Konbanwa

Japanese Animation (sometimes called Japanimation) or Anime is a distinctive form of film making which has been increasingly more accepted in the western world in recent years. It probably originated at the beginning of the 20^th Century around the same time as Cinema hit England and the USA and was probably inspired by them. Japan also has a notable film cinema industry that developed around the same time and is still around today.

The term ‘anime’ in Japan is literally just the Japanese word for animation and is synonymous for all animation in the world by definition.

Manga is another term for the style of Japanese animation but in England this is more specifically used to describe the Japanese comic books. These comics tend to be black and white and are read in the traditional Japanese way; Back to front and top to bottom.

There are some things which are pretty much expected with anime.

Usually male characters have big spiky hair. I don’t why this is, but they just do.

Characters usually have large eyes, small noses and mouths and their faces generally come to quite a point. They also have these really strange representations of emotion through really a-typical ways.

I found these pictures which show what I mean:

                    Angry                            Angry                         Angry again

                    Dead                           Confused                           Smile

                    Love                              Happy                          Still Angry

                    Scared                               Sad                                Sigh

I think the first feature length anime I ever watched was ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ and it is still one of my favourites. I was really impressed by the magical kind of imagination that the directors and animators could project and the impressive realism through a completely unrealistic style and theme. It is really easy to sustain disbelief when watching the films despite the fact that they are clearly hand drawn. That says something about the production.

I had seen other Japanese animations before I watched Howl’s Moving Castle but they were more like action cartoons like ‘Dragonball’ and ‘Pokemon’ and never had the same kind of personality.

A Short History

The Japanese Anime style has definitely developed as a kind of symbol of Japanese culture and creativity but it started as a much more practical purpose.

Japan has never been a particularly wealthy country but it has always had some very creative and intelligent minds and some seriously hard workers.

As I said, When cinema was invented in the western world Japan were eager to get involved in their own cinema which they did, the problem of course being funding.

There were some companies that could afford to make films but funds were short and it was difficult to find a high budget.

This meant that there could be no kinds of special effects or pyrotechnics of any kind and more importantly no one could afford to hire European looking actors so Japanese film directors had some serious walls surrounding their creativity.

The answer was animation, in which a character can be drawn to represent any age, gender and ethnicity and the stylised look can create impressive special effects all on a very low budget.

The issue here of course was finding talented artists and hard workers which as I also said is not so much of a problem in Japan.

So what started as a solution to a lack of money became an important industry which is still thriving today with independent anime production companies and bigger world cinema directing companies such as Studio Ghibli.

Studio Ghibli is probably the most successful and renowned Japanese animation company in the world. It is responsible for producing ‘Spirited Away’ which won the 2002 Oscar for Best Animated Feature and is still the only foreign film to have done so. 

That sounds like a pretty big achievement to me.

The company was founded in June 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and Iaso Takahata after the success of another of my favourite films ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’ which was directed by Miyazaki. It was originally a manga comic which got turned into a feature length animation as had become the fashion for many comics.

Miyazaki has directed the majority of the Ghibli films.

The company is also known for its strong zero-tolerance stance on editing the films for international release (such as cutting so that scenes fit with the dubbed audio). This was because of the release of ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’ in the US where the title was changed to ‘Warriors of the Wind’ and huge parts of the plot were edited in the typical American way and large sections of the film were completely cut. As such they now have a strong opinion about cutting.

The Co-Chairman of Miramax suggested editing the hit studio Ghibli film “Princess Mononoke” for the US market, to which Miyazaki replied by sending a genuine Katana samurai sword with a note attached.

The note simply read, “No cuts”.

Childish

One issue that is difficult for Japanese animations to overcome is the look of childishness. When people see animation they generally assume that it is for children and that it is a comedy. Looking at animation in this way is really naïve but it is understandable as most of us have grown up watching cartoons which are for children and are all light hearted. When we get older we generally move away from cartoon animation and start watching programs with actors because they are more serious and grown up, and from that we get the idea that cartoons were just for when we were young.

Animation is not the same as cartoons and it is definitely not for kids.

In fact, a child watching some of these anime films would almost definitely not understand the point and would probably be scarred for life.

As far as I know, all Studio Ghibli films are a PG at most apart from “Grave of the Fireflies” which is a 12 and does have some much more disturbing material.

This film pretty much revolves around death and destruction during WWII from the perspective of a pair of Japanese children. We know that Japan was hit pretty hard during this war and they did not come out on top, so you can guess that the film isn’t a happy one.

This is the opening quote from the film:

“September 21, 1945... That was the night I died.”

You can pretty much understand how the film might be going from there.

Although all Studio Ghibli films are rated at a maximum of 12 in terms of the BBFC, that is only Studio Ghibli.

There are hundreds of other producers and animators of all different fame and wealth status who have different styles and stories to tell.

There are some really tame anime films and there are some which really aren’t. 

British Cinema

Over the last few years I have watched a fair amount of contemporary British cinema which was introduced as a module in Media Studies at A level. I think the reason that I like it so much is because it is a seemingly honest kind of film making which seems realistic and can make fun of itself and the country as well. There tends to be no sense of grandeur and I find it generally relevant to me as the audience and there are a lot of things I can relate to and understand. I like the variety of films that can be produced focussing on different ethnicities and ages and genres.

Whereas a lot of US blockbuster films tend to glamorise their country and exaggerate a lot, contemporary British cinema usually realises things like the fact that most days are grey but it doesn’t always rain and that life is not as exciting as action films make it out to be but it can still be just as important.

Probably the first British film that I watched while appreciating the fact that it was British was ‘This Is England’, which I’d guess about 90% of the country have watched and mostly enjoyed. That was followed by other like ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’, ‘Confetti’, ‘Birthday Girl’ and ‘United 93’.

United 93 is an interesting version of a British film because the entire cast are American and it is completely set in the States. What makes it British is that it was funded by the UK and the director is British which gives the film a distinctive style and direction.

I’m certain the film wouldn’t be anything like the same if it were American.

Cinema started in early 20^th century but was properly developed in the late 19^th.

Advances in motion picture development had already happened around a few different countries (Most notably the Lumiere brothers of France) but Celluloid film motion pictures were first developed in Hyde Park in London in 1889 by William Friese Greene who patented the process a year later.

The first ever British Film was “Incident at Clovelly Cottage” by Robert W. Paul and Birt Acres who developed the first 35mm film camera in the UK.

The British Film industry developed more over the next century through ups and downs and is still around today. Although undeniably having a niche audience, the industry is still supported by millions of people and continues to roll out more and more films each year. In more recent years the development of films has been backed up with some government funding and impressive notable grants from the National Lottery and Channel 4 (and Film 4).

This page from the BFI website shows how cinema continues to develop despite many films failing to achieve any kind of distinguishing achievements:

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/facts/fact2.html

It also shows the recession and boom phases of the recent history.

There are a lot of important British film studios across the country, 7 of which are in Hertfordshire and are within a 10 mile radius of where I live. One is next door to where my Dad lives on Goldhawk Road in London and another is very close to my Brothers flat in Shephard’s Bush.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_film_studios

Elstree Studios are 5 miles from my house here and are where Big Brother has been filmed since it started. It was also the location for filming the original Star Wars trilogy, The Shining, the original 3 Indiana Jones films and Kick-Ass. 

Although British cinema tends to have a reputation for not being so successful on a grand level, it can be considered excellent when put into context.

In fact it can be visibly seen in the top grossing movies of all time.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/

On an obvious level, a large proportion of the films are historically or culturally British:

#2 – Titanic

#3 – The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

#4 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

#8 – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

#9 – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

#10 – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

#11 – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

#12 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

#13 – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

#16 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

#19 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

#20 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Titanic was an Olympic class steam ship registered in Liverpool and it left from Southampton on the maiden voyage which ended in disaster.

The Lord of the Rings films are highly based on the books of English Oxford Professor J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Pirates of the Caribbean films are based around the British Empire and feature many British actors.

The Harry Potter films are based on the J.K. Rowling books and are partially funded by the UK film Council.

Many of these films were also part funded by organisations in the UK or were partially filmed in the country.

At a closer look, it seems like about 2/3 of the most successful films have had some kind of significant British involvement. 

Independent Cinema

These are some of my favourite independent films.

Sonny

I made this kinetic typography for a scene from 'The Life Aqautic with Steve Zissou' which is one of my favourite independent movies and Bill Murray is one of my favourite actors.



It took a surprisingly long time which is funny because this is a research brief but still I do quite like it.
It is a lot better than my last attempt and it has taught me a lot more about using the program and about laying out type and stuff and I think it is quite good overall.

I guess this is kind of like visually researching how the original subject matter can inspire creativity.

Independent Cinema

For a few years I have become really interested in independent cinema. What I mean by independent is really just smaller production companies like those that makes contemporary british cinema with directors like Mike Leigh, Shane Meadows and Ken Loach or generally any films that aren't totally in the spotlight in hollywood blockbusters.
I still like some big budget hollywood style films as well but they can be tacky and obvious and its often clear that the director is not particularly looking to create a masterpiece and the producers just want more money back than they put in.

It isn't just british independent cinema as I like films from all over the world. The US has some good directors that I really like such as Wes Anderson and I have always liked Japanese Anime from Studio ghibli.

I like films produced by Guillermo del Toro and I really like western european indy films and I really like coming across a good film from a director that I don't know.
 
If you watch a film with a foreign language, you watch it with subtitles. 
Never dubbed.

I decided after the end of the last module that I wanted to work more with type and I had just watched the film "Dirty Pretty Things" again which is one of my favorites. 
It inspired me to have a go at some hand drawn type and I made this:

The quote is from the film and I like it because its just a bit stupid and meaningless and just fits its context well. the full quote is:
"You know, Okwe, good at chess usually means bad at life. You do realize that she's in love with you, don't you? I've been with her 20 minutes, and I know it. But then, I'm bad at chess..." 

I also wanted to experiment with animation and making kinetic typography stuff.



So I stole a sound clip from the film and followed some guides to teach me the basics of Adobe After Effects as I haven't used it before now.
I then quickly jotted down the steps of the animation so that I had something to follow:

Then I made this:



I like the animation but it is quite short because the quote is said so quickly.
I also made this title for the film trying to make it have a bold gritty feeling which represents the content of the film to me.