The Studio of Ghibli and Spirited Away

Yu-Chun Liu Shin-Yun Pai Danila Calabrese Gerard Ong Chi-Yeh Wu

INTRODUCTION OF STUDIO GHIBLI

Studio Ghibli

• Studio Ghibli, Inc. is a Japanese animation film studio founded in 1985.

• The name “Ghibli” is based on the Arabic name for the sirocco, or Mediterranean wind, the idea being the studio would "blow a new wind through the Japanese anime industry“

• Best known for its anime feature films. The studio has also produced several short films and television commercials.

Best Partners of Ghibli

Miyazaki Hayao Creator/Director

Suzuki Toshio Manager/Producer

Animation Industry

Research Pre

production Production

Post production

Promotion

creativity

experience

Feedback from

previous clients

Story script

Proposal Character

setting

Scene setting

Story

Shading

Animation mixer

Modeling

optimization

Sound

Edit

Music

Release

Marketing

MIYAZAKI’S PHOSOLIPHY

Prototype of Character

Sosuke 《Ponyo》

Sosuke looks exactly like Miyazaki’s son at the age of 5. And Sosuke’s father is a sailor, always busy overseas, spend less time home as Miyazaki.

Porco Rosso 《Porco Rosso》

Miyazaki created this character with prototype of himself. A mid-aged man enjoys flying and adventure.

Miyazaki’s film

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pzazvuPK20&list=HL1360522649

Elements in Miyazaki’s film Environment

Protection

Family

Feminism

Romance

Friendship

Peace & Anti-war

Contemporary societal issues

SPIRITED AWAY

The story

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jGXcSBcvQQ&list=HL1360522649&feature=mh_lolz

Symbols of Story & Roles

• Bathhouse

is a symbol of the real society which is full of jealousy and ostracize.

Symbols of Story & Roles

• River God

is the symbol of nature pollution made by human. He is purified by Sen, just as the pollution made by human have to be solved by human ourselves.

Direct experience

Chihiro Is based on the protagonist’s ten-years-old daughter’s friend, who visited their summer house.

Yubaba A friend of Miyazaki whose job is to deal with non-performing loans in a bank

Scenes in Jiufen

Scenes in Jiufen

Scenes in Jiufen

Modern Japanese Society

• Ambiguous and hard to differentiate likes and dislikes.

• Being closed, protected, and remote from each other. Excessively indulge in their own world, and almost be a “Big -Ego” person.

• Utterance is already not trusted by people.

AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT

Audience

• Main target group: children and adolescents

• Secondary audience: family members

• Focused on Japanese market

Expectations and takeaways

• Light-hearted cartoons for entertainment and teaching of values

• Various genres of anime

• Inner strength and character

• Environmental pollution

Mission Statement

This is the kind of museum I don't want to make!

A pretentious museum

An arrogant museum

A museum that treats its contents as if they were more important than people

A museum that displays uninteresting works as if they were significant

Key stakeholders & Customer groups

Filmgoers and

anime fans

TV broadcasting

channels

Film developers

and theatres

Manga artists

Value offerings & Services provided

• Artistic content

• Professional hand-drawn animations

• Touching stories that impart values to the watcher

Resources and facilitating processes

• Partnership with industry distributors

• Permission for subbing or dubbing

• Marketing and merchandising rights

Marketing activities

• Promotional materials

– posters, trailers, premiers, mascots, press releases

• Merchandising characters as toy figurines

• Maintaining a fan website

• Advertisements in art houses, manga conventions, anime channels

Case Study: release in the US

• Disappointing gross of US$10 million

• Disney-Tokuma deal

• Absence of merchandising rights

• Limited efforts in marketing & distribution

Challenges

• Lack of successors

– Retiring of Miyazaki

• Distributors in other countries

– DVD versus Theater

• Target market: Japan

– The background of the story

References

• Jen-feng Lee(2006).Best partners of Ghibli-Miyazaki Hayao and Suzuki Toshio.Chinatimes

• Hsoao-chuan Lin(2008).Ponyo-Miyazaki's new production.The Libertytimes

• Wikipedia "Ghibli" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ghibli

• Wikipedia "Hayao Miyazaki" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

• Wikipedia "Spirited Away" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away#Release

• Pearson School and FE Colleges "Case study: Spirited Away" http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/FEAndVocational/CreativeandMedia/GCSE/GCSEFilmStudiesforWJEC/Resources/CaseStudies/Spirited_Away.pdf

• Andy Henderson(2010) "Spirited Away and Anime in the American Cinema Market" http://postbubbleculture.blogs.wm.edu/2010/04/20/spirited-away-and-the-emerging-presence-of-anime-in-the-american-market/

• TokyoTopia "Studio Ghibli" http://www.tokyotopia.com/studio-ghibli.html

• Brian Eggert(2001). Spirited away. http://www.deepfocusreview.com/reviews/spiritedaway.asp

• http://www.corneredangel.com/amwess/papers/fandom_agent.html