September 30, 2006 Production on Studio Ghibli's Next Film
According to the production diary of September 26, the storyboards from Miyazaki's next film are watercolors. They're printed with a color copier and distributed to the main staff as special editions. The diary says, "Even we have not seen a colored storyboard very much. Of course it is the first time in Ghibli films".
The September 27 diary mentions that the expression method of the film is ambitious. Since the staff have to confirm the processing method of every cut, production is hard. Therefore, it is very difficult to manage the production period.
According to the production diary of September 29, animation production begins in next week.
If this film will be released in summer 2008, production term is about 20 months.
This is longer than Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle.
Suzuki mentioned in his interview, "It hasn't changed that we release a film every 2 years".
The titles of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle were announced before animation production began, but the title of the next film will probably not be announced until December.
Thanks to T. Ishikawa for the news.
September 29, 2006 Tetsuro Tamba Passes Away
The voice actor behind the Cat King in The Cat Returns passed away at age 84. He was more widely known for his work in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice.
BBC News article
CNN article
Official obituary (in Japanese)
Thanks to Chris Kuan, Heather Brennan, and Felix Wong for the news.
September 17, 2006 News Briefs
A Studio Ghibli triple-bill (5 pounds/film, 12 pounds/day pass) is scheduled for the 2006 Bradford Animation Festival in celebration of International Animation Day on 28 October 2006.
Ghibli World has news on Tales from Earthsea at the Venice Film Festival and the 2007 Ghibli calendars.
Thanks to Tom Woolley and Peter van der Lugt for the news.
September 6, 2006 "Tales of Earthsea" at the Venice Film Festival
Anime News Service has links to a not-so-positive Variety review as well as an interview with Goro Miyazaki.
Thanks to Daniel Zelter and Michal Durys for the news.