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 coworkers.
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.
• Kurosawa got the roof of a
Perfectionist
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