Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | A Full Anthology P.8

Productions Aspects - Film By Film  [Cinematography | Art | Sound Direction | OST]

Epilogue VIII | Cinematography 

Central Off Axis Telephoto Profile Shot

What a fitting ending for Ufotable’s president Hikaru Kondo to personally finish off the series as head director of the 8th instalment. In all, while I may have said that either the 5th or 2nd films were my favourite, this would definitely have to be one of them, if not the cherry on top. While set in a single location and only half an hour long, it’s an absolutely mesmerizing film both visually and the clarity in brings to the story as a whole. It starts off wholly similar to the 2nd film, when for the first time Kokuto meets Shiki on the snow covered roadside slope, but this time it’s 4 years in the future, and while a bit different being that the Kokuto and Shiki in this moment are older, it's an almost shot for shot replication of the first film initially for the first few scenes - It feels like a homecoming in how openly nostalgic the moment is, in that it’s actually been 5 years since it had all truly began, and while it’s technically not the last we've seen from the franchise, unlike the 7th film, it truly closes and finishes off the story soundly with a long exposition between Shiki & Kokuto.

[Rule of Thirds Applied] - [CU Detail Shot W/ Omission Of Facial Details]
But let me stop you right there - You see the entire 30 minutes unravels as a small conversation between Shiki & Kokuto, and without trying to spoil anything Shiki goes at length to converse with Kokuto, whilst explaining herself and any other misunderstandings he may have. Let me rephrase that - The entire 33 minutes is just talking. While you may have already have run for the hills, let me just say that I really don’t know what people were expecting from this epilogue, as it’s not a feature standalone film that was supposed to have a full length story or action. Really no, it’s just a concluding final step within the story, to share and reveal some exposition about Shiki and what really went on within her family to produce all of the turmoil they’ve endured for the past 4 years. I’ll stand in defence of this epilogue because in that I believe there’s a strong power in conversation, as the script just completely unwinds uncut and undisturbed temporally for the entirety of the film, just as the original light novels intended. In that it feels timely and in the moment, objective & raw, as we’re able to watch and listen to Shiki and Kokuto from beginning to end. There’s simply this breathtakingly still silence to the film as we watch the flurries of winter, and Shiki standing completely unwavering in the night conditions.

Rule of Thirds & Golden Ratio Applied

It’s another small film of show & tell magic at work here, as this time around, throughout the course of this small film is shot with objective diegetic continuity in mind, remaining faithful to the conservative staples, such as the golden ratio & the rule of thirds, also continuing the trend of the use of eerily slow zooms and pans, capturing the slow stillness of the beautifully mesmerizing particle effects the animation department has to offer. This time around in terms of staging, there’s a real sense of unadorned and simple flatness, frontality and centralism, along with more occasional adjacent framings, relative to the geometry and surfaces correlating to the angle of the shot. It’s masterfully shot in that the visual storytelling component has the dynamic of having a beginning, middle and end. As I find each stage within the small film progresses distinctly within a flowing dynamic and story that runs counterpoint to the ongoing dialogue within the film. In that this film is ALL about the telephoto profile shot & the use of depth of field transitions, isolating characters with the distorted bokeh isolation that a narrow field of view and a telephoto lens has to offer, while also being able to seamlessly include detail shots with macro lensing and wide angle lenses coupled with the dutch angle for more oblique sequences.

Telephoto Profile Shot W/ Bokeh Isolation & Clever Blocking Techniques

Though, this film isn’t just a textbook example of the more conservative continuity style, no because Hikaru Kondo also throws us some clever shots with eerily fluid camera maneuvering and dolly shots that pan around his subjects while going in for the close up, with completely genius use of panning motions that utilize his characters as a visual artifice, subject to his blocking techniques, whilst  revealing a character on the other side when the camera pans around to reveal them. All the while keeping the subject within the immediate foreground outside the depth of field with deep focus, with over the shoulder telephoto shots that are also combined dolly sweeping zooms. I mean for christ sakes, Hikaru Kondo even goes as far as to use Shiki’s hair with blocking in mind, thanks to the shifting wind conditions within the scene. Just a brilliant sense of shot flow & composition in how he correlates subjects in the immediate foreground to those within the background, while using everything possible within his tool kit such as beautiful camera maneuvering, diegetic context within a scene, and his choice of lenses to change his depth of field is nothing short of pure spectacular, as he’s a master at knowing when to omit certain details such as one’s facials, so you can focus more on their indirect body language, as I also especially like his use of blurring the camera lens to achieve that extra dreamlike quality to his shots.

[Framed W/ Rule of Thirds Applied W/ Adjacent Set Geometry] - [Telephoto Profile Shot W/ Blurred Lens & Bokeh Isolation] 
His shot flow is just so fluid and brilliantly spellbinding, and when comparing this small film to the 7th, you really can see that cutting on movement is essential, and as you might imagine it’s practiced to perfection on this film. However, the thing that really tops it off in my mind is how Hikaru also knows how to use the dissonance of his compositions to a great degree, regarding his sequential editing & staging. Being that small segments of this film apply montage theory as well, transitioning from his uber smooth shot flow, to more neurotically unpredictable montage and framings of Shiki within a given frame, to correspond with the ongoing dialogue, to give a surreal and psychedelic effect on the viewer, while metaphorically making visual suggestions to run counterpoint to the script . It’s visual masturbation at it’s utter finest in this film, it just so god damned well shot and animated. Even having a ridiculous amount of versatility and smooth distance transitions between the camera and his subjects and/or points of interest - We see almost just about everything from longshots, ECU’s (Extreme close ups), overhead crane shots to medium long OTS shots, in addition to the extensive camera maneuvering and heavily layered compositions, with the beautiful composites from the art department.

In that it’s not just a series of shot and reverse shots, but a wide array of establishing, profile and reaction shots, making for mesmerizing experience to close off the series

Art Direction |

Luckily for me this is a rather short film shot in entirely one location, however as a byproduct, it's also fantastically rendered & animated. As you can imagine, there's no particular diversity within this film regarding various colour schemes and such as it's shot in one location. However the quality of rendering regarding the lighting, the depiction of texture, pigments and depth is mesmerizing. As it's truly a picturesque & keenly produced film visually. The film entirely consists of the overlooking view of Mifune city in the middle of a nighttime snowfall, with the yellowish orange artificial incandescent lighting of the city. The city scape is relatively analogous in hues of yellow orange, though the foreground of course consists of snow covered roads, rocks and greenery peeking underneath.

The only exceptions to this of course are Shiki & Kokuto themselves, as Kokuto is clad in black as per usual, & Shiki is dawning the same Kimono we've seen in the second film, with a light pink and red under kimono, sporting a navy blue obi/sash. It's just a beautiful film with such attention to detail regarding colour gradients, realistic lighting & deeply layered background composites with beautifully layered snow particle effects that make all of the panning dolly shots and camera maneuvering so seamless and spellbinding. As this film is truly a step up visually from the prior films visual IPO.



Sound Direction & OST |

As you might imagine, the epilogue is quite a silent film, as the midnight outdoors only offers a barely noticeable (& I mean barely) draft of the wind you may hear once in a while, in that you'd really have to be listening awfully loud to hear it (but it's definitely there), or perhaps Kokuto's footsteps when packing in the roadside snow. As the dialogue alone takes precedent in this film's recording, in that it exists mainly in isolation. However, the film actually has 2 tracks to it's score exclusively available on the Kara No Kyoukai's compilation album. First of which is the film's main suite "Kara-No-Kyoukai" which is broken up into bits across the film & the closing theme "Snow is Falling". Although the film uses a this suite across the duration of 30 minutes primarily, Yuki Kajiura definitely didn't just compose her arrangements with just an idea for what the script would be like to create an overriding theme, because the way the suite is cued to synergize specifically with each moment is timely and unmistakably composed so that the score would precisely match each given moment. As each phase of the film and the ongoing conversation progressed, beginning, middle to end.

While the film has it's unmistakably silent & erie moments, there's a duality between the silence & segments within the film that are accompanied by the suite  "Kara No Kyoukai". The track first starts off with the same flute arrangement  as the "Epilogue" track in the same record, altered a bit with synth and piano accompaniment, shortened to the likes of 30 seconds to house just the opening phases of the film. Being also the exact same as the last track in the 7th film's music score. This track's is segment is used in the beginning introduction to the film as the camera pans downwards from the sky, though fades out after 30 seconds. The time in between is eerily quiet, as the moment is still, only offering the diegetic conversation between Kokuto & Shiki. The next time this suite is cued is 7 minutes in as the next section starts off with a vibraphone melody that's sounds innocent and sweet, though is contrasted by the artificiality of the synth, with a deep resonant hum and dissonant phrases cued in response to the deeper turn in Kokuto & Shiki's conversation. As the segment is cued just when Shiki begins to respond to one of Mikiya's answers regarding her relatively ambiguous question.

As the track continues however it's accompanied by a lone piano, in that as the film progresses it really matches the nuance of the confessional nature of the scene a little later on in the film. Though again however there's a pause within the score as we return just to the diegetic sound information of the scene. And I feel it's a quite poignant technique to contrast the segments of silence & music, as it shows that there's a keen dynamic that's occurring within the dialogue and the story. Since the suite is often cued during Shiki's aloud rumination, and the silence of a scene is dedicated for the conversing between the two, also empowering the visual element as it can exist in relative isolation, taking away some sensory input to maximize the amount of attention paid elsewhere. Though the film takes a turn for the psychedelic shortly after when Shiki begins another monologue, a peculiar reverb effect is added to her voice as the next section within the suite is cued in this moment, with a slow but sprawling piano arrangement that's deep and resonant, perfect for the contemplation of the scene, along side the sporadic visual composition and editing that occurs.

And of course once again the track fades out to give us a few minutes of silence. The last verse of the suite however picks up again, cued after Shiki's digressions about her personal dreams, and a reluctance too accept them afterwords, cuing the peaceful & moving music, as the piano arrangement is optimistic touched up by the rawness of the additional synth. Though of course the music fades to a stop, as Shiki snaps out of her daydream, producing such a beautiful moment of relief, regarding the contrasting dynamic of the silent reality of the film, in addition to the more adventurous, slightly musical side. Approaching the end of the epilogue come's the last segment of the Kara No Kyoukai suite, as this last segment is cued once again as Shiki's makes another keen observation about Kokuto, somewhat further explaining why Shiki was so envious of him in how he was so ordinarily special in his own way & out of her reach.

The segement begins with the overlying noise of synth within the background, though introduces the light playing of the vibraphone as we've heard earlier before intimate and lonely. Though as the camera pans around Kokuto into a profile shot dollying inward towards Shiki as she continues talking, the reveal is also accompanied by the introduction of the piano, making the moment honest and enlightening in the scene's particularly confessional moment. Slowly getting louder with resolve and clarity, as it begins to override the grand moment. However it slowly becomes deferential and soft, only to build up a crescendo to the last lone phrase, bringing a sense of finality to the moment. Afterwords completely branching out into a full resonant stringed ensemble with the initial piano accompaniment, really just milking the dreamy and fey like moment, then returning to silence for one last time. Closing the film as Shiki says her goodbye, the ending theme "Snow is Falling" is cued with Kalafina's Gregorian almost Christmas like chants as the camera pans upwards to the direction it initially came from, coming full circle to draw the series to a definitive close, as the credits begin to roll.

In that the name is quite appropriate for the moment, as the only thing we see is just the snow falling in the orange lit sky, as the arrangement breaks into a full ensemble and a dynamic tussle with the signature phrases from the original "Garden of Sinners" theme. Composed with the harmony of the piano and chants, with the violins taking care of the overriding melody. A truly mesmerizing moment, as the beautiful musicality of the compositions multiple instruments running counterpoint to each other but united for one message is truly riveting. Indefinitely a silent and simplistic film, with such keen composition in contrasting moments of diegetic silence and the musicality of the thought process and conversation, as Yoshikazu Iwanami & Yuki Kajiura understand fully the importance of the beginning, middle and end of a story, truly unexpectedly great work here.

The Garden of Sinners: Kara No Kyoukai Music Collection
[Compilation Album With Tracks From Epilogue]

Musicians & Performances By -

Vocals : 

Kalafina - Main Group - 

Wakana Ōtaki, Keiko Kubota, Hikaru Masai

Supporting Vocalists - 

REMI, Yuriko Kaida, Hanae Tomaru

Former Members -

Maya Toyoshima (Left in 2009)

Yuriko Kaida

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra

Fion

Musicians :

All Keyboard & Programming - Yuki Kajiura

Strings - Kiyo Kido Strings (Group)

Rie Akagi, Yuriko Kaida

Strings - Hitoshi Konno Group

Flute - Rie Akagi, Hideyo Takakuwa

Guitar - Koichi Korenaga, Susumu Nishikawa

Piano - Masato Matsuda, Haruki Mino

Drums - Kyoichi Sato

Bass - Tomoharu "Jr." Takahashi

Percussion - Tamao Fujii

Page 8

Article Contents - Comments Section

1. Overlooking View 
2. Murder Speculation [Part 1]
3. Remaining Sense Of Pain
4. The Hollow
5. Paradox Spiral
6. Oblivion Recording
7. Murder Speculation [Part 2]
8. Epilogue
9. The Future Gospel
10. The Future Gospel [Extra Chorus]

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