PONYO!!

Request for the Sheppard Boys, on the movie Ponyo...

A trailer of Ponyo can be seen here http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/ponyo/

My good pal Weigy also saw him in person at San Diego Comicon (picture above)

check out his blog @ http://blog.weigy.com/meeting-hayao-miyazaki/ !

Really, if you are a Miyazaki fan, check it out. Weigy also has a review of the movie Ponyo @ http://blog.weigy.com/ponyo-on-the-cliff/ !

It's a great spoiler free review that talks about the sort of emotions and ideas Ponyo inspires.

Now I was lucky enough to see Miyazaki in person a few months ago, and Ponyo was one of the things he talked about briefly. The interviewer had just seen the movie the day before, so he decided to talk about spoilers for the rest of us.... So if you don't want to know anything about the movie, don't read ahead.

I still took down some notes though.

On event in the movie is a giant tsunami wave that threatens the human settlement. The interviewer asks Miyazaki about this, and mentions Nausicaa's sea of corruption. Miyazaki responds that humans often believe they are seperate from the rest of nature, living in houses in cities and such, but we are not. The tidal wave in Ponyo though is of a different nature than the deadly force of Nausicaa's Sea of Corruption, it is the way that Ponyo is introduced to the humans. In this way Miyazaki shows nature as a near magical force that brings humans an unexpected perspective. Disasters shouldn't always be equated with evil.

Miyazaki also mentions that, in the town he grew up when a heavy rain fell, water could seep into the house, sometimes rising to knee height. It's not a deadly disaster, but he finds in these sorts of situations people are nicest to each other, coming out to help one another with the problem. He then mentioned that when he rebuilt his house, he and his wife opted to keep it at the same level as everyone else, so they would flood together too.

He then joked that sometimes, standing on a skyscraper in Tokyo, he imagines what it'd be like if the ocean swallowed up a few buildings along the edges. Miyazaki likes saying apocalyptic things like that.

Miyazaki then talks about how in his films, there's really no pure evil character. The antagonist in Ponyo is more of a troubled man than evil. "Making an evil character means you have to draw him, and that's never pleasant"

Noburo Yoshida is art director of the film, and drew the backgrounds. At first, he drew perfect backgrounds, but Miyazaki insisted that he let his childishness through, and jokes that Yoshida, after the feat of Ponyo, has yet to re-enter our ordinary reality.

When you watch Ponyo, keep this in mind, look at the background, see what Miyazaki means by "let your childishness show in your art."

As an adult I see that a certain way, but I wonder how kids will interperate that?

The colors of Ponyo are brought up, saying that it takes them to a whole new level.

Miyazaki says of Yoshida that he loves the colors red and green (these are contrasting colors, by the way, think), that when he draws clouds he always places down five, nicely spaced. He has a childish enthusiasm from his drawings, and it's this essence that Miyazaki wants to convey in his films.

The interviewer tells Miyazaki that, though Ponyo is a goldfish, she doesn't look like a real goldfish, and a Totoro is not an animal you can find in an encyclopedia. Miyazaki then talks about how originaly, Ponyo was a red tin frog.

I guess I can see a resemblance.... maybe

He couldn't think of a story with a tin frog though, so Ponyo became a goldfish. Miyazaki then wonders what a story about Ponyo the tin frog would've turned out like. Miyazaki then talks about, when designing his inhuman characters, he thinks about how their eyes are done.

Totoro for example. His eyes are large and.... vacant? Thinking? Miyazaki says that nature is not completely comprehensible by humans, so he wants to convey that feeling with his creatures. When looking at Totoro's eyes is he deep in thought...

or not thinking at all?