I love Miyazaki films and their hand drawing is beautiful, but this article is kind of funny in how he retired in 2013 and went "I wonder if there is any merit to these weird 'computers' people keep talking about?"
Then he spends the next 5 years twiddling around with them and decides that yes, apparently the world was right and they are in fact useful for animation.
It's funny you should mention Toy Story. Pixar's John Lasseter is well known to be a friend of Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli even released a DVD of the home movie visit to America titled Thank You, Mr. Lasseter.
From my understanding Studio Ghibli's been using computers for a long while, just not for CGI. They hand draw the images, scan them in and then digitally colour the images.
I watched that one. Made me realize how fascinating Hayao Miyazaki really is, and helped me to understand and appreciate his movies more.
I would say we need more filmmakers like him, but there's something special about being unique in the ways that he is... that I almost don't want another Miyazaki.
The clip they show him working on is the short that's shown in the Ghibli Museum!
I absolutely love almost everything from Miyazaki, but I wonder what's it like to work with/for him. This short trailer makes it seem he's probably a difficult man... like all great authors, I guess.
I felt genuinely bad for the animation team that worked on AI-generated walk/movement when they showed their work to Miyazaki. It was downright brutal.
That doesn't change the fact that he has told amazing stories. He is an amazing creator, and has made some of my favorite films. But the hurt in those folks' faces as someone they idolized called what they did 'an insult to life itself'... It was ugly behavior.
What they showed Miyazaki was so grotesque and horrifying, that it seemed like they must either not be familiar with his work and character (almost inconceivable in Japan) or that they desperately needed a dose of reality. Given the material and their position relative to Miyazaki, I was surprised at how politely he spoke in Japanese (which has different verb endings, words, etc to express politeness/deference).
> it seemed like they must either not be familiar with his work and character (almost inconceivable in Japan) or that they desperately needed a dose of reality
Perhaps it was neither of the two? From a recent Dwango event, the team has shown that they have reflected upon it (if you watch the event, they mentioned a few times that they have been scolded by Miyazaki and even conducted an interview with him[0]) and develop a pretty interesting game called ARTILIFE[1] (tldw; MMO tamagotchi?). Overall it was a good turnaround, I think.
> the team has shown that they have reflected upon it
My point exactly. Miyazaki offered them genuine feedback ("a dose of reality") and they, to their credit, apparently acted on it. It was hardly, as the OP posted, "ugly behavior"; if anything, it was "beneficent behavior".
Afaik Ghibli Museum had a dozen or more short films over time, which are beautiful but aren't widely available. It's Ghibli work that you don't get to see unless you travel there, or unless someone smuggles them out (a couple float around on the web, from what I know).
Watched this on NHK earlier in the year, and it's worth every minute. Fantastic documentary and really gives you a thorough sense of who he is and how he operates.
What do you know, his glasses aren't always connected to his eyebrow ridges, and in fact can come off completely. I was afraid that they've grown in by now.
He is a very sadistic overworked animation director who created the good movie at the cost of stressful low wage workers like they are expendable assets. The workers under the Hayao's lead quickly burned out so nobody followed his path.
That's why he can't retire but back to work to create more movie. The market should eliminate these inefficient overworked idiot. But current technology can't beat the good hand-made animations so the bad situation continues.
Interesting viewpoint, I have heard manga artists being overworked. The deadlines are crushing. Studio Ghibli for a long time had to rely on outside animators due to cost, and american studios like Disney fired all of their hand animators. It is a brutal industry.
Then he spends the next 5 years twiddling around with them and decides that yes, apparently the world was right and they are in fact useful for animation.