Week 2 - Artist research

Finding information activity

The first activity of this week is to find some information about an artist or designer related to my pathway from various sources. There are 3 different places that I've tried finding the information, which are NTU library, Google Arts and Culture, and a standard search engine. The person that I've researched is a famous animator, director, and film maker who is the founder of Ghibli studio, Miyazaki Hayao.

These are the information and the reasons I've chosen for each source:

NTU Library: Odell, N., & Blanc, L. M. (2020), Studio Ghibli : The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ntuuk/detail.action?docID=2077688

Reason: I choose this because it’s the first English version of studio Ghibli’s information. There’s also a lot of information of the studio and each film too.

Google Arts and Culture: -

Reason: I can’t find any source about him in here

Standard search engine: Hayao Miyazuki (n.d.), Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki

Reason: It’s the official website of Ghibli’s fandom which gives plenty of information about him

Personally, I prefer using standard search engine the most, because it gives various aspects of a topic, however, NTU library has more reliable sources that has written by professional journalists and authors. For Google Arts and Culture, it also gives specific information but it's not guaranteed to have the information you want on the website.

Artist research

This is a research assignment about a significant person in the media I've interested in. I've chosen Miyazaki Hayao, who is a well-known famous animation director at Ghibli studio. The main reason I choose him is because his animation from Ghibli studio has cultivated a strong relation in my mind since I was young. His films are unique and have interesting characterisation that can make people remember, thus he is the first one who comes up in my mind. As some sources I've searched in the beginning of the week were already an example in NTIC slide and too short, I've chosen new source about him and take some notes from them.

Here is my notes.

Miyazaki Hayao

• A Japanese anime director

• The leader of studio Ghibli, one of the most successful animation studio in the world

Biography & works

Early life

• Was born in January 5, 1941, in Tokyo, Japan

• Studies in economics at Gakushūin University, Tokyo, 1963

• Was a son of Katsuji Miyazaki, who have business 'Miyazaki Airplanes'

• Dislike Millitarism as his family support Japan's efforts in WWII

• Due to American bombing, his family moved to Utsunomiya City (1944-1946). He became familiar with forest at that time and His mother was getting sick

• 1958 - He started interested in animated movie > inspired by Hakujaden (Legend of the White Snake), a motion picture that was produced by Toei Animation

• At first he want to be comic book artist not animator

• 1963 - Became an animator at Toei animation > start from the bottom (filling in the cel-by-cel movements of characters and objects) > quickly became a leader animators’ union

• 1964 - Met animator Akemi Ota > become his wife in 1968 > Played major role in Prince of the Sun, collaborated with Yasuo Otsuka, Isao Takahata(became his close partner later)

Working life

• 1971 - joined Takahata at A Pro > failed in animating Pippi Longstockings

• 1973 - moved to Zuiyo Picyures > design scene for Heidi: Girl of the Alps > became background-scene artist

• 1979 - first important picture directed by Miyazaki, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

• 1980s - he began one of his most popular manga series, based on the character Nausicaä

• 1982 - Tokuma production asked him to make Nausicaä stories(later introducing realistically drawn characters and grim themes.) into an animated feature > brought Takahata to produce film > he wrote screenplay, storyboard > success, Tokuma create studio Ghibli (dry Saharan wind)

Studio Ghibli Era

• Interest in caring for nature and a mistrust of military

• 1986 - He directed Laputa: Castle in the Sky

• 1988 - released My Neighbor Totoro (Inspired by his imagination when he lived near the forest at young age) > nearly cause Ghibli death because it was release at the same time with Grave of firefly (Tragic story in WWII) which was criticised by most audience > made Totoro toy products and survived in 2000s > Totoro became logo

• 1989 - Kiki's Delivery Service > gained an international following > a world where World War II never happened

• 1992 - Porco Rosso featured a World War I ace who was turned into a pig

• 1995 - Whispers of the Heart

• 1997 - Directed Princess Mononoke > the telling of a grand epic on a massive scale > smash hit > lost his eyesight from using computer > attracted American audience

• 2001- Spirited away > greatest animated motion picture ever made and widely agreed that it was one of the best motion pictures (top prize at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival, best Asian film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, and was named best animated feature at the 2003 Academy Awards) > brilliant bg, good characterisation

• Disney offered a deal that would relieve Tokuma of its financial burdens in exchange for the distribution rights worldwide > he gave it, said that he had gained enough amount of money

• Disney didn’t keep promise > tampering with the movies

• January 14, 1998 - Miyazaki had announced that he would be leaving Studio Ghibli > eyesight fail

• Make small film for Ghibli museum, train young animator

• January 16, 1999 - became leader of Ghibli again > taking a strong role in asserting organisational discipline

• directed the fine The Cat Returns (2002), which featured the Baron from Whispers of the Heart , and Lord Howl's Castle (2004)

Source:

Beetz, H. K. (n.d.), Hayao Miyazaki 1941— Biography. Retrieved October 2, 2020, from https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/M-R/Miyazaki-Hayao-1941.html

Ray, M. (n.d.), Miyazaki Hayao. Retrieved October 2, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Miyazaki-Hayao

After taking notes from websites, I found the easy part and challenge part of them. Websites are easy to search and gather information, yet we have to look throughout carefully to see if they are trustable or not. For this practice research, I used 2 websites to compare the matching information and note them to make sure that the information is correct. There are some methods like searching in library and interviewing people that is harder to do, but interesting to try too. I might use various methods to gather information in the future for more various contents.