"Take Me Home, Country Road" (That plays way too many times throughout this film…I mean I know that it is an important element to the story but still… EURGH) begins to play in the opening scene, where an overview of the town the main character lives in is shown (Which is a pretty basic premise to the opening of most films, an overview of the setting the story will mainly take place in), before she herself is shown making her way back home after buying some things from a drug store.
Considering that this is a Studio Ghibli animation, it is no surprise seeing the amazing amount of detail that was put into this film, I especially enjoyed the small details as always, such as the little gestures the characters did, how their bodies would move along with whatever they did (A secondary action of sorts), and most definitely their hands (I am still so afraid of animating proper hands…).
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| Simple hand movements are definitely a lot harder to animate than one actually realizes. |
Perhaps this might seem simple if not for the glowing fire at the back and the sparks coming out from the lamp in front, but once I again I really love how carefully animated the character's hands are as he works away at the Baron, and of course the fact that the rest of his body also move along with his hands (The way his arms bend a little more as he twists and how his head leans slowly forward in concentration).
And of course the objects are wonderfully animated too, such as the beautifully detailed grandfather clock in Mr Nishi's antique shop. As well as the flickering shadows cast by the warm lighting of a cozy little fireplace…
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| Another lovely little detail is how these figurines' eyes sparkle in the fire's light. |
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| I see what you did there… you might as well have engraved a portrait of Michael Keaton on there while you're at it. |
I was however caught a little off guard since this one of few films from that studio where nothing particularly fantastical occurs (In reality that is, what goes on inside Shizuku's head doesn't count), and while this was not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, it was written by him (Perhaps the only strange occurrence is the fact that that cat statue changes its pose each time it appears on screen)...
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| Left arm behind back while right one is in front. |
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| Left arm has now moved to the front while the right one has moved to the back. |
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| Both arms are now in front and and right hand is holding onto both hat and cane. |
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| I don't think cat eyes are normally this creepy… |
It could be an error on the animator's part (Especially if different animators had worked on these scenes) but something tells me that there is more to it than that, especially when he plays a somewhat important supporting role in this film (And an even more important one in The Cat Returns).
While the romance was obviously one of the larger focus points of the film (Also honestly one of the most unrealistic portrayals of romance to me (Or maybe I'm just bitter, she's 14, and she already has two guys that are crushing on her, and wants already wants to ask for her hands in marriage… oh come on!)), I suppose what I remembered best about this film was Shizuku's own inner turmoil, she envies her peers for knowing what to do in life, and while she does indeed have some idea, the girl wounds up going through so much before finally coming to a conclusion on what it is that she wants in life, and obviously, discussions like these take place through the entirety of the film:
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| Maybe Miyazaki had played a larger role when it came to these scenes... |
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| It's alright Shizuku, we all know what you are going through... |
Not that I'm saying that there's not much fluffy-discreet-cutie-wootie (Yeurgh…) romancing (As if the first picture at the beginning of this post didn't give you that idea…) going on either between her and… some guy:
But the main purpose of watching this film was studying the animation that was done for these scenes, as kindly suggested by my lecturer, this would prove to be a great reference for me for when the time came to animating a certain scene in my Applied Animation… animation project (Which I should have done by now actually). I thought I was already insane for deciding to animate a band of musicians playing instruments (Hence why I decided to have an alternate scene in case it would turn out too difficult to animate)… and so I was fortunate for there to be an animated film like this (Maybe I could just switch out of the original musicians I design, and throw in a violinist) to refer to.
While I wish to keep their movements as simple as possible (To save time as always), I do feel that a little movements from their bodies might be necessary… with one character dancing to their music, it just might seem odd if they played their instruments so stiffly (They are after all suppose to enjoy themselves as well)… well let's just see how it goes.
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