The Influence of War on Hayao Miyazaki and Japanese Cinema

To call Hayao Miyazaki the Japanese Walt Disney is an inaccurate comparison, considering that in Japanese culture animation is something that is not considered childish or is looked down upon. Animation is treated with the same seriousness as live action films, in fact, it is a serious subject in Japanese cinema that follows the same process of aging and maturity that the live actions films went through. One of them being the great influence that war has had on Japanese cinema, which, to understand that influence, one has to understand the influence of war on Japanese culture.

War has a significant place in the Japanese culture, seeing that the culture itself has a deep seated root in war like customs. The difference with that of occidental cultures is that war is accepted as a part of daily life and is ritualized into a path called Bushidō or The Way of the Warrior, which is a reference to the strict and detailed set of values that the Japanese adhere to. The values stress honor and loyalty, to family and country, above all else, being the moral principles that the samurais lived by. 

It is that principle which lives on in many of the films within Japanese cinema, the deeply ingrained sense of loyalty and honor to a set standard of ideals. Japanese cinema itself is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the world, it’s history spanning from 1898 to current day films. The kinetoscope was no grand invention that astounded the Japanese, they already had a variation of it known as the gentō (magic lantern). As such, when the kinetoscope was first presented in Japan in 1896, the first ghost films had been made by 1898 with the first successful film having occurred the year prior. 

Kabuki, Japanese theatre consisting of dancing and singing with elaborate costume and makeup, heavily influenced the first films. The elaborate makeup, leading to exaggerated gestures and motions, led to theatrical films that did not rely on cinematic techniques to tell the story but rather relied on benshi, storytellers, to narrate silent films within the theaters. Music accompanied the storytellers in the theaters. This led to heavy criticism by film journals and critics of the day, though, the storytellers disappeared with the appearance of sound in the 1930s. 

The Pure Film Movement occurred in the twenty years before the advent of sound in the 1930s, a style of film that desired more cinematic techniques in storytelling rather than relying on the traditional and theatrical techniques taken from kabuki and benraku ( puppet theater). Long takes were the norm, since, storytellers were relied upon to tell the story, there was no need of experimenting with takes and cuts. It was the opposite of that the Pure Film Movement pushed for, to experiment with shots and cuts in order to create a cinematic story that relied on the shooting style, the screenplay, and, an analytical style of editing rather than a narrator. There was also the fact that female roles were played by onnagata (young males dressed to appear female) which the critics rejected in favor of actresses playing the female roles. Many of the critics became filmmakers in an attempt to change the manner in which the Japanese cinema was forming. The movement was successful in that the films moved to this style, even though storytellers were still relied upon until the 1930s. 

Period dramas (jidaigeki) as well as contemporary dramas (gendai­geki) gained in popularity. The period dramas being based upon historical context, they usually were set in the Edo period (1603-­1868) but reached as far back as the later years of the Heian period (794-­1185). Many of them were based upon legends or folktales, fantastical or commonplace stories that had a moral backbone. As such, censorship was heavily prevalent in the industry to prevent anything that would damage the principles of loyalty and honor that were and still are considered an important aspect in Japanese culture today. 

While the protagonists of many of these films were male, the opposite holds true for the animated films produced by Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli. Unlike the near war shrines that the majority of Japanese cinema is filled by, Studio Ghibli films stand to the contrary since they are against conflict and war, even the controversial T he Wind Rises was not a tribute to a militaristic society but it is the story of a man whose lifelong love for flying leads him to the creation of the A­6M World War II plane in a turbulent time. His dream had only been to create planes but he did not live in a time of peace, thus, his hand and talent was forced. The film was a commentary on not only the historical Jiro Horikoshi, the aviation engineer, but on Hayao Miyazaki’s own father who made his fortune during World War II thanks to his airplane parts factory. 

Hayao Miyazaki, one of the founders of Studio Ghibli, and perhaps the most well known, lived through World War II as a child. He saw the horrors and duality of the war, and, because of that, developed his anti­war stance that is reflected in his work. In his films such as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Porco Rosso, and Princess Mononoke, the common premise is that the protagonist of the film (often the titular character) is strongly against war and is willing to defend peace at any cost. That cost has been, in the case of Nausicaä, her life, albeit temporarily, in order to stop a battle. 

These themes are repeated among his work, tied in with the traditional Japanese principles of honor and loyalty, but, rather than focusing on militaristic might and honor that is gained through combat, his protagonists seek fulfillment through peace and scientific knowledge as well as through communing with nature. His films are created with the idea of peace in mind, not through superior might, but through common understanding and the knowledge that hate does nothing but breed hate in return. 

That concept is one that has become common in Japanese cinema, often referred to as the “power of love”, either romantic or platonic, in the industry. It is love and peace rather than war and hate that is searched for and presented as the standard that Studio Ghibli has established. The goal of many Japanese features is to prevent conflict while still maintaining loyalty to one’s morals, to prevent the cycle of hate that has occurred since time immemorial. 

Works Cited 

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M i y a z a k i , H . ( D i r e c t o r ) , & M i y a z a k i , H . ( W r i t e r ) . ( 1 9 9 7 ) . P r i n c e s s M o n o n o k e [ M o t i o n p i c t u r e o n DVD]. Japan: Studio Ghibli. 

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Pacific Rim

The 2013 monster science fiction film by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro is largely not out of his style. He is known for his alternating styles in dark fantasy, usually having Spanish Catholic themes, and gothic horror. Both of these have an understated hand in Pacific Rim, the futuristic Travis Beacham story set in a timeline where Earth has come under attack by monsters not from the sky but from a portal that traverses dimensions at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (hence the title of the film). Del Toro had a specific goal in mind with the creation of this film, he wanted to create a nostalgic film that was meant to honor the mecha and kaiju genres by being entirely original instead of an homage film. 

In the post credits of the film, del Toro dedicates the film to two individuals, Ray Harryhausen and Ishirō Honda. Harryhausen was an American-British filmmakers known for specializing in visual effects as well as creating a new form of stop motion model animation that came to be known as "Dynamation". Honda was a Japanese film director who is known best for his films in the kaiju (monster) and tokusatsu (live action film/television drama that uses special effects), and, in particular, his works in the Godzilla series. Both filmmakers helped to establish and define the monster film genre, with Harryhausen's special effects work on The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Honda's Godzilla.  

Kaiju is the Japanese film genre that focuses on a monster that battles other monsters or attacks either a major city or a military installation. Examples of these creatures would be Godzilla, Mothra, and King Kong. They can be of any origin, naturally occurring on earth, mythical, bio-mechanically/scientifically created, or of alien origins. 

Even so, del Toro directed his designers not to take the previous films of the genre to be the starting point for the film. It was to be something new, without referencing any of the previous films and masterpieces. Ofttimes, they are cannon fodder, servants or tools of a greater force that is ultimately evil. Some are neutral and there are even those that have been seen to aid the heroes or even be the heroes themselves, but, as is the case with Pacific Rim, these monsters are of an alien origin with a malicious intent, there is no hope for ambiguous neutrality or benign character.

A recurring theme in the works of del Toro is that of insects and nature, this can easily be seen in the film with the appearance of the Kaiju, bioweapons grown by aliens intent on colonizing Earth. While the basic "man in a suit" aesthetic of the creatures echoes the aesthetic of the early Japanese monster films, they are in no other way too similar to any creature that could be found on Earth. Each of the creature has it's own style, while there is the acknowledgement that they are from a type (due to being bioweapons created en masse), from crustacean to reptilian to shark. The creation of each the monster, in the works of the designers, can be found in merging animals with mythical creatures, and, at times, architecture. 

For example, the mecha (referred to as Jaegers in the film) that fight the bioweapons, are based on nonliving elements of the world. The American Jaeger was based on the Art Deco architecture of New York and combined with the movements of John Wayne in his gunslinger films. For the Australian mecha, it was meant to embody the bravery of it's pilots and the Australian outback, with an elegant and masculine design. 

The use of lighting and color in the film was also another stylistic choice different from most of del Toro's work (who favors amber hues in most of films) went for heavily saturated colors in most of the film, especially in the city battle sequences. The film itself is such an artistic realness, almost inconsistent from shot to shot (especially in regards to the ocean battle sequences were the fact that the lighting did not match from shot to shot was a unorthodox directorial choice that paid off) in way that mimics reality in a way that big budget action science fiction films do not, which, amazingly, is what this film is. It is, as del Toro hopes for his work to be, an indie video game that the viewer does not realize they are playing (a single player video game based on the film was released but received negative reviews).

The themes of the film are quite clear from the beginning of the film and are constantly repeated, we either get along together or die. It is the theme of togetherness, of solidarity in the face of death and potential annihilation, it is showing that without trust, there is no survival. There is also the theme of pacifism that is inherent in the film due to the fact that del Toro is a pacifist himself. He avoided any militaristic terms, and even, when structuring the dialogue within the screenplay, structured the organization formed of Jaeger pilots with the use of Western ranks rather than military ranks (ranger and marshal versus captain and general). 

This use of pacifism itself is unique in the type of film that Pacific Rim is, it is a film so entirely based on combat and warfare, but, because of the theme of pacifism, it presents a plot device. Cities and streets are evacuated when warning of the alien bioweapons reaches civilization (after the initial devastation that their first arrival wreaks). There are shots, almost chillingly used, that present devastation and destruction on a wide scale, but, because of the lack of civilians (because the organization had developed a warning system in order to evacuate civilians and protect them), the destruction is remorseless. The heroes, in this sense, have no need to worry about collateral damage when there is none to worry about, they need only worry about protecting the world. 

The lack of worry about collateral damage is something that has begun to circulate within action films, the idea of remorseless destruction being used as trope but for different reasons than del Toro's. He wanted a break from the destruction (and collateral damage) that occurs time and again in films, even that of the genre that he was celebrating. 

Of the two central characters that the story follows, a love story carefully buried and barely seen, the heroes who are tossed together in this end of days, they are both highly damaged beings. A veteran Jaeger pilot who lost his brother in an attack and subsequently ended his career due to the emotional baggage that he bore. He could never pilot another mecha due to the fact that at least two pilots are needed to carry the load, having to "drift" and share their minds entirely with one another (this throws back to the previously mentioned theme of togetherness). 

The veteran, a young man named Becket who was once the young and impetuous brother, is now the soft and nurturing character. While professing that he would never share the neural load of piloting a mecha with another ranger, he still returns to the organization. In order to search for a partner because of the danger that the world is in (due to the governments of the world deciding to shut down the organization's funding because of a belief in a decrease of alien attacks), he sets aside his own trauma for the greater good. 

Mori, the novice pilot and survivor of an alien attack that left her orphaned, is full of anger and rage, revenging herself on the monsters that took away her family is what drives her. It is her anger, and her matching emotional instability to Becket's that endangers their partnership during a test to see if they were properly matched enough to share the neural load of piloting a mecha (and subsequently opening up their minds to one another). As the film progresses, the characters open up to each other and learn to trust, to work together for a greater goal that is beyond their desires and needs.

While a monster science fiction film, and an action film that does not glorify death and rampant massacre, Pacific Rim is a film that is a love story that does not focus on romantic love, but platonic love. It focuses on trust and what one can achieve with that trust. It is of two people who are so intrinsically broken that they become one, fitting together like jagged shards because of their brokenness, because they understand and trust one another. 

Works Cited

Collin, Robbie. "Pacific Rim, Review." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 08 July 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

French, Philip. "Pacific Rim – Review." The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 13 July 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

McCarthy, Todd. "Pacific Rim: Film Review." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Scott, A. O. "Monsters, Machines and Mind Melding in a Race for the World." The New York Times. The New York Times, 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Pacific Rim Movie Review & Film Summary (2013) | Roger Ebert." All Content. Roger Ebert, 12 July 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Watercutter, Angela. "Pacific Rim Is Literally the Most Awesome Movie of the Summer." Wired. Conde Nast, 10 July 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Distribution and Marketing for Student Films

Marketing a film, even a short film, is comparable to waging a war. Both the enemy and the prize being the audience, and it is the audience that must be enthralled and won over. The first part of that battle is understanding who the audience for the short film is, and in what manner the short film will be distributed in order to reach that audience. 

For a majority of student films, the general method of distribution is via YouTube or Vimeo, with the marketing of the short being by way of word of mouth and the student’s social media base. To truly market a film, whether a short or feature length, a social media campaign that is not based solely on the of word of mouth of fellow students is needed. While paying for someone to market your film is out of budget for most student films, the process behind it is to generate interest in an idea. With high budget features, this is evident by the bombardment of new trailers and promotional materials released on a near daily basis. 

With the accessibility of the internet, while not reaching the glamour status of Hollywood when it comes to marketing, a dedicated student can generate interest in the film during the production by creating a presence for it in social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube.

This social media presence, if established early on, will generate enough interest in the film that, when distributed, either for free or if sold, will have an audience (even if not enough to reach the crowds that a Hollywood budget marketing scheme would bring in) that will be beyond that of the student’s social circle. And, if the following becomes dedicated enough, the short film will continue being seen and accumulating views (if on Vimeo or YouTube) and being shared (if on Facebook or Tumblr) and interest in the creative team behind the short will rise. 

The most common case is, especially with emerging filmmakers and indie films, the audience will be other filmmakers (as well as family and friends). This isn’t an audience to be ignored, rather, it’s one that should be embraced because not only will it provide the most exposure but it will provide the most opportunities due to the establishment of who the creative team and filmmaker are, and, what they are capable of. 

For distribution of the short, there are a wide variety of options, with the first decision being whether or not the plan behind the short is to sell it or distribute it for free. The choice behind that will determine on which platform the short will be released. Netflix and Amazon, being two of the biggest and prestigious streaming services, have services for which they release short films and a percentage of the sales (50% in the case with Amazon) goes directly towards the creative team behind the short. 

YouTube, as well, if the creative team has a large enough following and dedicated audience, with more than a 1000 subscribers to the channel, may receive payment via advertisements that are viewed before the video thanks to the YouTube Partner Program. 

Selling a movie to Netflix, though, is considered by many in the world of indie filmmaking to be the sure fire way to positive exposure. With Netflix, there are two ways in which a filmmaker can make a deal with the streaming platform. The first being the traditional film festival market from where Netflix approaches the filmmaker if they are interested in the film. The second being that the filmmaker works with an agent that has a relationship (such as Distribber) with Netflix. In order for either of these deals to occur, the film needs to be of high production vale, with traditional publicity and a large following. If none of these are fulfilled, the odds of entering in a deal with Netflix that does not have the filmmaker at the short end of the stick financially, is rare. 

Amazon, on the other hand, is filmmaker friendly in that it pays the filmmaker a percentage for every time that the film is streamed. Hulu and iTunes are also alternatives to the previous mentioned platforms, and, there are even filmmakers who choose to ignore the platforms and deliver the film to their audience on their own terms.

As well, the usual scenario in releasing a film (to prevent piracy) is to release it first on Amazon (since it is a transactional video on demand platform) and then the film is released on platforms such as Hulu (which operate on a advertisement support) or subscription based platforms like Netflix (which only happens if the film makes it onto the Netflix database).

There is also the matter of distribution happening thanks to the short being screened at a film festival, with investors taking interest in the film, with it then being released either on a wider scale with a professional marketing scheme or the short is remade on a larger scale. Though, this is not always the case with film festivals in regards to short films and those produced by students. 

Works Cited

Brubaker, Jason. "Why Amazon Film Distribution Is Awesome!" Filmmaking Stuff. Filmmaking Stuff, 20 July 2015. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Brubaker, Jason. "Sell A Movie To NetFlix." Filmmaking Stuff. Filmmaking Stuff, 09 Dec. 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

"DIY Digital Platform Distribution Platforms." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 13 May 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Ferrari, Alex. "Amazon Video Direct: How to Make Money Selling Your Film." Indie Film Hustle. Indie Film Hustle, 11 Feb. 2017. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Garland, Kim. "Write, Direct, Repeat: Marketing Your Short Film, Part 1." Script Magazine. Script, 26 Jan. 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Zeke. "Get Your Independent Movie on Netflix: What You Need to Know." Student Resources. New York Film Academy, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Gorochow, Erica. "The Future Of The Short Film Amid New Distribution Options." Creators. Creators, 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Greenberg, Julia. "Netflix and Amazon Offer Indie Filmmakers Hope (And Lots of Money)." Wired. Conde Nast, 28 Jan. 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Kamkolkar, Nikhil. "Why I Chose Amazon Video Direct to Self-Distribute My Film." No Film School. No Film School, 25 May 2016. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Soliday, Cassie. "10 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Short Film." 10 Ways to Successfully Promote Your Short Film | Animation Career Review. Animation Career Review, 26 July 2012. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

Tanner, Josh. "Attention, Filmmakers: 5 Tips for Making and Distributing Your Short Film." IndieWire. IndieWire, 27 May 2016. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.