Studio Ghibli’s landscapes and animation: design, characteristics and process

This dissertation joins the vibrant discussion in the animation and art industry about the impact of digital technology on culture and older more traditional hand drawn techniques, which are still used by art houses such as Studio Ghibli. It explores the visionary presence that digital techniques have had mainly in Japanese animation culture. From the perspective of someone who has been closely following the main animation houses for a long time, the mix of an autoethnographic and theory-based approach helped give clarity to the changing field and its impact on culture. Looking at key thinkers such as Blaire(2015) and Sullivans(2005) dissection of the research method, allowed me to combine my thoughts on digital evolution in animation while linking it to a theoretical framework. By analysing concrete narrative studies used by Theorists such as Bigelow(2009) and Wells(2002) and then combining that with industry artists of both traditional and modern techniques, I demonstrate that late 20th century aesthetics of art and design in Japanese anime can be pushed to new heights with use of digital technology but also explore the possible drawbacks to traditional styles it would have. Breaking down modern stereotypes of Japanese animation as viewed by western culture was a fundamental point in this research and was achieved by analysing the artistic differences using case studies between different art directors including Hayao Miyazaki and Makoto Shinkai.