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What the scenario means to me

","authors":"Hayao Miyazaki","publisher":"","id":25561,"created_at":"2020-12-21T05:02:37.451Z","updated_at":"2022-02-06T21:55:37.392Z","plugins":"{}","slug":"jmcsif-what-the-scenario-means-to-me","form_url":"/posts/jmcsif-what-the-scenario-means-to-me","body":"

January 15, 1989

My experience with animation is limited to the genres in which I have worked: several television series and theatrical release films. I have never studied scriptwriting, nor have I made any effort to read the scenarios of projects other than my own. In the worst cases, I have been known to just skim through the scenarios of projects that I am involved with and leave the rest to intuition and feelings.

For me to theorize about scenarios, I can only rely on my biased viewpoint and use my experience to show the hole I have dug to fit my own case. Rather belatedly, I should point out that I am probably not the best person to discuss this subject. For the scenario writer, it may be that he must perfect a scenario in order to present it as his own work. However, the real work is the film, and the tasks that go into finishing the completed film are all parts of the process. To put it bluntly, as long as the film is made, it doesn’t matter what method was used to create the scenario.

I think there is no set method or procedure for making a film. Those involved in the making of a film make a concerted effort, step by step, to create the film they want to make; the entire process is the creation of the film.

The current division of labor among the staff’s job categories—animators who direct the drawings and artists who create the key animation drawings, the director or creative director or overall director, and the supervisor—is no more than what is specific to a certain time and a certain place. Production procedures such as planning, scenario writing, storyboarding, and setting the characters and stage are categories born merely of the need for production efficiency. If the situation changes, a different procedure will emerge. All tasks can be done at the same time if that would be better. There are countless cases in which the scenario is enriched because the writer is inspired by the drawings, or the artists’ imaginations are enriched by the scenario. There are examples of scenarios being written just to make the story coherent after a storyboard was created, and I’m sure I can’t be the only one who has finished a film without a scenario.

It is the height of folly to think that one’s work is more than just one part of the complicated process of making a film. If a change suggested by another person improves the work, it is a mistake to refuse to incorporate it under the misconception that one’s purview has been violated. Animation is a collaborative process. Writers who believe that refusing to make scenario changes protects their work and directors who use their artistic rights as a shield to prevent changes in the storyboard simply prove that they are not talented at what they do. What is needed when involved in collaborative work is the flexibility to use without hesitation a better plan than one’s own (even if it comes from a rookie hired the day before) and the determination to convince others through discussion to adopt the ideas one believes in.

Here I digress to state that there are those, even now, who consider that the Disney Productions method of animation production is the best. In the Disney method, a group of main staff works on preparation, creates an image board, comes up with a story, and develops a storyboard. Then everyone suggests ideas. The members of the group are reassembled and shuffled; the storyboard is made into a film for further discussion (called a “Leica reel”⁵). They take a sample of the movements, and then complete the preparation process. In Japan, people tend to idealize the Disney method because it seems to draw on the creativity of everyone involved. Unfortunately this is a falsehood. This method, created by Walt Disney and his close associates, was the method best suited to their time, their film content (or goals, perhaps), and those people who were then gathered together. And in order to maintain this system., Disney Productions let go of talented employees who did not fit their times and places (by “place” I mean national conditions, including cultural differences), using different methods and taking into account the talent, enthusiasm, and stamina of the staff assembled. Some in Japan believed that following the methodology of a past golden age—probably a past when scarcity added value to theatrical showings of animation and audiences wanted more—would give birth to excellent films. Several examples of using the Disney-style storyboard method have been attempted in Japan. I stand by my assertion that they all have failed.

A system must adjust to the people involved. When we look into what is considered a good system, we find that it is one supported by personnel with talent. When even one talented person pulls out, a good system can turn ineffective and bureaucratic. It is best to create, each time, the method that is best suited to the kind of work you want to create and the people you can assemble.

Going back to scenarios, I think the role of the scenario should be determined by the needs of the production. Don’t think that I am saying that technique and ability are not important. Without technique and effort, even if you dream of a wonderful work, you cannot make a decent film no matter how much money you pour into the project. In order to polish your technique, you need to accumulate experience, as well as have talent and enthusiasm.

—

This is an excerpt from What the Scenario Means to Me from Koza Animation 3 ‘Image Design’: BIjutsu Shuppansha: January 15, 1989.

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What the scenario means to me

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