Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | A Full Anthology P.10

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

Future Gospel: Extra Chorus X | Cinematography

Framed With Set Geometry in Mind

It makes me kind of wonder why Extra Chorus and the main Mirai Fukuin film were not just spliced together to make a single film, since the main film was already a collection of two or three stories - Time Constraints maybe? I dunno.. I mean it’s somewhat of an odd film to gauge in that if you watch the the main film first, you'll be left with such an excellent ending and in that this small short feels somewhat out of place if you so happen to watch it as the last piece of the story. What’s even stranger is that at the time both of these films premiered together, so it adds even further confusion to the matter. It's a pretty funny short & sweet little special that the special contains 3 small follow up stories, divided into 3 segments of this 30 minute episode which was adapted of course from the the included manga shorts from the Mirai Fukuin light novel illustrated by Takeuchi Takashi. Who of course illustrated all of Kara No Kyoukai's previous cover art, being a Co Founder alongside Nasu Kinoko for the visual novel company that took the world by storm, TYPE MOON . Oddly enough, for the first time in Kara No Kyoukai, (If you discount the collaboration on the 7th film) a director has been able to reprise their role as a director, that being Ei Aoki, who's worked on the first film 8 years prior to 2013.

[Telephoto Profile Shots W/Bokeh Isolation] - [Rule Of Thirds Applied]
Here we see director Ei Aoki opt for a more frontal and central preference to his framings, as I find his style instantaneous and direct, as the length of his cuts are quite a bit shorter and more frequent at that, in addition to his focus on reaction & Pov shots. Though as you may have already seen Ei Aoki does use a circle of action here regarding his shot composition & coverage as well, so when confrontation/opposition does occur, we're able to see adjacent framings in addition to utilizing opposing space within the frame to maximize this effect, also allowing for rule of thirds compositions in addition to implementing the 180 degree rule. His framings in general are often medium short distances or long establishing shots, as there isn’t much usage in between, which in turn makes his zoom cuts to reaction shots far more pronounced and distinctive - As you should check out his use of zoom cuts particularly within the middle segment of the film, as I find they particularly emphasize the distinctive badassitude of Asagami Fujino’s bat shit crazy personality.

Framed With Adjacent Set Geometry in Mind

A small thing I noticed as well is how he’s also consciously aware of how & when to omit and reveal facial details and character reactions from the audience. Sometimes omitting such details to emphasize the ambiguity of a given character’s intentions, or perhaps wanting to isolate their body language to showcase the given character's impulsiveness within that moment - Such as when Asagami Fujino speaks ambiguously as she walks forward with a trailing shot and her face out of the frame, closing in on her confused prey who is obviously terrified and backing away as the motivated movement from the camera also speaks volumes of each characters intent. In terms of lensing though, due to the nature of this small project it mostly comprises of the standard & the telephoto, though I believe I saw a wide angle just for a single shot. In that the telephoto shot is somewhat of a staple by now for isolating characters within a profile shot.

[Framed With Adjacent Set Geometry in Mind W/ Keen Lighting] - [Wide Angle lens W/ Slight Omission of Facial Details]
In addition to this I don’t remember any clever transitions asides from the basic cut or occasional dissolve that was used in the film, and for the simple nature of this small project I don’t really mind - Although there was this one scene with a match cut transition that I kind of liked however, as the film kind of feels a bit new wave because jump cuts are also are a part of this short, giving the short a instantaneous and snappy feel. The situation regarding the movement of the camera & within the scene is similar, as there’s not much movement and variety for that matter when the short starts off, though to that respect the first story is placed in a relatively domestic setting that didn’t really need any movement, so my regards there.

Telephoto Profile Shot W/ Rule of Thirds Applied & Bokeh Isolation

A bit later on in the episode however , you’ll be able to find some basic camera movements however such as the zoom in for a detail shot, a zoom/dolly out for a resolving establishing shot or perhaps a tracking shot following a given character. Though I think it’s the middle segment of the film where things start to get spiced up with sudden bursts of Pov hand held tracking/trailing shots with pans as well, in addition to tracked reaction shots due to the range of motion regarding character emotes. Though at the end there’s this really sublime and resolving shot with camera movement such as the zoom out & a overhead dutch angle spiral shot closely following the slow flurry of the winter snow - Somewhat of a cliche shot, though beautiful nonetheless.

As a result in terms of sequential composition and the timing of cuts, it's organized with and cued in conjunction to the script and ongoing dialogue in mind, so a bit of implied montage happens here as well. As I find instead of movement gelling shots together, it’s the dialogue that particularly allows the films to go through it’s motions, being quite common for dialogue to occur first before the cut happens, since the short is relatively static in the way it’s shot - a good sign of textbook sound design at work here. In addition to this a few gags are actually snuck in by the way of good timely sequential editing composition, in that they're somewhat drier than what most people will come to expect, as I find Ei Aoki’s metaphorical sense of humour funny, though in a subtle way.

In all I found Extra Chorus to be a simple mix between subtle and distinctive film grammar, which was perfect for the short and sweet episodic nature of this short special, a nice job by Ei Aoki.


Art Direction |

Alongside the main film, Extra Chorus is definitely without a doubt a step up regarding it's visual department compared to the original series from the ground up, regarding both the animation & background composites. The film comprises of three parts, starting off with Shiki & Kokuto in Shiki's apartment once again, as it's a relatively laid back short story with an additionally relaxed and soft visual representation, regarding the broad lighting & the warm colour pallet. The beginning segment of the film stays this way, as it's almost entirely set in Shiki's apartment, asides from one scene at Touko's agency we've seen so many time's already, regarding the low lit cyan & turquoise blue vibe. And unlike the original 7 films, Extra Chorus is also rendered in true fidelity as the fine gradients & pigments of colour are especially well done here, in also depicting the spatiality and depth of the corresponding lighting of the scene.  A pretty warm & fuzzy start to begin with, though moving on to the second segment brings far more contrast & vibrance, with the first scene housing a split complimentary colour scheme in addition to a neutralizing grey of the pale and abandoned building.

In addition to the more striking presentation of colour, here Ufotable & other outsourced animation companies such as Studio Easter, Studio 4°C & Big Owl showcase both meticulous fine outlining skills in addition to an adept depiction of the colour and lighting of the scene. As I find the rendering of pigmentation and gradients do the film justice this time around, with very fine micro detail and textures regarding the surrounding environments. In that with Yuichi Terao's direction on photography, the lighting and environmental details of the shot this time are quite clear cut and defined - Displaying the dynamic range & visual flair a scene can depict. The second segment later transitions to the dark navy blue of the night & the blue glow of the skyline, housing the starkest of lighting and contrast the films has to offer, as it's also the most intense & thrilling part of this short film as well.


In that Miyazuki's red hair deeply contrasts the blue monochrome lighting of the night, as Asagami Fujino is far more fitting and analogous to the scene, thanks to her violet hair and soft, but ambiguous personality - However thanks to the scarlet red glow to her special eyes, goes on to show how terrifying she can really be, which embodies the thrill and dissonant terror of the scene. Later on however, resolving into the morning blue as the two come to and understanding, figuratively & literally making there way out of the night, and dispelling the darkness with the morning sun.

The last segment is set at new years eve in the middle of the night, as Shiki & Kokuto make their new years visit to a shrine. And while the rest of the segment is set in the navy blue of the night, mixed with the natural lighting of traditional candle lit lanterns, it's a resolving and peaceful blue, in that the only colour scheme depicted other than the blue monochrome is the complimentary relationship between the deep blue's of the night and the natural orange lighting from traditional candle lit lanterns. As the final shot is a frosty light blue vignette freezing the moment of time, making one last resolving moment to close off the series for good.


Sound Direction & OST |

Once again, even though this is a relatively short film the quality of the recording & sound direction of Yoshikazu Iwanami's department was meticulously fleshed out. In addition to the greatly reproduced contextual sound information that was recorded from scene to scene with particular care to room acoustics, this is also layered upon ambient and environmental noise. As the film's sound adds a keen sense of atmosphere and spatiality to the shot in front of us that's quite rare in an anime. As this film along with many other Kara No Kyoukai films are a clear example of having recorded speech dialogue in appropriately matching acoustic environments relative to what's in the scene. In that this film was clearly not just recorded in a damped isolation chamber and just being microphone in & microphone out, but also having the particular acoustics and spatiality regarding the voice's resonance to match the actual surrounding environment relative to what's depicted on screen, as this also goes with the various contextual sound information recorded onto the film as well.

I also particularly like how purposeful sound information was cued relative to the ongoing scene, particularly liking the steaming kettle gag with Shiki getting angry & how sound information is often used to cue the next cut. As the recording from scene to scene is always purposeful and keen on making the film more immersive to help suspend our disbelief. An issue however with the sound design here I found is that unless you're listening quite loud, it's really quite difficult to hear the "room tone" & ambience so to speak that is indeed recorded here. However it's so quiet relative to primary sound components such as the dialogue, contextual information within a scene and possible the score of the film that it turns out to be barely audible. In that you'd have to listen at relatively unsafe volume levels (85+ decibels) and higher to actually hear the full experience. I understand however that dynamic range is an important aspect to the sound experience, though it really isn't worth enough to be at the cost of audibility & hearing safety, which is absolutely essential and far more important than the dynamic range of the given recording. As I'm willing to bet on the fact that most people really don't care about dynamic range most of the time.


The first segment within the film is strictly recorded with only diegetic sound information, as it makes the film seem neutral and objective on first viewing. In that the apartment scenes have a particular dryness to them like the previous Kara No Kyoukai films, which gives the film a more grounded sense of reality, and a more raw and satiable impulsiveness to a scene, as contextual sound information and dialogue can exist in isolation, and as a byproduct become more pronounced. However as we move on to the second story, the text is far more subjective as is the film grammar, so un-diegetic aspects such as narration & the film's score take the film in quite a different direction. In that the story serves as pretty much as the newly introduced character Miyazuki's vignette where Asagami Fujino makes a cameo once again, so this change of direction was particularly fitting of the short story's subject matter.

The first track used in the film is in the second segment of the film that cue's the keyboard track M34, that sounds quite melancholic, being cued in conjunction with montage & Miyazuki's deferential narration. In that it really is quite beautiful track that's right up my alley and I find it has amazing synergy with the blue gritty midnight visuals, as the resonant tone of the score perfectly matches alongside the indifferent tone that Miyazuki takes up. Though the next track M36 is where the boogyman comes out to play, as in this moment, Asagami Fujino begins to play with Miyazuki, and the track M37 which was derived from the third films opening theme (M01) is perfectly fitting as Fujino's badass theme song. In that the track while wholly similar is changed a bit to match the timing of events within the scene, as it perfectly, and I mean perfectly captures the sense of urgency and visual momentum the scene depicts as it's such an awesome moment within Kara No Kyouaki in general, being just fantastic work here from Yuki Kajiura here in depicting this scene.


To close off the last segment, comes an excellent instrumental composition with the piano as the center piece, that's dream like and nostalgic, optimistic in it's beauty. And just as the break of dawn occurs the cello come's in to accompany the moment, soon breaking out into a full crescendo and stringed ensemble with violins and viola's as Miyazuki starts balling her eyes out as well. Definitely a very timely cued arrangement, relative to the actual film. After that sappy moment comes the final short story when Shiki & Kokuto make their new years shrine visit, as Iwanami & Ei Aoki keep it humorous utilizing metaphorical gags and clever editing to play around with the dynamics of the cut. Such as how the sound of a honking train displays Azaka's abrupt anger and how she's clearly screaming into the phone, but the sound of the train is blocking her out forcibly omitting what she's saying, resembling how her mood is just as busy as the scene is noisy, or perhaps the flickering streetlight to display Shiki's embarrassment in that awkward but sweet moment.

The next few scene's are accompanied by a montage of shots of their shrine visit while a piano arrangement M38 runs in the background, and as the film draws to a close, the story finishes just as it started transitioning into the classic Garden of Sinners theme with Kalafina's signature spellbinding chant, only now with the comfort of a stringed ensemble taking care of the arrangements accompanying harmony when chorus hits, capturing the full promise and timeless moment within the music. A truly heartwarming way to finally (this time for real) end the story for good.

Note: Same score as primary film

Page 10

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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