ABOUT THE FILM
HAYAO
MIYAZAKI
Nausicaa: The valley of the wind, a successful animation by Hayao Miyazaki, takes place in a futuristic apocalyptic world depicts the story of a small village ruled by King Oil, which is in a critical state as it is struggling for survival due to Tolmekian’s attack on their city. The Tolmekian people plan to destroy the Sea of Decay, an environment believed to be poisonous and containing dangerous creatures such as gigantic “Ohmus”.
However Princess Nausicaa discovers that the Sea of Decay is not poisonous but helping eliminate pollution from the world. She manages to bond with the Ohmus and plans to stop the Tolmekians from destroying this land.
EXPLORING
NAUSICÄA
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Loves Nature and a huge environmentalist. She is willing to risk her life to protect the
forest and its creatures.
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She is not afraid of the Forest of Decay, she tries to explore it and understand it when everyone is afraid of it.
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She is a fair and loving ruler, symbolising the type of ruler that is desired and needed
by the world. jjj
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She symbolises peace and love, unlike the rest of the characters. In the film she does
not resolve issues with violence.
A recurring, and extremely constant theme in Japanese films, is the reference of "Weapons of Mass Destruction". This thematic statement has obviously developed from the history that Japan has had with Nuclear Weapons and explosions on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This concept is a popular resurgence within the film world of Japan.
Most characters constantly were in the possession of a weapon. This visual is a reference to
Miyazaki's use of this theme, and to additionally highlight the danger of how reliant and
comfortable people are with weapons of mass destruction.
Examples of other successful Japanese films relying on dangers of Weapons:
Grave of the Fireflies 1988
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
MAN V.S NATURE
Throughout this film, Miyazaki constantly demonstrates a tension between nature and humanity, a sense of incompatibility. Nausicäa aims to create an equilibrium between humanity and nature, as she feels equally connected to both. However Miyazaki aims to add more emphasis on the existing conflict between nature and humanity, as the lack of compatibility between the two has the power to destroy the world.
This scene is approximately in the middle of the film. It begins with a boy running away from an extremely intimidating and potentially dangerous insect in the Forest of Decay. The scene itself is very chaotic and hence creates a very concerned and tense mood for the audience watching. Eventually after running for a while, the boy starts to free fall when Nausicäa rescues him with her friend. They unfortunately crash into quick sand, in which they get stuck in. In the next scene, Miyazaki changes the setting and shifts the focus on the Ohmu. In this scene, thousands of Ohmu start flying as a pack which is additionally a very terrifying visual.
PICTURES FROM SCENE
FIRST HALF
THINGS I NOTICED
The first half of the scene showed a lot of length (vertically as well as horizontally).
Ex. long insect, falling for a long time, long wings, long airplane, a long hole they fall into.
In general the scene is very intense and there is clearly a lot of action, interaction as well as movement between the space and the objects in the scene.
To enhance this dramatic effect, Miyazaki makes the scenes a lot shorter and quicker
COLOUR SCHEME
Dark Colours -Minimal Lighting
Cool Tones
Harsh Objects (pointy)
Rough surfaces on their surroundings
Contains many objects and detail
SECOND HALF
THINGS I NOTICED
The visuals as well as mood that Miyazaki generates for the second part of the scene is completely different from the first.
The scene is divided in two parts which were clearly distinguished through the use of a different colour scheme and mood.
COLOUR SCHEME
The colour scheme has shifted entirely.
This part of the scene contains:
Warm Tones
No Harsh Objects
Contains minimal detail
Not violent
More light
This scene is peaceful, quiet, contains minimal or slow movement and transitions the mood of the audience completely.