Part Two - Sound
Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazaki (2001)
In addition
to Miyizaki’s beautiful animation, he has built the world of his film through
music and sound effects. Corrigan and White state “sound engages viewers
perceptually provides key spacial and story information and affords an aesthetic
experience of its own.” [1] In Spirited Away we are given the world of the spirit
bathhouse through a multitude of sound techniques. We are also engaged emotionally
through the poignant orchestral music that is present through almost the entire
film.
MLS of Chihro and Haku flying through the air. |
An important
aspect of the sound in Spirited Away is the orchestral music that permeates the
film from beginning to end. Hayao Miyazaki employed the accomplished composer
Joe Hisaishi who composed the emotive score and conducted the New Japan
Philharmonic Orchestra to bring it alive. “Hisaishi’s musical arrangement of
the score features contrasting effects produced by the brass and string
instruments, the former for dramatic and strident mood and the latter for a
lighter and more whimsical effect.” [3] For example in a crucial scene towards
the end of the movie, Chihiro has a flashback and remembers Haku’s real name in
what is arguably the turning point of the film. The music at the beginning of
the sequence is triumphant and stirring and through this non-diegetic sound we
can appreciate Chihiro’s feeling of accomplishment along with her. Then as she remembers
the crucial moment of the past the music all but disappears and this provides
us with a point of emphasis and we understand how important this moment is to
the narrative. It “provides rhythm and deepens [our] emotional response” [1] to
what had occurred. In addition “silence and stillness relate to Japanese art
forms” [3] which reminds us of the origins of the film.
While this
act of placing the non-diegetic musical score in the film breaks the verisimilitude
of the piece we readily accept this convention of film form because, despite
this, it draws out our emotional response to the content more than if there were
no music. Films flatten with lack of sound and the addition of an emotionally stirring
score gives it more body and substance.
Mouse and Bugbird, as they are the focus the diegetic sound of their flying is louder. |
Another
important aspect of the sound in Spirited Away is the carefully crafted diegetic
sound effects that create the whole world of the film.
The bulk of
the film takes place in a bath house and to create the sounds for this specific
setting Miyazaki and his sound engineer Mr Inoue went to the Kusatsu spas to
record the natural sounds there. The also recorded the sounds for the kitchen
in a restaurant. “In the studio sounds were added one by one to every small
movement” [2] by Mr Noguchi, who has been adding sounds to animation for 20 years.
Everything was thought about and engineered in detail because “virtually
nothing appears onscreen that does not make its corresponding noise.” [1]
An example
of this diegetic sound is when the transformed baby and eagle are flying around
Chihiro. The buzzing sound they make gets louder and quieter the closer they
fly to Chihiro’s head. This places us, the audience, into the narrative and makes
us feel as though we are a part of it to. It is the small details like these
that create the verisimilitude that helps us to closer analyse the important
themes in the film.
Works Cited:
[Spirited Away. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, Dentsu Inc, 2001. Film]
[1] Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience, 3rd ed. Boston, New York: Bedford/St Martins, 2004, 2009, 2012. Print.
[Spirited Away. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, Dentsu Inc, 2001. Film]
[1] Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience, 3rd ed. Boston, New York: Bedford/St Martins, 2004, 2009, 2012. Print.
[2]Designing Sound. Web. 29 April 2015. <http://designingsound.org/2009/12/the-sound-of-spirited-away/>
[3]HSC Extension Course Support Materials. Web. 29 April 2015. <http://www.quia.com/files/quia/users/bakersensei/ext_japanese1.pdf>
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