(Turn) The last long shot returns to the soul

Melba 2022-03-25 09:01:15

"Only one shot per scene" is an aesthetic principle upheld by Japanese film master Kenji Mizoguchi, which will be imitated by many directors in the future. Mizoguchi's uniqueness lies in the realistic expressiveness of his panoramic long-lens aesthetics, as well as the strong and perspective sense of space, which is reflected in the "Dead Wife" in his masterpiece "The Story of the Rainy Moon". It is vividly expressed in the classic long-shot paragraph of "Return to the Soul".



The ingeniousness of "Dead Wife Returns to the Soul" lies in the spatial change in one shot. Genjuro turned around in the dark room. His wife was already cooking in the main hall. The two embraced and burst into tears of joy. This plot is completed in a single shot, which means that the characters enter another time and space without a trace in the action, and the coherence of which requires the director's superb scheduling skills and transformation skills. In addition, the timing of this shot also needs to be properly grasped. In less than 20 seconds, a fire has been built where Genjuro was standing.



Mizoguchi Kenji completed this incredible operation by panning and pulling back the camera. The firewood in the hall needs to be ignited in advance, and the use of the time difference is very clever. If everything is arranged, a lot of operations can be completed within ten seconds. , so at the moment the camera pans back we see the woman kneeling in front of the fire. This long shot is only a minute long, and the techniques involved are complex enough to produce a surreal quality at the same time.



The operation without editing weakens the strange effect of "returning to the soul", thereby strengthening the emotional expression of "people". Kenji Mizoguchi abandons the close-up method and focuses on the panoramic operation, which is a good way to avoid excessive sensationalism. , and the constant pan and tilt shifts show the oriental charm.



↓Click to watch "The Story of the Rainy Moon" returning to the soul↓

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Ugetsu quotes

  • Ohama: Success always comes at a price, and we pay in suffering.