His film work stretches over a span of decades, influencing every demographic of people in his ever-growing audience.

Many film buffs place him on the list as one of their top filmmakers for any myriad of reasons.

Whether it be the emotionally relatable stories, the visual appeal of his hand-drawn scenes, or his well-written characters,

Miyazaki is definitely one of my favorite filmmakers for all of these reasons,

but there's one thing in particular that I find striking about Miyazaki's work,

and I want to study the decisions he makes as a filmmaker in order to make his stories impactful.

There's a great documentary about Miyazaki and his fellow workers at Studio Ghibli called the "Kingdom of Dreams and Madness".

During this documentary, you are taken through the journey of Miyazaki making what is potentially his last film ever, "The Wind Rises".

As he goes along, figuring out the details of this last story,

he is sharing with the interviewer his process, some of his nuances, and even what has kept him going as a filmmaker for nearly five decades.

He is making his last film in his 70s, drawing every scene and writing every character to life.

The main thing that Miyazaki aims to portray in his films is the human experience.

There's quite a lot of fantasy in his films, but he does a good job of understanding that fantasy is okay to be obscure,

but the stories of the human characters are portrayed just like that, human.

Many of his protagonists begin their journey with some lack of experience or growth,

but finish their journey with a newly-learned lesson or discovery, and by no means are the protagonists perfect.

Miyazaki understands that even good people experience things like jealousy or laziness or one-sidedness,

and those aren't inherently bad qualities because everybody experiences these at one point or another.

Everybody knows what it's like to be thrown into a situation of total confusion or what it's like to have a thought-about vanity.

It's the way that these characters navigate their situation that makes them who they are,

and essentially teaches them quintessential life lessons that is then reflected to the audience.

Miyazaki often speaks about what people want and what people think,

and it's because that's what he observes, and has been observing, his entire life.

And this awareness of the way people actually are is reflected in every one of Miyazaki's films.

The first thing that I found compelling about Miyazaki's process is the fact that he never has a script for any of his original films.

He just has a general idea of what he wants to do, then he starts to visualize it, and he draws the entire film in storyboards.

Sometimes he doesn't even add dialogue for the characters until well into the storyboarding process.

Studio Ghibli will start animating the first half of the film before he has even finished the second half or the ending.

The process takes so long that it would be counterproductive to wait for the entire storyboard to be completed.

For one Studio Ghibli film, Miyazaki could have 50 artists simply drawing different aspects of the film, like the backgrounds, the characters, the movements, the obstacles.

For every film, it seems like Miyazaki challenges himself to draw something new or different,

and he maintains a deep involvement in every process of the film,

whether it be overseeing other artists, being present for the voice acting, the music composition, the digital animation⏤everything.

During this documentary, he talks about his struggle with drawing airplanes, which is sort of a big obstacle, considering the movie is about airplanes.

I just find Miyazaki's dedication to the visual art of storytelling so important.

The fact that he is willing to try to tell the story simply with images first sort of forces him, in a way, to make this story flow without dialogue,

so when dialogue is added on top of the story, it makes sense.

Many filmmakers today use dialogue almost exclusively as an expositional tool.

Instead of showing you what happens next, they have a character spoon-feed it to you by blatantly explaining their situation.

Films are far more compelling when they show you how to feel instead of telling you how to feel.

All of Miyazaki's films are drawn so beautifully in their own ways that you already know what to feel,

and this is largely due to the fact that Miyazaki knows how to illustrate the basic subtleties of human interaction and show a wide range of different emotions

just by things like body language or the way a character does an action.

And, because of this, the dialogue is almost strictly for character interaction and occasionally a piece of wisdom or thought, instead of exposition.

To any filmmaker who is trying to write a concept or to anyone who is having trouble finishing a script, I would say a helpful tool is to always storyboard your film.

So many people undervalue this.

Even if you aren't the most well-rounded artist, drawing stick figures and poorly rendered structures will start to give you a better vision in your head of what you actually want to put on screen,

and perhaps it will even help you to finish your story.

But most importantly, it will help the people who you are working with to understand your vision much more clearly.

Adversely to trying to tell them what you're seeing in your head or what you're feeling, it will be much easier just to show them instead.

If you don't know how to storyboard, don't worry; it's actually pretty simple.

The channel Rocket Jump Film School made a great video on the basics of storyboarding, and I highly suggest you watch it if you're interested.

I will leave a link in the description.

It's not just the fact that Miyazaki storyboards to better visually tell this story,

he is also storyboarding because the visuals of his film are half the experience.

In an animated movie specifically drawn by an artist with the caliber of Miyazaki, the limits of reality are truly stretched, and as a result of it, amazing visuals emerge all the time.

There are very few times in a Miyazaki film where you can't pause it and feel like you're looking at a detailed painting.

It's just beautiful artistry in motion.

Towards the end of the documentary Miyazaki and the interviewer are at the first screening of "The Wind Rises".

Miyazaki has finished his last film and he is reflecting on the experience of his entire career.

He calls the interviewer over to the window of a tall building and asks her to look out.

He tells her this:

When I heard this, it struck me that this man wasn't just making films to tell stories.

He was drawing the realities he wanted to experience.

Whether it be a train track moving along the ocean or a castle in the sky,

Miyazaki was imagining these stunning worlds and bringing them to fruition through his artistry.

And I'm truly glad that he did, because they're amazing and that's the reason I titled this essay, "What You Can Imagine".

The message I want to get across is to remember that films are make-believe.

You can create whatever you want in them, especially as technology advances more and more every day.

So, don't be afraid to push the limits of what's actually possible and show people the world that you imagine.

During an interview with Stanley Kubrick in the 60s, he said that one way filmmakers can improve the industry is to be more daring and more sincere.

So, take risks, push the boundaries of what's possible, and create stories with characters that are true to the human condition.

Thank you guys for watching; I hope you enjoyed.

If you did, please like this video.

It simply tells me if people enjoy what I'm making and it ultimately decides if I should keep doing it.

If you have any suggestions of topics about film or otherwise you think I should study, feel free to leave it in the comments below.

There's much, much more to be said about Miyazaki as his filmography is so diverse and his stories are much more immersive than I'm probably portraying them.

So, if you're still interested, I would highly suggest you watch his films and see for yourself.

My personal favorite is "Spirited Away".

Also, many other people who study film have covered his work in more detail, specifically about his characters or his attention to detail regarding animation,

so you can research that, as well, if you like.

Anyway, my name is JD, thank you for watching, and until next time, peace.