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...

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...

In the first episode of Death Parade a husband’s suspicion about his wife’s infidelity comes to light during a painful game of darts. For these types of scenarios the natural inclination for the audience is to ask the question, “Who do I believe?” However, this episode’s camera work actually leads the audience to an answer to that question by presenting one character as more believable than the other. Of course, this was done as misdirection. When the husband finally revealed his suspicion, he was shot with a high angle and low angles. In the visual language, the common use for high angle is to portray one as weak and inferior and the low angle to portray one as strong and superior. For this scene the high angle and low angles were used to give the audience an unleveled view of the character. The audience could easily associate these unleveled shots with emotionally instability. These shots magnify his suspicion and turn it to baseless paranoia. As a result, he’s po...