The highlight of this episode was the beautifully shot, animated and edited dance scene. Before the breakdown, let us again watch that exquisite scene:
This shot manipulates scale in order to place two elements in different planes side by side. The juxtaposition of Amira’s curious expression with the stage-like framing of the dancers really communicates her playful sense of wonder towards these new experiences
This a POV shot from Amira’s perspective. The use of follow pan on Favaro produces a dynamic and exciting movement that reflects how Amira feels as she learns about dancing. The panning shot also gives the audience a view of the festive atmosphere, as they get to see the jubilant crowd in the background.
The dancing scene begins with a full shot. It acts as an establishing shot to present the stage for the performance. The next shot is primarily consisted of a medium close-up of Amira, this tells the audience that she’s the main focus of the scene.
What made this scene so seamless and rhythmic were the really well timed match on action cuts. The two shots above exemplify this. In the first shot we get a quick glimpse of Favaro holding Amira’s hand. It then cuts to a different view, but we still see Favaro holding her hand as he completes a swinging motion. The matching motions between cuts maintain continuity despite the changing camera locations.
The shots above are another example of match on action cuts. The first shot shows Amira losing control of her body. It then cuts to a low angle shot of Favaro grabbing her and then proceeds to swing her around. This whole dance scene is constituted of exceptionally timed match on action cuts.
I like how the sequence above emphasizes Amira as the main attraction of the scene. First Favaro gets pushed off frame and then Amira’s gets pushed to the center. It basically turns to a centered shot of Amira without cutting or moving the camera.
There’s repeated switches to low angle shots during this dance scene. The low angle gives the characters a larger than life presence and also brings the audience closer to the enthusiasm of the scene.
The overall visual presentation of the Shingeki no Bahamut premiere was superb. The most impressive part was the horseback chase scene. It had that cinematic feel to it, not just in terms of dynamic camera work but rhythmic and purposeful shot making.
Right from the very beginning, the scene puts the action on top of the audience with a low angle tilt shot and a low level follow shot. The camera being close to the ground produces a sense of speed, which is important to a chase scene. The close view of the galloping horses and the dirt being kicked up also enhanced the excitement of the scene.
The scene then cuts to an aerial overhead shot that pulls back to an extreme wide to show the scale of the chase and the scenery. The characters are then introduced through lateral tracking shots. The insert shot of the horse reiterates the sense of speed. A second overhead shot from a different angle gives us a view of the city, which establishes the setting. Establishing the setting creates continuity with the shot of them jumping on top of city roofs.
As you might have noticed, each shot served a purpose of either establishing the mood or setting through visual storytelling. These shots also weren’t overextended, there’s a great sense of rhythm and continuity to these cuts. All of these elements combined made for a cinematic scene.
I didn’t really expect this show to offer much in a way of interesting cinematography but this episode pleasantly surprised me with some meaningful shot making.
As the first episode suggested, Shione has a long held resentment towards Nonoka. Shione is cold to her and even going as far as ignoring her altogether. The shot above reinforces these emotions by creating distance and space between the two. Framing the characters at each side of the frame creates distance. The depth produced by the perspective lines of the desks combined with the exaggerated negative space produced by the low-angle emulates Shione’s feeling of emptiness towards Nonoka.
This scene engages in imagery. Although it’s a bit too obvious, I thought it was an effective callback to the character’s past. The close-up of the sculpture reflects the period when Noel patiently and longingly waited for Nonoka. It even resembles this shot from the last episode. The scene then cuts to a full shot of the sculpture and a waiting Noel to complete the parallel.
This was an 18 second scene with only those two shots. Since the two shots are similar, it felt like an 18 sec. extended take. This was designed to let the audience absorb the past and the nature of the character.
In the clip above, the combination of lateral tracking and shallow focus is used to change the main subject of interest of the scene. Even though Yuzuki dominates the dialogue, the camera tracks away from her, centers Nonoka and puts her in focus. This is to show Nonoka trying to get to know and understand Yuzuki. The camera then tracks back and focuses on Yuzuki to visually emphasize her conviction.
The above are a sequence of shots from one scene. I’m not sure if the last one breaks the 180 degree rule since Noel’s sight line direction didn’t change but the switch of her screen orientation from right side to left side broke continuity. It’s also unbalanced framing. The lack of noseroom/looking room gave Noel’s sight line very little distance to travel, therefore missing visual weight.
Ah, finally the Hollywood adaptation of infamous anime 2 ep OVA with hentai element , "Kite" is up. The development of adaptation is been a long, long time, I heard about live action adaption for 1st time in 2006, I think. The director of the anime OVA is Yasomi Umetsu, the dude who gave us Mezzo Forte and Wizard Barrister Cecil.
Let's see how good this is but I would expect the explicit underaged sex scene to be snipped off.
Angel’s Egg is a movie rich in surreal symbolism. As a whole the film is abstract and difficult to decipher but many scenes or shots on their own are eloquently lucid. It’s the vivid composition and meticulous camera work that constructed such visually engrossing and cohesive scenes.
The huge antenna structure functions as a strong leading line that visually guides the viewers’ eyes to the sky. With the viewers focused on the sky, the scene cuts to a shot of it with the camera tilting up to slowly reveal the main subject of interest, which is the descending orb. The third image compositionally puts everything together. The antenna continues to function as a leading line as it points to the orb. It also provides linear perspective, which creates depth. The man’s presence along with the orb establishes the important connection between the two. The last image also uses compositional triangle to not only provide balance but to connect all the subjects. This is a well thought out scene that visually presents the importance of the orb and its connection with the man.
The first image was the first shot of the girl. It has a monochromatic chiaroscuro look but what makes it striking is the use of bloom. The chiaroscuro exaggerates the bloom which makes the girl look ethereal and angelic. It was important that this imagery was established early on since the movie strongly presents a divine relationship between the girl and the egg.
The second shot uses the arc as a framing element. Arcs are a reoccurring shape in this movie. More importantly, the warm colors in the last two shots are consistent with the previously talked about scene. This was to provide a stark contrast that would exaggerate the gloomy mood exuded by the muted blue hue that dominated the rest of the movie.
The slow camera pull and tracking movements behind the windows create a haunting observer’s point of view. This view immerses the audience into the eerily abandoned town and produces a strong sense of desolation. In addition, the girl being repeatedly framed within the windows visually communicates her isolation. The scene ties everything together by ending with an overhead reverse establishing shot that shows all the windows and the girl standing all alone.
The first shot uses forced perspective to magnify the size of the egg relative to the girl. This further stresses out the importance of the egg to the girl. This juxtaposition also can be interpreted as showing the egg to be the defining purpose of the girl’s life.
The second image is a full shot of the man, the girl and the egg. The prior shots were consisted of mid-longs, mid-shots and a close up in order to build drama and engage the viewers. This full shot provides context to the dramatic shots by framing all the important elements together. In essence it’s the cohesion of the previous shots. This shot was also held for 16 seconds, the extended take lets the audience recognize and then absorb the significance of the moment. It let us observe the curiosity of the man, the distrust of the girl and their apprehensive interaction.
It’s subtle but that full shot made great use of leading lines to add more focus. Even though, the audience’s eyes are naturally drawn to the subjects on the screen, the use of compositional tools like leading lines can make a big difference in augmenting the significance of the shot.
This scene uses the curves of the fence shadows to create a relaxing mood that reflects the girl’s softening feelings towards the man. In this scene she has come to accept his company. The sped up passing shadows also add a dreamlike feeling, as if to suggest all of this is happening in the girl’s head. When, it cuts to an overhead shot the scene slows down and reverts back to reality.
This wide shot was held for about two minutes. The audience again plays the role of the observer. The long take creates anticipation on what the man will do. As the fire light flickers and the place dims, we wonder if he will accept her trust and companionship or break the egg.Unfortunately for the girl it was the latter.
This is the shot of the girl after she found her egg in pieces. The cracks used as converging leading lines combined with the spot light strongly emotes the girl’s anguish and despair. Also, the spotlight combined with the overhead look resembles a stage play presentation that makes it more engrossing.
Dengeki Daioh announced anime adaptation of Heavy Object, a series that I already expected to given anime treatment since 2011. Written by same dude who did Magical Index, so expect typical anime hijinks - mecha, cute girls and clueless hero.
Synopsis: "The science-fiction war action story revolves around Objects, powerful, massive weapons that change the course of warfare and Elite Object pilots. An odd Elite girl named Milinda meets Quenser, a student who aims to become a Object mechanic, with the soldier-in-training Heivia on a snowy battlefield"
Fate/Stay Night reboot of UBW by ufotable is stunning. Fuck yeah, this is what TYPEMOON fans like me has been dreaming for long, long time. It really feels what I felt when I play the fateful visual novel back in 2005.
Now Servants are really epic heroes instead of that crap years ago. The scene of first clash between Archer and Lancer is so well done indeed that I actually hooted in excitement because it is how the visual novel describe it. They shows how fast Lancer is and how enigmatic Archer's skill can be.
Art is bountiful, same level as Fate Zero. Voice acting is the same as the old series and music is not bad so far.
Episode 00 is prologue where readers play as Rin.
(Geeking happily) ^^ YOSHA!
If they keep up this kinda of quality, this will be a worthy contender for Anime of the Year.
