Perfectionist Movie directors or should I say people who create things are very greedy and they can never be satisfied That s why they can keep on working I ve been able to work for so long because I think next time ID: 660882
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Slide1
Kurosawa Akira
Film StyleSlide2
Perfectionist
“Movie directors, or should
I say people who create things, are very greedy and they can never be satisfied. That’s why they can keep on working. I’ve been able to work for so long because I think next time I’ll make something Good.”Slide3
Auteur
“The role of a
director
encompasses the coaching of the actors, the cinematography, the sound recording, the art direction, the music, the editing and the dubbing and sound-mixing. Although these can be thought of as separate occupations, I do not regard them as independent. I see them all melting together under the heading of direction.”Slide4
Perfectionist
Total control over his film –
‘I am my film … nothing
more and nothing less.’Kurosawa AkiraScreenwriter, director and editorHe expected the same enthusiasm and dedication from his staff and co-workers.Slide5
Perfectionist
Anecdotes
Nickname: Emperor
The director who made something impossible possible.20 tons of water was used for the opening scene of Rashomon and the local area ran out of water.The water was coloured with calligraphy ink. He demanded all furniture had to be antique and they had to be filled with antique clothes and materials.Slide6
Perfectionist
Kurosawa got the roof of a house removed to film a short scene from a train in
High and Low.
Kurosawa demanded to change the direction of river flow for better visual effects, but couldn’t.Kurosawa asked actors call each other by the names of the characters that they played and wore their costumes before, during and after rehearsals.Slide7
“I begin rehearsals in the actors’ dressing room. First I have them repeat their lines, and gradually proceed to the movements. But this is done with costumes and makeup on from the beginning; then we repeat everything on the set. The thoroughness of the rehearsals makes the actual shooting every time very short. We don't rehearse just the actors, but every part of every scene - the camera movements, the lightning, everything.”Slide8
The pace of filming was deliberately slowed down and it went over one year in the Toho studio. All actors had to wear their costume all the time. ‘I wanted to create lived-in feel in studio.’
The medicine cabinet was filled with medicine thought it was never opened. Slide9
Perfectionist
Kurosawa used real arrows for the concluding scenes of
Throne of Blood.
Master archers aimed at the targets only inches away from Washizu’s body.Slide10
Realism
Thorough historical research
Gritty
realism - costume designs, set designs, befitting the living conditions of charactersSlide11
Realism
Even samurai look extremely shabby and hopelessly poor, when their fortune declines or become
ronin
, masterless samurai.More realistic rendition of the Medieval time in Japan than in other conventional genre films.Slide12
Realism
Unconventional realism
Historical details are exaggerated
Wealth made to look more wealthy and poverty made to look more poor; harshness harsher and mildness milderHYPERREALISMSlide13
Kurosawa’s
gendai
geki (contemporary drama) are (dramatized) records of the immediate post-war period Japan - poverty, desolation and recovery.Now you can take them as historical documents.Slide14
Wonderful Sunday
: Though it was shot mainly in studio sets, it can be treated as a documentary film. For the landscape, townscape, clothes worn, and
behaviours
of people that time are so accurately observed and meticulously reconstructed. Realism enhanced – HYPEREALISM Slide15Slide16Slide17Slide18Slide19Slide20
Realism
(Hyper-) real fighting rather than theatrical display of
chanbara
(sword play) Performance to show a fight for life rather than showy swordsmanshipDaibosatsu TogeSlide21
Heightened-realism
Are Kurosawa’s films realist? - No.
The ‘reality’ in his films is modified and exaggerated
– realist effects heightened and enhancedSlide22
Heightened-realism
Traits of film characters exaggerated
Generosity and broadmindedness of an alcoholic doctor and innocence and tenderness of a punk turned the characters into types.Slide23Slide24Slide25
Heightened
Stylism
Film style to appeal to the emotion rather than intellect of the spectatorHeightening psychological tension and suspense and releasing them Slide26
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
The emotional effects are enhanced by dynamic visual images and sound effects being brought together.
Tension and suspense are created by expressive
mise-en-scène (acting, lighting, camera work, and composition).Slide27
Contrast between stillness and movement; quietness and excitement
On the spur of the
moment,
a quiet scene is cut to a scene full of movements and excitementA static middle shot of a village chief with monotonous sound of a watermill cut to a frenetic scene full of movements and excitement.Slide28
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Dynamism of movement enhanced by swish pan, graphically matched and quick editing.Slide29
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Sudden movement of samurai in response to a false alarm in
Seven SamuraiSlide30
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Suspense created by trick photography – telephoto lens shortens depth,
Red Beard
The film was shot almost entirely in telephoto lensSlide31Slide32Slide33
a
Telephoto lens eliminate depth, therefore the impression of physical proximity between the doctor and the female patient in the first shot is corrected in the next shot.Slide34
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Visual dynamism and
kineticism
- epic scale movement of the subjects on the screen shot by multiple camera and edited in frantic paces.The final battle scenes in Seven Samurai were shot with eight cameras.Slide35
Battle scenes in
Yojinbo
were shot with three
camerasImpression is as if we were watching a sports match.Slide36
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Dynamic movements unusual in Japanese cinema against expansive landscape and large horizon
Throne of Blood
and a Western filmSlide37Slide38Slide39
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Cinematic sound is that which does not simply
add to, but multiplies, two or three times, the
effect of the image.Kurosawa AkiraSlide40
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
The final battle sequence of
Seven
SamuraiSound effects of beating rain, running horses, their cries, splashing water, men’s yelling which are mixed together to create dynamic sound track in Seven Samurai.Slide41
Emotional appeal and
psychological suspense are enhanced by
lighting and camera work.
Rashomon - shot by Miyagawa Kazuo, the photographer of Mizoguchi Kenji using reflecting mirrors.Slide42
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Geometrical and painterly compositions enhance psychological effects on the audience - two police detectives pursuing the murderer who has killed people using the gun that he stole from them - vertical shadows of grills create create psychological suspense (photo,
Stray Dog
)Slide43
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
The bed of flowers on which the young couple lie or sit - creating lyrical effects in
No Regrets for Our Youth
and Seven SamuraiSlide44Slide45
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
T
he
futon hang to dry in Red Beard was shot with a telephoto lens. Depth disappeared and two dimensional quality created interesting patterns in the frame. Slide46
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Natural phenomenon visually and aurally emphasizes the atmosphere of a scene.
Howling wind and fierce rain
Strong wind churning up sand - bleak townscape YojimboSlide47
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
The opening scene of
Rashomon
, a ruined gate in a great storm.Natural phenomenon reveals the smallness and weakness of the human being and its rational power and moral strength. Slide48
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Snow in the park whose creation Watanabe contributed and where he dies.
Ikiru
Loneliness and ephemeralitySlide49
A lonely figure in thick fog emphasizes the isolation of a man in
RanSlide50
Intense heat in
Stray Dog
heightens the suspense: also heat
is a metaphor for corruption, social impoverishment, and criminalitySlide51
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
Dense fog and mist - hinting the existence of super-natural being and super-human power.
Throne of Blood,
Ran and Dreams