Animated film appreciation angle

In 2002, the Golden Bear Award at the 52nd Berlin International Film Festival and the Best Asian Film Award at the 2 1 Hong Kong Film Awards were awarded to the animated feature film Spirited Away created by Japanese animation director Miyazaki Hayao. In 2005, Miyazaki Hayao himself was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival. As a special film type, animation is often positioned by its fixed young impression and is placed outside the academic perspective of the film. 10 years ago, Miyazaki Hayao broke the animation era with his animated feature film Princess, and made a TV animated short film for children, which was very popular in Asian cinemas. 10 years later, Spirited Away won the highest prize in Berlin Film Festival in the form of animation. This is enough to leave us a lot to think about: obviously, as one of the special types of movies, animated films, with seemingly thin pictures and characters from brushes or computer software, can successfully carry the ideas that the director tried to convey and successfully convey the unique feelings of human beings beyond our imagination. Animated films have made some achievements in box office and art, and gradually got rid of shallow and simple stereotypes, and have been recognized in aesthetic and artistic value.

First of all, it analyzes American and Japanese animated films and their two styles.

According to the expression style and cultural influence of animated films, it is generally believed that American and Japanese animated films, as the leading animated films in the world, are two schools with obviously different styles. The generation mechanism of animated films depends on people's imagination and pen drawing on white paper. Because it deviates from the true nature of traditional films, it has been wandering on the edge of various film academic perspectives with stereotypes such as naivety and simplicity. The formation of this impression is closely related to the important influence of Walter Disney and his Disney Kingdom on global popular culture through a series of animated films adapted from world fairy tales. From 1923, Disney's first animated film Alice in the Cartoon Kingdom, to classic animated films such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, etc., it has achieved box office results all over the world. Before Pixar, DreamWorks and other animation studios appeared, the Oscar for Best Animation was monopolized by Disney for a long time. The animation production line in Hollywood, represented by Disney, has always been dominated by children. Considering the complicated film grading system in the United States, animated films tend to avoid what adults can understand, such as current events and sexual themes, and mainly adapt and create classic fairy tales, which also runs through Hollywood's worship of film technology. For example, in the latest blockbuster Kung Fu Panda, its director and narrative power have been completely replaced by the shock brought by CG animation modeling. The producer also admitted that the production route is to create a "dream" for children, and the ultimate goal is to let parents pay for tickets and lead their children into the cinema to enjoy an entertainment.

Compared with the style keywords such as "naivety", "superhero" and "3D" in American animated films, Japanese animated films have a broader route. The animation industry, which has been popularized in Japanese society since 1950s, now has a very wide audience coverage. For example, in 2007, animated films accounted for half of the domestic box office rankings, and most of these box office champions were local animated films with different target audiences and styles, especially the theatrical versions of well-known series of TV animations, such as Peter's and Doraemon, which were mainly aimed at children. There is also "5 cm per second" about pure love content, aimed at girls; And "One Piece" with the theme of bloody battle and famous detective Conan. , watched by teenagers; Then there is Pixar's The Story of Food [1]. As a global animation country, Japan's 87% population has the highest rate of watching animation, ranking first in the world, and the animation industry has become its third largest industry [1]; Since 1970s, Japanese animated films have been exported. The popularity of Japanese animated films in the world is mainly attributed to three recognized authorities in the Japanese animation industry: Miyazaki Hayao, Mamoru Oshii and Dayou Shengbo. The animated films produced by these "three authorities" are characterized by complex thoughts, profound thoughts and consistent themes, and have a large number of fans all over the world, most of whom are adults. Miyazaki Hayao has enjoyed a high reputation in Asia since the Valley of the Wind. In 2002, together with Spirited Away, he won the world's attention, and his works entered an era of global attention. Mamoru Oshii became famous for his TV cartoon adapted from the original comic book of Japanese science fiction godfather Masamune Shirow and the animated film Ghost in the Shell, which aroused strong repercussions all over the world, especially in the United States. Innocence, the second theatrical version of Ghost in the Eggshell produced in 2004, was shown at Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, he competed with Miyazaki Hayao for the Venice Film Festival, and the black boy was in the air. As early as 1988, Dayou Shengbo surprised the western world with an animated film of the same name, which was adapted from his own serial comic book akira. This work connecting the past with the future has even deeply influenced the whole western science fiction film thought [2]. In 2004, his "Steam Boy" was also shown at the Venice Film Festival, and it was successfully shown in the international market. Although their works have different styles, Miyazaki Hayao is recognized as the most influential and representative in terms of the number of films released internationally and the international awards won.

From the perspective of film analysis, film, as an independent work of art, can be derived from the text that establishes meaning in narrative structure, vision and sound, and has special effects on the audience [3]. Although the traditional film analysis perspective does not put animated films into it, and animation is often simply introduced as a film type in works about film art, Japanese animated films represented by Miyazaki Hayao and his series of works have obvious aesthetic characteristics and traces of director style, and have box office achievements corresponding to commercial films; It has surpassed Disney's classic fairy tale animated films in terms of theme, creative level, artistic effect, audio-visual and target audience. Its high-quality works that have entered the international market have been recognized by the audience and film critics for their profound philosophical thinking and unique picture style. In this way, in 2002, Spirited Away won almost all the animated film awards except Berlin Film Festival Award and Hong Kong Golden Awards, such as the Best Full-length Animated Film Award of the 75th Academy Awards, the Best Animated Film Award of the New York Film Critics Association, the Special Award of the Boston Film Critics Association, the 30th Anne Award for Full-length Animated Film Award, the Director Award, the Screenplay Award, the Music Award, the Best Animated Film Award of the 9th Hollywood Film Festival, and the Best Animated Film Award of the New York Film Critics Association. Such an animated film can transcend national boundaries and be praised by both art and market, which proves that this type of animated film, which is often ignored by the film industry, has the value of analysis from the perspective of film ideology and culture.

Second, the Japanese animation industry in the context of Miyazaki Hayao film appreciation

In addition to numerous printed publications, the Japanese animation industry market also includes animated films, animated TV films, animated audio-visual (video tapes, DVDs) and peripheral products. In this huge market, there are various products. At present, there are over 400 animation production companies in Japan. Every day, these companies produce animation products with various themes and contents such as science fiction, paranormal, detective, love, fighting, interpersonal relationship, ethical criticism and personal struggle, and there are also many animation works full of negative contents such as violence, blood, martial arts, decadence, pornography and physical stimulation. In such a huge and complex environment, it is too reluctant to rely on the audience's own fragile perception and judgment to distinguish between good and bad consumption, but it is precisely because of this that these profound, humanized, philosophical and inspirational animated films represented by Miyazaki Hayao, Mamoru Oshii and Dayou Shengbo can set the development banner of Japanese animated films as a benchmark. "Animated film works" are different from "animated film goods" based on short-term interests, which does not mean that only authoritative directors' works are advocated. However, for the consumption and appreciation of Japanese animated films, we should first choose films with quality and taste in content and concept, and secondly, films that can convey the creativity and life concept that the director wants to express through the world outlook and values.

For Miyazaki Hayao, the main representative of Japanese animated films to be discussed in this paper, his works have very distinct characteristics in both the aesthetic vision and the author role of the director. Especially after the establishment of Ghibli Animation Studio, his personal style has always continued in all his works, and the outline of Japanese national cultural character can be seen behind it.

1, seal of the author of Ghibli

Fran?ois Truffaut is one of the "Three Musketeers" in the new wave of French movies, and he is an advocate and practitioner of the "filmmaker theory". The advocacy and practical significance of the role of film author has been limited to three levels: through the integration of editing and directing, the director is given the right to control the audio-visual composition and overall style of the film; Put the research methods of writers' works theory in literary research into film evaluation, and inspect their films from the perspective of director's works; In the division and reference mode of film works by directors, the film phenomenon and film works are outlined, rather than the signs of starring stars or big studios in the past [5]. The "filmmaker theory" is not so much a theory as an attitude. Directors choose between adhering to artistic ideals and balancing public tastes, and constantly cultivate their own style.

It is common that the original works and screenwriters, screenwriters and directors have contradictions and conflicts in their understanding of the contents of film works, and it is also common for producers and investors to put forward suggestions for revision. The conflict and running-in between director and editing is mainly manifested in the original works and scripts in the animation field, and between producers and directors. When Ghibli Animation Studio in Miyazaki Hayao was founded, the animated film The Witch's Housekeeping Assistant was adapted from the original work of novelist Eiko Kadono. Because the story of the witch Qiqi losing her magic was added to the film, it was strongly opposed by the original author [2]. Although the two sides finally made a compromise in adaptation, there is no doubt that the original author's intention is one of the interfering factors of the director's intention. Perhaps for this reason, Studio Ghibli, founded by Miyazaki Hayao, has only produced two films adapted from the original novel, The Witch's Door-to-Door Delivery and Hal's Moving Castle in 2004. The original works, scripts, directors, characters and shots of other works were all completed by Miyazaki Hayao alone, and the design of the music was also completed by Joe Hisaishi, an old partner who has cooperated for decades. Studio Ghibli's co-producers, Takada Hiroshi, etc. have maintained a long-term cooperative relationship with, and have a reputation of never interfering with the director's production. It can be said that in the works of Miyazaki Hayao and Studio Ghibli, the consciousness of "director and author" has been really put into practice. The main theme and repetitive theme of Miyazaki Hayao's works are also very obvious. The title of "godfather of environmental protection", which is famous for Valley of the Wind and criticizes war and destruction, has been repeatedly confirmed in subsequent Princess Ghost and City in the Sky. The inevitable "flying" scene in every movie; Every film must have a natural landscape and a delicate watercolor realistic style; Most movie protagonists are teenagers of a certain age; Most of the shots are hand-painted with meticulous pictures ... These themes and performance features have formed the director's own unique brand and become a symbol of Miyazaki Hayao's personal style.

It can be said that even without any star actors in real life, Miyazaki Hayao and Ghibli Animation Studio have built a complete "Miyazaki Hayao World" through a series of animated films, which have been marked with distinct artistic brand. For a long time, "Ghibli production" even became the guarantee of box office, and every movie was the highest box office in Japan that year. Even in the often neglected animation form, as long as the barrier of "show" is broken, the director can practice his artistic intention, and even practice the director's personal theme and style pursuit more conveniently and consistently because of the freedom of setting pictures such as characters, backgrounds and colors.

2. Aesthetic pursuit of freehand brushwork.

Freehand brushwork is a traditional painting technique in China, which is opposite to meticulous painting. It emphasizes writing the shape and spirit of an object with concise pen and ink, thus expressing the artistic conception of the author. In a word, freehand brushwork embodies the essence of depicting objects with seemingly simple strokes. The lines of Miyazaki Hayao's animated films are very simple. Both characters and close-up backgrounds are 2D pictures based on hand-drawn original images. The three-dimensional effect of the picture depends entirely on color, with prominent main color and soft and rich colors. However, all Miyazaki Hayao films have successfully conveyed the emotions of films with smooth visual experience and bright colors, and kept the audience in that simple but pure artistic conception for a long time. How can a movie drawn with the skills that any art learner can have give people pleasure? This is the realm of freehand brushwork.

Animation art itself is comprehensive, including modeling, action, language, painting and sound. These means are concentrated in the animated images in different ways, which constitutes a unique aesthetic value [6]. Miyazaki Hayao's freehand brushwork technique lies in the overall artistic conception description of animated images. Susan Langer put forward in The Art Problem that the way for a painting to impress the audience is to reach a balanced form with canvas, color and other material things, thus forming a space full of tension and momentum, which is the so-called "illusion" of works of art [7]. Drawing lessons from this viewpoint of analytical painting, this paper analyzes the pictures in Miyazaki Hayao's films, that is, creating a unique "painting style" space through the combination of tone, role modeling, expression details and background design. For example, my neighbor totoro in My Neighbor Totoro, with its simple gray and rough oval shape, pointed ears, big mouth, changeable eyes and beard, and small claws, small tail and other details that are not commensurate with its huge figure, has accumulated a profound painting style behind a few strokes, successfully shaping a shape with furry texture and childlike interest; The scene where my neighbor totoro appears is designed in the farmland or Woods near the forest, with the bright color of light green as the main background. There are leaves that are so delicate that even the warps are drawn, and there are farmland with simplified highlights and bright colors as the background. Add a few rays of sunshine to describe the details, and the picture will be full of vitality. Miyazaki Hayao's "illusion" is to inject rich emotions into the picture and depict the characters in a freehand way, but at the same time, it uses every detail of the picture to convey the feelings about the characters to the audience, thus successfully creating a unique romantic artistic conception.

Miyazaki Hayao himself rejected computer technology. He insisted on not using any computer technology in his animated films. Freehand brushwork seems simple, but in fact it has profound implications, which is his aesthetic concept that really touches the audience.

3. Introduction to national culture

It is also a kind of "furry giant creature", so we can compare the role of my neighbor totoro with the leading character in the movie Monster Company made by Disney 200 1 Pixar adopted the most advanced 3D technology in the world when designing and expressing the main character "Maoguai". Hairy monster has more than 3 million hairs. In order to show each hair in detail and at the same time show the sense of gravity and dexterity in action, Pixar spent nearly two years developing a computer software for modeling and design [8]. The producers spent a huge price trying to show a monster that can be confused. In the film, the action of Maoguai is the key point, and the plot to save the little girl Abu is compact and touching, but the depiction of his character and psychology is a little far-fetched. My Neighbor Totoro's two-dimensional silhouette has no line, but it remains in every child's heart as a cute and chubby elf image in the rural forest. The words "my neighbor totoro" and "a big, soft and fat elf" have established a meaning chain. After the film was broadcast, plush toys with the image of my neighbor totoro were very popular throughout Asia and are still being produced today. Perhaps the aesthetic differences between the two protagonists and even the two animated films reflect the aesthetic differences between the East and the West. Oriental culture, represented by the Han cultural circle, always runs through the concept of "harmony between man and nature". From the visual habit of looking at pictures to the cognitive habit of grasping concepts, oriental culture tends to start from the "whole" and has the habit of pursuing overall harmony. In particular, Miyazaki Hayao's aesthetic concept has always been to create an overall artistic conception with soft and soothing strokes, and to touch the hearts of the audience with the exquisiteness and artistic beauty of words and sentences. Western culture, which originated in Europe, controls its world view with the concept of "opposition between characters", pays attention to the main part in visual habits and the conclusion in concept grasp. Western audiences, especially American audiences, are more accustomed to accepting the protagonist's constant movements and fights in the center of the picture.

Art has always been deeply related to the subject, society and its culture, and it is always a model of a certain social and cultural type. When culture gives a nation a way of expression, it also gives it a vision to observe these arts. All Miyazaki Hayao's works are deeply permeated with the aesthetic characteristics and personality outline of Japanese social culture.

(1) Japanese social and civilian protagonists

In Chrysanthemum and Knife Patterns of Japanese Culture, Benedict believes that Japan is a society that emphasizes unity and takes "shame" as its moral standard. People with fixed roles and responsibilities tend to be gregarious and low-key, just like homogeneous Wang Yang. The low-key and silent Japanese are faced with the responsibilities of career and family, and bear the established pressure of society. As one of the core elements of Confucianism, the "golden mean" has been completely transplanted into Japanese society, and on this basis, it has been placed in the core of the belief of "national Shinto". This society does not advocate individualism. Under the social spirit of advocating team spirit and social rules, we can't see talented American superheroes in Japanese animated films represented by Miyazaki Hayao. The protagonists in the film are all mortals, ordinary primary and secondary school students and teenagers, and even a self-reliant witch in a gray robe (the witch's help), and even a brave pilot is a pig (red pig); Strictly speaking, they are not heroes at all. They just found self-confidence by overcoming the setbacks in life and mind, helping people around them and helping themselves.

It is precisely because of this that the director does not just tell a story in each film, but lays out the character and psychology of each character in the story in detail, so that the audience can witness how ordinary people and ordinary children around them change in the thorny growth path and find their own direction. The "civilian protagonist" originated from the abandonment of individual heroes by social and cultural figures, which brought the audience closer to their hearts and more self-feelings. There is no doubt that between the shock of perception and the soothing feeling of psychology, Miyazaki Hayao chose the latter.

(2) Nature is harmonious but different.

The main feature of Japanese society is the coexistence of many religions [9], and the corresponding concept is polytheism. The source of polytheism is Japan's primitive religion Shinto, which believes that everything is animistic and worships the god of nature. Shinto shrines that can be seen all over Japan are mostly built for mountain beliefs. Although the fear of natural gods such as mountains and forests seems to run counter to the development of modern society, the concepts of polytheism and natural gods have penetrated into Japanese national culture with the inheritance of anthropology. My Neighbor Totoro's creation comes directly from the legend Miyazaki Hayao heard in his childhood. Spirited Away's original film is called "Spirited Away", and "Spirited Away" is used in Japanese culture to express the sudden disappearance or disappearance of children, which means being hidden by the gods; In Miyazaki Hayao's works, the existence of natural gods is taken for granted.

Miyazaki Hayao, known as the "godfather of environmental protection", often shows the indifference of human beings to faith and the silent revenge of nature in his films. Perhaps this is not only because of the sense of crisis about environmental deterioration, but also because the director wants to summon the lost reverence for nature from the ideal picture of the harmonious coexistence of God of nature and modern society. Whether it's the bloody war between human beings and forest creatures in Princess Ghost or the carefree different world of various immortals in Spirited Away, "harmony but difference" is a consistent worldview set by the director in all his works, and in this world, wandering audiences can also recall the times when Japanese people feared nature.

(3) Implicit and profound beauty of elegance

"Implication" can be said to be one of the key words to summarize the oriental cultural, artistic and literary thoughts represented by Confucianism. It is manifested in the aesthetic field of the film, that is, the narrative way of "meaningful, wanting to say something" and the euphemistic and elegant atmosphere inherited from the "mourning for things" complex.

Miyazaki Hayao's animated films often state a complete world outlook framework and arrange an extremely complicated plot in 1.20 minutes. After the relationship between the characters and the background structure are clearly explained, the film will revolve around a core plot, but the climax is slow and the theme is far-reaching. The director intentionally or unintentionally fails to explain some thorough details, leaving the audience with endless aftertaste and imagination. For example, the famous ending line "Let's live together" in Princess Ghost, or the footsteps of Spirited Away leaving the other world with a little loss of Chihiro, or the vibrant city of trees rising slowly in the city of the sky, and so on. There is no reassuring conclusion of "happiness from now on". This narrative way of saying goodbye and some deliberate details are similar to the technique of "leaving blank" in painting.

"Sorrow over things" is an aesthetic consciousness advocated by The Tale of Genji in Japanese society. Subtle sadness and euphemistic affection have been handed down from generation to generation with poets, essayists and story writers since 1 century [3]. Even the national flower of Japan, Sakura, is full of fleeting sadness and sorrow, and Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata also wrote the novel "Ancient Capital". It can be said that all the artists infiltrated into Japanese culture are influenced by the "mourning for things" complex, and Miyazaki Hayao's works are no exception. Even if the scene design is full of exotic culture, the plot content of the film is still full of oriental flavor. For example, the lonely robot in City in the Sky flies into space with the city in the tree, the two sides who are destined to fight for their own survival in Princess Ghost, and the plot arrangement in Red Pig, such as Poluk who often leaves Gina with expectation and waiting, are full of helplessness and sadness. Reflected in the relationship between characters, directors often describe a hazy admiration or yearning among teenagers. The delicate expressions, eye movements and blushing movements of the characters are telling the audience their feelings, tactfully and elegantly, and even the emotions that have never been said at all strongly infect the audience in silence, winning by implication.

Third, the conclusion

As the product of human imagination, this type of animated film is synchronized with the origin of traditional films. At present, many excellent animated films can achieve great success in art and market, which has profound thoughts and significance. At the same time, many animated film directors, with their unique author consciousness, can make this form of animation have an impact on a wider range. Therefore, it is necessary for us to pay due attention to and analyze animated films from an objective standpoint and aesthetic perspective, and from the perspective of equality with traditional films. Interestingly, with the widespread use of global movies and the dependence on CG technology, the pictures of popular commercial movies have also begun to pursue the realm of "confusing the real with the fake". Perhaps the time when Mamoru Oshii once predicted that "all movies will be animated" is really not far away.