Late March, early April. "Hey, the Qingming Festival is here, let's go out for a walk." "Okay." Walking through the Qinglong Temple, all eyes are filled with cherry blossoms raining in the air. Suddenly thought, April, this is the season of Iwai Shunji.
The first time I saw "April Story" was in July last year, and I was fascinated by its fresh and unique atmosphere. Now that I watch it again, it happens to be the season in the movie, and I feel more and more pure and beautiful. At the same time, I sighed at the subtlety of Iwai Shunji's shooting techniques, so I intend to share a few things with you here. How exactly did Shunji Iwai create such a fresh atmosphere in "April Story"? 1. Time Flow The Old Tower once had such a wonderful expression in "Carving Time": "The most decisive element of a movie image is the rhythm, which is expressed as the flow of time in the picture. The flow of time itself is reflected in the behavior of the characters, In terms of styling and sound effects, these are just incidental components, and the absence of any one of them will not affect the existence of the movie. We can imagine a movie without actors, no music, no sets, or even montages, but it is impossible to imagine a movie. There will be no flow of time in the work." One of Iwai's secrets is to stretch the time so that the audience can feel the flow of time in the film. He will not cut into the theme directly, but chooses to write about the surrounding environment first, and then slowly import the event. Just like the train farewell to the beginning of the movie, instead of directly writing about Matsuko's college life, and an unrelated cherry blossom rain scene was arranged before the move, the purpose was to create a period of time long enough for the audience to gradually enter the movie. Preset atmosphere. It was not until the camera slowly penetrated into the moving house that Song Takako's face appeared for the first time. From the beginning to here, the film unfolds slowly like a picture scroll, quite neat, but without losing its charm. This is a calm gesture produced by extending the time.
Shunji Iwai's lengthening of time is also reflected in the clever setting of the plot. It rained near the end of the movie, and Song Takashi asked the male protagonist to borrow an umbrella, but Shunji Iwai did not let her simply borrow it and leave, but designed a plot of a broken umbrella. The male protagonist who is constantly changing umbrellas is slightly embarrassing, and the female protagonist who looks at the person he likes is secretly delighted. At this moment, it is not only the plot that is being stretched, but also the time. Shunji Iwai romantically cuts a slice of time, giving us a glimpse into our inner emotions.
There is a plot in the movie that confuses many people, why is there a six-minute black and white clip that has nothing to do with the movie? In fact, this is also a little trick played by Shunji Iwai in terms of time. He let the audience take the first point of view of Takashi Matsuko, to feel the flow of time in the film, as well as the confused and overwhelmed state of mind of the heroine. Movie time and real time overlap wonderfully at this moment, kind of breaking the fourth wall. Of course, this self-written and directed black-and-white film was also a willful act of Shunji Iwai, who wanted to show the audience his different talents. Most of the world's famous directors have one or two points of self-willedness, especially Japanese directors. Just like Kitano Takeshi's oil paintings in "Hanako", "Achilles and the Turtle", the last ten minutes of tap dancing in "Zatoichi", and Sonoko Wen's movie "Three Treasures: Abuse, Heavy Talk and Father Engagement." The list goes on and on.
2. Shot scheduling The atmosphere in "April Story" also benefits from its exquisite shot scheduling. Shunji Iwai uses subjective lenses in this film to amplify the image of Takashi Matsuko. At the same time, Matsuko is also placed in the center in most of the shots to strengthen the audience's attention to the character.
The purpose of using a large number of subjective shots is to create a sense of alienation between Matsuko and the surrounding things, closed in his inner world, and dull to the outside world. This kind of character is vividly displayed in the moving part at the beginning of the movie. The camera language of "April Story" is quite calm and steady, such as the running section near the end. In general, most of the filming and running will use shaking, following and other techniques, such as "Trainspotting" and "Rocky". However, Shunji Iwai used a centered fixed camera to shoot, and rarely did jump cuts of the camera, so that Matsu Takako ran from near to far, providing the audience with a perspective of scrutiny, guessing the behavior and inner emotions of the characters.
3. Color matching To appreciate Shunji Iwai, we must not ignore his use of color. The overall style of "April Story" is fresh and more life-like, so the color matching is mostly monochrome and solid color. In the first part of the movie, Matsu Takako is still in a state of confusion, so the overall tone of the movie is cooler and slightly chaotic, which fits the character's mood.
In the previous part of the film, there were almost no brighter and more impactful colors. The only time that bright red stayed for a long time was the rock band that Song Takako saw when he visited the school. The bright red clothes contrasted sharply with the cool-toned crowd around, coupled with the identity of a rock singer, the positive meaning contained in it can be said to be obvious.
In the movie, the front and back shots of Matsu Takako borrowing an umbrella from the male protagonist are also a contrast of cold and warm tones. Matsu Takako stood in the rain curtain, and when the camera turned, it was the bookstore with the male lead, which was extremely ingenious.
In addition, Song Ryuko's transition from passive to active in the film can also be seen from the color. Same scene with running, from grey umbrella to red umbrella.
In the last subjective shot of the movie, the bright red umbrella directly occupies most of the scene, so we can know from this that the chaos in the heroine's heart has finally been broken.
4. Deliberately downplaying Shunji Iwai In the movie, a lot of deliberate downplaying was also carried out. Use soft bright light to dilute the difference in tones, making it more chaotic and indistinguishable, catering to the confused state of the heroine.
In Matsuko's running, he only shoots the back, not from the front, which is also to dilute the impact of the act of running, making it symbolic, appearing more peaceful, and in line with the atmosphere of the film.
As for the small misunderstandings in the movie plot, they are also deliberately downplayed. It originally seemed to be the harassment of a wretched uncle, and the malicious intentions of strange strangers, but in the end, they were downplayed into a warm smile of warm help. And the most famous scene in the movie. Song Ryukko was reading in the fields, his hair scattered in the wind.
Iwai Shunji let this gust of wind blow away all the confusion and dilute the troubles in life. You don't have to think about school or boring clubs. The girl's pure thoughts are growing at this moment, and there is only such a pure and fresh beauty left in the world.
Time flow, shot scheduling, color matching, and deliberate lightening are the four main aspects that make up the fresh atmosphere of "April Story". Similarly, both structure and technique are presented in another form in Shunji Iwai's 20-minute short film "Summer Solstice Story". The contrast between the two can be described as interesting. The blue bird does not spread the letter from the cloud, and the lilac is empty and sorrowful in the rain. In April, Iwai Shunji is the best match for spring!
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