Anime Cinematography Blog

During the part where Chiyuki was watching her mother from outside the house, the glass panel was used as a visual motif separating Chiyuki and her mother. This could be interpreted as an imagery of the lack of understanding and the disconnect between mother and daughter. It also can be seen as a symbolic barrier between the living and the dead. The interesting thing about this sequence was the restrained use of the glass panel as a visual motif. In the beginning of this sequence, Chiyuki, her mother and the glass panel were not shot together. The feeling of separation between the two was mainly expressed through eyeline matches of Chiyuki watching her mother from behind the glass panel. The four pairs of images above are shots of these eyeline matches paired together. In the first three pairs of shots you might notice a shot size progression of Chiyuki. These shots progresses from a medium shot, close-up, and finally to an extreme close-up. This pro...

This short movie conveys the nostalgic sentiments for old-fashion style and technology in a time of rapid progression. The vivid visual presentation has a comforting atmosphere that can be likened to visiting an old grandparents’ house. Watch the short below: The most impressive thing about this short is the finely detailed and wonderful background art that helped create a nostalgic mood. The excellent background work is brought to life by the immersive use of camera movement. The short movie aimed to immerse the audience both with the use of subjective (participant’s viewpoint) and objective (observer’s viewpoint) shots. Subjective shots were used to give the audience a first person point of view of the subject’s action. These shots created an illusion of trading places with the subject. Swiping the tablet to turn a page and going down the stairs to pick up a newspaper were seen through the subject’s eyes. Seeing these contrasting actions from a subjective view p...

The ice skating scene was absolutely fantastic and beautiful. I also liked the subtle sentimental moment between Decim and Chiyuki right before the performance. No words were said; it just used the piano in the background to connect the two characters. It started with a wide shot of Chiyuki with the piano in the background. This established the piano’s placement in the scene, in relation with the ice rink and the character. The shallow focus close-up shot of Chiyuki put a bit more emphasis on the piano. Its importance was still unclear due to being out of focus but this shot served more as a build-up. The gif showing the eyeline match between Decim and the piano is what established the piano’s significance. The camera zoomed out to finally put the piano in focus and then cut to the dummy playing. The sequence shown in the gif was important in connecting Decim and Chiyuki. The piano music was a sincere gesture of Decim’s desire to understand Chiyuki’s emotions and...

This was quite an emotionally heavy episode. The moments that emotionally stood out were the Kousei-Hiroko and the rooftop scenes but what really caught my attention was the hospital room scene between Kousei and Kaori. This scene effectively used framing and other compositional elements to create a distant mood that then shifts to one that’s more intimate. The scene starts off with an awkward and detached mood. Kousei avoids conversation and eye contact to distance himself from the pain of seeing the deteriorating health of Kaori. The two “two shots” above reflect this feeling of detachment. The three-quarter angle shot (first image) and the wide shot created distance between the two characters that conveyed a feeling of disconnect. This feeling of disconnect was further reinforced with the use surface division and dividing lines that visually separated the characters. The three-quarter shot staged Kousei against a white surface while Kaori was against a brown one. The wide...