{"id":47484,"date":"2017-04-19T04:29:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T11:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=47484"},"modified":"2017-04-19T04:29:04","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T11:29:04","slug":"part-i-akira-compositioncinematographycolor-combinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/19\/part-i-akira-compositioncinematographycolor-combinations\/","title":{"rendered":"PART I: AKIRA COMPOSITION\/CINEMATOGRAPHY\/COLOR COMBINATIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AKIRA<\/p>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

I just watched AKIRA (1988 Japanese Anime) and my mind is blown.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What is AKIRA?<\/h2>\n

First of all, AKIRA is probably one of the most epic animes ever made. To me, it is a commentary about society. The tension between scientific progress, the morality of scientific testing, the tension between politics, capitalism, and government.<\/p>\n

But I also see it as an empowering film.<\/p>\n

The way I understand this movie is this:<\/p>\n

AKIRA is a concept. AKIRA is the concept that we all have an inner-power. That power is infinite. That is the birthplace of the universe. Just pure power, and pure light.<\/p>\n

We are all born with \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAkira\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 within us. The secret is to unlock our inner-power.<\/p>\n

Movie<\/h2>\n

The movie was made in 1988 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it blows my mind how modern the film seems.<\/p>\n

I also feel that it is more entertaining to watch an older anime, than an old \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclive action\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 film. I noticed that anime films age a lot better than traditional film. Because anime is not dependent on fancy cameras, high-resolution, sharpness, or even high-tech computers.<\/p>\n

Even in AKIRA, you see all the computers and USER-INTERFACE GUIs as just nice abstractions, and colors. They look pleasing to my eyes. Rather than watching an old film, with everyone using old-school PC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/h2>\n

My ambition for this article is to break down some cinematography we can apply to our photography (or video\/film). And also to discuss some of the moralistic\/ethical messages of the film.<\/p>\n

1. The city as a blood vessel<\/h2>\n

You start off the movie with 1988 Tokyo:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then you see a birds-eye view of the city, and it looks like a blood vessel:<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"To me the symbolism is this: human cities are like cells, blood vessels, in the human body.<\/p>\n

Funny enough\u00e2\u20ac\u201d this \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNeo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (new) Tokyo is 2019 (writing this in 2017, it will be there in 2 years):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lesson: Starting off a film or photo project. You need to set the scene. They call this the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcestablishing shot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you establish what the movie or project\/or film is going to be about.<\/p>\n

2. Innovative light<\/h2>\n

The innovation of AKIRA is the use of light in the movie.<\/p>\n

Note that the entire movie is drawn with paint. They actually have to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdraw\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 light \u00e2\u20ac\u201d by creating contast, and using different colors, hues, and intensities.<\/p>\n

See some of these scenes\u00e2\u20ac\u201d note the different colors in the highlights versus shadows.<\/p>\n

The light source is behind the subjects\u00e2\u20ac\u201d so see the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcrim lighting\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in these shots:<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The nice thing about studying lighting in anime or animated film is that you can better understand the emotion of light.<\/p>\n

This amber-orange light against the dark black of the photos, evokes a surrealistic, neo-futuristic \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccyberpunk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 feel.<\/p>\n

If we blur this one photo (\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcGaussian Blur\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in Photoshop), you can feel the mood and emotion of the scene, and better see the colors:<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"With some colors highlighted. I just made some color cubes in Photoshop: \"\"Easier to see here. See the profile of the general, and the halo around him: \"\"<\/p>\n

With Gaussian blur to better see the color tones:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I use the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcEyedropper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tool in Photoshop to choose certain areas, and here it is abstracted:<\/p>\n

\"\"The next step: fully abstract: \"\"So study the image. Note the super-bright neon orange on the far right of the frame\u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is the light source. That causes the brown face of the man to be an amber-copper color.<\/p>\n

Easier to see if I just make the entire background black:<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"Can you see the light now?<\/p>\n

3. Phenomenal color-combinations<\/h2>\n

I love the palette and color combinations in this film. Look at this scene:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

First see the scene blurred:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

See the epic color combinations, composition, framing, and just this beauty here:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More to come, stay tuned for the next episode, wait for PART II.<\/p>\n

Or better yet, watch AKIRA and study it yourself.<\/p>\n

\n

STUDY CINEMA ><\/a><\/h2>\n

\"DR<\/p>\n

Until then, study more cinema below:<\/p>\n