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All Hands on Deck: The biggest difference between Disney and Studio Ghibli, from an animator who has worked for both
Disney puts all their animators in siloed studios while everyone working on Princess Mononoke for Studio Ghibli was on the same floor
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They are two of the most iconic animation studios on the planet, but the fact is that Disney and Studio Ghibli couldn’t be run more differently. Disney is a sprawling mass of logistics and specialized staff, while it seems everyone under Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli is involved in every part of the animation process. A French animator who has worked at both Disney and Ghibli offered some insight into how the two legendary studios differ behind the scenes.
David Encinas became one of the few Western animators to work at Studio Ghibli, having joined the studio while they were working on the iconic Princess Mononoke. He had previously worked on projects like A Goofy Movie for Disney but was taken on as an apprentice animator at Studio Ghibli after a chance encounter with Hayao Miyazaki and spending four years learning Japanese.
Encinas describes the work culture at Ghibli as one focused on mentorship, where some of the best animators in the world take time to train the next generation of talent. “This is something I didn’t really see at Disney, an animator teaching the assistant,” Encinas said in an interview.
He also described how everyone got involved in every part of the animation process. Directors would handle animation cels and key animators working on in-between frames for animators. There was a sense that everyone, no matter their seniority, was capable and willing to jump onto any station to get the movie finished on time. “Princess Mononoke was done on one floor, with everybody in the same room, exchanging,” Encinas explained in an interview. This is a stark difference between studios like Disney or DreamWorks, where animation teams are specialized and kept separate from other roles. “I cannot conceive of seeing that in a big studio like Pixar.”
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