Yasujiro Ozu
Lecture 13
Historical Context of Japanese Cinema
• Growth of the Japanese film industry after the
1923 earthquake
• Successful Japanese film industry
– Early 1930s Output: 400 to 500 per year
– Studio industry model
• Vertically integrated companies
– Nikkatsu (cadre system)
– Shochiku (cadre system)
– Toho (producer system)
• One of the only countries in which U.S. films did
not overtake Japanese films in the local market
Japanese Cinema in the 1930s
• Two kinds of film
– 1. historical film: jidai-geki
• Swordfights, chases, heroic deaths
– 2. contemporary-life film: gendai-geki
• Films about lower class life; comedies
• Most influential filmmakers of this period:
Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi
Classical Hollywood Cinema: on space
• The “continuity style” of Classical Hollywood
Cinema “has as its aim the subordination of
spatial (and temporal) structures to the logic of
the narrative, especially to the cause/effect
chain” (Bordwell and Thompson, 1976)
• Space should not distract from the action; space
is a site for action (Bordwell/Thompson, 1976)
• Space (setting) serve the a) narrative and b) to
reveal character traits
HOW TO ACHIEVE THE “CONTINUITY STYLE”?
1. Certain spatial points are at the center of the dramatic action (unlike in
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
– Usually main characters (sometimes objects) are spatial points
– Camera follows these spatial points
– Often everything else is out of focus
2. 180-degree system
Objective: to cut down on spatial disorientation between shots; to maintain a
continuous flow; to limit spectatorial confusion; to make space legible
Methods:
• Match on action
• Axis of action/180 degree rule
• 30 degree rule
3. Objects function as a) props that give a sense of authenticity/realism or b)
to show something significant about the characters
• Ex: Rome landmarks Bicycle Thieves; harmonica and boots in Paisá
4. No graphic contrasts (as in Eisenstein) and no overly precise graphic
matches (as in Vertov); consistent lighting levels
– The surface of the film should not call attention to itself like in Entre’acte and
Un Chien Andalou and Meshes of the Afternoon
SPECIFIC SPATIAL POINTS AT THE CENTER OF THE DRAMA:
COUNTER EXAMPLE
180-DEGREE RULE
180-DEGREE RULE
(FROM BORDWELL/THOMPSON)
180-DEGREE RULE (REAR WINDOW)
180-DEGREE RULE (BICYCLE THIEVES)
OBJECTS IN THE CLASSICAL STYLE:
BUCKETS AND SHEETS (BICYCLE THIEVES)
OBJECTS IN THE CLASSICAL STYLE:
HARMONICA AND BOOTS (PAISAN)
GRAPHIC MATCHES IN EDITING: COUNTER EXAMPLE TO
THE CLASSICAL STYLE (FROM THE CROWD)
Graphic Contrasts in Editing: counter example to
the Classical Style (from Battleship Potemkin)
OZU’S STYLE
• Camera height vs. camera angle
– Low camera height
– Straight-on camera angle
• Intermediate spaces (within a shot/within a scene/ between scenes) vs.
establishing shots
– “spaces between the points of narrative action” ex: landscapes, empty rooms,
“actionless spaces” (Bordwell/Thompson, 1976, 46)
• Methods
– Focus (within a shot)
– Cutaways (within a single scene)
– Series of transitional shots (between scenes)
• 360 degree shooting space
– Multiples of 90 degrees
– Two kinds of circular space
• Camera circles around people and objects
• Camera rotates on its axis at the center of the circle
• Objects in space (sometimes symbolic, often not)
– “hypersituated” (Bordwell/Thompson)—objects divorced from function
• Graphic matches from shot to shot
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Low camera height
Low Camera Height
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Intermediate spaces:
spaces between points of narrative action
TRADITIONAL ESTABLISHING SHOT
Ozu’s series of actionless spaces:
Intermediate spaces:
1. TRANSITIONS
Ozu’s series of actionless spaces:
Intermediate spaces:
1. TRANSITIONS
Intermediate spaces:
1. TRANSITIONS; 2.Play with FOCUS
Intermediate spaces:
1. TRANSITIONS; 2.Play with FOCUS; 3. The CUTAWAY
More examples: Intermediate space:
perspectiveless, actionless space
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
360 degree space
180-DEGREE RULE
(FROM BORDWELL/THOMPSON)
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Hypersituated objects
“Hypersituated object”
• Bordwell/Thompson:
“In Hollywood, any objects which are not used
as props or externalisations of character traits
are simply there to be minimally noticeable as
part of a general verisimilitude [appearance of
being real] –a background for the narrative….
But in many Ozu film scenes, the objects in
the space of the scene vie successfully with
the narrative action for attention.”
Vase sequence
Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)
Graphic matches
Graphic Matches