Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement

“It’s the visual stimulation that hits the audience. That’s the reason for film – otherwise we should just turn the light out and call it radio.”

Discuss this comment. How important is the visual side of film for you? Is it the most important thing in a film?

Part 1.

Watch

Kurosawa and Movement

Discuss:

When you’re judging a film shot, what’s the most important thing?

Balance

Lines

Ratios

Colour

Light

Shapes

Movement

Now take notes

“The B___________n of movie directors”

What is meant here by “full sound”?

5 Types of movement

1. N________  – rain, fire, smoke, snow etc

Rain is an emotional tr______r that the audience can relate to sen______ally

2. Movement of g______

Putting lots of people in a shot makes a main character’s emotions feel b___

How does Kurosawa increase the power of a “reaction shot”?

3. Movement of individuals

NB: Blocking a scene is simply “working out the details of an actor's moves in relation to the camera.”

Kurosawa’s blocking is _____________ and e____________

How do actors express

Nervousness?

Outrage?

Shame?

Why did Kurosawa often tell actors to repeat a single gesture throughout a film?

4. Movement of camera

How does Kurosawa achieve fluidity in his camera work?

 5. Movement of the cut

Why does Kurosawa tend to cut on movement?

At the end of a scene he usually switches the r________m

Ending on something s______ and then cutting straight into m_________

Switching up keeps you on your t_____

Part 2.

Close study of a scene

What is happening in the scene?

How does the main character’s action “ripple out”?

How are each of these things used in the scene from Seven Samurai?

The weather, the group, the individual, the camera, the cut

How does Kurosawa create variation in the camera movement?

 What is the main difference between the  Seven Samurai scene and the scene from The Avengers?

What ways can a character’s feelings be heightened?

1. Through individual m_________

2. Bring out the feeling through the b________

3. Contrast an individual against the g______

NB: Needle in a haystack (idiom: looking for something that is very hard to find)

Use camera movement to convey e__________

Cut on movement to show s________

Right motion + right ________ = cinematic impact


The Storm and the Reeds
 - scene from Dersu Uzala (1975)

What do you think this scene will be about?

Watch and focus on how Kurosawa's five kinds of movement are used and combined.

Nature
Group (pair)
Individual movement (blocking)
Camera
Cutting

How do these things feature?

Sound
Dialogue
Repetition
Balance

Lines

Ratios

Colour

Light

Shapes

Watch (from 4:42):

The storm and the reeds