June 28, 2006 Semi-Random News Bits
The title of today's production diary is "The final production diary of Gedo Senki". The characters on the picture say "Gedo Senki complete!" A preview of the film for production staff was held today.
The title of the June 27th director's diary is "To reporters".
In the entry Goro mentions that he is tired of the amount of reporter's questions about his relationship with his father.
Since he wrote about it on his blog, he hopes reporters read it and change their questions.
Goro and producer Toshio Suzuki are currently traveling around Japan to promote the film.
Studio Ghibli announced a special program featuring PIXAR's latest film CARS will be aired July 1 on NTV.
According to Ghibli, John Lasseter and other PIXAR staff members visted Tokyo on a promotional trip and spent a holiday at the studio; the visiting scene might aired on the special program. Studio Ghibli mentioned that Hayao Miyazaki saw CARS, and said "Good job. I got tears!"
Noriyuki Kitagawa from the system management section of Studio Ghibli held a special lecture about the studio's digital production system. Ghibli World has additional details on the inner workings (servers, network, workstations, etc) as well as pictures from the "Tales from Earthsea" press kit.
Special column "How Gedo Senki is born"
Thanks to Peter van der Lugt and T. Ishikawa for the news.
June 25, 2006 New "Tales from Earthsea" Trailer
Ghibli World is reporting about the upcoming third trailer for Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea) that hits theaters on July 8.
Goro Miyazaki's blog post on June 21 mentioned that all production work for the film is finished.
A preview for the production staff will be held next week.
The advertisement program related to Gedo Senki by NTV starts.
July 15th : "6 days to Howl's Moving Castle" 24:50 - 25:05
17th : "4 days to Howl's Moving Castle"
18th : "3 days to Howl's Moving Castle"
19th : "2 days to Howl's Moving Castle"
20th : "1 day to Howl's Moving Castle" 21th : Friday special roadshow
"Howl's Moving Castle" 21:00 - 23:34
it includes the latest information about Gedo Senki.
24th: "5 days to Gedo Senki" 23:55 - 24:04
25th: "4 days to Gedo Senki"
26th: "3 days to Gedo Senki"
27th: "2 days to Gedo Senki"
28th: Friday roadshow "My Neighbor Totoro" 21:00 - 22:54
"1 day to Gedo Senki"
29th: Gedo Senki special program 10:30 - 11:25
This is the first time that HMC has been aired on TV.
Thanks to Peter van der Lugt and T. Ishikawa for the news.
June 18, 2006 News Roundup
Daniel Zelter picked up the following at http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/michael_howe/archive/2006/05/29/2608.aspx
through http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lupinthethird/message/7218
Q: I know you're a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki. Is the Fiat 500 named Luigi a reference to Miyazaki-san's film ("The Castle of Cagliostro")?
A: No, it's not a reference to it, though I love "Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro." I love that film. But his movies mean so much to me, he's a filmmaker and he's great.
Chris Meadows noted that the real-life Mehve project received some coverage at Slashdot
T. Ishikawa sent two pieces of news:
1) CH4 of Ghibli Channel uploaded a interview clip of Hayao Miyazaki talking about the Ghibli Museum short films.
http://image.space.rakuten.co.jp/lg01/83/0000314683/48/img12c244fclghhz3.jpeg
Miyazaki says, "I'm thinking of making 12 short films in all."
The Ghibli Channel is managed by 4Cast of NTV group, Studio Ghibli only cooperates.
2) Video clip of the "Gedo Senki" special day press conference at Tower Records in Shibuya, Tokyo.
June 14, 2006 Oshii on "Tales from Earthsea"
CH4 of Ghibli Channel uploaded a four minute intervew clip with Mamoru Oshii (director of "Ghost in the Shell") in which he discusses expectation about Goro Miyazaki's Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea).
The following are some of his comments.
Oshii: I'm considerably interested in Gedo Senki which Goro-kun is making now. I know his father well, and it's a very interesting movie after a long time. There is nothing as interesting as a parent/child fight.
Q: What do you think about the younger generation making a movie?
O: I don't have a sense of impending crisis like Miya-san (Hayao Miyazaki). He has the sense of crisis that he is being driven into retirement by the young generation. He tries to kick the other party to the bottom of a ravine, even in the case of his own son. I don't have such recognition.
In the world of anime, the generation older than me are still in active service. Miya-san, Tomino-san, Takahata-san,
Dezaki-san, Ryosuke-san (Ryosuke Takahashi), and my secretary are all still active. All directors who came out of the world of TV anime are still active. Nobody is going to retire. I'm don't believe this world. Nobody tries to drag down them. I think "someone will drag down them early", though nobody actually does it. The younger generation is waiting for it with well-manner. If they are left, nobody will not retire. Miya-san's motivation be full of.
It is only one that I expect Goro-kun, "Drive your father to retirement early. Only you can do it". Say to your father, "'It is not your times now!' If it can be proven to succeed even if other person make a movie, that annoying father need not be handled."
For the Japanese-impaired here's a visual guide to registering and logging into the Ghibli Channel website:
Login Box
Registration Form
Top-right after login
Bottom after login
Streaming Size
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the translation.
June 12, 2006 "Tales from Earthsea" Books, Melbourne Concert
According to this site (in Japanese) several books related to the film are scheduled for release in early August:
"Art of" - Backgrounds, sketches, interviews, and other film creation details.
"Roman Album" - Stills from the film along with some production art and sketches
"Studio Ghibli Storyboard Collection No. 15" - The complete set of storyboards, similar to the storyboard feature on many Ghibli DVDs
"Film Comics" - The entire film in picture book format, typically spread out over four volumes.
A hardcover picture book (storybook-style text accompanying frames from the film) is slated for late August.
Yumi Kimura will be participation in two consecutive concerts, both at Melbourne Town Hall (July 2nd) and Sydney Town Hall (July 6th-7th). One is called "Spirited Away with Youmi" and the other is "A Night in Fantasia 2006." Fantasia 2006 will also feature works by Nobuo Uematsu and Joe Hisaishi. Tickets are currently on sale.
Thanks to T. Ishikawa and Sean Robinson for the news.
June 9, 2006 "Therru's Song" Climbs Sales Charts, "Monmon" News
"Therru's Song" is currently ranked 1st on the CD charts of 7 and Y.
Rio Yamase, composer and performer of Miyazaki's latest short film "Mizugumo Monmon" (Water Spider Monmon) at the Studio Ghibli Museum, was the guest on a radio program on May 28th, and played a soundtrack of "Water Spider Monmon".
She talks about the film at the 7 minute mark.
She and her 13 year-old niece play Norwegian folk dance music
11 minutes into the program.
Furthermore, she plays "Water Spider" (the opening track) from about the 12 minutes 30 seconds mark.
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.
June 6, 2006 "Tales from Earthsea" 2nd Most Anticipated Film in Japan
"Nikkei Entertainment" magazine announced the result of the questionnaire, "Which Japanese movie do you want to see
most after June?" 5,600 people were surveyed.
1st: Sinking of Japan (1031 points)
2nd: Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea) (919)
3rd: Trick2 (753)
6th: Death Note (244)
15th: Brave Story (85)
20's
1st: Trick2
2nd: Gedo Senki
3rd: Death Note
30's
1st: Gedo Senki
2nd: Trick2
3rd: Sinking of Japan
40's
1st: Sinking of Japan
2nd: Gedo Senki
3rd: Trick2
50's
1st: Sinking of Japan
2nd: Bushi no Ichibun
3rd: Gedo Senki
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.
June 5, 2006 Massive "Tales from Earthsea" CD Single Launch
A Tower Records store in Tokyo transformed their entire first floor into a promotional site for the release of the CD single from Aoi Teshima (voice of Therru) which features the theme song to Tales from Earthsea.
The display features giant figures of the characters along set minitures with moving pieces.
View individual photos or the entire set in a RAR archive:
Photo 01
Photo 01a
Photo 04
Photo 05
Photo 06
Photo 08
Photo 09
Photo 10
Photo 11
Photo 12
Photo 13
Photo 14
Photo 15
Photo 16
Photo 17
Photo 18
Photo 20
Photo 22
Photo 23
Photo 25
Photo 26
Photo 27
Photo 28
Photo 29
Two brief videos showing the motion in the sets:
Dragon
Wheel
Thanks to Dan Orlowitz for all of the media.
June 5, 2006 "Castle in the Sky" Opening in German Theaters
Das Schloss im Himmel (Castle in the Sky) opens in select German theaters on Thursday (2006-06-08).
Thanks to David Banz for the news.
June 3, 2006 Newsbits from Japan
Tokuma Shoten published a collection of the British author Robert Westall with an endorsement from Hayao Miyazaki.
Six globes painted by Miyazaki are on display at the Studio Ghibli Museum.
Movie Walker reports on the Aardman exhibit at the museum.
According to the June 3 production diary some staff who finished a holiday have already started preproduction for next film. The diary mentioned that the other staff members arrive back next week.
June 2, 2006 "Tales from Earthsea" Release Date Set
Studio Ghibli announced that the release date of "Gedo Senki" (Tales from Earthsea) will be July 29 (a Saturday).
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.
June 2, 2006 Ghibli Channel, Oga's Movie Site Opens
A website titled Ghibli Channel has opened. It appears to require registration but once within the following "channels" are availiable:
CH1: Gedo Senki work in progress!
CH2: Ghibli News
CH3: Public relations section Mr. Nishioka
CH4: Want to ask this person
CH5: Want to borrow a cat's hand. (A Japanese idiomatic expression meaning, "I'm so busy I'll take any help I can get.")
CH6: A catfish and a friend.
CH7: Special Ghibli
The 1st clip of CH7 is a ceremony for new Studio Ghibli staff members.
Ghibli World notes that the official "Taneyamagahara no Yoru" website recently opened. Longtime background artist Kazuo Oga's first film will be coming to DVD on July 7.
Thanks to Peter van der Lugt and T. Ishikawa for the news.
