The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

-
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by Isao Takahata, is a terrific retelling of the Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. The thematic foundation of the film is the pressure of social assimilation on individuality and the longing for a real home. These themes were powerfully reinforced through the film’s eloquent visual narrative.

True Home

The straw house the family initially resided in was featured prominently in the movie. This was to establish its eventual importance to Kaguya when she began desiring a simpler life away from the expectations and pressures of becoming a princess. Despite the lavishness of the new mansion, this quaint straw house was always home to her. It represented her happiest moments spent frolicking the woods with her father and among her friends.

Another worth of note are the soft curves present in these shots. The shape of the house, the hill and the path are all curved. The film made a point to present these in order to provide contrast to the straight line heavy architecture of the mansion. Straight lines commonly feel strict and rigid, which are moods quite fitting to the restrained life Kaguya lived in the mansion.

Green Cage

An interesting compositional element was associating the color green with the restriction of Kaguya’s individuality. Green window blinds were often seen in scenes where Lady Sagami tries to corral Kaguya’s free spirited personality in order to mold her into a noble princess. In these scenes she’s taught proper but physically restraining posture and also told to suppress her emotions. Even when she leaves the mansion she’s metaphorically fenced in since the color of her carriage is also green.

After her naming ceremony, Kaguya decided to devote herself to being a lady in order to make her father happy. She has left her playful personality behind and conformed to the restraints of nobility to acquiesce to her father’s wishes. The use of green as a color of restriction was at its most poignant in this moment. Again, notice the heavy presence of green blinds but this time Kaguya is also dressed in green; the red pattern even matches the red cords of the blinds. This color trend is followed by the green bird cage with a red string, which is heavily symbolic of her situation.
_______________________________________________________________________

The shot above was after Kaguya overheard the guests in her naming ceremony insulting her father. Disgusted by their words, she decided she had enough and runs home. This one point perspective shot both expresses the character’s struggle and acts as foreshadowing. The colorful dresses she was once enamored with were now shackles that she’s shedding. She flees to her home in the mountains but in this shot she’s also running towards the moon which foreshadows her unintended escape.
_______________________________________________________________________

In this scene the fourth suitor tries to persuade Kaguya with sweet words about flowers, devotion and a promise of a modest rural life together. In the end they were just empty words he has used before to deceive young women. I really like the use of surface division here. By separating the two in the frame it prevents conveying any feelings of romance between them but without leaving Kaguya unaffected. It was important to avoid romance not only because it would compromise Kaguya’s character but also because the intention of the scene was to show a young woman so desperate for the happiness she seeks that she would momentarily cling to the words of man she knows to be deceitful.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Angel's Egg

-
Image
Angel’s Egg is a movie rich in surreal symbolism. As a whole the film is abstract and difficult to decipher but many scenes or shots on their own are eloquently lucid. It’s the vivid composition and meticulous camera work that constructed such visually engrossing and cohesive scenes. __________________________________________________________________________ The huge antenna structure functions as a strong leading line that visually guides the viewers’ eyes to the sky. With the viewers focused on the sky, the scene cuts to a shot of it with the camera tilting up to slowly reveal the main subject of interest, which is the descending orb. The third image compositionally puts everything together. The antenna continues to function as a leading line as it points to the orb. It also provides linear perspective, which creates depth. The man’s presence along with the orb establishes the important connection between the two. The last image also uses compositional triangle to not
READ MORE

Ping Pong The Animation Episode 11

-
Image
Yuasa and his animators really went all out with the camera movement for this finale. The video below is only the warm up. It starts with a medium shot of Smile and Peco in their stance to establish the anticipation. Then cuts to a close-up and extreme close-up that ratchet up the tension as the match begins. Around the 00:13 mark there's a steady-cam like movement where the camera rotates behind Smile then zooms into the ping pong ball. At 00:31 mark we see a really quick push-in shot on Smile which cuts to a reverse tracking shot as Peco slams the ball. This was a frantic combination of camera movements and quick cuts that creates the initial excitement. This frenzied start was a quick glimpse of Smile being brought out of his shell by Peco. A long-awaited moment. This feeling of fulfillment is encapsulated by the last shot, a close-up of Smile smiling as the camera pulls away to show him absorbing the moment, the cheers of the crowd and the fun that is Ping Pong.
READ MORE

After the Rain – Episode 7

-
Image
Distinctly manipulated lighting and shadows, fog and smoke effects, rain, stylized use of contrast and desaturation, and a myriad of image processing – these are often used to create visual textures that can capture a mood, an atmosphere and a certain emotional tone. Visual textures definitely tell a story but often a singular one strongly befitting a scene or even an entire movie. What stood out in this episode of After the Rain is the use of visual textures as a narrative device in an almost shot by shot basis. Various visual textures were used to accentuate the characters’ emotions and to mirror the dialogue. After a tense interaction with Kondo in which he said (to Tachibana), “You know nothing about me,” the characters then faced their emotions in Kondo’s apartment. The scene started off neutral in terms of lighting, color and texture. When the two started to express their feelings more, the visual texture changed to reflect the emotional shift. The above screenshots sh
READ MORE