“In order to grow your audience, you must betray their expectations.”
– Hayao Miyazaki
This Hayao Miyazaki, he is a Japanese film director. As well as a producer, screenwriter, animator, author and manga artist. He was born in Tokyo on January the 5th in 1941. Miyazaki founded Studio Ghibli, which is known for it’s wonderful Japanese animation. He began to develop his own art style which would give his style it’s own individuality, distinct from other artists. In 2013- he accounced his retirement- followed by his final film ‘The Wind Rises.’ As a child he had dreams of flight- many of his films maybe be inspired by his dreams. But he had a passion for aeroplanes, as he thought they were incredible machines. In his films such as: Howl’s moving castle, Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso, there are elements of flight.
Hayao Miyazaki has made 11 films and ofcourse his lastest film, ‘The Wind Rises’ Here are many examples of his films such as:
- Spirited away- 2001
- My Neighbor Totoro- 2013
- Castle in the Sky- 1986
- Ponyo- 2008
- Howl’s Moving Castle- 2004
Here are some interesting facts about Hayao Miyazaki!
In 2001- Miyazaki’s film, ‘Spirited Away’ received an academy award for the ‘Best animated feature’.
For Miyazaki’s first job, he worked in the entertainment industry as an artist for ‘Toel Animation.’ Toel animation is a Japanese animation studio- the studio is well known for making animated films such as: Clannad- 2007, Digimon the movie- 2000 and Dragon ball Z: Fusion Reborn- 1995.
He went to ‘Gakushuin University’ and graduated in 1963! He got degrees in economics as well as Political science.
When it came to producing films, Miyazaki did it without a script. He says they don’t usually have the time to do so. So he just produces it and makes up the script as he goes along.
“The Creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and Chaos.”
– Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki art style-
When it comes to Hayao Miyazaki’s artstyle- what I truly admire is the detail he puts into the landscapes and the scenery of each movie he produces. He inspires me to animate one day because of his passion for it and how he inspires others from his work. From Hayao Miyazaki being inspired by other people, he used that inspiration in his animated movies- to help us get inspired. His art style inspires me to find my own style and to be able to be recognized by my own individuality.
Hayao Miyazaki creates a world filled with many wonderful things that you can only dream about. Things that are not real but you wish that were real, so you can live the experience yourself.
“Adults should not impose their vision of the world on children.”
This is how he is successful in my eyes, because of the fact he takes the story from a child’s perspective and turns a story into a movie. Other than taking a child’s story and adapting it to a point where it’s from a perspective of an adult. Hayao Miyazaki makes you feel like all of your ideas, are good enough to be put in a movie- like he’s making people’s wishes come true.
“Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.”
Hayao Miyazaki has a passion for strong, female characters, he liked the women to be brave as well as self sufficient. He had a theme of female characters: e.g Princesses, mothers, warriors, mechanics etc…..There are many examples of strong, female characters in his films, many like:
Sophie Hatter- from the movie- ‘Howl’s moving castle.’ 
Fio- from the movie- ‘Porco Rosso.’
San- from the movie- ‘Princess Mononoke.’
Nausicaa- from the movie- ‘Nausicaa of the valley of the wind.’
He was inspired by the animated film, ‘Tale of the White Serpent’ which was considered to be the first full length film at the time. When Hayao Miyazaki saw this, he wanted to switch to the world of animation. His love of the strong, female characters was born and as you can see from the examples above, that he included them in his animated films.
“Life is a winking light in the darkness.”
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