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Edited Text
Matteo Nahum
“Between tradition and modernity –
The eclectic approach of Joe Hisaishi to
Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” soundtrack”
Candidate Thesis for the Master in Scoring for Film,
Television and Videogames (2014/2015)
Berklee Valencia Campus
Supervisor: Prof. Alfons Condé
May 2015
Content
Thesis
1
The Image Album and its boundaries
2
Miyazaki and Hisaishi
a. A 30-year-long relationship
4
b. “Spirited Away” (“Sen no Chihiro no Kamikakushi”)
5
Analysis of the “Spirited Away” soundtrack techniques
a. Adapting a theme
6
b. Influence of the music on the final movie
11
c. Editing and re-orchestrating
16
d. “New” material and its use
22
Conclusions
23
References
a. Online Magazines
24
b. Internet Resources
25
c. Audiovisuals
25
“…The Hollywood style of using music to introduce characters and
explain what’s on screen is a method that I don’t normally use in Japan…” (Joe
Hisaishi, 1999)
Thesis
In the world of Japanese animation movies, the way composers work on
the creation of the soundtrack is quite different from the way we’re used to in
the western world.
The creation of what is called an “Image Album”, often based on simple
suggestions and ideas about the movie, before it is actually completed is one of
the most relevant differences.
The music created for this album, which is published as a trailer months before
the movie itself, sets the boundaries within which the composer should remain
while composing the final soundtrack.
There are many consequences to this habit: the music is used often as a simple
commentary to the scene (or to the emotions that are expressed or that are
proper to a specific character) without a proper syncing, and many editing and
re-writing or re-orchestrating techniques are involved, in order to use the preexisting material in a proper way.
With this paper, I would like to concentrate on the soundtrack of Hayao
Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”, written by his usual collaborator Joe Hisaishi.
Through a selection of different cues I will analyze the relationship between the
Image Album and the final soundtrack as well as the editing and reorchestrating techniques that allow Hisaishi to adapt the themes to the actual
1
images. Due to the frequent “commentary” nature of the music, I will also
concentrate on the symbolic role that it has in relation to the dramatic action.
The Image Album and its boundaries
The Image Album is a collection of compositions based on general hints,
ideas, drawings, key words (as in the specific case of Joe Hisaishi and Hayao
Miyazaki), provided by the director to the composer. This album fulfills
different purposes related both to the creation of the movie itself and to the
marketing strategies proper of the industry of animation movies in Japan.
On one hand this album, released several months before the movie it
corresponds to, it serves as a publicity for the movie itself; on the other side,
and this is typically seen in the relation between Miyazaki and Hisaishi, it
serves as a source of inspiration for the director and animator while working
on the images.
“Trans – Revista transcultural de música” published in its number 16 of 2012
an important paper from Marco Bellano, professor of History of Animation at
the University of Padova (Italy). In his “From Albums to Images – Studio
Ghibil’s Image Albums and their impact on audiovisual strategies”, Bellano
points out how the creation of this first collection of music has a deep impact
on the creation of the final soundtrack.
It is clearly evident that this first album defines the boundaries within which
the composer should remain since both the audience and the director, become
accustomed to the music that has been created before the final images have
2
been finalized. It is also very interesting that this practice generates a different
relationship between music and images: music is created on its own and, for
this reason, its formal structure is necessarily stronger and usually takes the
structure of concert pieces (or songs) more often than in the usual “western”
soundtracks. As a consequence, the most frequent use of this music is that of a
“commentary” to the general feeling and meaning of the images, in a way that
appears to be the natural opposite of the technique of “mickey mousing”
introduced by Walt Disney’s cartoons.
What Marco Bellano suggests is that this technique also relates to the classical
way of using music in the traditional Japanese theatre “No” and “Kabuki”.
“…[the] gebikan (which translates as “dramatic accompaniment”)... approach…in
based on the use of recurring pieces that serve as a commentary for characters, locations
or moods.” (Bellano, 2012: 2).
It is also true that Hayao Miyazaki’s movies are mainstream in their country
(and in the last 15 years, huge successes also in the western world) and that, of
course, the taste of Japanese audience is largely influenced by western movies.
Even if animation cinema is still the place where the gebikan approach resists
the most (Bellano, 2012: 3) it is evident that it is necessarily mixed with a more
modern style. For this purpose, Joe Hisaishi, mixing the two approaches, uses a
set of techniques: re-arrangement and re-orchestration of the themes; their
repeated use; and a heavy use of editing. These become the tools that the
composer, together with the music editor (in this case, no less than the director
3
Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki) needs to use
1
as part of the final composition of the soundtrack, as will be demonstrated in
this paper.
Miyazaki and Hisaishi
a. A 30-year-long relationship
The relationship between Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi (real name
Mamoru Fujisawa, his alias-name comes as a homage to the American
musician and producer Quincy Jones) is one of the longest in the history of
cinema, starting in 1984 with the movie “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind” and
lasting until what is supposed to be Miyazaki’s last movie (“The wind rises”,
2013). It is obvious that, in such an amount of time, the musical style of
Hisaishi has changed and evolved. His first “eclectic” approach (mixing
minimalistic and electronic music with some more orchestral sounds, as seen in
“Nausicaa”) has progressively developed in a more coherent “orchestral” style
that still features some gentle electronic touch (as in the “Spirited Away”
soundtrack). This is partially due to his increased ability in handling
orchestration, as he himself admitted when talking about the rewriting of
Nausicaa’s soundtrack for the English-dubbed version released by Buena Vista
Home Entertainment in 2005 (Hisaishi, 2014). It’s in fact typical for Studio
Ghibli’s composers to be orchestrators, conductors and performers of their own
1
Studio
Ghibli
was
founded
by
Hayao
Miyazaki
and
Isao
Takahata
after
the
success
of
“Nauicaa”
in
1985.
Since
that
date
all
of
their
movies
have
been
produced
there.
(http://www.studioghibli.it/storia/leorigini-‐dello-‐studio/)
4
music (Bellano, 2012: 8). It is also noticeable that, due to the explained process
of composing music, each of the 10 movies they created together have
generated a great amount of records. It is sufficient to say that “Nausicaa” has
an Image, an OST, an Orchestral, a Drama and a Piano Solo album version!
The relationship between the two artists was celebrated in August 2008 with a
huge concert at the Nippon Budokan of Tokyo. Hisaishi played and conducted
his music for Miyazaki’s movies with an orchestra and choir of 1200 musicians,
with an audience of 14000 people, for two evenings in a row.
b. “Spirited Away” (“Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi”)
This is the seventh movie by Hayao Miyazaki and his most successful.
With a production budget of 19 million dollars (10% of these provided by
Disney), the movie ended up earning more than 330 millions being the most
successful movie ever made in Japan and being acclaimed in the whole world
as a masterpiece. It also won the Academy Award for the best Animated
Picture in 2002 as well as the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival the same
year.
The soundtrack won the 6 Mainchi Film Competition, the Tokyo International
th
Anime Fair in 2001 and the 17 Japan Gold Disk Award for the Animation
th
Album of the Year.
The film tells a story about the passage from childhood to the adult age:
Chihiro is a bored 10-year-old child that, once having entered by chance into
the spirits’ world (in a way that resembles that of Alice in Wonderland), needs
5
to undertake a path of personal growth to free herself and her parents
(transformed into pigs) before going back to her life as a new, mature person.
Her innocence, compassion and a newly discovered altruism (also driven by
love) will be the keys for her success.
Other than this main subject, many of the recurrent topics of Miyazaki’s movies
are present: the criticism to modern consumerism (the parents are transformed
in pigs after bingeing in an empty restaurant); the nostalgic remembrance of
ancient Japan; and the ecological theme (for sure his most recurrent one: in the
bath house a river spirit is freed by Chihiro from all the human garbage that
poisons him while Haku, another river spirit, is unable to escape from the
spirits world because his riverbed has been covered with concrete and houses).
Analysis of the “Spirited Away” soundtrack techniques
a. Adapting a theme
The most important theme in the movie is the one associated with the
character of Chihiro/Sen.
This is one of the themes of the soundtrack that come directly from the Image
Album and, in both cases, is proposed as the first track of the CD’s. It is a
perfect example of the technique of use and re-use of the thematic elements
and of how orchestration is used to adapt the same material to the particular
situation where it is played.
6
It is also very interesting to note that each time this melody is presented, after
the exposition of its three parts, a different conclusion is provided, according to
the specific action to which it’s associated.
Other than that, this particular cue serves as a good example to show how in
this movie, as well in most of Miyazaki and Hisaishi’s movies, music is used as
a commentary to feelings and as a psychological tool more often than it is used
as a normal “western” underscore, strictly attached to the images via the use of
precise sync-points.
The way the thematic material is presented in the first Image Album (with the
title “To the River of that day”) is quite different in comparison to how it’s
employed in the OST Album and, therefore, in the movie. It’s a gentle pop song
that features a female voice, mainly accompanied by piano and synths. After an
introduction that is not heard in the movie, the three main ideas that compose
this theme are displayed in the same order in which they are played in the
movie and then repeated and varied to complete the normal form of a pop
song.
The movie version (entitled “One Summer’s Day”) starts with a totally
different introduction played by a piano (Ex.1):
7
The harmony in fourths provides a suspended feeling that is not related to the
images of a normal family moving inside a car. This theme, deeply related to
the main character (Chihiro/Sen), works like a frame to the whole movie that
has a circular structure. It’s not by chance that the first word pronounced in the
movie is the name “Chihiro” (names will have a central symbolic role as they
define the identity of the characters): music works like a general announcement
of what will come next and, while providing a strong sense of magic and
suspension, suggests the idea that innocence will be one of the keys for
Chihiro’ s success. The three cells that compose the melody (A – B and C, Ex.2,3
and 4) are played in a very gentle way by a piano lightly accompanied by one
synthesizer followed by a light string orchestra. The combined sound of piano
and strings will occur often when the action is referred to Chihiro and to her
childish innocence and purity.
8
9
This same melody occurs on three other occasions in the movie, always
carrying a strong symbolic meaning related to the growth process that Chihiro
needs to undertake to save her parents (victims of their senseless consumerism)
and escape from the world of the spirits.
The first time is appears is at 48.29 in the movie and with the title “Day of the
river” in the OST album, referring both to Haku, the river spirit, and to the title
of the track on the Image Album. It appears when Haku accidentally gives
Chihiro her stolen/forgotten name after she had been named Sen, until this
point of the story. It’s the first important milestone in the growth of
Chihiro/Sen and the music, which is not directly related to the images (Sen
eating rice), is used as a symbol for it. At this point Chihiro is finding with
difficulty the courage to start her adventure (she starts crying) but, at the same
time, the music itself reminds that her innocence and her first contact with love
(that of course cannot take an adult form) will help her grow as a person and
therefore succeed. The second time it appears at 1.29.09 in the movie and this
new arrangement is not present in the OST album. It happens when Chihiro
takes an important and difficult decision in order to help Haku. He is dying
because of a spell: she will undertake a train trip with no return to save him.
It’s the moment when the self-centered and egoistical Chihiro that we saw at
the beginning of the movie, finally disappears to leave room to a new
compassionate, altruistic person capable of love (that is, overall, altruistic…).
Again, music is used to mark a milestone in her growth: when the A part of the
theme is played, it is mixed with the synth sound that relates to Haku, standing
as a symbol of their germinating love. For the same reason, this time the theme
is doubled with a gentle oboe that adds a particular sweetness to the melody
10
and, later, by a warm and beautiful French horn. Again, the relation with the
images and the action displayed is way weaker than the one with the evolution
of Chihiro. While the music is playing another character is telling Chihiro that a
monster is devastating the spirits’ thermal baths where they all live and work.
There is no sign of this tension in the music that is simply relating to the main
character of the story and to her growth.
The last time it appears is at 1.58.07 in the movie and the title of the track is
“The return”. It takes place when Chihiro has already saved her parents and
given Haku back his name and with it, his freedom. The music closes as a
frame to the story. The new arrangements, with the melancholic piano or a
simple string orchestra, heard when Chihiro shows her maturity resisting to
the temptation of turning back (perhaps as a symbol of a new, different,
Orfeo?), convey a set of different emotions. There is the sense of ending of a big
adventure, the idea that the circularity of the story is in reality the starting
point for the new life of Chihiro, the sense of nostalgia for the momentary
separation from Haku. Again, the music is related to the inner world of the
character and serves as the structure of the movie only with its final cadence,
accompanying the conclusion of the plot.
b. Influence of the music on the final movie
Hayao Miyazaki is known for listening to a lot of music while drawing
and animating. In the documentary “How Ponyo was born”, produced of
course by Studio Ghibli, he explains that he was listening to Wagner while
11
drawing and that this influenced the choice of the name Brunhilde for his
2
character.
It is also evident that the Image Album for the movie he was working on is one
of the main influences in the workflow and the final result.
There are two tracks of the Image Album that “survived” in their original form
(or at least with non-significant modifications) to the transition from the Image
Album to the movie, and consequently to the OST album.
The impact of the cue that on the Image Album is called “Sea” is, however,
quite unique. It has been evident to me, since the first time I saw this movie,
that images and music are linked here in a different way, dancing and melting
together like as if the music had the main role, and the images were created
following its pace. This scene kind of breaks the movie in two parts, even if
we’re close to its ending, and the slow rhythm and unusual length, due to the
relation with the music, assumes quite an important symbolic role. We’re
watching a long trip on a train that stands as the final step of Chihiro towards
her adult age. She is supposed to come back on foot from this trip (to an
unknown destination, at this point) but, due to its length, this is clearly
impossible. That’s because once the status of “child” has been left there is no
possible comeback and, in fact, this scene shows the first time that Chihiro is
leading her small group of friends like an adult.
After a gentle chord played by a synthesizer, a slow arpeggio played on a
piano begins in the low register, opening the cue (Ex.5):
2
Brunhilde
is
the
real
name
of
Ponyo
and
comes
from
the
name
of
the
daughter
of
Wotan
in
Wagner’s
“Der
Ring
des
Nibelungen”.
12
As I mentioned, strings and piano are the main “Chihiro instruments” and
since the whole scene is basically symbolizing her growth, these are the
instruments dominating the cue.
The main melody is then heard (Ex.6) and, after a brief development, the
typical suspended harmony in fourths, which refers to Chihiro from the first
cue, is played again, this time only by the high strings (Ex.7). Needless to say,
this is another sign of the centrality of the main character in this sequence, even
though the beautiful images of the train and the stations sunk in water are
shown.
13
The main difference between the two versions, Image Album final soundtrack
relates only to the way it’s recorded, since the first version is based on samples
while the final one features a proper string orchestra and a well-recorded real
piano.
The same basic difference appears in the track called “People in the
Wonderland” that in the OST Album takes the name of “Sootballs” (referred to
the small funny characters, recurring in Miyazaki’s movies, that help the man
of the big boiler in his hard job). They appear for the first time at 25.31 in the
movie and, due to the comic quality of those characters, the music associated
with them, in a “leit-motivic” way, has the same trait: after a short introduction
the main melody, accompanied by bassoon and contrabassoon is exposed:
(Ex.8):
14
The orchestration resembles that of the “Dance of the Little Swans” of
Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and again, the main difference among the two
15
versions resides in the quality of the production: samples in the Image album
and a real wind orchestra with horn and piano for the movie soundtrack.
A good example for the eclectic approach to this soundtrack is provided by the
strict leit-motiv technique adopted for the “sootballs”, since their melody is
presented every time they appear. After the first appearance, already
mentioned, the melody, cut in small cells and varied to accompany the images
(Ex.9), is presented again in a track that can be found also in the OST album
with the name “Bathhouse Morning” and appears finally at 87.15 in the movie,
right before Chihiro decides to leave to save Haku’s life.
It is also interesting to notice that the original Image Album version is closed
with a short reprise of the theme (varied and modulated) that could have been
prepared for an eventual re-use in the movie. It is actually never heard in the
final soundtrack.
c. Editing and re-orchestrating
As mentioned earlier, editing techniques have an important role in the
way music is “applied” to the images. This habit has probably developed
throughout the relationship between director and musician, since this is
16
especially true in the first soundtracks composed by Hisaishi for Miyazaki’s
movies: pre-existing recordings published in the Image Album were adapted to
fit images, frequently with evident cuts or fades.
As we will see in the two following examples, this technique is still largely
applied in this movie.
The third track of the Image Album is a song (featuring different male and
female voices) called “Gods”. It contains several Japanese-traditional elements
in terms of instrumentation and structure. The way it is sung, the percussive
and metallic sounds and the main harmonic instrument, the koto, place this cue
in the traditional music realm and it’s in fact associated with the masques of
the spirits that appear to be part of the Japanese tradition (Boyd and
Nishimura, 2004)
This happens again whenever the thermal baths and the inside happenings are
displayed. Since it appears to be an element of the ancient Japanese life, to
which Miyazaki frequently pays tribute in his movies, it is always associated to
music that sounds “ancient” in terms of instrumentation and style.
However, it is interesting that in an interview published the 25 of June of 2014
th
on the site www.studioghibli.it, Hisaishi explains that, partially due the high
number of different divinities that are shown in the movie, the inspiration for
the traditional cues comes from the Balinese, African and Middle-Eastern
music, mixed with the folk style from Okinawa.
The first time the track is heard is at 13.19 in the movie and is titled “Procession
of the Spirits” in the OST album. A scared Chihiro watches the spirits getting
off the boat that takes them to the thermal baths. There are only a few elements
of the original track that survive in the soundtrack. Of course the various
17
traditional elements (koto, percussions and metals) are still present in the cue,
but the sung melody is replaced with a more cinematic brass orchestration that
mixes the traditional sound with a more usual soundtrack sound.
However, compared to the OST Album track, this cue appears to be missing its
introduction and simply, abruptly fades out while Chihiro escapes running to a
small hill, without any real syncing to the images.
Actually, the whole track is played entirely only the second time it’s heard, at
30.32 in the movie. This time the cue appears to be carefully synced to the
images, especially in the introduction part, that was cut the first time.
At every change of frame, of Chihiro and Rin walking into the structure of the
thermal baths, the light pizzicato strings accompaniment leaves room to heavy
and deep brass chords that outline the severity of the big building. This time
the cue is so perfectly adapted to the images that it appears to have been rewritten for this specific sequence, starting with the material present in the
Image Album and then, later, heavily edited for the previous sequence.
Even more complex is what happens with the cue that in the OST album
version takes the name “Yubaba”. It is referred to the main negative character
although there are no real evil characters in this movie: everyone has good and
dark sides.
Hisaishi, in the quoted interview, says that he encountered the worst
difficulties in musically defining the character of Yubaba, precisely because of
her complexity. However, the introduction to her cue is quite interesting
(Ex.10) leaving the whole weight of her presentation to a piano solo hitting two
notes at the opposite extremes of the keyboard, in a very effective and peculiar
way.
18
The following material is largely based on what composes the track “The night
is coming” on the Image Album. The piano and harp arpeggio, which
constitutes the basis of the original cue, is played on the OST by the sole harp at
a slightly faster pace. The other “sonically strong” element of the cue is a
synth-pad resembling a choir and it is identical on both cues.
Even the thematic material, exposed at first by strings, and by brass in a later
section is the same on the two cues, with the only main difference being that
the same piano notes heard on the intro, are repeated on top of the pre-existing
music.
As usual the Image Album features only sampled sounds that in the actual
soundtrack are replaced by the real orchestra, generating a hybrid cue of
orchestral and synthetic elements.
Even if the music here has been largely re-written using the original material of
the Image Album, the editing techniques have been used intensely to make it
fit the length of the images.
Comparing the published soundtrack to what is heard when the scene
concerning Yubaba begins, at 34.40 on the movie, it can be noted that only the
19
second half of the cue has been used, and also that it has been cut to finish
abruptly, inserting the same notes as the introduction.
The central section of this same cue, that features a sort of disturbing lullaby
played by one celesta (Ex.11), is heard only a few minutes later, when the giant
baby, son of Yubaba, is presented.
A different version of this lullaby, extended, varied and orchestrated with
pizzicato strings in addition, is heard again in the movie at 01.19.55 when
Yubaba talks to her giant baby to calm him. Even a simple harmonic analysis of
this small ¾ melody, with the augmented 5 in the 3 measure and the repeated
th
rd
tritone on the left hand, makes evident that the chosen tone is slightly
disturbing and weird, if compared to a lullaby.
The criticism implied towards this character is quite evident and is outlined by
his music: the giant baby of Yubaba, over protected by his mother, cannot grow
normally since he’s subjected to her senseless fears. Again, the consequences of
Chihiro’s actions will give him the chance to move freely in the world learning,
finally, how to develop normally.
20
Another interesting re-use of pre-existing material can be heard at 1.47.17 in the
film: Chihiro and his small company are arriving at the humble house of
Zeniba, Yubaba’s sister, driven by a lamp hopping on one foot (a clear homage
that Miyazaki pays to John Lasseter’s Pixar, since he’s involved in the rewriting of the dialogues for the English version of the movie).
The scene takes place at night, the atmosphere is suspended and a complex
figure, resembling two gentle arpeggios can be heard. It appears to be treated
with some delay, or maybe edited and overlapped in a time-free way, to
enhance the sense of magic (though certainly not fear) and uncertainty proper
to the scene.
These are the arpeggios (Ex.12) that open the OST Album track n. 18, “The
house at the swamp bottom” but those on the soundtrack album aren’t subject
to this overlapping (or delaying) treatment:
21
Again in the Image Album it is possible to find the source material for this
arpeggio. On the track n.2 (“The night is coming”) at 02.36 the same material is
heard, presented by the sole piano and harp within a totally different contest.
It is, of course, easy to find many other examples of cues that compose the final
soundtrack that have their original source material in the tracks of the Image
Album, but I would like to consider one last example of editing and re-use of
one cue.
d. “New” material and its use
It is evident that using only the previously existent material couldn’t
create the whole soundtrack. Furthermore, two of the songs published on the
Image Album were not used in the final soundtrack.
Some of the cues have been written specifically for the images, presenting the
characteristics of a more standard western way of composing for movies: they
follow the action closely and use sync points.
One clear example of this writing technique can be found at 20.59 in the movie:
Chihiro is walking down a big stair and, due to its dimension; every step is
difficult and dangerous. The music literally follows every single step and
movement of the character in a way that resembles the classic “mickeymousing” technique. When one of the steps breaks, Chihiro is forced to a big
run down the stair that ends, safely, against one wall.
As mentioned, the music follows the action: a fast figure in the higher strings,
mixed with runs on the harp and ascending pizzicatos in the lower strings,
follows closely her action.
22
This cue is present also in the OST Album, with the title “Sen’s Courage”: the
published version contains the segment that we hear on the movie, without
major edits.
What is less common is that the same segment is heard again in a different part
of the movie, at 1.06.42, when Chihiro escapes from the bath building to start
her last trip on the train. This time all of the “mickey-mousing” elements are, of
course, not synced with the images up until the moment where Chihiro needs
to run on a pipe that risks collapsing under her weight: it’s basically the same
action seen when she was running down the stairs and the same figure of
strings and harp are played, in a re-recorded version that fits the shorter length
of the action.
However, the out-of-sync “mickey-mousing” elements are effective in
generating a light tension that underline the adventurous escape from the
building.
Conclusions
The way a soundtrack is conceived in the Japanese animation cinema is
quite different from the way it’s done in the western mainstream one.
This is particularly true in the specific case of the long-lasting relation between
Hayao Miyazaki and his composer Joe Hisaishi.
The common practice of creating an Image Album, published as a trailer to the
movie some months before its release, sets the boundaries of the musical
material that should be heard in the final soundtrack and, on the other side,
23
inspires the work of the director, sometimes reversing the normal hierarchy
between images and music in a movie.
The increasing international success of Hayao Miyazaki’s movies, together
with the progressive changing of the taste of Japanese audience towards a
more globalized direction, have, nonetheless, dictated the need of a more
standard way of conceiving the music written for the images.
The consequence, as this paper has tried to explain, is the need of an highly
eclectic approach to the composition that mixes “commentary” technique,
coming from the Japanese classic theatre; leit-motives, associated both to
characters or to feelings and statess; re-orchestrations and re-writings of the
same material; edits and, finally, more standardized original cues written for
specific sequences.
All of these elements are present in the complex soundtrack of “Spirited
Away”.
References
a. Online Magazines
Bellano, Marco: “From Albums to Images. Studio Ghibli’s Image Albums and their
impact on audiovisuals strategies”. Trans. Transcultural Music Review,
n.16. http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/public/docs/trans_16_01.pdf.
Sibe (Sociedad de Etnomusicologia), 2012.
Bellano, Marco: “The parts and the whole: audiovisual strategies in the cinema of
Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi”.
24
http://www.animationjournal.com/abstracts/abstracts.html.Animation
Journal, n.18. School of Film/Video, California Institute of Art, 2010.
b. Internet resources
Boyd, James W. – Nishimura, Tetsuya. Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime
Film “Spirited Away”. The Journal of Religion and Film, vol.8, No.2,
October 2004.
(https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htm)
Hisaishi, Joe: interview published on the Internet site www.nausicaa.net
(http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/laputa/interview.html), 1999
Hisaishi, Joe: interview published on the internet site www.studioghibli.it
(http://www.studioghibli.it/joe-hisaishi-parla-della-colonna-sonorade-la-citta-incantata/), 2014
c. Audiovisuals
Hisaishi, Joe: “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Image Album”, Tokuma Records
(TKCA-72100), 2001/04/04
Hisaishi, Joe: “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Soundtrack”, Tokuma Records
(TKDA-72166), 2001/07/18
25
Miyazaki, Hayao and Shikou, Katei: “Ponyo wa Koushite Umareta (How Ponyo
was born)”, Studio Ghibli, 2009
26
“Between tradition and modernity –
The eclectic approach of Joe Hisaishi to
Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” soundtrack”
Candidate Thesis for the Master in Scoring for Film,
Television and Videogames (2014/2015)
Berklee Valencia Campus
Supervisor: Prof. Alfons Condé
May 2015
Content
Thesis
1
The Image Album and its boundaries
2
Miyazaki and Hisaishi
a. A 30-year-long relationship
4
b. “Spirited Away” (“Sen no Chihiro no Kamikakushi”)
5
Analysis of the “Spirited Away” soundtrack techniques
a. Adapting a theme
6
b. Influence of the music on the final movie
11
c. Editing and re-orchestrating
16
d. “New” material and its use
22
Conclusions
23
References
a. Online Magazines
24
b. Internet Resources
25
c. Audiovisuals
25
“…The Hollywood style of using music to introduce characters and
explain what’s on screen is a method that I don’t normally use in Japan…” (Joe
Hisaishi, 1999)
Thesis
In the world of Japanese animation movies, the way composers work on
the creation of the soundtrack is quite different from the way we’re used to in
the western world.
The creation of what is called an “Image Album”, often based on simple
suggestions and ideas about the movie, before it is actually completed is one of
the most relevant differences.
The music created for this album, which is published as a trailer months before
the movie itself, sets the boundaries within which the composer should remain
while composing the final soundtrack.
There are many consequences to this habit: the music is used often as a simple
commentary to the scene (or to the emotions that are expressed or that are
proper to a specific character) without a proper syncing, and many editing and
re-writing or re-orchestrating techniques are involved, in order to use the preexisting material in a proper way.
With this paper, I would like to concentrate on the soundtrack of Hayao
Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”, written by his usual collaborator Joe Hisaishi.
Through a selection of different cues I will analyze the relationship between the
Image Album and the final soundtrack as well as the editing and reorchestrating techniques that allow Hisaishi to adapt the themes to the actual
1
images. Due to the frequent “commentary” nature of the music, I will also
concentrate on the symbolic role that it has in relation to the dramatic action.
The Image Album and its boundaries
The Image Album is a collection of compositions based on general hints,
ideas, drawings, key words (as in the specific case of Joe Hisaishi and Hayao
Miyazaki), provided by the director to the composer. This album fulfills
different purposes related both to the creation of the movie itself and to the
marketing strategies proper of the industry of animation movies in Japan.
On one hand this album, released several months before the movie it
corresponds to, it serves as a publicity for the movie itself; on the other side,
and this is typically seen in the relation between Miyazaki and Hisaishi, it
serves as a source of inspiration for the director and animator while working
on the images.
“Trans – Revista transcultural de música” published in its number 16 of 2012
an important paper from Marco Bellano, professor of History of Animation at
the University of Padova (Italy). In his “From Albums to Images – Studio
Ghibil’s Image Albums and their impact on audiovisual strategies”, Bellano
points out how the creation of this first collection of music has a deep impact
on the creation of the final soundtrack.
It is clearly evident that this first album defines the boundaries within which
the composer should remain since both the audience and the director, become
accustomed to the music that has been created before the final images have
2
been finalized. It is also very interesting that this practice generates a different
relationship between music and images: music is created on its own and, for
this reason, its formal structure is necessarily stronger and usually takes the
structure of concert pieces (or songs) more often than in the usual “western”
soundtracks. As a consequence, the most frequent use of this music is that of a
“commentary” to the general feeling and meaning of the images, in a way that
appears to be the natural opposite of the technique of “mickey mousing”
introduced by Walt Disney’s cartoons.
What Marco Bellano suggests is that this technique also relates to the classical
way of using music in the traditional Japanese theatre “No” and “Kabuki”.
“…[the] gebikan (which translates as “dramatic accompaniment”)... approach…in
based on the use of recurring pieces that serve as a commentary for characters, locations
or moods.” (Bellano, 2012: 2).
It is also true that Hayao Miyazaki’s movies are mainstream in their country
(and in the last 15 years, huge successes also in the western world) and that, of
course, the taste of Japanese audience is largely influenced by western movies.
Even if animation cinema is still the place where the gebikan approach resists
the most (Bellano, 2012: 3) it is evident that it is necessarily mixed with a more
modern style. For this purpose, Joe Hisaishi, mixing the two approaches, uses a
set of techniques: re-arrangement and re-orchestration of the themes; their
repeated use; and a heavy use of editing. These become the tools that the
composer, together with the music editor (in this case, no less than the director
3
Isao Takahata, co-founder of Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki) needs to use
1
as part of the final composition of the soundtrack, as will be demonstrated in
this paper.
Miyazaki and Hisaishi
a. A 30-year-long relationship
The relationship between Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi (real name
Mamoru Fujisawa, his alias-name comes as a homage to the American
musician and producer Quincy Jones) is one of the longest in the history of
cinema, starting in 1984 with the movie “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind” and
lasting until what is supposed to be Miyazaki’s last movie (“The wind rises”,
2013). It is obvious that, in such an amount of time, the musical style of
Hisaishi has changed and evolved. His first “eclectic” approach (mixing
minimalistic and electronic music with some more orchestral sounds, as seen in
“Nausicaa”) has progressively developed in a more coherent “orchestral” style
that still features some gentle electronic touch (as in the “Spirited Away”
soundtrack). This is partially due to his increased ability in handling
orchestration, as he himself admitted when talking about the rewriting of
Nausicaa’s soundtrack for the English-dubbed version released by Buena Vista
Home Entertainment in 2005 (Hisaishi, 2014). It’s in fact typical for Studio
Ghibli’s composers to be orchestrators, conductors and performers of their own
1
Studio
Ghibli
was
founded
by
Hayao
Miyazaki
and
Isao
Takahata
after
the
success
of
“Nauicaa”
in
1985.
Since
that
date
all
of
their
movies
have
been
produced
there.
(http://www.studioghibli.it/storia/leorigini-‐dello-‐studio/)
4
music (Bellano, 2012: 8). It is also noticeable that, due to the explained process
of composing music, each of the 10 movies they created together have
generated a great amount of records. It is sufficient to say that “Nausicaa” has
an Image, an OST, an Orchestral, a Drama and a Piano Solo album version!
The relationship between the two artists was celebrated in August 2008 with a
huge concert at the Nippon Budokan of Tokyo. Hisaishi played and conducted
his music for Miyazaki’s movies with an orchestra and choir of 1200 musicians,
with an audience of 14000 people, for two evenings in a row.
b. “Spirited Away” (“Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi”)
This is the seventh movie by Hayao Miyazaki and his most successful.
With a production budget of 19 million dollars (10% of these provided by
Disney), the movie ended up earning more than 330 millions being the most
successful movie ever made in Japan and being acclaimed in the whole world
as a masterpiece. It also won the Academy Award for the best Animated
Picture in 2002 as well as the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival the same
year.
The soundtrack won the 6 Mainchi Film Competition, the Tokyo International
th
Anime Fair in 2001 and the 17 Japan Gold Disk Award for the Animation
th
Album of the Year.
The film tells a story about the passage from childhood to the adult age:
Chihiro is a bored 10-year-old child that, once having entered by chance into
the spirits’ world (in a way that resembles that of Alice in Wonderland), needs
5
to undertake a path of personal growth to free herself and her parents
(transformed into pigs) before going back to her life as a new, mature person.
Her innocence, compassion and a newly discovered altruism (also driven by
love) will be the keys for her success.
Other than this main subject, many of the recurrent topics of Miyazaki’s movies
are present: the criticism to modern consumerism (the parents are transformed
in pigs after bingeing in an empty restaurant); the nostalgic remembrance of
ancient Japan; and the ecological theme (for sure his most recurrent one: in the
bath house a river spirit is freed by Chihiro from all the human garbage that
poisons him while Haku, another river spirit, is unable to escape from the
spirits world because his riverbed has been covered with concrete and houses).
Analysis of the “Spirited Away” soundtrack techniques
a. Adapting a theme
The most important theme in the movie is the one associated with the
character of Chihiro/Sen.
This is one of the themes of the soundtrack that come directly from the Image
Album and, in both cases, is proposed as the first track of the CD’s. It is a
perfect example of the technique of use and re-use of the thematic elements
and of how orchestration is used to adapt the same material to the particular
situation where it is played.
6
It is also very interesting to note that each time this melody is presented, after
the exposition of its three parts, a different conclusion is provided, according to
the specific action to which it’s associated.
Other than that, this particular cue serves as a good example to show how in
this movie, as well in most of Miyazaki and Hisaishi’s movies, music is used as
a commentary to feelings and as a psychological tool more often than it is used
as a normal “western” underscore, strictly attached to the images via the use of
precise sync-points.
The way the thematic material is presented in the first Image Album (with the
title “To the River of that day”) is quite different in comparison to how it’s
employed in the OST Album and, therefore, in the movie. It’s a gentle pop song
that features a female voice, mainly accompanied by piano and synths. After an
introduction that is not heard in the movie, the three main ideas that compose
this theme are displayed in the same order in which they are played in the
movie and then repeated and varied to complete the normal form of a pop
song.
The movie version (entitled “One Summer’s Day”) starts with a totally
different introduction played by a piano (Ex.1):
7
The harmony in fourths provides a suspended feeling that is not related to the
images of a normal family moving inside a car. This theme, deeply related to
the main character (Chihiro/Sen), works like a frame to the whole movie that
has a circular structure. It’s not by chance that the first word pronounced in the
movie is the name “Chihiro” (names will have a central symbolic role as they
define the identity of the characters): music works like a general announcement
of what will come next and, while providing a strong sense of magic and
suspension, suggests the idea that innocence will be one of the keys for
Chihiro’ s success. The three cells that compose the melody (A – B and C, Ex.2,3
and 4) are played in a very gentle way by a piano lightly accompanied by one
synthesizer followed by a light string orchestra. The combined sound of piano
and strings will occur often when the action is referred to Chihiro and to her
childish innocence and purity.
8
9
This same melody occurs on three other occasions in the movie, always
carrying a strong symbolic meaning related to the growth process that Chihiro
needs to undertake to save her parents (victims of their senseless consumerism)
and escape from the world of the spirits.
The first time is appears is at 48.29 in the movie and with the title “Day of the
river” in the OST album, referring both to Haku, the river spirit, and to the title
of the track on the Image Album. It appears when Haku accidentally gives
Chihiro her stolen/forgotten name after she had been named Sen, until this
point of the story. It’s the first important milestone in the growth of
Chihiro/Sen and the music, which is not directly related to the images (Sen
eating rice), is used as a symbol for it. At this point Chihiro is finding with
difficulty the courage to start her adventure (she starts crying) but, at the same
time, the music itself reminds that her innocence and her first contact with love
(that of course cannot take an adult form) will help her grow as a person and
therefore succeed. The second time it appears at 1.29.09 in the movie and this
new arrangement is not present in the OST album. It happens when Chihiro
takes an important and difficult decision in order to help Haku. He is dying
because of a spell: she will undertake a train trip with no return to save him.
It’s the moment when the self-centered and egoistical Chihiro that we saw at
the beginning of the movie, finally disappears to leave room to a new
compassionate, altruistic person capable of love (that is, overall, altruistic…).
Again, music is used to mark a milestone in her growth: when the A part of the
theme is played, it is mixed with the synth sound that relates to Haku, standing
as a symbol of their germinating love. For the same reason, this time the theme
is doubled with a gentle oboe that adds a particular sweetness to the melody
10
and, later, by a warm and beautiful French horn. Again, the relation with the
images and the action displayed is way weaker than the one with the evolution
of Chihiro. While the music is playing another character is telling Chihiro that a
monster is devastating the spirits’ thermal baths where they all live and work.
There is no sign of this tension in the music that is simply relating to the main
character of the story and to her growth.
The last time it appears is at 1.58.07 in the movie and the title of the track is
“The return”. It takes place when Chihiro has already saved her parents and
given Haku back his name and with it, his freedom. The music closes as a
frame to the story. The new arrangements, with the melancholic piano or a
simple string orchestra, heard when Chihiro shows her maturity resisting to
the temptation of turning back (perhaps as a symbol of a new, different,
Orfeo?), convey a set of different emotions. There is the sense of ending of a big
adventure, the idea that the circularity of the story is in reality the starting
point for the new life of Chihiro, the sense of nostalgia for the momentary
separation from Haku. Again, the music is related to the inner world of the
character and serves as the structure of the movie only with its final cadence,
accompanying the conclusion of the plot.
b. Influence of the music on the final movie
Hayao Miyazaki is known for listening to a lot of music while drawing
and animating. In the documentary “How Ponyo was born”, produced of
course by Studio Ghibli, he explains that he was listening to Wagner while
11
drawing and that this influenced the choice of the name Brunhilde for his
2
character.
It is also evident that the Image Album for the movie he was working on is one
of the main influences in the workflow and the final result.
There are two tracks of the Image Album that “survived” in their original form
(or at least with non-significant modifications) to the transition from the Image
Album to the movie, and consequently to the OST album.
The impact of the cue that on the Image Album is called “Sea” is, however,
quite unique. It has been evident to me, since the first time I saw this movie,
that images and music are linked here in a different way, dancing and melting
together like as if the music had the main role, and the images were created
following its pace. This scene kind of breaks the movie in two parts, even if
we’re close to its ending, and the slow rhythm and unusual length, due to the
relation with the music, assumes quite an important symbolic role. We’re
watching a long trip on a train that stands as the final step of Chihiro towards
her adult age. She is supposed to come back on foot from this trip (to an
unknown destination, at this point) but, due to its length, this is clearly
impossible. That’s because once the status of “child” has been left there is no
possible comeback and, in fact, this scene shows the first time that Chihiro is
leading her small group of friends like an adult.
After a gentle chord played by a synthesizer, a slow arpeggio played on a
piano begins in the low register, opening the cue (Ex.5):
2
Brunhilde
is
the
real
name
of
Ponyo
and
comes
from
the
name
of
the
daughter
of
Wotan
in
Wagner’s
“Der
Ring
des
Nibelungen”.
12
As I mentioned, strings and piano are the main “Chihiro instruments” and
since the whole scene is basically symbolizing her growth, these are the
instruments dominating the cue.
The main melody is then heard (Ex.6) and, after a brief development, the
typical suspended harmony in fourths, which refers to Chihiro from the first
cue, is played again, this time only by the high strings (Ex.7). Needless to say,
this is another sign of the centrality of the main character in this sequence, even
though the beautiful images of the train and the stations sunk in water are
shown.
13
The main difference between the two versions, Image Album final soundtrack
relates only to the way it’s recorded, since the first version is based on samples
while the final one features a proper string orchestra and a well-recorded real
piano.
The same basic difference appears in the track called “People in the
Wonderland” that in the OST Album takes the name of “Sootballs” (referred to
the small funny characters, recurring in Miyazaki’s movies, that help the man
of the big boiler in his hard job). They appear for the first time at 25.31 in the
movie and, due to the comic quality of those characters, the music associated
with them, in a “leit-motivic” way, has the same trait: after a short introduction
the main melody, accompanied by bassoon and contrabassoon is exposed:
(Ex.8):
14
The orchestration resembles that of the “Dance of the Little Swans” of
Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and again, the main difference among the two
15
versions resides in the quality of the production: samples in the Image album
and a real wind orchestra with horn and piano for the movie soundtrack.
A good example for the eclectic approach to this soundtrack is provided by the
strict leit-motiv technique adopted for the “sootballs”, since their melody is
presented every time they appear. After the first appearance, already
mentioned, the melody, cut in small cells and varied to accompany the images
(Ex.9), is presented again in a track that can be found also in the OST album
with the name “Bathhouse Morning” and appears finally at 87.15 in the movie,
right before Chihiro decides to leave to save Haku’s life.
It is also interesting to notice that the original Image Album version is closed
with a short reprise of the theme (varied and modulated) that could have been
prepared for an eventual re-use in the movie. It is actually never heard in the
final soundtrack.
c. Editing and re-orchestrating
As mentioned earlier, editing techniques have an important role in the
way music is “applied” to the images. This habit has probably developed
throughout the relationship between director and musician, since this is
16
especially true in the first soundtracks composed by Hisaishi for Miyazaki’s
movies: pre-existing recordings published in the Image Album were adapted to
fit images, frequently with evident cuts or fades.
As we will see in the two following examples, this technique is still largely
applied in this movie.
The third track of the Image Album is a song (featuring different male and
female voices) called “Gods”. It contains several Japanese-traditional elements
in terms of instrumentation and structure. The way it is sung, the percussive
and metallic sounds and the main harmonic instrument, the koto, place this cue
in the traditional music realm and it’s in fact associated with the masques of
the spirits that appear to be part of the Japanese tradition (Boyd and
Nishimura, 2004)
This happens again whenever the thermal baths and the inside happenings are
displayed. Since it appears to be an element of the ancient Japanese life, to
which Miyazaki frequently pays tribute in his movies, it is always associated to
music that sounds “ancient” in terms of instrumentation and style.
However, it is interesting that in an interview published the 25 of June of 2014
th
on the site www.studioghibli.it, Hisaishi explains that, partially due the high
number of different divinities that are shown in the movie, the inspiration for
the traditional cues comes from the Balinese, African and Middle-Eastern
music, mixed with the folk style from Okinawa.
The first time the track is heard is at 13.19 in the movie and is titled “Procession
of the Spirits” in the OST album. A scared Chihiro watches the spirits getting
off the boat that takes them to the thermal baths. There are only a few elements
of the original track that survive in the soundtrack. Of course the various
17
traditional elements (koto, percussions and metals) are still present in the cue,
but the sung melody is replaced with a more cinematic brass orchestration that
mixes the traditional sound with a more usual soundtrack sound.
However, compared to the OST Album track, this cue appears to be missing its
introduction and simply, abruptly fades out while Chihiro escapes running to a
small hill, without any real syncing to the images.
Actually, the whole track is played entirely only the second time it’s heard, at
30.32 in the movie. This time the cue appears to be carefully synced to the
images, especially in the introduction part, that was cut the first time.
At every change of frame, of Chihiro and Rin walking into the structure of the
thermal baths, the light pizzicato strings accompaniment leaves room to heavy
and deep brass chords that outline the severity of the big building. This time
the cue is so perfectly adapted to the images that it appears to have been rewritten for this specific sequence, starting with the material present in the
Image Album and then, later, heavily edited for the previous sequence.
Even more complex is what happens with the cue that in the OST album
version takes the name “Yubaba”. It is referred to the main negative character
although there are no real evil characters in this movie: everyone has good and
dark sides.
Hisaishi, in the quoted interview, says that he encountered the worst
difficulties in musically defining the character of Yubaba, precisely because of
her complexity. However, the introduction to her cue is quite interesting
(Ex.10) leaving the whole weight of her presentation to a piano solo hitting two
notes at the opposite extremes of the keyboard, in a very effective and peculiar
way.
18
The following material is largely based on what composes the track “The night
is coming” on the Image Album. The piano and harp arpeggio, which
constitutes the basis of the original cue, is played on the OST by the sole harp at
a slightly faster pace. The other “sonically strong” element of the cue is a
synth-pad resembling a choir and it is identical on both cues.
Even the thematic material, exposed at first by strings, and by brass in a later
section is the same on the two cues, with the only main difference being that
the same piano notes heard on the intro, are repeated on top of the pre-existing
music.
As usual the Image Album features only sampled sounds that in the actual
soundtrack are replaced by the real orchestra, generating a hybrid cue of
orchestral and synthetic elements.
Even if the music here has been largely re-written using the original material of
the Image Album, the editing techniques have been used intensely to make it
fit the length of the images.
Comparing the published soundtrack to what is heard when the scene
concerning Yubaba begins, at 34.40 on the movie, it can be noted that only the
19
second half of the cue has been used, and also that it has been cut to finish
abruptly, inserting the same notes as the introduction.
The central section of this same cue, that features a sort of disturbing lullaby
played by one celesta (Ex.11), is heard only a few minutes later, when the giant
baby, son of Yubaba, is presented.
A different version of this lullaby, extended, varied and orchestrated with
pizzicato strings in addition, is heard again in the movie at 01.19.55 when
Yubaba talks to her giant baby to calm him. Even a simple harmonic analysis of
this small ¾ melody, with the augmented 5 in the 3 measure and the repeated
th
rd
tritone on the left hand, makes evident that the chosen tone is slightly
disturbing and weird, if compared to a lullaby.
The criticism implied towards this character is quite evident and is outlined by
his music: the giant baby of Yubaba, over protected by his mother, cannot grow
normally since he’s subjected to her senseless fears. Again, the consequences of
Chihiro’s actions will give him the chance to move freely in the world learning,
finally, how to develop normally.
20
Another interesting re-use of pre-existing material can be heard at 1.47.17 in the
film: Chihiro and his small company are arriving at the humble house of
Zeniba, Yubaba’s sister, driven by a lamp hopping on one foot (a clear homage
that Miyazaki pays to John Lasseter’s Pixar, since he’s involved in the rewriting of the dialogues for the English version of the movie).
The scene takes place at night, the atmosphere is suspended and a complex
figure, resembling two gentle arpeggios can be heard. It appears to be treated
with some delay, or maybe edited and overlapped in a time-free way, to
enhance the sense of magic (though certainly not fear) and uncertainty proper
to the scene.
These are the arpeggios (Ex.12) that open the OST Album track n. 18, “The
house at the swamp bottom” but those on the soundtrack album aren’t subject
to this overlapping (or delaying) treatment:
21
Again in the Image Album it is possible to find the source material for this
arpeggio. On the track n.2 (“The night is coming”) at 02.36 the same material is
heard, presented by the sole piano and harp within a totally different contest.
It is, of course, easy to find many other examples of cues that compose the final
soundtrack that have their original source material in the tracks of the Image
Album, but I would like to consider one last example of editing and re-use of
one cue.
d. “New” material and its use
It is evident that using only the previously existent material couldn’t
create the whole soundtrack. Furthermore, two of the songs published on the
Image Album were not used in the final soundtrack.
Some of the cues have been written specifically for the images, presenting the
characteristics of a more standard western way of composing for movies: they
follow the action closely and use sync points.
One clear example of this writing technique can be found at 20.59 in the movie:
Chihiro is walking down a big stair and, due to its dimension; every step is
difficult and dangerous. The music literally follows every single step and
movement of the character in a way that resembles the classic “mickeymousing” technique. When one of the steps breaks, Chihiro is forced to a big
run down the stair that ends, safely, against one wall.
As mentioned, the music follows the action: a fast figure in the higher strings,
mixed with runs on the harp and ascending pizzicatos in the lower strings,
follows closely her action.
22
This cue is present also in the OST Album, with the title “Sen’s Courage”: the
published version contains the segment that we hear on the movie, without
major edits.
What is less common is that the same segment is heard again in a different part
of the movie, at 1.06.42, when Chihiro escapes from the bath building to start
her last trip on the train. This time all of the “mickey-mousing” elements are, of
course, not synced with the images up until the moment where Chihiro needs
to run on a pipe that risks collapsing under her weight: it’s basically the same
action seen when she was running down the stairs and the same figure of
strings and harp are played, in a re-recorded version that fits the shorter length
of the action.
However, the out-of-sync “mickey-mousing” elements are effective in
generating a light tension that underline the adventurous escape from the
building.
Conclusions
The way a soundtrack is conceived in the Japanese animation cinema is
quite different from the way it’s done in the western mainstream one.
This is particularly true in the specific case of the long-lasting relation between
Hayao Miyazaki and his composer Joe Hisaishi.
The common practice of creating an Image Album, published as a trailer to the
movie some months before its release, sets the boundaries of the musical
material that should be heard in the final soundtrack and, on the other side,
23
inspires the work of the director, sometimes reversing the normal hierarchy
between images and music in a movie.
The increasing international success of Hayao Miyazaki’s movies, together
with the progressive changing of the taste of Japanese audience towards a
more globalized direction, have, nonetheless, dictated the need of a more
standard way of conceiving the music written for the images.
The consequence, as this paper has tried to explain, is the need of an highly
eclectic approach to the composition that mixes “commentary” technique,
coming from the Japanese classic theatre; leit-motives, associated both to
characters or to feelings and statess; re-orchestrations and re-writings of the
same material; edits and, finally, more standardized original cues written for
specific sequences.
All of these elements are present in the complex soundtrack of “Spirited
Away”.
References
a. Online Magazines
Bellano, Marco: “From Albums to Images. Studio Ghibli’s Image Albums and their
impact on audiovisuals strategies”. Trans. Transcultural Music Review,
n.16. http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/public/docs/trans_16_01.pdf.
Sibe (Sociedad de Etnomusicologia), 2012.
Bellano, Marco: “The parts and the whole: audiovisual strategies in the cinema of
Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi”.
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http://www.animationjournal.com/abstracts/abstracts.html.Animation
Journal, n.18. School of Film/Video, California Institute of Art, 2010.
b. Internet resources
Boyd, James W. – Nishimura, Tetsuya. Shinto Perspectives in Miyazaki’s Anime
Film “Spirited Away”. The Journal of Religion and Film, vol.8, No.2,
October 2004.
(https://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol8No2/boydShinto.htm)
Hisaishi, Joe: interview published on the Internet site www.nausicaa.net
(http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/laputa/interview.html), 1999
Hisaishi, Joe: interview published on the internet site www.studioghibli.it
(http://www.studioghibli.it/joe-hisaishi-parla-della-colonna-sonorade-la-citta-incantata/), 2014
c. Audiovisuals
Hisaishi, Joe: “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Image Album”, Tokuma Records
(TKCA-72100), 2001/04/04
Hisaishi, Joe: “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Soundtrack”, Tokuma Records
(TKDA-72166), 2001/07/18
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Miyazaki, Hayao and Shikou, Katei: “Ponyo wa Koushite Umareta (How Ponyo
was born)”, Studio Ghibli, 2009
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