MovieChat Forums > Yume (1990) Discussion > Cinematography

Cinematography

posted 19 years ago by chicopaparazzi
8 replies | jump to latest

I would just like to comment on the cinematography of these shorts.

This is the first Kurosawa film i have seen. I found the films to be very good. My favorite was The Peach Orchard and Sunshine Through The Rain. However, i have a serious issue with the cinematography with these two. The cinematography was horrible (. There was a stutter/jolt with every single pan and tilt.

In Sunshine Through The Rain, this was during the Foxes procession, the camera jolted and it seemed the cameraman didn't anticipate the movement of the characters, and moved the camera unnecessarily.

In The Peach Orchard when the camera is panning the Spirits of the Trees and Dance of the dolls there is a lot of camera jolting, and distracting camera movement when the cameraman was apparently trying to hold a steady shot. I think the Director of Photography forgot his good tripod that day.

The shots were composed great, but the camera movement was "Thumbs Down"

[–] random-eclipse 19 years ago

You are an idiot. Now I don't know if you'll ever read this again, but I just feel that I gave to point that out. Kurosawa is one of, if not the greatest director ever. Do you think that the camera shake was not intentional? If you do, like I said, you are an idiot. This is a dream sequence, as is the whole movie. The camera does nothing that is not intentional. The effect is jumpy, dream-like, and in my opinion, very effective. You are an idiot.

[–] chicopaparazzi 19 years ago

Very nice prose. I doubt the camera movement was deliberate being that it happened at a few spots and only in a couple of these shorts. It appeared as if the camera was being operated by the young Kurosawa of the film. And in case you weren't reading my original post and had your hand up your butt, i wasn't putting Kurosawa down, i was pointing out bad moves by the camera, and just because he's a filmmaker and he's well known for good films, doesn't mean there wont be cinematography mistakes. The camera moves were definately not "dreamy".

[–] LittleMiso 19 years ago

I got the DVD of this as a gift, and watched the first 30 minutes. (it was really late and I was far too tired to watch the rest) I thought the shakiness of the camera was a fault of the transfer (as I've been seeing a lot of DVDs lately that have frame-jitter problems), but the rest of the film was just fine.

Aside from the frame jitter, though, this has to be some of the best cinematography I've ever seen. (Kurosawa NEVER fails to disappoint in that field; with those visuals, you can definitely tell that he storyboards his films with paintings)

"The central message in Buddhism is NOT 'every man for himself'."

[–] sirmildredpierce 18 years ago

"You are an idiot"

Why do you have to be such an *beep* He was bringing up a good point. I noticed the same problems with the second short that he pointed out. I'm pretty sure the shakyness of the camera was NOT deliberate. Perhaps it was deliberate, but most likely it was not. You are without a doubt an idiot for *assuming* that it was not deliberate, and for cruxifying anyone who questions otherwise.

Yes, Kurosawa is an excellent director, but that does not mean that he does not make mistakes, and that also does not mean that everyone on his crew, i.e. the camera man, is going to do his job perfectly.

The shots in questions are composed using an extreme zoom lens mounted on a tripod and were composed out-of-doors, probablly in a bit of wind, with those two combinations you inevitably might get a bit of shake. The zoom lens exagerates any shake that would be in any other shot. I thought the camera work in those shots was pretty shotty too. And not just the zoom shots. Some other shots, such as in the house before then could have been done better. I guess I'm just an idiot for questionging the choices of the greatest director ever.

[–] Tetra123 19 years ago

Perhaps the camera movement was meant to evoke the feeling of a dream? It seems to give the shorts an otherwordly feel, almost dreamlike.

Yes, it can be a little frustrating to watch. Although, it almost seem's Kurosawa's intention, almost a way of visually expressing:
"Relax, give into the expeience...as if you are fighting closing eyes before drifting off into dreamland."

[–] O_L_D_B_O_Y 18 years ago

"Kurosawa NEVER fails to disappoint"

Uh...fails to DISAPPOINT?

I think you mean something else. :P

[–] whiplashpash 18 years ago

I'm no expert but the camera was zoomed in, and panning with a zoomed in camera guarantees the picture to be shaky. I don't think its intentionally used to promote the idea of a dream like state, simply Kurosawa felt it was the best way to convey the majesty in the scenes such as peach orchard.

[–] Golem36 7 years ago

It was the transfer on whatever format you watched the film on. I just watched Criterion's Blu-ray and there's not a stutter/jolt at all. The transfer on Criterion's Blu-ray is reference quality.