Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | A Full Anthology P.4

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

The Hollow Shrine IV | Cinematography 

[Overhead Crane Dolly Tracking Shot W/ Vignette Applied ]  

Teichi Takiguchi’s work on the fourth Kara No kyoukai unlike the second film, emphasizes more drastic camera movement in both speed and frequency, as he’s less of a stickler for the continuity style than Takuya Nonaka. So he often also includes quite a bit more opportunities to utilize Yuki Kajiura’s work on the OST, not really appreciating the objective diegetic continuity and dissonance that silence brings. In that the fourth film feels more progressive and fluid, as the takes are shorter too, being he cuts more often. However I feel Takuya’s work was simply genius and quite brilliant, as he’s so adept in utilizing everything at his disposal to dictate his film grammar, where Teichi’s style more or less plays into people with less of a attention span, and opts to up the pace and flow of the story with a plethora of different coverages and cuts, whereas with Takuya, nothing is ever wasted.

[Telephoto Profile Shot Framed With Central Frontally & Bokeh Isolation]
Along with that, Teichi opts to use more subjectivist film grammar, often biasing his shots, and utilizing narration from Shiki, as this film is pretty much a vignette in the stage of her recovery. What I like about his style is his use of tracking and dolly shots, as they often can feel spellbinding and mythical, though he’s certainly less mature and less adept of a director than his peers, as his dictation regarding the different choices of lenses, staging and framing is clearly not as well defined as others. For example, in terms of lensing, he only really utilizes the standard and telephoto lens and that’s about it. In that, his sense of framing is more central, and show’s quite a bit less variation in the distances and verticality he uses to shoot from as medium shots almost always take precedent. however while I do acknowledge the use of rule of third compositions and camera tilts, overall the film just feels quite monophonic and stale, as there's definitely an acute lack of variation.

Frontal Profile Shot W/Rule of Thirds Applied

Due to this, he’s not as creatively inspired to utilize elements within different planes of motion except for the very immediate foreground for the most part, which make his use of the telephoto lens somewhat gimmicky and obsolete, since nothing creatively inspired happens in the various planes of motion he's trying to shoot. It just seems null to transition focus to background elements when nothing is really happening there, asides from focus transitions between two subjects prsey. It's odd because Teichi does go out of his way quite a bit in attempt to make this film quite a bit more psychedelic regarding Shiki's dream sequences and is quite a bit more openly metaphorical when it comes to this. However it feels forced and out of place, since the rest of the film is shot so dry and basically, in that Teiichi lacks any real sense of creative dictation . He does however splice in rule of thirds compositions & the golden ratio for two shot subject situations for the standard shot and reverse shot patterns, in addition to 180 degree rule cutting patterns, often resulting in something similar to triangular circle of action.

The fourth film, while important for it’s addition to the story, was a standard job regarding the editing, cinematography and film grammar, as he’s far less subtle and creatively brilliant in applying visual counterpoint to the story, as his compositions seem so binary relatively speaking. Even despite the animation and art department investing heavily into the pictorial aspects of the film, it just wasn’t utilized as best as it could be, as his style is so noticeably deliberate and seemingly breaks transference, at times really not allowing me to suspend disbelief. As I found Takuya’s work on the second film absolutely spellbinding and distinctive in his complexly layered film grammar, sequential editing and compositions, whilst never breaking the illusion. Which of course is a different story this time around


Art Direction |

The fourth film pictorially however, is a beautiful film as despite it being set mainly in & around the hospital Shiki's is in, Emi chiba's colour design here really harkens back to what we saw in the second film, in that we see a return of rain soaked backgrounds, the greyness of the cloudy skies, & the low intensity hues of the complimentary & tertiary colour compositions. In that it plays into the softer but at the same time bittersweet tone of the film, as the film has a relatively dry tone, as does Emi Chiba's work regarding her compositions of colour. In that, most of the film is pretty gloomily lit, so the film often time's has a more stark look, fitting of the films more nihilistic themes. As the entire film pretty much is overridden with nihilism, & as a result her work on this film also spells the same, unlike the 3rd film which was quite open & had a more saturated & contrasting dynamic between colour compositions as the film progressed, beginning middle to end. Whereas this film is relatively simplistic and monophonic until the film reaches it's climax and the resolution there afterwords.


Though perhaps lacking in a bit of variety colour wise, I feel overall composition is fitting of the film's solemn tone, as the lighting achieved & environmental detail achieved by photography director Terao Yuichi is particularly on point & realistic, in that the film has a hardened feel as a byproduct. As he's always keenly aware of objects within the environment and the spatial orientation of the given light source, in that his lighting is always realistic. In addition to this, I also suspect the related set locations regarding the hospital and street scenes were most likely illustrated with references, as the depictions of the architecture and scenery is really quite beautifully rendered and depicted, as both the spatiality and texture of the related objects and parts are so well done.


Sound Direction | 

For a film that's relatively gloomy & placid in the wake of Shiki's hospitalization, the fourth film is actually a relatively sound rich environment, not only because of Teichi Takaguchi's opting to use any opportunity he can get his hands on to add some music, but also largely because of the film's atmosphere. In that whether it's rain, the murmur of a crowd or a character acting shot (Which there are many), Yoshikazu Iwanami's direction here is on point. Again as he's so keenly aware of the spatiality of the source of sound and how he in manipulates the binaural effect that a two channel or higher audio set up can offer. As a persons voice will change orientation in the audio as they walk around from the perspective of the camera. Also being keenly aware of diegetic sound information and ambient noise, in addition to the acoustics of the given set. Often time's adding what they call "room" tone to sell the shot (Where they record and mic the room in relative silence to pick up any resonance or draft it might have).

It's really quite a personal film or a vignette as it's quite common for inner dialogue to be recorded over a series of montage shots, giving the film quite a bit more of a impressionistic and subjective quality to it. As the music in addition to this is frequently used to capture the tone of the scene or how the team overall wants to portray it, as completely silent shots or dialogue that exist in the isolation of diegetic principles is often quite rare. In that the film blends quite a bit of non diegetic sound information such as internal dialogue & music, to always give the film perspective from a singular point of view. As a result the story that's told is quite monophonic, and personalized specifically to Shiki, as there are few other corresponding parts or characters in this film, as it's only a film that spans just 45 minutes. In that, unlike perhaps the 3rd & 2nd films, the byproduct is a less dynamic and timely example of excellent sound direction, however recording and layering the environment of sound & acoustics was definitely great.


OST |

Within the first ten seconds of the film, we're greeted with a similar track to the one that opened the previous film "Remaining Sense of Pain", with the subtle resonance of low synth, Kalafina's chants. As the film moves on from the opening credits, the first scene we see is greeted with a guitar arraignment, in that the progressiveness of the track plays right into the scene's literal and emotional movement. As the bass continues to thump, later on a solo flute arrangement is introduced, then entering the tracks final stages it rings out. Shortly after however a bowed upright bass arrangement comes in, later on accompanied by Kalafina's chants, in addition to high pitched synth from a keyboard plays, capturing the wavering emotions of the scene, as well as the intimacy, definitely a very memorable track, as it pretty much becomes the main theme for this film's score.

While this film is filled with isolated and quirky instrumental sections, the other side of it of course is the films more abnormal and dissonant tones. Being that the use of dissonant resonance, guitars & 808 kicks portrays that very well. Since there are quite a few of Shiki's dream sequences depicted from the light novels, that are accompanied by stark colours and visuals, in addition to unnerving tracks such as M03-M05[Zenhan]. The next track over however M05 [Kouhan] spells out a deference in it's tone, as the piano arrangement is evenly paced & resonant regarding it's meter, offering a somber and disquiet tone when used in the scene of Kokuto & Touko finally meeting in person for the first time, as this is also just after Shiki's accident as she was hospitalized. However later on in the track it takes a bit of a bitter sweet tone, seemingly responding to the changes with the dialogue.

A little later on however, there's this pretty quirky arrangement with some sort of stringed instrument, and with various percussive elements used in the background. I like it a lot as it perfectly matches the quirkiness of the scene when it's used just as Touko makes her first visit to Shiki, and all the attention she draws, simply just by walking by. Another intimate track the next scene over "M08+M09" carries the mood with a disquiet feeling portrayed by a vibraphone arrangement, as the set is dark at night. Then of course it transitions from the peaceful loneliness of the night, to the terrors of the shadows, as the artificial and unnerving sound of synth from electronic keyboards really satiate the moment. The same same arrangement however is used again in a raining scene where the doctors tell Shiki & her family about how she's about to be discharged. It adds a disquiet and anxiousness to the scene, in that Shiki still feels empty and isn't prepared to go out into the world as of yet. Funny thing is, the track after that is arranged with the same instrumentation as the track M07 has before "M08+M09". In that it's a playful and calming track, cued when Touko offers consolation for Shiki's predicament.

& of course the film comes full circle, as it once again repeats the same arrangement as the first track as it builds towards the climax, and what do you know? what would a Kara No Kyoukai film be without the "Garden of Sinners" theme spliced in there as the film transitions into it's climax? A pretty interesting and surprisingly diverse selection of tracks even for a small score, for a small film.

The Garden of Sinners: Garan-No-Dou
[IV FIlm OST]

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)

Musicians :

Keyboard & Programming - Yuki Kajiura

Strings - Kiyo Kido Strings (Group)

Rie Akagi, Yuriko Kaida

Guitar -  Koichi Korenaga

Flute - Hideyo Takakuwa

Violin - Hitoshi Konno

Viola - Gentaro Sakaguchi

Cello - Ayano Kasahara

Page 4

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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