Aya and the Witch, the first feature film in 3D animation by Ghibli studio
The production house of Totoro has announced the production of its first 3D animation film .
The Japanese production company is preparing the launch of its new movie ‘Aya and the Witch’. / Photo: ghibli.jp
LatinAmerican Post | Luis Hernández Liborio
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Leer en español: Aya y la Bruja, el primer largometraje en animación 3D de estudio Ghibli
The famous Ghibli studios have let us see the first images of their new feature film: Aya and the Witch . In addition to the "normal" expectation caused by the arrival of a new film by the Japanese producer, it has also drawn attention because it will be the first fully 3D animated movie by them, according to Geek Culture. Here we show you everything that is known so far about this new production and why it causes so much expectation, to begin with, these are the first images that NHK and Ghibli have shared:
Aya and the Witch
Gorō Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki, one of the studio's founders, is the director of Aya and the Witch, the studio's most recent production since Hiromasa Yonebayashi's Remembrance of Marnie released in 2014. The story of Aya and the Witch is based, according to the Republic of Peru, on the book Earwig and the Witch by the British writer Diana Wynne Jones. To get an idea of who Wynne Jones is, Ghibli has already adapted one of his stories with great success: The Tramp Castle or The Traveling Castle. The film is planned to be released in winter, through the Japanese state television NHK, according to information from the Peruvian newspaper.
Aya and the Witch will be 82 minutes long and although it is already known that its premiere will be in winter in Japan, there is no data yet on its international premiere. What we do know is that it will feature Hayao Miyazaki in the script and Toshio Suzuki in production, a formula that has worked for more than three decades. Director Gorō Miyazaki will direct his third film for the studio, after his 2006 and 2011 films.
In music will be one of the benchmarks of the studio: Joe Hisaishi, in charge of musicalizing almost all of the studio's greatest hits. Aya and the Witch will serve as a test for the renovation process that the studio is going through, in addition to giving a momentary respite to the public that is waiting for Hayao Miyazaki's new film that does not have a defined release date yet, even Arcadia magazine assures that it could take three more years. The magazine clarifies that the delay is due to the craftsmanship of the studio that needs 60 animators to produce one minute of the film each month.
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Why did Ghibli decide to venture into 3D animation?
It should be clarified that it is not a foray itself, since the studio has already worked with the computer animation technique in parts of some of its previous films such as The Vagabond Castle, to mention an example. With that experience behind, Ghibli has decided to take a new step and take advantage of all the resources it has in 2020, as Geek Culture assures. Computer animation has already been incorporated by the world's big studios, especially by Americans like Dreamworks and of course Disney. With Aya and the Witch, the Japanese studio seeks to generate a new visual experience, because the creative work behind it is the same that has produced its most recent successes.
Ghibli and traditional animation
Ghibli Studios have 35 years of experience in the Japanese industry. However, the careers of their three most important faces: Toshio Suzuki, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, have many more years of experience. Competing in an animation industry as powerful as Japan is not an easy task, with studios like Toei, Kyoto or Sunrise on its way, Ghibli has managed to win his own place.
The hallmark of the studio has been stunning traditional animation, which helps tell stories where the roles of women and girls are much more than heroines. Just look at some of their titles to understand the importance that women have in their stories: Princess Mononoke, Kiki home deliveries, The tale of Princess Kayuga and The Journey of Chihiro, the latter was awarded the Oscar for Best Animated Film. A phrase by Hayao Miyazaki, quoted by Vix magazine, sums up one of the studio's philosophies, that regardless of who the director is, has been fulfilled so far: "Many of my films have strong female leads. Brave girls, they fight by themselves and they don't think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their hearts. They will need a friend, support, but never a savior. A woman can be a hero as much as a man. "
