Obviously, students of film and animation can’t help but admire and be influenced by the transcendent, ethereal, and undeniably charming work of Hayao Miyazaki, animator and co-founder of Japan’s beloved Studio Ghibli. But unlike me, who simply wrote about all of Miyazaki’s films, there are a lot of people out there who have actual talent and can express their love and admiration for the master through their own work and creativity.
Animation student Gwenn Germain of Créapole, a university in Paris, France, created the following 3-minute short which she’s entitled Celles et Ceux des Cimes et Cieux (aka “Girls and Guys from Summits and Skies”). It’s a beautiful, fluid film which uses some staple visuals and iconography from all of Miyazaki’s work, including airships, floating cities, gloopy monsters, large insectoid creatures, castles, post-apocalyptic worlds, people looking particularly heroic, and even features a cameo of sorts at the end of a man who looks an awful lot like the Miyazaki himself. Give it a watch.
You can see definite allusions to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away, though there are probably more in there if you look hard enough. While it references these anime classics, the animation style itself still has its roots firmly planted in the French tradition, with its looser lines and more watercolor-like presentation. This style is evident in French films like Ernest et Celestine and Les Triplettes de Belleville. It’s a beautiful melding of both sensibilities.
Germain has made another film, entitled Bococo about a pair of parrots getting into trouble, which is also a lovely thing to watch.
Let me know your thoughts on both of these films below. Do you see any other Miyazaki films referenced besides the ones I listed?
[HT: Boing Boing]
