American Cinematographer - April 1986 - 69

In the 57 year

history of the Acad¬
Awards, there has been only
one previous occasion when a
cameraman from Japan has been
emy

nominated for

an

Oscar. That

was

in 1970, when Sinasku Humeda, Masamichi Satoh
and Osami Fuyara shared an Oscar
nomination with Charles Wheeler,
ASC, for Torn! Tora! Torn!
That, of course, was
more
of a melding of cinemagraphic efforts by Wheeler and
his Japanese counterparts than a
15 years ago,

collaboration. Wheeler told the vi¬
sual story from the American per¬

spective, while Humeda, Satoh
and Osami shared responsibility
for principal photography for the
sequences

which tell the Japanese

side of the raid on Pearl Harbor.
Ran is a different story.
Takao Saito, Masahura Ueda and
Asakuzu Nakai collaborated to

help audiences around-the-world
visualize an epic story about
feudal Japan directed by Akira
to

Kurosawa. The central character is

powerful but aging warlord who
decides to appoint the eldest of his

a

three sons to rule over the territo¬
ries which he has spent a lifetime

conquering.
The "great lord" orders
his other sons to serve as faithful

vassals, and proclaims that he will
retire with

his faithful, if sometimes
reluctant companion, present.

rected

In addition

to

establish¬

ing the basis for the story,
Kurosawa uses this opening se¬
quence to introduce the "look,"
which characterizes Ran. There is

extremely wide master shot re¬
vealing the scope of the plains,
framed by whitecapped mountains

an

far off in the distance. The images
are
a

crisp, clear and sharp providing

sense

illusion.

of

reality rather than

scenes

like this.

Left: A

once serene

kingdom falls into
chaos
is

as

the castle

destroyed.

ravage

so

Kurosawa, who has di¬

serves as

They all play prominent roles in
the unfolding story.

East are captured
magnificently in

tined to become adversaries. This
use of color provides threads of
visual continuity as they identify
banners and clothing associated
with the various armies which will
later roll through the plains and

the castles of the territory
painstakingly joined by the
great lord.

Pageantry

and color of the Far

Splashes of black, white, blue and
yellow characterize the costumes
of characters who are clearly des¬

personal bodyguard
trusted samuri. The an¬
nouncement is made on a rolling
plain with only the great lord, his
sons, several neighboring war¬
lords, and a court jester, who
a

of 30

Above:

Slate gray clouds roll
leaden sky, and swirls of
dust in the background give visual
hints of a gathering storm.

across a

more
than 30 films
(Rashomon, Seven Samuri, etc.)
during the past 40 years, has often
been quoted as saying "the essence
of cinema is showing people what
they want to see."

He uses the camera as an
unobtrusive observer. The pointof-view fs that of an impassive par¬

ticipant. Kurosawa, at age 75, has
the patience to wait for nature to
provide settings which he visual¬
izes in his mind's eye. His atten¬
the smallest details is

tion

to

in

willingness

a

time and

to

reshoot

seen

scenes

Kurosawa's film crew
extension of the direc¬
and the imagery that he is

serves as an

tor

painting with light and shadows.
Point-of-view is established by
precise composition and careful
placement of cameras, often at eye
level.

There is very
vious
cept

movement

in

a

of

little ob¬

cameras

few selected

ex¬

sequences

again until everything is

perfect.

April 1986

American

Cinematographer

67
American Cinematographer - April 1986

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