Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | A Full Anthology P.1

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

Overlooking View I | Cinematography

Dissolve Overlay - Paralism

The first film, like the second are the some of the best of the series has to offer in terms of the calibre of the directors chosen to lead both projects, and their range of layered and intuitive artistic expression in how they dictate exactly how a story is told.

The first film is akin to the second in terms of the more conservative film grammar, though they’re certainly are stark differences between the two films, being that while the second film is very strictly diegetic and objectively shot, the first film directed by Ei Aoki is more so a strong mix between the objective and the subjective illusive subconsciousness. In that the first film is arty and more openly metaphorical, as opposed to Takuya’s extremely subtle diegetic cues within his film.

[Wide Angle/Vignette Effect Applied] - [Omission Of Facial Details] 

Ei Aoki
[I Film Director]

Lensing this time around is more restricted to the telephoto and standard, though wide angle shots are occasionally used. However Ei Aoki uses them quite effectively, in that he depicts specific moments on when to isolate a given character with deep focus and bokeh, and when to utilize a wide angle for more subconsciously worldly and uneasy shots, often with a camera tilt as well. Due to having a fair amount of high action animation events, the range of movement also opens up, with sweeping zooms, dolly shots with perverse aerial tracking shots.

Rule of Thirds & Golden Ratio Applied

Though both are similar in terms of their more conservative framing sensibilities, where rule of thirds take precedent here, Though Ei Aoki somewhat favours golden ratio compositions with OTS shot and reverse shot patterns between two different subjects often commonly found such as Tokō and Shiki. He also included far more close up reaction shots, in a addition to profile shots as well, and while they both are “Show don’t tell” directors, Ei Aoki places quite a bit more importance on the personal point of view of the given character, so his film almost acts like Shiki’s Vignette, rather than the power of two characters in the second. Ei Aoki’s style also feels more omniscient and mythical with the introduction of more overhead crane shots, as I particularly like his use of overhead spiral shots for these really oblique moments  (Well the film is called overlooking view for a reason) in addition to handheld POV shots being far more common.
[Profile Shot W/Rule of Thirds Applied in Conjunction with Set Geometry] - [High Angle Tilt W/ Omission of Facials]
Ei Aoki also shoots his subjects from a variety of different distances depending on the given situation, and like Takuya, splices in a lot of objective establishing shots that just carry out for longer takes without any edit. He also does a great job of omitting facial details of a character to provoke intrigue and vagueness, which amplify the impulsive qualities of his characters acting, since we're now more narrowly focused on a character's body language and pattern of speech behaviour.

Also, his framing of his subjects such as Shiki are far more confrontational and as a result gripping, thanks to him opting to utilize very central and flat framings that clearly establish the boldness and vigour of his characters such as Shiki. It’s a pretty atmospheric film, that's grounded by some conservative sensibilities, being that Ei Aoki also plays a nice importance on the correlation between the immediate foreground and background with the use of blocking techniques and natural framings within a scene. In terms of camera movement, the use of steady panning and eerily slow zooms are also practiced here, in addition to dissolves also being spliced into the mix again with parallelism applied here for visual metaphors. I also like the use of zoom cuts as well, as I find there used brilliantly to emphasize shock within a reaction shot. 

Art Direction |

Nobutaka Ike
[Art Director]

While perhaps not as subtly genius as Takuya with his use of a very distinctive hard boiled style of lighting, Ei Aoki & colour designer for all films, Emi Chiba are just a bit more playful with the colour palette instead, something that’s less of the case in the second film, due Takuya being such a stickler for objective diegetic continuity. Like many of the Kara No Kyoukai films, Overlooking view is set in bustling suburban areas of Japan in Mifune city, and thanks to Art director Nobutaka Ike & backgrounds from Studio Easter, the film is definitely a very well composited & rendered film for it's time - Having a gorgeous amount texture & micro detail in it's meticulously lit environments, making the film have a great sense of depth and spatiality.

If anything Emi Chiba's work here is often analogous to lighting conditions of the time of day, and often dissonant and coarse when displaying the atrophy and decay of the city, as the backgrounds display the grit and weathered infrastructure of the city. The intensity & vibrance of the hues she uses are often dynamic, in both the dark hardboiled theme, and the occasional subliminal though grounded feel of her colour compositions.

This of course also being an effect of the directors of photography such as Seiji Matsuda & Yuichi Terao. However Emi Chiba also is daring in separating the ordinarily mundane and hardboiled theme's of the film, to the surreal & occult events within the film, as it changes just as the tone of the film does. Often daring to utilize medium and high intensity hues of olive green, turquoise blues & scarlet red, while having more mundane and peaceful moments analogous of the lighting and the time of day, or perhaps sunbathed moments of familiarity in orange analogous hues.

Sound Direction |

Like many of the Kara no Kyoukai films,  the first film has a particular silence about it, as the emphasis on diegetic continuity, particularly when characters are conversing is a strong point, this is thanks to sound director Yoshikazu Iwanami. In that, when  Yoshikazu does work with Yuki Kajiura to make request for a particular scene, it normally always has an effect, as his use of Kajiura's tracks also run counterpoint to the edit and dialogue within a scene's given moment - Giving the film an unpredictable and startling dynamic on such occasions, as his editing is always timely and keenly aware of other components within the films atmosphere. Though typical upbeat electronic BGM's for fight scenes is still a thing here, as this film is definitely a balance between the silence of diegetic continuity & occasionally accompanied by brief but important cues with Yuki Kajiura's compositions. As a bonus, the audio on the film is done with perspective in mind, in that Yoshikazu takes advantage of a stereo or surround set up, to depict the spatiality and orientation of the given character or elements within a scene, in addition to very well depicted acoustics and sound effects.


OST |


Kara No Kyoukai's signature & most iconic pieces of course within the series comes from the first film, and one of the first scenes as well - The first piece of music ever used simply titled M01 on the official soundtrack or "Garden of Sinners" on the compilation album, is a beautiful introductory and resolving piece to the Kara No Kyoukai series, & later on is often spun off dozens of times with different renditions of the original throughout the films. It's an elegant and simple track starting off with the likes of Yuki Kajiura's formation of Kalafina's vocalist with a singular lo-fi recorded vocal, later on introducing the chorus with accompaniment by broken chords of a harp performed by members of Kiyo Kido strings , bells in the background, and a gregorian monophonic chant with Kalafina's main and background singers. However the composition has polyphonic elements to it as well, thanks to being accompanied by the harp. Another notable & unnerving piece is the track M03+b, perfectly cued when Shiki is walking alone at at night, as Kalafina's vocals and Kiyo Kido's Strings builds into a eery but beautiful crescendo, till the violin arrangement sweeps in just as Shiki comes across a body, and a small puppies blood soaked footsteps.

Or perhaps in the next scene's after where Touko narrates into a monologue over a series of metaphorical shots with a unnamed girl about to commit suicide - As the piece M04 with a plucked stringed broken chord arrangement, slowly followed by an accompaniment by Rie Akagi's soft flute, running counterpoint to a zany plucked string arrangement, contrasting the two. Then later on introducing the bowed arrangement of an upright bass & Kalafina's usual choral music, as they waver into a dynamic crescendo.

Yuki Kajiura
[Music Composer]

The film displays just a beautiful example of transitioning from scene to scene and track to track, as even next scene where Tōko & Shiki continue to talk, there's an eery synth arrangement done on keyboards, that's slow, resonant and spacious, and is also one of those pieces where it includes the same arrangements as the track "Garden of Sinners" just on the Cello, as does the equally beautiful track M09, M17 & M18 - Hell even the BGM for the main fight scene track M12+13 breaks out into the exact same arrangement once again, suffice to say, while beautiful, repetition breeds familiarity, and as a byproduct, Bordom . A great set of arrangements otherwise made worse by the sheer amount of repetition, or rather spin off of the same 3-4 arrangements. None the less it was utilized and cued well, in addition to being well composed and performed by Yuki Kajiura & her team of musician's and vocalists here.

The Garden of Sinners: Thanatos
[I 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

Flute - Rie Akagi

Electric Guitar - Koichi Korenaga, Susumu Nishikawa

Keyboards - Yuki Kajiura

Page 1

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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