A.

2 Case Study
of Pre-Production
Spirited
Away
 Background
and
plot
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese
animated fantasy film written and
directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated
by Studio Ghibli for Nippon Television
Network in Tokyo , Japan .
The story follows a 10 year old girl who
parents magically turned into pigs an act
done by a witch and she was taken to a
magical world where supernatural beings
seek comfort away from the earthly realm
and she must work here, as laziness is not
permitted, to free both herself and her
parents from the mystical land.
 Pre Production (1)

 The pre-production was one of the key factors

which led to the film enormous international
success.
 One of those aspects is storyboard , the use of
storyboards enabled production team to plan the
film in advance and plan things such as camera
shots and angles etc.
 In November 2003, the director of the movie
released an illustration book of spirited away that
includes color stills, sketches, storyboards, and
illustrations used to envision the rich fantasy world
of the film
 Pre Production (2)

 The storyboard was an essential part of the pre

production and the success of the film as it helps the
clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems
before they occur. Besides that it helps the estimate
the cost of the overall production and also saves time.
 a storyboard provides a visual layout of events as they
are to be seen through the camera lens

 The process of drawing and making storyboards are

quiet fast and a quick process if done proficiently , it
involves an artists/sketcher working closely with the
director sketching scenes with their talents aided by
director vision who then evaluate the parts they like
and those they don’t removing and adding new parts
and ideas
 This would have hugely influenced the success of the
film as it helped the director visualize the film before
starting animation therefore saving time and money ,
which could be diverted to areas where it might be
more needed or lacking such as scouting locations or
renting studios for recording.
Pre Production (3)
 The design software were an integral part of the pre-
production process.
 In the case of Spirited Away it would have been made
using computer animation , it was made using the
software Autodesk Softimage , the staff mostly learned to
use the software as it was relatively new being released in
2000 one year before the movie was released but they
used the software carefully so that it enhanced the story .
They also used minimal CGI as they wanted the animation
to be the star of the show . The picture on top is a CGI
model of the Bath house featured in the film and the one
on the bottom is of Autodesk Softimage which was used to
make the movie.

 By doing this it helped the production team

to bring characters and specific places which are integral
to the story to come to life making the experience more
enjoyable for the audience.
Pre Production (4)

 As this film is an anime it had to be dubbed in a

projection room in studio Ghibli in Tokyo which was recently
turned into a recording studio in order to run it with
the animation work, the recording process took 3 weeks to
complete.
 The production team also gathered sound for the film in
different locations such as Kusatsu spa , as the movie is set in
a bath house they gathered sound of splashing water ,
flowing water , they also gathered non bathroom sounds
which were necessary , with help of a restaurant they were
able to record sound . They also recorded sounds of eating
utensils and clearing tables.

 For Chihiro family car they recorded the sound of the same
model in real life, this is how the uneven road surface in the
movie was created , in the bottom right picture we can see a
boom mic coming out of the car picture to record sound of
the way the car sounds in on the pavement and the one on
the bottom right is the actual car used in the movie
 Pre Production-
Production
design
 The world in which this story is set has an incredibly interesting
mixture of architectural styles, and a fascinating way of putting
the pieces together. Miyazaki based some of the buildings in the
spirit world on the buildings in the real-life such as Edo Tokyo
Open Air Architectural Museum in Tokyo and Dojo Hot Springs a
famous bathhouse in Japan . He often visited the museum for
inspiration while working on the film. The picture on the bottom
left is the bathhouse in the movie and the one the right is the
Dojo Hot Spring which was used as the main inspiration.
 The design was an important/necessary part in the success of the
film as it helped bring out real buildings and instilling it in the
movie introducing western audience to Japanese culture and
Japanese architecture of buildings making it more enjoyable for
them as they learn about a different culture from theirs.
Pre Production Resources

 Risk assessments
Upon their research , the pre production team would have to create location reeces and also risk
assessments of the area of which they are going to do their field research in , for example in
spirited away the pre production went to Kustsu spa to gather sounds for the movie so risk
assessments becomes useful in this case as this ensures that no one falls or slip near the cliffs and
hurt themselves in the process.
 Location Reece's
Spirited Away was created and recorded in Tokyo , Japan , the film production began Studio Ghibli
Tokyo an animation studio , this enabled the staff to experiment with technology and computer
animation , but used it carefully just to enhance the story , the voice recording of the film also
took part there. The Production Team also travelled to other places such as the spa to gather
sound and restaurant kitchen to make sure sound used in film was realistic.

 Script and Draft

According to an interview back in 2001 at a press conference in Paris at spirited away first
European screening, the director stated that all of his films are made without scripts he said “I
don't have the story finished and ready when we start work on a film. I usually don't have the
time. So the story develops when I start drawing storyboards. The production starts very soon
thereafter, while the storyboards are still developing. We never know where the story will go but
we just keeping working as the film develops” .
Why pre-
production is
important?
 The Pre-Production used in
this film is one of the many
reasons why this film was
so successful globally
the Pre production enabled
and ensured that the entire
crew knew exactly what’s
going on , this enabled the
process of making the film
to be faster and therefore
more organized with less
setbacks.

 Pre-production will help

with the overall quality of
the production by
organizing it.