Kurosawa Akira
Film Style
Perfectionist
“Movie directors, or should I say people who create things,are verygreedy 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."
Perfectionist
Total control over his film -auteur‘I am my film … nothing more and nothing less.’Kurosawa Akira• Screenwriter, director and
editor• He expected the same
enthusiasm and dedication from his staff and co-workers.
PerfectionistAnecdotes
• Nickname Emperor• The director who made so
mething 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.
Perfectionist• Kurosawa got the roof of a house removed to film a short scene from a train in Tengoku to Jigoku.
• Kurosawa demanded to change the direction of river flow for better visual effects.
• Kurosawa asked actors call each other by the names of the character that they played and wore their costumes before, during and after rehearsals.
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.
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Film style to appeal to the emotion rather than intellect of the spectator
• Psychological rather than mimetic realism(Mimesis = mimicry and copying of reality)
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• The emotional appeal is multiplied by visual images and sound effects being brought together.
• Heightened psychological realism - expressive mise-en-scène (acting, lighting, camera work, and composition).
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 sequence of Seven Samurai shot with 8 cameras and edited rapidly.
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 Akira
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Sound effects of beating rain, running horses, their cries, splashing water, men’s yelling mixed together to create dynamic sound track in Shichi Nin no Samurai.
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Emotional appeal and psychological realism achieved by lighting and camera work.
• Rashomon - shot by Miyagawa Kazuo, the photographer of Mizoguchi Kenji
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)
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 Samurai
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Paisley patters of the futon hang to dry in Red Beard was shot with a telephoto lens. Depth disappeared and two dimensional quality emphasized the patterns.
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Natural phenomenon visually and aurally emphasizes the emotional atmosphere of the scene.
• Howling wind and fierce rain • Strong wind churning up sand - bleak townscape
Yojinbo
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.
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Snow in the park which Watanabe greatly contributed to get built and where he dies. Ikiru
• Loneliness and ephemerality
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Intense heat in Stray Dog and High and Low
• Heat is metaphor for corruption, social impoverishment, and criminality
Hyper-stylistic Filmmaking
• Dense fog and mist - hinting the existence of super-natural being and super-human power.
• Throne of Blood, Ran and Dreams