What filmmaking techniques does Kiki's Delivery Service use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Kiki's Delivery Service (1989): Supernatural Realism, Female Agency as Structural Default, Labor as Character Development, Burnout as Magic Loss and Set as Total World.

Who directed Kiki's Delivery Service?

Hayao Miyazaki directed Kiki's Delivery Service, released in 1989. CineCode also covers The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Porco Rosso (1992), Princess Mononoke (1997).

What films are similar to Kiki's Delivery Service?

Films that share techniques with Kiki's Delivery Service include Porco Rosso (1992), Spirited Away (2001), The Green Mile (1999), Princess Mononoke (1997).

Animation · Fantasy · Family

Kiki's Delivery Service

Hayao Miyazaki, 1989

A 13-year-old witch leaves home on her own, settles in a seaside town and starts a flying delivery service. When her confidence breaks, she loses her magic. It is a gentle film about work, loneliness and growing up, with almost no villain.

3 Narrative 1 Psychology 1 Cinematography

At a glance

Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 animation, fantasy and family film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 narrative, 1 psychology and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Porco Rosso uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Supernatural Realism

Dropping magical or miraculous events into an otherwise realistic world and playing them completely straight. The film never explains them or winks at you about them.

How this film uses it

Magic here is a normal part of life. Kiki leaves home at age 13 because that is the tradition for young witches. The film plays flying and a talking cat completely straight, and treats it like a job.

Where to see it

The departure: at age 13, Kiki leaves home with her cat Jiji and her mother's old broomstick.

Narrative

Female Agency as Structural Default

Putting women at the center as leads, leaders and villains, and letting their choices drive every major plot turn. The story treats this as normal and never makes their gender the subject.

How this film uses it

Kiki drives the story with her own decisions. She settles in a port town, rents a room above a bakery run by Osono and starts a delivery business. The film treats this as normal and never makes her gender the subject.

Where to see it

The bakery: Kiki rents a room above the bakery and starts her delivery business.

Narrative

Labor as Character Development

Showing a character grow up by doing physical work, like learning a job, mastering a skill or taking on responsibility. The work is how they change.

How this film uses it

Work shows who Kiki is. Her first delivery goes wrong when crows attack, and she has to get the stuffed cat back from the painter's cabin. Each job puts a new problem in front of her, and she has to solve it.

Where to see it

The first delivery: the wind carries Kiki into a forest, crows attack her and the toy is lost, so Jiji pretends to be the toy while she recovers it.

Psychology

Burnout as Magic Loss

Making a character lose their special power just when they feel stuck or worn down. Getting the power back means finding a new reason to use it.

How this film uses it

Kiki loses her ability to fly and to understand Jiji. The painter Ursula says it sounds like artist's block and suggests she find a new purpose. It makes a big feeling visible without anyone having to name it.

Where to see it

Losing her powers: Kiki can no longer fly or understand Jiji, and Ursula advises her to look for a new purpose.

Cinematography

Set as Total World

Building a set so complete, with its own weather, crowds, architecture and social rules, that it feels lived in. It reads as real until one deliberate slip shows that it was built.

How this film uses it

Miyazaki used reference photos from a trip to Visby and Stockholm to shape Koriko, a fictional northern European port town. It feels like a real place you could walk through. It also belongs to no real map.

Where to see it

Arrival in Koriko: Kiki arrives in the port town, causes a traffic problem and is chased by a policeman until Tombo helps her escape.

Questions

Kiki's Delivery Service: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Kiki's Delivery Service use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Kiki's Delivery Service (1989): Supernatural Realism, Female Agency as Structural Default, Labor as Character Development, Burnout as Magic Loss and Set as Total World.
Who directed Kiki's Delivery Service?: Hayao Miyazaki directed Kiki's Delivery Service, released in 1989. CineCode also covers The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Porco Rosso (1992), Princess Mononoke (1997).
What films are similar to Kiki's Delivery Service?: Films that share techniques with Kiki's Delivery Service include Porco Rosso (1992), Spirited Away (2001), The Green Mile (1999), Princess Mononoke (1997).

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