Ms Georgina Brown
Postgraduate research student
'Fantasy, Fairy Tails and Free-World Gaming: How the Enchanting Stylistics of Studio Ghibli were Adapted to Suit an Interactive Medium'.
Supervised by Dr Kevin Donnelly and Dr Michael Hammond
My thesis focusses on the intersection of the Studio Ghibli film franchise with the Level-5 JRPG video game Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. In this project I aim to explore the reasons why the studio chose to contribute animation to a product of a different medium, and the affects created by adapting their cinematic style and merging the two medias. I intend to compare the aesthetics of these two mediums and discuss a new hybrid medium of 'cinematic video game' - an interactive video game which is influenced by and embraces its cinematic routes, rather than pushing against them. I am enthusiastic about exploring the idea that the entire Studio Ghibli universe can be interconnected by a product created for a different media platform, and whether or not the masterpieces of Studio Ghibli can be preserved through transmediality long after the absence of their auteur Hayao Miayazki.