Thursday, March 20, 2008

Kurosawa

The primary trait of Kurosawa's directing that I decided to observe and analyze was his use of sound and music. Kurosawa fancied using no-diagetic sound in order to achieve his emotional responses and mood differences by the sound. Ran is a very good example, in the first battle scene at the third castle, Kurosawa decides not to use the sounds of dying and clashing metal, instead he decides to utilize a softer, dramatic score in order to achieve a hazy like mood, a type of "dazed and confused", if you will.
Also in Stray Dog, he uses music in the black market scene. He articulates the repetitiveness of the scene and the emotions of the young detective by putting a light but rushing musical score in the backround of the scene in the black market.
This is also present in Yojimbo, a light dancy tune is played in the street scenes as almost a comical feel is achieved when the samurai is just kinda walking and doing his thing in order to take advantage of the two warring groups.

3 comments:

Jake D said...

I liked the way Kurosawa used music in his films. He wasn't set on one style. He often contrasted the action with the music he put in the background. He usually did this when ironic or crazy events were happening, like when Jiro stabbed his father in the back. Other times he had quieter music that blended into the action. Sometimes making you not even notice the music in the background.

Will P said...

The music was very good, especially in Yojimbo. Every time the weird circus-music came on, the whole scene seemed clever and funny no matter what actually happened. It was really good choice by Kurasawa to include it as often as he did.

Cole said...

Hi Ryan!