Barbie Gold Fashionistas Glitter 2013
Teresa Fashionistas Glitter 2013
Barbie Gold and Summer Fashionistas Glitter 2013
Barbie Fashionistas Glitter 2013
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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) Episode 18
This episode’s performance was a terrific coming of age for Nagi as a musician cross cut with Kaori’s bitter sweet violin pantomime. From a cinematography stand point, the performance scene mixes up the camera work in order to match the change in mood.
The beginning moments of the scene were filled with slow pans, tilts, and tracking shots. These languid movements matched Nagi’s feeling of comfort and ease with her performance. For Kousei this wasn’t good enough and looked to push her further as a performer. He shifted the mood and tone of the performance and accordingly the camera work matched up with it. There were less camera movement and more low angle static shots of Kousei that gave him a more commanding presence (as seen below).
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This was a nice use of whip-pan to emulate Nagi’s willingness to keep up with Kousei’s pace. It appropriately expressed Nagi’s intensity but it was also brief enough not to be a distraction.
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A simple shot of Kousei, Kaori and the sky. In the right moments the use of negative space can evoke a sense of intimacy. For a small moment all that matters are these two characters on screen and the words and emotions they exchange.
At first I thought it was odd framing an intimate moment way off center. In terms of intimacy it’s a rather unengaging shot but as a whole the composition actually works quite well. Notice how lively everything is on Kousei’s side of the shot; the children playing, the sheets flapping in the wind, and the clouds in full view. It’s an imagery of what Kousei has to offer Kaori, which is to rediscover the joy of music and to feel alive again.
Garo: Honoo no Kokuin - Episode 18
As Leon grieves the death of Lara, the pain of this loss causes his dark past to resurface. His past is haunting and tempting him to yet again to give in to a life of anger and vengeance. The visual of this scene uses spatial depth and the symbolism of footprints to convey his internal struggle.
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Footprints are physical marks of the past that show where we were and where we were going. With this notion in mind the footprints in this scene can symbolize Leon’s connection to his past, whether it was the vengeful life that he once lived or the life he spent with Lara.
When showing Leon’s connection to his dark past, the footprints were shot in deep space. The three shots above demonstrate deep space with depth cues such as one point perspective and footprints receding in the distance. Deep space tends to be more visually intense, which accentuated the ominous nature of Leon’s shadow of the past.
In contrast, Leon’s footprints connecting him to Lara were shot in flat space. This lack of depth and visual intensity produced a calm mood that is fitting to this mournful shot. This calmness also reflects Leon’s peaceful life with Lara.
