Productions Aspects - Film By Film [Cinematography | Art | Sound Direction | OST]
Murder Speculation (Part II) VII | Cinematography
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| Telephoto Profile Shot Framed W/ Flat Centrality & Bokeh Isolation |
Shinsuke Takizawa is actually a simple pseudonym or rather a pen name for Ufotable’s president Hikaru Kondo & every individual director who’s worked on the Kara No Kyoukai film series up till now. What this means is that the 7th film was a collaborative effort between the collective of Kara No Kyoukai’s previous directors. Though it is somewhat of a collaborative effort, so far the only listed personal responsible for storyboards here on the 7th film is the director of the brilliant film Paradox Spiral by Takayuki Hirao. Though as you might imagine, since this film is more of a return to form story and production wise, it’s a film far more reminiscent of the second & the first, being that this film too has that still and spellbinding effect on its viewers. In fact, the film pretty much starts out the exact same as the first, in Shiki’s Pov observing Kokuto through the peeping hole of her apartment as he rings the door and calls for Shiki to open, utilizing a fish eye lens to imitate the effect - & in that the film already feels nostalgic right off the bat, the same apartment, the same time of day, the same situation etc.
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| ECU Detail Shot W/ Macro Lens |
[OTS Shot W/ Golden Ratio & Rule of Thirds Applied] - [Wide Angle Lens Profile Shot]
Surprise surprise again you see, as the 7th film is also another murder mystery, in what seems to be the continuation of serial killings that happened in the 2nd film. This of course complicates things once again between Shiki and Kokuto’s relationship, in that Shiki feels insecure about how it might affect her current life with him that’s peaceful and simple. As she feels a sense of responsibility to finally put her demons and this killer to rest. This of course gives the staff a lot of creative freedom and headroom to play with unique lighting situations & environmental factors that walking alone at night that the city entails, offering visual counterpoint and metaphors to strengthen the immediate story as a whole - Making the film seem more distinctive and purposeful when playing with such factors, as I also find the blurred lenses and vignette techniques used within the film a pretty clever touch to play into the first half of the film, particularly regarding the obscurity and the oblique vagueness of shot compositions. However the film, particularly in the first half there's quite a bit more camera movement in the shape of dolly's consisting of various tracking & Pov shots. In that you really have to watch the film to really witness the fundamental tempo of the film, as both the soundtrack & the camera maneuvering play a huge role in accomplishing this.
[Deep Focus Telephoto Shot W/ Foreground Blocking Techniques] - [ Lateral Tracking Shot W/ Telephoto Blurred Lens]
It’s also quite familiar in that cuts tend to be a bit longer, though this time the use of zoom cut to a close up seems to take precedent here. Instead of any particular cutting on the the look or any particular movement, be it the camera or within the actual scene. You see I find that a little bit troubling as well, since the shot composition and sequential flow seems a bit wonky at times, as it’s quite a textbook fundamental to cut on movement, in that the cut is supposed to resemble a head turn, hence why the 180 degree rule was created, because it so happens to fall into a human's field of view and range of motion when turning one’s head or moving one’s eyes. It’s funny because movement can be introduced to a scene, but the cut will only happen when the point of interest or subject has already passed the lens of the camera, and the delay inbetween those few seconds cause a very unnecessary dissonance and clunkiness to the flow of the shot. In that the stillness of the film that works so well in the past with other entries within the film series has actually betrayed itself here on the seventh - In the end, some part of the film just feels amateur in that each shot within a scene’s composition feels disconnected, with nothing really connecting each shot, as each second within the film continues to roll onward.
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| CU W/ Slight Omission of Facial Details |
The reason why the second film's stillness was so brilliant is because Takuya utilized other elements within different planes of motion to work in conjunction with his fantastically layered visual compositions. Such as the creatively inspired use of different lenses, depth of field transitions and camera maneuvering, composing all of this with set geometry in mind. As he also was able to connect his still and silent compositions with cues in the dialogue by manifesting visualizations of a character's thought process through brilliant sequential editing that ran counterpoint to the given text/script. In that, a large majority of his shots and montages included eerily slow zooms and pans when cutting, which I felt gelled a lot together. For me, it really is the first third of the film that’s shot the most interesting, in that a lot of tracking and trailing shots see quite a bit of usage because of the increase in the range of motion, which handheld shots also see quite a bit of use. Since the low lit backgrounds of the city really played into generally more layered staging correlations between the foreground and background planes of motion. Whereas the rest of the film really was just relegated to simple panning motions and a disconnected series of shot compositions.
In the end, it’s without a doubt it’s amongst the most important films to the overall story, being that it’s is the conclusion. however while pretty great in the earlier portions of the film in terms of the cinematography and shot flow, it really turns out to be a film with to many heads in one jar, as throughout the course of watching it, it becomes apparent that multiple people lead the creative direction for the film, and as a result, the film as a whole, beginning middle and end doesn’t necessarily mesh well together due to the different sensibilities of each given director that contributed on it.Art Direction |
As you might expect with a return to form to this film, it also meant bringing about a very recognizable feel & tone to the film that the previous films in the series had, particularly the 2nd film, as Emi Chiba's colour design here has returned to emphasizing far more starker contrasts & dissonant colour scheme's in addition to Yuichi Terao's hard boiled lighting of the many dark and starkly lit scene's. It's quite a bit more of a busier look, as Emi Chiba's this time around doesn't break her colour scheme's, instead she particularly uses tetratic & quadratic colour scheme's in their entirety to give the look of the film that starkly intense look scene to scene. As she also utilizes Split & regular complimentary colour scheme's in more definitive scene's & for the more mundane particularly dry scene's monochromatic scheme's & lighting are used. In that green & blue are probably the most common throughout the series. Since it's not an entirely edgy or rather extreme film, because it really does start off with a very familiar scene in Shiki's apartment that's quite grounded & simple.
[Biased Telephoto Profile Shot] - [Centralist Telephoto Two Shot Framed in Conjunction W/ Set Geometry]
Though as you might imagine, as the film starts to get more abnormal & intense, the colour palette also begins to shift for a more busier look, displaying more dissonant compositions with much starker contrasts in the wake of the low visibility that the night has to offer.
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| Telephoto Two Shot W/Blurred Lens & Vignette |
As a large majority of the film is set in the same thieve's highways and backdrop alleys of Mifune City that the other film's showcased, and being typically at night there's just so much creative headroom here to utilize different lighting situations & blocking techniques to frame & stage a given a character perhaps moving in & out of the shadows, while utilizing the geometry of the set to lead your eyes to the main points of interest. Again it's this keen relationship between revealing, alluding & hiding these points of interest within the visual composition that makes these back alleys ripe to craft a thriller such as this film. Particularly in how the gritty & weathered look is rendered though carful micro detail & colour pigmentation, and how a scene is staged with the set geometry in mind proves to be a staple in achieving the correct atmosphere & context the original light novels have in capturing the mood & tone of the story.
As the film transitions in parts, from beginning middle to end, and when the film reaches it's climax, that medium toned blue we've always associated with the abnormal within these film's, instead finally blossoms into something far more resolving & peaceful. Ending the film of course with an ever so familiar & cliché spring scene with sakura petals in bloom falling with wind, with a split complimentary scheme of Shiki's tertiary blue kimono, and the lush green and pink of the natural scenery.Sound Direction |
The thing that makes the 7th film such an immersive watch would really have to be it's sound design, and while the film grammar & editing of the film is rather conservative & not as playful as the 5th, I can't really deny just how well recorded & meticulous Iwanami's department was in minding the acoustics of each particular scene & shot, as this film was quite impressive & sound rich. Including things such as applying room tone or perhaps the draft of a particular out door scene, all the environmental detail & context that could be in a scene is there. The 7th film is really such a sound rich environment, because in addition to contextual information that's recorded for a given scene's main action, there's so much other things going on in the environment, that was recorded & layered on to the film - Be it the ambience of city, the cars & trains passing by, or even the rain, as you can tell how cold it is outside with the breathing & the tonality of the recording.
But the thing that really make's the sound stand out in relation to all of this is the sense of dynamics the sound component has, as it really does feel like each segment within the film is part of a larger progression, of a beginning, middle & end. Despite the linear & in sync sound editing here, there's beautifully transient & thrilling moments within the film, as it's also in due part to the original soundtrack here as well. The score is so well cued & frequently used in that the film actually almost resembles a music video, as each cue of the score so distinctly depicts the mood, as Yuki Kajiura's arrangements always somehow sneak there way in from a scene to scene basis, as it's actually quite a rare occurrence where we actually get conversation in diegetic silence. And the brilliant thing about this is that when we do get character dialogue to exist in isolation with only diegetic sound information, it's often explosive & impulsive, being raw & true to the moment - Making you truly appreciate the more silent moments within the film, as it brings it all into perspective regarding the dynamics of the film.
The sound design here really loans itself to a far more subjectivist & psychological brand of storytelling, as the score is so frequently used as a mood setter within the film in addition to the narration. As it just so beautifully gels with the creative direction & film grammerthat's depicted throughout the film. In that since there's such a range of camera motion within the film motivated by the primary action of the scene, it really just works to have music over top, as this really is one of the more progressive films within the franchise.OST |
The 7th film's score is indefinitely the longest & most expansive of the bunch alongside the 5th & Mirai Fukuin's score. However there is quite a bit of repetition here despite some really great compositions, and although not necessarily bad, this time I'll try to just pick out my favourite version of each given one. Despite the repetition, there's actually quite a bit of diversity here. The score in general dominated by quite a bit of bowed upright bass arrangements, although as you move along in the film there's plenty of other instrumentals, such as stringed sections on the violin, viola & the harp, with woodwind sections in addition to more progressive offerings with electric guitar & percussion in tow. It's a pretty disquiet & anxious sounding score with the resonant low synth & gregorian chant we're used too, and as you listen it's quite a full bodied listening experience, that has distinguishably long phases beginning, middle to end. Offering many mood pieces in addition to some think pieces as well, & when the time come's the score can be explosive & urgent, as well as intimate & beautiful.
After the first scene, when the introductory credits roll accompanied by montage, we're greeted with one of the film's main themes. It's a dreadful & grand gregorian chant accompanied by a stringed section as the piano plays the harmony. The track M01, is quite an impressively dynamic piece, that's also progressive & resonant, really a great way to start off the concluding film with a score that can clearly send the same message. As I find it particularly beautiful when the resolution of the track is also timed with a downward pan from the sky, introducing the next scene & resolving the previous, quite well done. The next track M02 pretty serves as the main center piece, a staple to achieve the hard boiled crime drama theme the film was going for. The first time it is cued is after Shiki & Mikiya make there way out of Touko's office, & when she's left alone watching the T.v. At that moment it's cued just as the scene is about to end, when the reporter on the t.v starts talking about the recent occurrence of serial killings looking somewhat related to those that transpired in the second film. It's a keen segway to interconnect the two scene's before and thereafter.
It's a pretty great track for what it's trying to emphasize, as it starts off with a minor sequence of notes, sounding dissonant & anxious just as it starts being accompanied by a reoccurring piano melody. This arrangement of course M02 is repeated several times over in the film to pretty great effect, however repetitive it might get. The next track is used in quite an important scene where Shiki gets up right in the middle of the night, besides Kokuto in bed clearly contemplating something, as she wears a bothered face. While short & under a minute, it's definitely a beautiful piece, as the piano arrangement is bittersweet & anxious, with a rather cautious sense of rhythm & tempo, quite perfect for the scene's night time mood & atmosphere.A scene afterword however, in the middle of Touko's exposition is a surprisingly interesting think piece (M05a) for such a common scene, though again it just works so beautifully for the moment, as I find the synth & piano arrangement overtop some plucking on what sounds like some stringed instrument that sounds particularly funky is quite perfect for Touko's aloud rumination, as the track also gets deeper and heavier just as the turn of the conversation does. It's also used alternatively again (M05b) in the next scene when Kokuto starts getting worried about Shiki, just this time with a reoccurring piano hook & an electric drum kit. It's perfect for the scene's momentum & visual tempo as it's cued in his personal monologue as he starts walking, jogging then running, trying to affirm his beliefs and cast asides his doubts about Shiki, trying his hardest to have faith in Shiki.
In a foreshadowing scene, next is a pretty unnervingly dissonant track (M06) that's used with the wailing of an electric guitar & synth in the background, being used perfectly when contrasting Shiki's sweet sounding voice, but terrifying words. Contrasting the fragile moment so well, but then exploding into a stringed crescendo as the action breaks out. The next scene afterwords however is definitely one of the most important, both in the film & in the entire series, being accompanied by the same opening theme that the second movie (M01), which seemingly sounds reminiscent & innocent, though this time it's just the piano alone, and after a while the track (M07) begins to get more & more clouded as to match the ensuing emotional complication & overload of the character within the scene. It's fantastically bittersweet, & saddening moment, with just the right music to contrast the darkness of the scene, but the fragility at the same time. Quite excellently cued and composed moment with a great music in to match as well.
A few scene's later however come's a pretty daunting & dissonant track that's used quite frequently throughout the films alley scene's, though just changed up a bit each time it's used. It's quite a familiar sounding track, as I could've sworn that it sounds suspiciously familiar to some of Martin O'donnell and Michael Salvatori's work on Halo 2 regarding some of the flood missions. In that the track M10 & all closely related tracks have a particularly dissonant & creepy feminine gregorian chant along with a high pitched tremolo with a crescendo on the pipe organ that sounds awfully dissonant and perfect for depicting such horror. In that you'll find that the pieces "Ancient Machine" & a segment within the "Sacred Icon Suite" has these exact same elements. I wouldn't put it past Yuki Kajiura or perhaps someone on ufotable's team to have drawn influence from here as Halo 2 was released on the original XBOX in 2004, whilst the 7th movie and it's score in 2009, so it's entirely possible, not to mention that Halo 2 is one of the best selling video games of all time.
A little later on comes a of couple think pieces, used when Kokuto confronts a drug dealer wanting to ask her a few things, though is later handled (quite literally) by her. During the confrontation the track M14 plays & it's quite decorated by high pitched synth, instruments such as the glockenspiel & sleigh bells in the background. Though the next track afterwords where they actually begin talking, the middle of the conversation when a revelation comes to light is a pretty curios guitar part, that's filtered and almost sounds harp like when playing a pretty curios and spellbinding melody, just perfect for the mystery theme, as Kokuto investigates & questions her. The next track is another one of my favourites, and although it's just another rendition of the first, this time its a completely instrumental arrangement consisting mainly of piano harmony & guitar melody, along with the same stringed sections in the previous. It's a beautiful night time track, that's also progressive & gritty, perfect to segway on the growing anticipation, as details are slowly revealed.In a scene afterwords is a track similar to M10, however this time it has an ominous lone flute melody that's played eerily overtop the low resonance of the track. It's a horrifying scene as the dissonant quick tremolo's on the pipe organ and the erie chant make it even more dreadful. Though just after the revelation, all hell breaks loose, & a transient violin solo sweeps in along the meter of 808 kicks and a synthesizer. It's quite a shocking and fitting track for the dreadful scene & explosive enough for the maniacal break out scene that occurs thereafter. In the next scene, just when Shiki is called out on her bluff however, A piano & cello arrangement M19 is cued in that instant, as the arrangement is pretty & speaks of wonder, in addition to Shiki's vulnerability in that moment, contrasting the relatively dark & twisted scene.
Later on however in one of the most important scene's within the film & entire story, is accompanied with a piano & stringed arrangement M22 regarding the phone scene between Shiki & Mikiya. Although it starts off as a pretty stereotypical sad piano arrangement, as Mikiya begins to speak up however & counter Shiki the strings hit, as I find it's such a explosive moment, findomg myself in awe. Although it mainly was because of fantastic script writing & voice acting, I just can't deny how well composed & timely the score was in conjunction with the scene. Sometime after in the next battle scene after a pretty stereotypical bgm you would hear in any other fight scene, the track that plays afterwords when Shiki's is just about to loose her self to a murderous impulse, her memories of Kokuto stops her in her tracks as she begins to hesitate after recalling Kokuto's words. In that moment that signature chant from Kalafina softly plays, and when Shiki yells in complete frustration, the gregorian chant continues with accompaniment from the marimba, sounding like a lullaby. It's quite a timely and well fitting track, as it speaks to how disheartened and defeated Shiki is, in that she's too is not willing to give up on herself or her dream.
Approaching the climax of the film, shortly after an explosive scene later on in the film (Thanks to Shiki) brings a set full of pretty interesting set pieces. First a bowed melancholic string composition [M30] slowly sweeps in. Again seizing the moment & overriding the same scene the track M07 plays too. Though I don't really think it's better than the track M07, as I find it was used quite a bit better for a scene that was quite the same, just with omitted details. Just after however as Shiki reminisces about the past in a dream sequence, the familiar chanting (M31) we heard earlier on continues. However this time it's more stripped down with piano & a cello accompaniment, that later on override the track, segwaying to the next cut as Kokuto rushes towards the scene in the furious rain while driving. Though the film quickly cuts back to Shiki's foreshadowing again, showing a scene of Shiki & her late Grandpa. It's a timely & important moment within the film, as her grand father speaks his last words to Shiki, as the track here (M32) really captures the ephemeral and fragile quality that the moment holds.
Next of course, what would a Kara No Kyoukai film be without the "Garden of Sinners" theme? Well, in the scene where Shiki's is being violated when she's lost in her thoughts, she makes some personal confessions as the track M33 plays, and of course at this point I'm really starting to get mixed feelings about the film. However the track itself is well cued in conjunction with Shiki's given personal dialogue, as the lone piano rendition of the theme does admittedly compliment her lines quite well, segwaying perfectly into the next scene with Shiki's narration overtop. Transitioning towards the climax, Shiki lie's half unconscious & defeated, she starts making proclamations & begins to draw on her strength, not allowing herself be defeated by this, not ready to give up on her dream. As the track starts off with this bubbling optimism of notes on the harp and leading the track into crescendo as a stringed arrangement comes sweeping in. It's a sadly short track that's cut off pretty quick, though it none the less captured the strength and adversity displayed in the scene.
The next track however that bridges towards the climax is a pretty romantic & sappy track though it's great none the less. Although it starts off with just a lone piano arrangement, it soon climaxes into a fully passionate stringed ensemble overriding the score & the moment of reminiscence. In that the scene is accompanied by a montage of Shiki's memories. It's a wonderfully fragile & confessional moment that keeps on getting sweeter as Shiki continues to make her confessions the strings make it utterly perfect for the scene. Though as Shiki's steadies herself, finding conviction in her fury, The "Garden of sinners" theme plays once again, though this time with a heavy & epic drumming arrangement (M40), that really steals the moment & tells you "this is it", as it's a beautifully explosive moment when Shiki finally lets loose & does the deed.After the fact however, we hear the same arrangement as the first track M01, detailing Mikiya's struggle to get to Shiki, with the grand chanting & stringed section slowly getting louder. Though after he finally finds Shiki laying down to rest, he's relieved as the the accompanying music also transitions into a more peaceful and relaxed lone feminine chant. As the track (M41+M42) continues you can hear church bells ring one at a time, with a stringed composition resonating slowly in the background, and the light plucking of the harp as the track builds into a crescendo. It's a beautifully composed suite of some of the most iconic works in the series. However as a side effect, since we've heard many them so many times already, it kind of cheapens the moment, as our memory of the songs isn't really unique to this moment within the story & to use such a common theme as the climax of the series is kind of distasteful in some sorts. Though none the less not an entirely bad track.
Finally, the last 2 tracks used in the epilogue after the film's credits is first just a looser piano rendition of the 2nd movie's main theme and the first track M01, however while Shiki & Mikiya are walking together in the most familiar & love dovey scene imaginable, A lone flute plays lightly, sounding peaceful & optimistic. Later cueing the strings in to build up into a climac for an almost disney like fairy tale moment, which is truly beautiful and sincere. While I had really mixed feelings how the film's climax transpired and closed the entire series, I really did however love the epilogue, as I found it to be the perfect way to add a little cherry on top, as the music is genuinely heartwarming & special to that moment.
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| The Garden of Sinners: ......Not Nothing Heart [VII Film OST] |
Vocals :
Hanae Tomaru
WAKANA
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Musicians :
Keyboard & Programming - Yuki Kajiura
Strings - Kiyo Kido Strings (Group)
Rie Akagi, Yuriko Kaida
Viola - Sachie Oonuma
Cello - Masami Horisawa
Flute - Rie Akagi
Guitar - Susumu Nishikawa
Piano - Masato Matsuda
Piano - Masato Matsuda
