life, with 'Summer Wars' and 'Wolf Children' having this connection the most. Although 'Wolf Children' has a fantastical element added (two children born as half wolf, half human), there is still the meaning of acceptance and not judging people by their appearance as Hana (the mother) falls in love with Ookami (the father/wolfman) and although once revealed he is a wolf, Hana continues to love him for who he is. The same occurrence happens when Yuki (the daughter) reveals she is a wolf to one of her classmates, Sohei, who also accepts her. Not only does the story do this, but it stresses the importance of family and having the strength to continue to smile through the tough moments in life as well as to work hard to support a family.
The latter meaning is stronger in 'Summer Wars' as Kenji is asked to pretend to be the 'intended' for Natsuki over the summer break when she returns home to her large family.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' doesn't have an underlying meaning of family but instead focuses on romance and the fragility of time. Makoto discovers she has acquired the ability to leap through time and recklessly wastes them on meaningless events such as re-playing the time spent in the karaoke booth. Only when she realises she has fallen in love with best friend, Chiaki, who is in fact from the future, does she come to realise that time is a precious commodity and should be used to help others.

5cm Per Second

Then there's Makoto Shinkai who has only recently started doing big feature film productions. He's directed the films '5cm per second', 'Voices of a Distant Star', 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days', 'Children Who Chase Lost Voices' and 'The Garden of Words.'
His films always have a central male and female character with the theme of love as the ending scenario. From my own opinion, I would say 'Children Who Chase Lost Voices' (Or Journey to Agartha as it's titled in English) is his best work so far, partly because it's his second full length feature so there was an opportunity to extend character development and story but also I thought the artwork portrayed Agartha as the otherworldly land below the surface of the Earth beautifully.
His stories give people the belief that love can be between any two people, whether they are from two entirely different worlds or have a significant but not too big an age gap. Unlike Hosoda, Shinkai's work does tip further towards the fantasy side of storytelling however some ordinary, family matters do worm their way into his films.



Journey To Agartha (Children Who Chase Lost Voices)

Between the two, I'd say I'm currently more of a Hosoda fan, purely for the sensitive and endearing films he can produce from the ordinary events in a person's life, even if he adds a touch of fantasy to it. His films speak emotion and it's that quality alone that allows people to connect and relate to the character's. After watching 'Wolf Children' with actor commentary, the ADR Director asked each voice actor if they could relate to any of the characters in the film. Every one of them could name one character that reflected them, whether it was the absence of a parent or being shy or not really fitting in amongst others of their age when they were younger and it's that which makes his films so much more beautiful than anything else I've watched. Most animated films are created to entertain, to make you laugh or just to keep the kids happy for a few hours. Every one of those films I've listed from both directors have been created with a purpose to not only entertain, but to connect with the world and the struggles that people face everyday. I think you're supposed to come away after watching their films having learnt something about the world we live in, that every moment spent on it is precious, we cannot be selfish and we cannot hope to survive on our own without our loved ones around us to pick us up when times get hard.

Just been working to better my editing skills, and being a massive DreamWorks fan I've edited together a video compilation of all their films so far.

Waltz with Bashir

An Israeli film director interviews veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to piece together his own memories of his role in the conflict.

Out of the three films I have seen so far (Coonskin, Animal Farm and Waltz of Bashir), this third film definitely made me feel more emotion towards the victims of the war.
It is an unusual film as it is made up entirely of interviews with ex-soldiers and it is also animated, combining Adobe Flash cutouts and classic animation with a tiny amount of 3D.
The appearance is very similar to comic book art as they've used very defined outlines and harsh black shadows throughout the film. I actually liked this style because it represents the overall atmosphere of the film, making everything darker meant we see the events as brutal and completely unnecessary as they eradicate innocent civilians.
At the end we see news footage of the aftermath of the invasion and it helps the audience to understand that, yes, this was an animation (which most of the time is seen as a fantasy) but in truth it is a depiction of what real veterans are imagining and to back it all up we see the true events that followed in real life.

I watched Tangled last night and low and behold I noticed some squash and stretch was used in the film!

 

Unlike 2D drawing it is much harder to achieve squash and stretch in 3D because the volume of the characters is set and cannot be changed. I think it was definitely required in this section, it exaggerates the gravitational pull from the Earth and the speed they are travelling and as the branch falls, their faces get left behind. I remember this technique being used a lot in previously animated films I watched when I was younger.

Censored Eleven

While I was watching the extension task of viewing some other videos in the history and theory of animation, I came across a description under one of the videos that mentioned it was one of the 'Censored Eleven.' Curiosity led me to look into this and found some interesting information surrounding the Warner Bros studios.

The Censored Eleven

They are a group of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies cartoons that were withdrawn from broadcast as they were deemed too offensive towards black people. None of these eleven have been broadcast since 1968 when the United Artists censored them.
They have been others that have also been censored but are not on the list. For example Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips has also been removed as it offends the Japanese (this was a World War 2 cartoon).

1. Hittin' the Trail for Halleujah Land (1931)

Features Piggy as a river boat captain whose boat is the stage for a band of black performers.

 

 

2. Sunday Go to Meeting Time (1936)

 

Nicodemus' wife attempts to show him the ways of righteousness as he is caught gambling with dice.

 

 

3. Clean Pastures (1937)

 

 

Popular black musical stars of the day are seen livin it up in heaven.

 

4. Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937)

 

 

Tex Avery parody of Uncle Tom's Cabin

 

5. Jungle Jitters (1938)

 

 

A dumb travelling salesman knocks on the door of a hut owned by cannibalistic African natives.

 

6. The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938)

 

 

A ship leaves Port for Pingo Pongo which is home to Zulu natives.

 

7. All this and Rabbit Stew (1941)

 

Bugs Bunny is hunted by a black hunter who is obsessed with gambling.
(Yep even Bugs Bunny was censored.)

 

8. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)

 

Parody of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' but with a black cast.

 

9. Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943)

 

Fats Waller is portrayed as an alley cat who enters a club for some wine, women and song and is whisked away into another world by a trumpet solo.

 

10. Angel Puss (1944)

 

 

 

A black boy is paid to drown a cat.

 

 

11. Goldilocks and the Jivin Bears (1944)

 

 

 

Different version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears but with an all black cast and the bears are jazz musicians.

 

 

 



Animal Farm and Coonskin

Over the past two weeks I've watched screenings of two very different films emphasizing two different aspects of world history.



 Coonskin (1975) was shown in the first week and depicts three African/American characters, Brother Rabbit, Brother Bear and Preacher Fox who rise to the top of organised crime by encountering law enforcers, con artists and the Mafia. It was influenced by and heavily exaggerates the 1946 film Song of the South which had also come under some controversy of racism although in a very light manner. The idea of Coonskin was to attack racial stereotypes as Bakshi was against the organised criminals of the world regardless of race or colour. However black people in particular believed the opposite, they thought Coonskin was using blackface minstrels, including stereotypes from Hollywood films to exaggerate the racism.
The film never made it onto the big screen and was distributed to a limited number of places as home video.





 Animal Farm (1954) portrays an animal community living on a farm under the charge of a drunk farmer who no longer cares for the welfare of his livestock. They chase out the farmer and assume control of the farm and its day to day running, supposedly acquiring equality among all animals.
The idea of the film is based on George Orwell's book under the same name and expresses the founding of the USSR and the reign of Stalin and his communist ideas. It represents human characteristics in animal instincts as each animal dreams of being equal and sharing the land but when the pigs take over, one of the principles of the revolution is forgotten until the animals have less freedom than before. Instead of the act of revolution being the animal's downfall, it is in fact the corrupt leadership of the pigs which destroys the equality the animals strived for.

Neither of these films are like the fantasy story-tellings of Disney but they hold a very clearing connection to world history. It helps me to understand what information is considered too sensitive for today's audience so I know what to put into my own future animations without causing controversy.