Spirited Away

Directed by Hayao Miyazki

This study guide suggests cross-curricular activities based on the film Spirited Away by
Hanoko Miyazaki. The activities seek to complement and extend the enjoyment of
watching the film, while at the same time meeting some of the requirements of the
National Curriculum and Scottish Guidelines. The subject area the study guide covers
includes Art and Design, Music, English, Citizenship, People in Society, Geography
and People and Places.

.
The table below specifies the areas of the curriculum that the activities cover

National Curriculum Scottish Guidelines

Subject Level Subject Level
Animation Art +Design KS2 2C Art + Investigating Visually and
3 A+B Design Reading
5 A-D Using Media – Level B-E
Communicating Level A
Evaluating/Appreciating
Level D

Sound Music KS2 3A Music Investigating: exploring

4A-D sound Level A-C
Evaluating/Appreciating
Level A,C,D
Setting & English KS2 Reading English Reading
Characters 2 A-D Awareness of genre
4 C-I Level B-D

Knowledge about
language level C-D
Setting & Citizenship KS2 1 A-C People People & Needs in
Characters 4 A+B In Society
Society Level A

Japan Geography KS2 2 E-F People & Human Environment

3 A-G Places Level A-B
5 A-B Human Physical
7C Interaction
Level A-D

Synopsis
When we first meet ten year-old Chihiro she is unhappy about moving to a new town
with her parents and leaving her old life behind. She is moody, whiney and
miserable. On the way to their new house, the family get lost and find themselves in
a deserted amusement park, which is actually a mythical world. Chihiro becomes
separated from her parents and finds herself alone and scared in land where strange
creatures and spirits live.

Chihiro is befriended by a mysterious boy, Haku, who comforts her and advises her to
get a job at the Bath-house run by Yubba, a cranky witch who rules the strange land.

Chihiro must decide; does she fight to survive, save her parents and try to get them
all back home safely, or does she wither and die too scared to try. She faces some
tough challenges.
Before The Film

Here are some questions to answer before the film:

1. Spirited Away is an animated film, what do you know about animation?

2. What other animated films have you seen?
3. Spirited Away comes from Japan, what do you know about that country?
Make a list of what the class knows about the country.
4. From the title what do you think the film is about?
5. Does it sound like a happy or sad film?

The making of Spirited Away- the film and the director

Spirited Away is by Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest and most admired animators
and directors in Japan. He has made many famous films including; Laputa: The
Castle in The Sky (1986) and Princess Mononoke (1997) and his excellent work has
earned him the title of ‘Walt Disney of Japan’.

The film has won lots of awards and is the most successful film ever to come out of
Japan.

It was the first to break the $200 million (US) dollar box office mark without even being
seen in America.

Released in Japan in 2002, Spirited Away was adapted for an English speaking
audience by Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studios in 2003. It has also been
translated in to eight other languages.

Great detail and care went into the making of the original, so the team at Disney
worked just as hard, to ensure that Miyazaki’s original ideas were not lost in the
translation.
Animation

Definition of Animation; *The process of photographing drawings or objects a

frame at a time; by changing a drawing or moving an object slightly before each
frame is taken, the illusion of motion is realized. To bring to life (source: Oxford English
Dictionary)

Animation has been around for a long time. There are lots of different ways to
animate pictures, but they all rely on the same idea; showing moving images quickly
one after the other. The human eye cleverly tricks the person into believing they are
actually seeing a moving image. Japan makes a lot of animation films that are
sometimes called anime.

Hayao Miyazaki was inspired to make the film after he went on holiday with some
friends and their ten year old daughter. The young girl sparked the director’s
imagination and he set to work writing the adventures of Chihiro.

Although there is exciting new technology to help make animation films, Miyazaki still
uses many of the traditional methods, such as storyboards. A storyboard is like a
cartoon strip.

It is a set of simple drawings that helps plan the plot, and shows written notes about
action, camera shots and movements and the sound needed. Miyazkai worked
closely with his team of artists and animators, telling them exactly how he imagined
everything to look; for example how an animal might move, sound, or speak. This
storyboard is often called a blueprint.
The animators draw the characters and scenes of the film adding the detail that
connect all the scenes of the storyboard. Once the director and his team have all
the characters and background scenes completed, they can begin filming.
Animation films are built up one frame at a time. Characters are drawn on
transparent sheets called cels. A separate background is made then each time a
movement is created, a new cel drawing is filmed against the background. Film
usually runs at 24 frames per second, so each drawing is shot for two frames. This
means every second of Spirited Away needs 12 drawings!

Hayao Miyazaki worked hard to ensure that every movement in the film is realistic. In
one particular scene when Haku is a serpent, Chihiro tries to force open his mouth to
feed him medicine. The director describes to the animators it would be like trying to
force open a dog’s mouth and wants this expressed clearly in the film. None of the
team really understands what he means. The animators visit a vet’s practice and
using a video recorder they capture the vet playfully putting her hand in a dog’s
mouth. Back at the studio, they watch what they recorded and it helps them
achieve exactly what the director imagined.

Animation Activities

How is Spirited Away different to the other animated films you’ve seen?

Make your own storyboard. Choose something important that happens in the
film, Chihiro meeting Haku or the Stink Monster visiting the Bathhouse, on the
storyboard draw what happens in pictures.

Create a spirit character that might live in the bathhouse. Make a list of how your
spirit might sound, move, talk, and what it likes and dislikes. Work with a
partner/small group to discuss how you can make them more realistic. Use a mix
of paints, pencils and a collage affect to add colour to your spirit.
Sound
The audio or sounds heard in the film are made up of dialogue, sound effects, music
and atmospheres. Lots of hard work went into the sounds and music, each splash of
water or strange animal noise was especially recorded. The sound of all the
characters footsteps were created by one person wearing different shoes on each
foot, while the sounds of cooking where recorded in a hotel kitchen.

For the music, Miyazaki hired a concert hall in Toyoko and used 60 microphones to
make sure every sound played by the New Japan Philomonic Orchestra, was
captured.

Sound Activities

Why do you think Miyazaki worked so hard on creating the sound effects? Do you
think they sounded real?

Work in a group and try to remember what sounds and types of music you
heard? Why do you think you remember them? Did some of you notice different
sounds? What affect did the noises/music have?

Have a go at making your own sound effects, record footsteps, someone
drinking, some eating, or the atmosphere outside your classroom in the corridor.
Play them back to the class, can they guess what they are.

Japanese to English - Translation
In the original film the characters spoke Japanese. When Disney took on the
challenge to adapt the film for an English speaking audience the characters voices
had to be changed.

A new team of professionals were brought together to rework Spirited Away, and just
like the making of the original, it was a lengthy process.

Writers were hired to translate the script from Japanese to English; they often asked
the original team back in Japan for help with interpretation. In one particular case
the writers were a little confused; the original film talks of something called a ‘hanko
seal’ which is a stamp that is often used in Japan to sign letters or important
documents. The writers thought it was the animal seal! To clear up any further mix-ups
the writers decided to call it the ‘golden seal’.
Setting and Characters

Spirited Away is set in two different words, a modern day Japan where Chihiro and
her family live, and the parallel mysterious land where weird and wonderful creatures
and spirits lurk.

Some people have described Spirited Away as a classic fairy tale, like Alice in
Wonderland, because the lead character goes on a journey of discovery and learns
a lot about herself. Do you agree?

Setting and Characters Activities

Do you think the film is like Alice in Wonderland?

Miyazaki has used a cyclical plot in Spirited Away, meaning the story ends at the
same or similar place it began, so goes full circle. Can you think of any other films
or stories that use this type of plot?

Each key character in the film faces a set of challenges. Use the chart below to
record what these problems are and how each character over came them.

Character What problem did the character How did they resolve them?
face?

Chihiro

Haku
Chihiro’s character develops a lot throughout the film she stops being grumpy and
selfish and becomes patience and learns to look after herself. At the end of the film
she is excited about going to a new school and making new friends, is no longer
frightened.

Miyazaki based Chihiro on a real ten year old little girl do you think the character
is believable? Are there any similarities between you and Chihiro? What would
you have done in Chihiro’s situation?

While in the mysterious world, Chihiro makes friends with all different kinds of
people and animals, Haku, Kumaji, No Face and lots of other odd creatures in the
bath house. If you were a creature in the film what you would you look like and
what would you do?

Life in Japan
Miyazaki chose to set the film in a bathhouse, an important place where people go
to relax in large hot tubs. The characters that live and work there don’t wear shoes or
socks inside; they eat their meals out
of bowls with chopsticks, sleep on
mats on the floor and often bow
when greeting each other. Most of
the characters wear a Kimono, the
traditional dress. Japanese writing,
lanterns and masks can also be
seen in the film. All these things are
examples of Japanese culture.

Life in Japan Activities

What did you learn about Japan
from the film? Where is Japan?
How many people live there?
What is the weather like? What
do they eat? Make a graffiti wall
about everything you’ve learnt
about Japan. Use the school
library to do some research.

Write a letter or draw a poster for
Chihiro or Haku telling them all
about yourself and where you
live.
The River God
In Japan for thousands of
years, people have
believed that gods and
spirits live all around them in
the rivers, the trees and
houses. Miyazaki used these
beliefs and his own
experience of helping to
clear a river near his home
that had become filled with
waste, to create the smelly
Stink Monster. The
character is actually a River
God who has become
bunged up with grime, pollution and rubbish from the polluted river.

As a class put together a mural showing the Stink Monster when he was dirty
and polluted, and then the River God when he had been cleaned up. Label
the pictures with the reasons the creature became so dirty and what can be
done to keep him clean.

What does your school do to ensure that it is free from litter and rubbish? Put
together a newsletter or poster for your school reminding people to put litter in
the bin and to keep the school tidy.

Haku
The character of Haku cannot remember
where he came from, so is unable to go
back home. As the story unfolds, Chihiro
and Haku realise that he is actually a River
Spirit, and has been unable to go back
because the river he used to live in, has
been filled so new apartments can be built.

How would you feel if you where Haku?

Research your local area and find out what

it was like 20 years ago. What new
buildings/roads have been built? What
countryside has been built on?
Look at old maps and compare how it
looked then and how it looks now.

Go on a trip with your class walk round the local neighbourhood with your class and
try making a list of old and new buildings are some currently being built? Now draw a
map or ariel view of what you think the area will look like in another 50 years.

Written by Helen Dugdale for Film Education

©Film Education. Unauthorised reproduction or redistribution strictly prohibited.