Song of the Sea is an Irish Animated film, from Cartoon Saloon, the studio behind 'The Secret of Kells', directed by Tom Moore, whom I was lucky to attend a Q&A with at Manchester Animation Festival. During the hour long Q&A, Moore gave us some insight into the development process of the film. Moore stated that one of his primary inspirations for the film were the works of Japanese Animation Studio, Studio Ghibli, most notably their 1988 film 'My Neighbor Totoro'. Song of the Sea is essentially an Irish Studio Ghibli film, except instead of being rooted in Eastern Art and Mythology, Moore opts for an aesthetic rooted more in Celtic Folklore.
The design principles of much of Ghibli's output is also taken on board however, with lots of attention paid to finely crafted backgrounds and landscapes, which Moore insisted upon being done in watercolour to retain a sort of handmade feel. One of the key aesthetic decisions in Song Of The Sea was to opt for simplicity, whether that be in the character designs or environments, which are often constructed from basic primitive shapes. Moore wanted most of the characters and environments in the film to be constructed from shapes with curved edges, as to appear friendly and non-threatening, an aesthetic decision designed to reinforce the threat posed by the characters and environments in the story that are not primarily constructed from these basic primitives.
