Miyazaki and Ghibli Studios - Leaders in Quality Animation Productions

By Sarah Clark
sarah.clark@theanimationschooldirectory.com
Animation School Directory Columnist

One of the most important animation production studios, Studio Ghibli, is based in Koganei-shi, Japan. Studio Ghibli is where great animators like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata have produced award-winning animated films embraced by audiences worldwide.

A Leader in Animation Film Production

Early on Ghibli established a reputation as a studio that valued creative collaboration. By housing all areas of production under one roof, the independent studio broke with the reigning Japanese animation business model, one which promoted greater divisions among animation departments, such as art, tracing and painting, and photography. The founders of Ghibli (pronounced jee-blee) believed that by creating an environment for greater collaboration among animators, the quality of their animations would reach new heights.
That approach appears to have borne out for Ghibli. As one of a handful of digital studios to compete with animation film industry heavyweights such as Disney, Ghibli's success has grown dramatically since its founding in 1985. The studio has won numerous international awards, including Oscars, for its work on films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle.

Embracing the Art, not the Business, of Animation

Miyazaki - the creative force behind Ghibli's most successful animated films - and his colleagues at Ghibli have long subscribed to the notion of putting art before profits. On average, the studio produces about one film per year, an extremely low number by animation studio production standards. But to Miyazaki, this model gives him and his fellow animators the freedom to devote the time he deems necessary to produce high quality animated films.

The studio employs 99 staff members, nearly half of whom are animators. Another quarter of the staff work in other creative areas including tracing and painting, art, directing and producing, and digital photography. Less than twenty people work on the business side, demonstrating Ghibli's preference for investing more heavily in creative endeavors, rather than business activities.

The Technology Behind Ghibli Films

Ghibli, not surprisingly, has embraced digital technology in the production of its films, though Miyazaki was trained in the traditional form of animation, using only his hands. Cels, sheets of thin plastic used to create animated features, are no longer used by Ghibli's animators. Today, animations are scanned into computers where they can be digitally painted and filmed.

Sources:

• Studio Ghibli

About the Author

Sarah Clark is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Virginia.