Meeting Totoro part II I Wish I Could Stay Forever page 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I sauntered out of the main display room, quite impressed with what I saw. Not much more on the main floor, so I climbed the stairs to the second level. I could have taken the glass elevator, but there was a line. Again, the second level just caused me to totally geek out. It was a re-creation of an animator’s studio. But this wasn’t a cubicle, as I always see on those “how we made the latest Disney movie” TV specials. The drawing table was a magnificent oak desk. The walls were wooden, with a wood stove in the corner. It looked more like a lavish county office from 1890. But, tacked to one wall, for the animator to look at, were storyboards. Original storyboards from Studio Ghibli films. I could reach out and touch an original drawing of Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service. In fact, I think I did. It felt like it was drawn with just a regular pencil crayon. The Animator's Studio From the Ghibli Museum Souvenir Booklet The next room was the animator’s library. The shelves were covered with various reference books on the art of animation. You were welcome to grab them and leaf through them, so I did. Also in the room was an animation camera. You could look through the viewfinder to see the animated scene, and you could manipulate the various levers to make the lens pan left and right, and how to make the background scroll. The next room is where the rotating display was. Again, my lack of knowledge of Japanese was a detriment, but I knew it had something to do with flight. The half-sized mock-up of an airplane in the middle of the room and various sketches of flying machines on the walls kind of gave it away. One corner of the room was partitioned off with a black curtain. As I was walking past, the black curtain was flung open and people started coming out! They were showing a movie. It was a little Porco Rosso short film. Very cool. That was about it for the second level. Up the staircase to level 3. There wasn’t much up there. As I’ve discovered, every museum in the world has 2 things: an overpriced gift shop, and an overpriced restaurant. Level 3 was where the gift shop was housed. I did a quick browse through it, but decided I wouldn’t buy anything until it was closer to time to go. The third level was also home to a life-sized catbus from My Neighbour Totoro. Well, not life-sized as much as kid-sized. Kids were playing on it, jumping on it, and having a grand old time. The Catbus Room From the Ghibli Museum Souvenir Booklet 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 <<Previous Page | Next Page>> Return to the Columns Page © Mark Sladen Cappis, 2005