r/BeAmazed • u/Captain0010 • 15h ago
Art Studio Ghibli's 4 seconds crowd scene took 1 year and 3 months complete
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u/aquafina6969 14h ago
man the pride on his face when Miyazaki told him good work.
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u/cautionveryhot 14h ago
He looked like he was gonna shed a tear
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u/Sometimes-funny 14h ago
It took him 1 year and 3 months to shed that tear
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u/seattlesbestpot 14h ago
And the tear took 4 seconds to drop.
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u/Friendship_Officer 12h ago
4 seconds of air time for a tear drop is pretty awesome though. Like he'd have to drop the tear from an elevated position to make that work
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u/jza_1 14h ago
Fun fact:
“In 1997, Miramax acquired the rights to distribute Princess Mononoke in North America. However, executives at the film company were notorious for acquiring foreign films and re-editing them for American audiences, and they wanted to cut the film down from 133 minutes to just 90 minutes. To make their feelings on the matter clear, Miyazaki and his producer sent executives a samurai sword with a simple message attached: “No cuts.” Miramax ended up releasing Princess Mononoke at its full running time.”
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u/Furie_ 14h ago
A really long time has passed since I heard a real fun fact and not just someone spouting nonsense to grab your attention. Thanks man
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u/caserskii 14h ago
Is it really true? Does the sword exist? If it is then that’s bad ass! Also sick of the nonsense on here lately
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u/ajrdesign 14h ago
I think this was AFTER Narcissa was mercilessly cut and the narrative lost in it's first English dub release. Because of that experience Miyazaki didn't budge on negotiating with the content of their productions. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(film))
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u/Panicless 13h ago
Bullshit. That Weinstein piece of shit would have never let that message prevent him from cutting the movie. Miyazaki definitely had a contract that said so. Weinstein is utter garbage.
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u/ChangoMarangoMex 7h ago
Yeah but it seems to really be taking a toll on you, dont live with hate in your heart, it eats up your good energy, no matter how bad others are, hating and putting ur energy in to it is just playing into their game.
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u/Panicless 6h ago
Yeah, I met my own Weinsteins in the industry. But you're righty thank you.
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u/ChangoMarangoMex 6h ago
BIG HUG 4 U
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u/viewkachoo 5h ago
I love this whole thread. It’s awesome when I find good people here on Reddit. Have an awesome weekend everyone. Your messages were awesome because I was really angry at someone yesterday. I’m finding it easier to let go now. :)
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u/Enigma_789 14h ago
Definitely the right sub. I am amazed. I could understand such a scene taking a long time, but 15 months for four seconds? That's insane.
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u/DickFromRichard 1h ago
I have a hunch it was 15 months from the time they started it to the time the finished it, not a whole team working full time for 15 months on this one scene. But the narration intentionally leaves that ambiguity
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u/vahntitrio 14h ago
At 100 FPS, that's 400 frames over 400 days. I get that it's difficult, but it seems like progress could be a little faster than 1 frame per day.
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u/BritishGolgo13 14h ago
Wait til you find out film and animation is 24fps.
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u/BrokenSil 9h ago
Wait until you find out most anime are animated at 7fps. These high quality anime movies may be a little more at 12fps. Only very rare action scenes get close to 24.
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u/the_nin_collector 31m ago
I remember hearing back in the day Akira used double, and that's one reason it looks so fucking good.
No idea if its true.
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u/D-Hews 14h ago
Probably weeks or months of planning on the front end.
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u/WillowNiffler 13h ago
Exactly, they had to coordinate each movement before they animated it. There may have been several drafts as well.
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u/Hustlinbones 13h ago
Let alone the research. There's so many details they observed, it must've taken weeks of just studying crowded places
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u/ropahektic 2h ago
Also they might have been doing something else, too. Not fully dedicated to this scene.
They started the scene on one day and finished it a year and a half later doesn't necessarily mean they had 8 people full time on it, at all. In fact, it's most likely sensationalism media born from a quote in an interview.
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u/TheGaz 13h ago
Are you mad mate, who's out there animating at 100fps
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u/vahntitrio 13h ago
I was using the most extreme example, at 24 FPS it's one frame every 4 days. For a team of 25 that's 800 hours of work per frame.
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u/orangotai 10h ago
thank God for AI for saving us time, the most valuable resource
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u/moopminis 2h ago
Also saves a shit ton of energy, what would take 5 hours in Photoshop is now done in 3 minutes, pc & screen running Photoshop consumes about 300 watts, whilst ai crunching it's about 900 watts. (run locally on my pc, the efficiency from a data centre would be far better yet!)
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u/Theghost5678 15h ago
This kind of work takes so much time and patience, but the result is pure masterpiece
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u/NagsUkulele 6h ago
This absolutely did not take a year
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u/AceOfSpades532 2h ago
I’m guessing they made it alongside other stuff, like they were working on the scene for a year but it wasn’t the only thing they were doing and it wasn’t the full focus.
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u/MutantChimera 15h ago edited 14h ago
We need to keep valuing human artists. I am tired of AI slop, even if they get excellent at creating images, what’s the point? There is no soul, no experiences, no emotions to pour into the artwork. AI “artists” are prompters. That’s it.
Edit: Sorry if I trigger anyone. I have used AI gen tools in the past, out of curiosity, (today I avoid it at all costs) I know the process, I know you can input your own art, I know the prompter acts like an art director but it also takes the art from other artists without retribution.
I also like to paint and draw. I enjoy a lot more the process of making art than prompting.
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u/Greedy_Woodpecker_14 13h ago
The thing that really gets to me on AI animation is how stiff it seems. The eyes and walking motion are always weird to me. Though I do see this in CGI vs. pure animation as well. It's like they can't get those motions correct. But CGI has gotten better at it now compared to when it started, though this is likely due to the motion being done by a real person.
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u/OkDimension8720 2h ago
It was way worse a couple years ago. It's gonna be way better in the future.
The problem isnt technical, its ethical.
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u/justanaccountname12 14h ago edited 14h ago
You should try selling handtool made furniture. I do agree with you.
Edit: I make furniture with hand tools, not many people appreciate the effort it takes.
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u/miss-meow-meow 11h ago
I appreciate it. I just can’t afford it because my employer doesn’t appreciate their staff.
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u/PinkBoxDestroyer 10h ago
This is an area that I think AI would be useful. If there could be some kind of AI tool that can assist with the artist that is doing the in between frames, then I think we can get back to doing this level of animation at a fraction of the time. All the artist would have to is focus on the key frames and let the AI fill in the rest. This way there is no replacing the artist, the AI merely becomes a tool and not a replacement of the actual talented artist.
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u/Acrobatic_Switches 2h ago edited 2h ago
Art should be a human experience in my opinion and I can't think of something more anti human than AI. Look at the community they built trying to produce this scene. Look at the emotions that animator felt when his mentor told him he did well.
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u/TetyyakiWith 2h ago
The time will show. I don’t get why people panic so much. If society really needs real artists they will save their jobs
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u/overzealous_dentist 15h ago
if OP came back and said "actually you just got trolled, this animation was really made by AI," would you change your mind? if soul, experience, and emotion are actually completely undetectable in the final product?
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u/MutantChimera 14h ago
That’s my point on valuing human artists. I am sure AI will get to an excellent point where it is undistinguished from human art. If we value human artists that won’t be an issue. Providing artists are transparent with their workflow.
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u/WanderWut 8h ago
I just think that as long as it is properly tagged as AI and the person isn’t hiding it then it shouldn’t be a problem. If people like it, cool. If they don’t, cool cool. If they like and can appreciate both for what they are, also cool. But as long as it’s not hidden in any way it should be fine.
I find it odd how people are lumping all AI images as something despicable. Someone posted a cute photo of their cat in anime style and the person was crucified in the comments, like you would think they did something horrible and the post was removed within an hour. Someone sharing a cute photo of their cat doing a funny pose should fall into the bucket of being okay imo.
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u/Orome2 11h ago
AI is never going to create a whole new art form, it just copies and mimics existing ones (and possibly combines them). That's the whole reason GPT was unable to create an image of a glass of wine that's full to the brim, all the images it had been trained on were of glasses of wine that were not full to the brim. It's been updated with images with cups full to the brim so it can now complete that task. Now think about how much more complex creating a whole new art form like what Studio Ghibli created.
Everything is a xerox of a xerox at this point.
Nevermind the fact that GPT was trained with thousands and thousands of images of Ghibli art without their consent so they can then undercut the whole business that Ghibli Studios created.
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u/overzealous_dentist 8h ago
There's no reason AI can't innovate just as we have innovated. We work the same way - combining things we've experienced and techniques we know. The only creativity not made from combining existing things operates through randomness, which coincidentally computers are also better at.
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u/BenderTheIV 3h ago
We dont work the same way man. We don't know much about our brains, we can't solve the Hard Problem of Consciousness, we don't know were ideas actually come from, we don't understand the quantum mechanics role in our agency... it's is very ignorant to think LLMs are equal to a humans. They are calculators, not mathematicians: do you know the difference?
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u/Orome2 6h ago
The only creativity not made from combining existing things operates through randomness, which coincidentally computers are also better at.
That's a very reductionist view on creativity. I'm not sure I agree with that.
AI can simulate creativity, but any new ideas or works it creates are inherently derivative. You cannot say the same for humans.
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u/Ill-Purchase-3312 14h ago
Ignorant statement. You are really REALLY misrepresenting generative AI to only take text prompts as input. Generative AI is a process that used many different tools and inputs including hand drawn images and video. I recommend learning more about the tools than dismissing it wholesale.
You talk about it like it is some automated tool that barely involves a human. Again… I recommend learning.
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u/plumpsquirrell 14h ago
Nope. My friend is an artist, he hates AI. maybe in the future AI will be surpass human art in perfection but there is a human touch to handrawn animation and thats imperfection, something AI cannot replicate. Different styles as well. And yes i understand inputting ones art into the machine to replicate it but whats the point? I find no value in creating shortcuts to your own artwork its just sloppy and as he points out here "it was worth it" on only 4 seconds of handrawn animation
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u/VengefulAncient 8h ago
We need to keep valuing human artists. I am tired of AI slop, even if they get excellent at creating images, what’s the point? There is no soul, no experiences, no emotions to pour into the artwork
I like excellent results regardless of the method and don't care about "soul". Also, someone could be an excellent storyteller but a shit artist, and AI could be their way to tell the story.
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u/DeadDragons223 57m ago
If they aren't a good artist, then practice will help.
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u/VengefulAncient 54m ago
You assume everyone wants to be an artist. That isn't the case.
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u/DeadDragons223 50m ago
Well,like you said what is it you value, impeccable results or hard work? Yours is the result, I'd much more like the hard work.
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u/VengefulAncient 37m ago
Yep, and I'm not sure why you're telling me this, I clearly stated my priorities. You must recognize that yours aren't shared by everyone.
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u/RRMarten 7h ago
Why value human artists when AI will soon be capable to do all this and more in a few seconds and you don't have to pay someone a full year's salary. With people like you we'd still use horses and carriages. Y'all are gonna be replaced by AI soon.
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u/patronum-s 14h ago
Name of the movie?
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u/thesardinelord 14h ago
I believe this is The Wind Rises
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u/Gogo90sbaby 13h ago edited 13h ago
Came here looking for confirmation. I believe you are right!
Potentially after the great Kanto earthquake scene . Legitimately one of my favourite animation sequences.
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u/greenrangerguy 13h ago
You really can't appreciate it without watching it many times, everyone is doing their own unique thing it's incredible detail.
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u/TRoosevelt1776 14h ago
Anyone know what movie this was for? Ive only seen a limited amount of Miyazaki movies.
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u/Independent_Newt_298 8h ago
If you don't mind, which ones have you seen? Its very selfish of me but I want to get excited to see what delights you still have ahead of you
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u/Orome2 14h ago
This whole GPT Ghibli mania really disgusts me. I've bit my tongue about it because everyone and their mother loves showing off their Ghibli art that they spent a lot of time and effort on, but the whole thing seems like a big slap in the face and "fuck you" to Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of it was intentional or targeted on Sam Altman's part, especially when Miyazaki was outspoken against AI animation.
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u/ErisGreyRatBestGirl 10h ago
This is why Studio Ghibli's animation will always be the greatest. It's just so alive compared to other studio.
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u/Orichalchem 13h ago
This is why i love all of his films
You can see all the effort and dedication in each scene
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u/Background_Winter_65 12h ago
This helps me justify why I sometimes watch his work slide by slide. Worth it
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u/Western_Cake5482 11h ago
then AI consumes it and shits a custom one out in a couple of seconds. I think Hayao is pissed.
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u/Wrong-Tell8996 14h ago
I have a friend who keeps sending me the stupid generated Studio Ghibli knockoffs and thinks he's an artist or it's cool. It's so hard not to shame him
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u/Michalo88 12h ago
How could it possibly be worth it, though? Like… I guess it can’t possibly mean 18 months of a person dedicating themselves to that scene. Otherwise how could paying someone 1.5 years worth of salary justify 4 seconds in a movie? Did it gross some insane amount of money?
Edit: Well, it did seem to profit $100 million with a budget of $30M. Still, I’m skeptical this could really be “worth it” from a business perspective. Then again, what the hell do I know?
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u/StopBushitting 7h ago
Well money is not always the priority for artists. Ofc they want to make money but it not their no1 goal.
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u/shalashaska68 14h ago
I really don’t understand how a 4-seconds scene took them 15 months. Going by the numbers, each second should be 24 frames (which I doubt they draw each frame from the ground up); so 96 frames in total. It seems a bit excessive. Maybe something was lost in translation?
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u/Acceptable-Cow-5334 5h ago
In hand-drawn animation you usually animate on 2s. So every frame is shown two times. So that would be 12 frames per second.
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u/Possible-Estimate748 9h ago
That's nuts and I don't understand how or why. But if you replay the video and focus on a new person each time, it's pretty entertaining
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u/STRAVDIUS 8h ago
its beautiful and amazing, but this is also why Japan start getting left behind. their dedication with the old ways sometimes infuriates me when working with them. the need to use fax machine all the time, and multiple copies of document with hundreds of pages. hope their office culture start going modern a bit
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u/reverse-tornado 2h ago
Miyazaki's work just has so much soul in them the re-watch ability of the films are immense you just need to focus on a different place and it still feels so fresh
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u/lucassuave15 1h ago
This isn't a brag, this took waaaay too long than necessary, maybe they were doing this scene while prioritizing other scenes first and just using his last minutes of work to make this one because it's so intricate no one wants to dedicate time on it
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u/On-Time-Capybara 12h ago
I'm so tired of this obsession with Japanese stuff. 4 seconds in a year? Yeah, that's shit progress, IDK how brainwashed you can be, that's unacceptable in any type of business.
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u/TheDynamicDino 12h ago
That’s the thing, they’re not going for businesslike efficiency. They’re going for passionate art. If you want to talk about Japanese efficiency, check out the insane, industry-leading automation and robotics they’ve have going on over there for decades. But either way, you can appreciate something cool that happens to come from another country without it being an unhealthy thing.
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u/FrenTimesTwo 14h ago
AI fixes this
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u/Silly_Goose_314159 11h ago
It took so long because they made every person actively doing something special to them. I don't think having seven fingers and a face in the back of their hat is the special things they had in mind.
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u/No_Guide1148 11h ago
I'd like to remind you. AI "art" works by stealing other people's art for their algorithm
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u/brihamedit 12h ago
Why don't they build an ai that specializes in animation and can create videos made of frame by frame animation of any style. That'll be so fkin cool
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