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Exhibition Room #1

Yama-chan 山ちゃんのこと

By Hayao Miyazaki, Animation film director アニメーション映画監督 宮崎駿

Among ourselves, we call Nizo Yamamoto by his nickname, "Yama-chan".

I first worked with Yama-chan on the animated TV series Future Boy Conan. It was my first time directing a project. At that time, the number of TV-anime produced rose drastically, causing a staff shortage in the animation industry. In Conan's case the production itself was really difficult.

Our team didn't even have a background art designer. I mean, we had one but our divergences of opinion were too stark, and I had him leave without thinking of the consequences. The production went on nonetheless. Although I now realise this was a decision lacking common sense, I had the background art staff draw without using any image board, simply explaining them my ideas orally instead.

We somehow managed to complete the backgrounds. The result wasn't just "not good enough": It was terrible, a complete and utter embarrassment.

The background art staff is not to blame for this. The responsibility lies with the one who had them drawing without any image board in the first place.

Being an animator, I do not know how to properly use poster paint. I tried to fix the drawings by myself anyway. As one could expect, I soon found myself in a deadlock.

Facing this very dire situation, I asked Kazue Ito, one of the art directors of the studio, for help. I strongly insisted and managed to borrow his assistant, Nizo Yamamoto, for "two or three days". Much to my delight Yama-chan joined us, and we took on together on the pile of background art left. We worked tirelessly, redrawing some backgrounds completely. adding details to others, painting cel backgrounds. 

 

Ultimately the initial "two or three days" became longer and longer, and, using every possible trick I had in my sleeve I managed to have Nizo Yamamoto stay until the end as the art director of the series. We have both come a long way working on Future Boy Conar

Yama-chan did a great work. At the time we were both young and brimming with ambition. Even when faced with a desperate situation, we did not give up.

Yama-chan, thank you for coming and helping me then.

I am so grateful to have met you. 

 

 

 

The Art of Nizo Yamamoto 山本二三さんの美術

By Isao Takahata (Animation film director) アニメーション映画監督 高畑勲

Around last year's end. I took the opportunity to take a trip to Nara to visit Toshodai Temple. I was relieved to see that even after the major overhaul of the Heisei Era the Temple's large tiled roof and its beautiful curves still had this unique appeal, as if they were playing a subtle melody. Today's kilns allow craftsmen to fire tiles at an even temperature, which means that the roofs of private houses and cultural properties alike end up with a uniform shade, which may look nice but is also dull and insipid. This worried me a lot. At that point I remembered discussing tiled roofs with Nizo long ago, when we started working on the film adaptation of Downtown Story. We talked about how "in the old days each tile had a slightly different hue", how it "gave them more emphasis", how "each tile stood out more", among other things.

Nizo then put this in practice in the movie. I feel that at the time only a few productions put in so much detail in things such as tiles. What Nizo achieved in the art of Downtown Story was definitely out of the ordinary.

While being set in a really prosaic, day-to-day universe, Etsumi Haruki's manga still has some kind of fantasy in it. Not only regarding content, but also Etsumi's drawing style. Each character has a strong individuality and feels authentic, though without being "real". You can only see their faces from the side or the front. Similarly, the universe in which the characters live is thoroughly depicted, but in a simplified and cartoonish way, not in an overly realistic and "dirty" dramatic style. Etsumi Haruki's manga left a strong impression on me, and I wanted its characteristics to be left untouched in the animated adaptation. Regarding the characters only being drawn from the side or the front, it was possible to replicate it using blocking and character acting. 

 

What about the background art then? When Etsumi Haruki coloured his manga covers, he simply applied watercolour on the line art. Taking inspiration from there and using a watercolour-based technique for the animated version, letting in some blank spaces and appealing to the viewer's imagination sounded like a good idea to me. The original manga is well drawn, with enough information. However, it didn't really suit Nizo Yamamoto's distinctive style, and working on this project must have been somewhat frustrating for him, as Nizo always wants to bring the viewers to realistic universes.

 

So how should we depict Downtown Story's world in the movie? Nizo thought about it, and decided to perceive each element of the layout not as a "simplification" of reality, but as the very reality of Etsumi Haruki's world.

 

To this end he increased the level of detail while keeping the layout simple, and, as in the case of more "realistic" animation, gave a more delicate texture to the elements composing it. By doing so, you can recreate another "real" space, which isn't perfectly realistic but where a different feeling of "reality" manifests itself. Then you can increase sharpness and clarity by bringing the right amount of light to the image thus avoiding any oppressive atmosphere. The courtesy contained in Etsumi Haruki's drawings was clearly reflected in Nizo's artworks. Thus, the world of Downtown Story acquired more "reality", more substance, as a fantasy world.

 

Of course, Nizo Yamamoto made various experiments and attempts, but I think the one

 

thing he has always been consistent with is the way of thinking he has shown when

 

working on Downtown Story. His approach remains the same, whether the world depicted

 

in the production is a fantasy one or a realistic one. He puts his heart into giving a detailed

 

matter and substance to each and every object. Let's take a look at how amazing the

 

depictions of burned down areas in "Grave of the Fireflies" are. Even regarding parts that are in the shadows, Nizo feels the need to depict these with great detail, and does so by exposing them to a subtle light. The objects in Nizo Yamamoto's backgrounds are really assertive. Thus, Nizo's art often goes beyond the objective reality to recreate a second "reality" on screen. This second reality, though, is still a variety of fantasy. That's why Nizo Yamamoto's true worth appears clearly when he takes on realistic and true-to-life projects, such as Princess Mononoke's forest, that require drawing a considerable amount of details.

 

In Mamoru Hosoda's masterpiece, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Nizo Yamamoto's art is incredibly subtle and detailed. In every single frame, in every corner of every drawing, it seems like objects are looking in your direction. This goes well beyond simple photographic pictures and could be compared, so to speak, to high-definition television: the whole screen, the entire picture is being "self-assertive". This fantasy, this "second reality" transcends the ordinariness required in this production, to the point where it almost dwarfs the characters.

 

That may be the reason why Nizo's backgrounds were softened through computer editing in the final version of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". The editing blurred the background a bit to make the characters stand out a little more. The result came out as a great success when the movie was released. The strength and the precision of Nizo's background art and the "second reality" they created surely had a decisive role in this. However, was this editing the result of a collaboration between film director Hosoda and Nizo Yamamoto? Or did Nizo anticipate the computer editing when he drew his background art? Or maybe did he put too much effort in his background art for Hosoda's liking? I couldn't help feeling somewhat excited.

 

In the field of film soundtracks and video games background music, it is common to extract dense and rich music from an orchestra and edit it, control its volume to then use it as a soundtrack. As a result of the development of computer editing, the same kind of practice has now become commonplace in the world of animation art.

 

This recent trend of computer editing reminds me of a Japanese saying: "Art abides in a realm that is neither truth nor fiction" *

 

* Translation of a Japanese four-character compound by puppet theatre dramatist Monzaemon Chikamatsu,「虚実皮膜」(Kyojitsu-Himaku), literally translating as "there is only a thin membrane between truth and fiction"

A Hundred View of Goto

About the "100 views of Goto" project

五島百景 五島百景とは (Goto Hyakkei (One hundred beautiful scenes of Goto))

The "100 views of Goto" project started back in 2010. This ongoing project about Nizo Yamamoto's hometown is now one of his life's works, which he continues whenever he has spare time.

Nizo Yamamoto left Goto after graduating from junior high school, living a busy life taking on various animation-related works. Approaching his late fifties, Nizo Yamamoto looked back on his life. He thought about his family, about his roots, and came to the sad realisation that he didn't know much about his birthplace.

The places he went cycling around as a child were the only thing he remembered of Goto. The truth is, he left Goto to avoid having to take over his parents work in agriculture. Thinking of it. Nizo felt sorry and remorseful.

He then travelled around his hometown with his camera, experiencing the islands magnificent nature and their rich cultural background at the crossroads of Christianity and Buddhism, walking old alleyways

Nizo Yamamoto felt for the first time how fascinating and beautiful the place was, and decided to start painting landscapes of Goto.

"I want to paint a hundred pictures, using my 40 years of experience in background and scenery art. It will be a chance to train and further improve my technique. It's not too late yet, I can learn a lot about Goto through painting."

This is how Niza Yamamoto started to paint the "100 views of Goto". 

 

 

 

Reconstitution of the Wako pirates' hideout

五島百景 『倭寇の砦 想像図』 (Castle of KANJI (Imaginary diagram))

There is a famous folk tale in Goto called "Kanjigashiro", which literally translates as "Kanji's castle". Long ago, a shipwright called Kanji stole a treasure from a wrecked ship. Falling victim to a curse, Kanji lost his mind and built a small castle by the sea, with the help of mythical Japanese creatures known as kappa. The place was then used as a hideout by wako pirates. The remains of this place still exist today and are registered as important cultural heritage by Nagasaki prefecture under the name "Yamazaki stone castle". This drawing is an imaginary reconstitution of the pirates' hideout.

According to Nizo Yamamoto, the presence of fantastic creatures such as kappa and the existence of actual remains of the fort is what makes this legend particularly interesting. The storyline might seem incomplete, but this incompleteness actually adds to the story by letting one's imagination work. Did the people of that time want to tell us something. but were, for an unknown reason, unable to do so clearly? What did they want to tell us? Why did this tale remain popular until today? All of these questions made Nizo want to draw a manga about Kanjigashiro. Nizo Yamamoto already wrote a scenario but did not complete the manga yet. 

Exhibition Room #2

『Shishigami's Forest (5)』 『シシ神の森 (5) 』 (Forest SHISHIGAMI (5))

The director, the art director and their team went to Yakushima island, located south of Kyushu, to do some location scouting for the pre-production of Princess Mononoke. Nizo Yamamoto then used the photos he took in Yakushima and the atmosphere he felt there to draw the concept art, which sets the tone of the whole project, giving the forest its mysterious atmosphere. It took three months for Nizo Yamamoto and Hayao Miyazaki to make up their mind on the direction to give to the project. Why did it take so long? While everyone agreed to give a "green" aspect to the forest, there isn't only one shade of "green": they eventually chose a blue-green hue to give the forest a more mystical and mysterious aspect. The reference photos are not simply reproduced: Nizo Yamamoto and Hayao Miyazaki chose to add water to the roots of the trees, and debated for a long time whether the water should be transparent or not, and how underwated should the tree's roots be. Hayao Miyazaki eventually chose not to add too much detail to maintain an overall balance. The concept art quickly became "the equivalent of a business card" to Nizo Yamamoto: showing it allowed the background art team to quickly grasp the color nuances and the atmosphere of the forest. While the concept art did not directly feature in the film, it has a considerable influence on its overall quality. 

Exhibition Room #3

CGI in animation CG解説(About a CG Treatment)

CGI in the science laboratory (1) ≪理科実験室(1)≫のCG合成

When hearing "Computer graphics", most people think of imagery entirely conceived by computer. However, it covers a wider meaning, including the reproduction of hand-drawn illustrations with computer graphics, as can be seen throughout The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

For instance, it is quite hard to accurately draw chalk writing on a blackboard. The solution is to take a photograph of an actual blackboard with inscriptions, before reproducing it through computer graphics.

As you can see, there is no door on the original image: the door is drawn separately before being integrated by CG synthesizing. Having the door drawn into the first image would be impractical as you need to be able to see through the door when it opens.

CGI the science laboratory (2)
理科実験室(2)のCG合成

The beakers, vials and other laboratory equipment visible on the table were made using computer graphics, as this method is better suited to render objects made of transparent materials and combining curved and straight lines, such as laboratory equipment, on screen. The CG staff draws the equipment on top of Nizo Yamamoto's background. When looking closely, one can see that the vials are reflected in glass panes on the left. These reflections have also been made using CG. 

 

 

 

Regarding model sheets 設定画の解説 (About a Setting Art)

Multiple preparatory stages are necessary before starting to sketch the final drawings. Model sheet conception is one of these. Despite being unknown to the general public, model sheets are crucial to the quality of the final product and one of the most important tasks the background art director has to overcome.

Nizo Yamamoto designed and drew the background art model sheets of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Regarding the main character's house floor plans, they're not only drawn to know where every character is located, but also to be able to know which background to use in a given situation with a specific camera angle and character acting. Forty-five artists worked on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time's background art: if every single artist drew as they liked it would be nearly impossible to complete the movie. Model sheets also serve to develop a common knowledge regarding character acting among artists working on a project.

To sum up, background model sheets can be seen as a blueprint ok the film's setting. Nizo Yamamoto's model sheets are not only precise and detailed, they are created with the daily lives of the characters in mind. For instance the protagonist's home was thought as an extended and altered version of her grandparents' house a Japanese-style house with western features such as bay windows, in a blend of western and Japanese influences. Makoto's grandmother's roses are directly inspired by Nizo Yamamoto's own garden. The cat and rabbit statues on the front gate illustrate the difference between Makoto's and Miyuki's personalities. 

 

The role of a model sheet depends on the story's time and location. Grave of the Fireflies being set in wartime Kobe, the background team and the director had to gather information about the city's architecture at the time, the colours of the soil and much more... This requires a lot of work as it is impossible to time travel and see for oneself. The scene was created using archives and remaining buildings.

 

Here's a funny anecdote: Nizo Yamamoto was working on the protagonist's house floor plan for Grave of the Fireflies, when Hayao Miyazaki, who was working on My Neighbor Totoro at the time, saw the plan and criticized it, saying that "the bathroom was too big". "But the bathroom doesn't even appear in the film" thought Nizo...

 

 

 

Miyori's Forest 「ミヨリの森」 (Forest of MIYORI)

This film adaptation of a Hideji Oda manga is Nizo Yamamoto's first feature film as a director. The film was aired on television for the first time during the summer holidays on 25 August 2007, and was successful with 15.8% in audience share. The film tells the story of Miyori, an eleven year-old girl affected by her parents' divorce, and how she met spirits living in the forest.

Nizo Yamamoto and his team went location scouting in the village of Gokayama, in Toyama Prefecture. The village is known for its traditional houses built using gassho- zukuri architecture, with steep thatched roofs. Nizo Yamamoto is self-admittedly very fond of traditional kominka architecture, and took great pleasure in collecting information about the materials and techniques used in their construction in order to draw these houses. This was also a chance for him to use what he learnt about architecture in high school.

Nizo Yamamoto often has to draw different types of vegetation depending on the region where the scene takes place. In this field, while technique and theoretical knowledge matter, sceneries seen during childhood have a major impact: the experiences lived as a child can be seen in his art. In a way, one could say that Nizo Yamamoto's art would not be the same without having grown surrounded by Goto's nature.

In Miyori's forest I was able to use new techniques I had been working on until then. This movie being the first feature film 1 directed, its direction caused me a lot of trouble and I had to overcome many hurdles. I would be lying if I said that I had no regrets about the film, but I did everything I could have possibly done..

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