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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Authority and Authenticity

Posted by John Holbo on 01/13/08 at 07:42 PM

Interesting bit from an interview with a Pixar animator:

Talking about the differences between Pixar and Studio Ghibli, we end up discussing Casarosa’s fortunate position of having been able to visit Studio Ghibli. In one of his related blog posts he mentions* he and Miyazaki were discussing story and the different ways in which Pixar and Ghibli find their stories to tell.

“Well, as I was just saying, the process here is very much one of doing and redoing, making things better step by step. It involves a willingness to pick apart the movie and its themes. This constant editing and refining can be frustrating at times. The huge difference is that at Ghibli storyboards are done by the director and they are followed without exception. So you find a very different way of doing things there, the studio and its artists are following the leader’s vision without deliberation, editing or feedback necessary. Incidentally it sounds like Suzuki-san might be the only person at Ghibli able to have a discussion with Miyazaki-san regarding the story or characters of the movie they’re producing. In this setting though Miyazaki is free to go on his own journey finding the movie he wants to tell, bit by bit. The result are stories that are more fully personal and hold an authenticity and uniqueness which is close to impossible to achieve in the US, where a story, in the best case scenario, is well crafted by several gifted people while in the worse case scenario is made by committee. I think that’s what is great about many projects coming from Japan, with their own merits or faults, they possess an unwavering will to stick to their director’s vision. The stories are allowed to be more idiosyncratic that way and that is what I personally find inspiring and refreshing.

The whole reality of making animated movies in the US seems quite different. These films are expensive and thus need to appeal to a wide audience. That in itself tends to make many studios and their managers tense up. That is the unfortunate catch 22, the bigger the budget the more the results need to appease a huge audience and usually have a blander the flavor. Pixar overall is a wonderful exception within those terms but it still works with high stakes at hand.

via cartoonbrew.

Comments

Though George Lucas will show you that authenticity and uniqueness can only take you so far.

By David Moles on 01/14/08 at 06:11 AM | Permanent link to this comment

Touché.

By John Holbo on 01/14/08 at 08:13 AM | Permanent link to this comment

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Authority and Authenticity

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