Beautiful 3D Stylized Tribute To Hayao Miyazaki Films

There is something about the beautiful stories and animated works by Hayao Miyazakithat keeps inspiring animators around the world to continually show their appreciation for the famous Japanese filmmaker. With the recent announcement that Miyazaki was hard at work on a 3-D animation short, it’s only fitting that a 3-D tribute to him is making its way around the Internet. Needless to say, it is perfect.

Uploaded onto video hosting site Vimeo, this dazzling montage covers many of the animator’s classics, from his early work on The Castle of Cagliostro to his most recent film, The Wind Rises.

The tribute is set to Joe Hisaishi’s beautiful “One Summer’s Day”, the opening song toSpirited Away, and begins as if you are on an amusement park ride. Lights illuminate the cave in sync with the piano notes in the music. It then leaves the cave and the tracks as it takes to the air around Spirited Away’s iconic bathhouse. Like a Disney theme park attraction, you see familiar and heartwarming scenes from Miyazaki’s major films and can’t help but get swept up by the emotions stirred by all the characters.

▼ Spirited Away

▼ Castle in the Sky

▼ Princess Mononoke

▼ My Neighbor Totoro

▼ Porco Rosso, as well as characters from Spirited Away

▼ Kiki’s Delivery Service

▼ The Wind Rises and the castle from Castle in the Sky in the background

▼ The Castle of Cagliostro

What really makes this tribute shine is the beautiful way all the characters from the different movies seamlessly interact with the bathhouse. They fit in so naturally that none of them look out of place. If there is ever a Hayao Miyazaki theme park, they should take this video and turn it into a ride. With a few wind effects and some dips and turns, fans would be lined up around the block to experience it.

The 3-D effects are cleverly accomplished using movement and juxtaposed perspectives which were attained using programs such as Blender, GIMP, Octane and Natron. While just about anyone can use programs like these to create a movie, it takes some real talent to blend all these larger-than-life characters together into a loving tribute to the animation master, Hayao Miyazaki.

Source: Taxi
Images: Vimeo/dono