Akira Kurosawa - Composing Movement 

I always wonder why some films just "feel" better than others, but videos like these help with that understanding by putting into words all of such subtleties.

That switch from Kurosawa to the Avengers... brutal.

The irony I find with Kurosawa is how over the top the acting and drama is, but at the same time how human and truthful it feels.

Finally got around to watching SEVEN SAMURAI. The 3.5 hour running time intimidated me, but Kurosawa's visual flow and pacing was so masterful, it almost felt like a 90 minute movie!

"It's the visual stimulation that hits the audience; that's the reason for film. Otherwise, we should just turn the light out and call it radio." --- Very succinct

2:20 is so powerful. A furious commander trying to mobilize his army, his battle cry met with unmoving silence. I've never felt a slap in the face that hard.

What I love about Kurosawa movies gets highlighted so much with that Avengers comparison. One is created by an master artist with limited resources and unlimited creative vision, the other by a business with unlimited resources and a complete lack of creative vision.

"If you combine the right motion and the right emotion, you get something cinematic" is one of the most useful phrases about the art of filmmaking I've ever heard

This is a perfect demonstration of why modern movies can look so sleek, yet feel lifeless. Very little motivation behind compositional choices.

"He would often tell his actors to pick one gesture for their character and repeat it throughout the film. That way the audience can quickly see who's who and how they're feeling." That... that's genius.

5:31 It's kind of insane to me how well Kurosawa could match up the frame position of the flag between these two shots without the aid of any kind of visualization software or something, just doing it by eye.

I felt dread going into Seven Samurai. 3 hours and 38 minutes is a long time and I have slight issues with focus. But even from the first scene of the raiders walking by the village I was HOOKED. The movie aged incredibly well and should be on anyone's must watch list for the humor alone.

Akira Kurosawa is that kind of movie director who makes every frame of the movie meaningful and serve a purpose.

Kurosawa's films age so incredibly well. Glad you decided to do a video on him.

Kurosawa's films seem to have nothing wasted. He really managed to squeeze every second out of every scene.

The thing I've noticed watching Kurosawa's films recently is that, despite many being close to a century old or in black-and-white, they feel so intrinsically modern, as if made for any age. The picture may flicker, the sound might distort, but the filmmaking itself is timeless, which is a quality even some of the greatest classics don't possess.

Ah yes RU-vid recommending us this just after ghost of tsushima has done well.

As an adolescent, I would often stay up late into the early morning. This one time, a movie called Seven Samurai was being featured on a channel for classics. I thought "Samurai are badass, I should check it out!" I was immediately disappointed that it was an old timey black and white movie with bad sound quality. But nevertheless I continued watching since I was bored. Next thing I know, I'm completely invested in the plot, the characters, and the outcome. After it was over (and it was a VERY long movie), I was actually grateful that I'd seen what I would then refer to as "the best black and white movie ever". I went most of my life having never heard the name Akira Kurosawa, but knowing that it was he who was responsible for Seven Samurai, he has all my respect. Many movies are given the unofficial title of "masterpiece" and "classic", but Seven Samurai deserves those praises a lot more than most western movies that are often given said praises without really having done as much to earn them. TL;DR - Seven Samurai is a nostalgic must-see, and Akira Kurosawa is a motion picture genius!

Im really falling in love with movies from the 40s 50s and the 60s . There's an inherent peaceful beauty about how these films look , you never miss whats happening on the screen , no room for confusion , no waster shots , great blocking and staging .

I periodically come back to this video. Probably one of my favorites on RU-vid. Eye opening and beautiful, simple and elegant, important yet entertaining. Really a banger. I'm really sad this channel is dead.

Fun fact: the 'blood explosion' from the duel scene of Sanjuro was an accident. The mechanism for the blood sprayer malfunctioned and blasted at full force. You can even see the actor stumbling back from the force of it. They decided to keep it in because it looked cool (and it would be a pain to clean up all the fake blood).

Kurosawa made me study cinematrographic arts

Kurosawa's directing style is what I would describe as "art in simplicity." Notice how most of his shots are simple static shots, pans and high angle/low angle shots. Granted that he's working within the technical limitations of his time, but he was able to convey cinematic art through the movement of characters and nature (esp. rain and wind). This means that even audiences who don't know Japanese can tell what's happening in a particular scene like in Seven Samurai or The Bad Sleep Well.

Ghost of tshushima really took and implemented Kurosaea's filmmaking extremely well. The entire game shows this by the wind markers the birds etc and even has a Kurosawa mode!

5:30 that flag and cut to the next scene. Amazing

Kurosawa trumps 99% of contemporary directors for precisely one reason; "SHOW, don't tell".

Kurosawa “fills” the screen with dynamism either minimally or literally. And there is one film in particular in which he relies on the rules of Kabuki and translates it seamlessly into film without being overt. He accomplished the intent: to pull you into the character without knowing so that you are on the screen. I love that he was never afraid to grow and reflect that in his work.

So many years and I still come back to this video, everytime RU-vid decides its time for it to show up in my reccs

Watching Kurosawa movies makes you a better human being. His whole cinema is about humanism.

7 Samurai was one of the first movies i recognized as being/looking beautiful. I'll never forget the scene wit the rice spilled on the floor. i was like 10 years old and i just knew "this...is beautiful"

I’ve watched every Kurosawa’s movie more than twice (five times for Seven Samurai) and always find something new every time. He’s just amazing! And Toshiro Mifune, no one does better as Kirosawa’s samurai than him.

This helps me understand more why Scorsese says Marvel films should not be considered „cinema“

"If you combine the right motion and emotion. You get something cinematic."

This video explains brilliantly Martin Scorsese's recent criticism of Marvel movies.

this is the best video essay on kurosawa i've ever seen and i rewatch it regularly

I was already a fan of Kurosawa, but I learnt so much from this video. You really get so much more out of movies when you know what to look for. Thanks.

Dat cowboy bebop jazz intro music 👌

Constant motion. Ghosts of Tsushima didn’t stop at putting in a Kurosawa mode. Every shot is filled with motion.

I always come back to this series. Such a lovely and loving analysis of each topic, never too lengthy or wordy or preachy and using excellent global examples. Quality quality quality every time.

Akira Kurosawa's film is a WORK of ART! On the same level as Picaso, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Gogh,.. Mozart, Beethoven...

God I miss this channel.

Fuck, I love movies. They're the best.

Masterfully done. I think everyone should study Akira's films. The pacing and cinematography is so amazing.

Akira Kurosawa's cinema is a wise expression of humanity's thousands of years of memory. His cinema is a masterpiece with its subject, visuals, music and dialogues. In his films, Akira Kurosawa deals with love, betrayal, power, greed, arrogance, hatred, hope and courage, which are the oldest and most ancient subjects of humanity, with a terrific universality. Thanks for sharing.

Let me guess RU-vid, you know I’m playing Ghost Of Tsushima?

That feeling when Nujabes and J Dilla come up... :)

I miss this channel.

As a person who only watches movies/anime for fun I never understood why I liked watching these Japanese movies and the natural movements in them so much. You explaining it all so simply in layman terms is like a window opening up in my mind. Thank you. Also amazing video. 👏🏻

As a kid I remember going to the theater and being just blown away by the awesome violence of Bruce Willis's Last Man Standing. And my Dad was just utterly disgusted, right? So, the next day he goes to the video store, not the video store down the street. I am talking the video store like two towns over, where you have to know a guy that knows a guy type of place. And he rents Yojimbo! Man, I will never forget that day. That was the first time my Dad and I really connected. I had no concept of what REAL storytelling was till he showed me that movie. And after that every Saturday afternoon became classic movie day at our house. Those Saturday's were the fucking best! A Thousand Clowns, Stray Dog, The Third Man, Harvey, 12 Angry Men, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. I think I'm gonna start that up again.

I loved that end scene with the katana cutting through the guy, not showing the cut, such a simple effect, and i bet tarantino used it somewhere in kill bill

Nearly a decade ago now, your channel helped get me into Japanese cinema and foreign films in general ❤

thank you for highlighting the techniques of my favorite director. every time i feel like i hate what cinema has become i find reassurance in Kurasawa's art.

for my money Seven Samurai is one of the 3 greatest movies ever.

2:33 wow, how on earth could some one shoot a scene like that.

黒澤さんの映画は場面場面が全て絵になるし、画面そのものに力がある。 何故かわからないけど綿密な計算もあるだろうし普通の感覚ではないんだろうな。 音楽も自然の音も使い方が本当に凄いと思う。

Not sure if you read comments anymore Tony, but I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for directing me toward watching an Akira Kurosawa film. I just finished Seven Samurai. The first Kurosawa of many!

“It’s the visual stimulation that hits the audience- that’s the reason for film. Otherwise we should just turn the light off and call it radio” Perfectly describes the problem with modern Hollywood films

07:10 "By the way, you don't need to put every type of movement in every shot, that's just tiring." - One phrase to sum up literally all of Michael Bay's films.

Champloo OST is *chef’s kiss*

Mindblowing! Now I see why Roshomon and seven samurai and other Kurosawa movies stunned me into silence and stillness. Paradoxically, it was the movement and the emotions of the movies!

Thanks for the subtitles, help a lot non-english expert viewers

I love the fact that you used the Avengers to show how filmmaking has been reduced to a boring endless camera movements that does not say anything about the scene, it just looks "cool"

I miss this channel. I hope that you are having an amazing career. The knowledge and insight that you have about film making is amazing.

Please, continue uploading movies here! This is by far one of the best filmmaking channels in RU-vid!

When you see these shots you can see how much he influenced anime.

I watched Seven Samurai so much I picked up the repeated head rubbing gesture without even realizing I had done so.

I know them all, I watched them all - over and over again. As someone practicing Kendo since several decades and knowing many Japanese I can appreciate his films even more. And funny enough one of my favorite films of his is "Madadayo" from 1993 - No swords, but a bittersweet and beautiful homage to the relationship between teacher and student.

とにかく、専門的でビックリした、アップしてくれてありがとうございます。⭐️🎉

The point you made about movement in the background is so true I'm only just realising it. I feel the same principle can be applied to sounds and not just visuals. For example when you hear a song but something very quiet in the background creates a layer that fills the composition.

I really wanted you to do a Kurosawa video. It did not disappoint. Amazing.

your eyes being drawn to movement isnt just a preference you hold but its actually a universal human characteristic. It was taught to me as a theory called the heirarchy of interest. Essentially, your eye first looks for movement, then light, then colour. this effect is only present in the instant a new shot comes in, and simply accounts for what your eye focuses on without any conscious thought on the part of the viewer

One never tires of real artistry. Each revisit brings something new to the participant, for it is a mirror of a real shared reality one experiences. Kurosawa in interview is well worth hearing.

I love the way Mifune rolls his shoulders in Yojimbo- I catch myself doing it sometimes XD

this is what I call a movie related channel, not that watchspoilermojo.com shit

4:45 The Key! ❤

I miss this channel

So how to fix the scene Avengers ? Here's my amateur non-experienced take on it: Scene begins looking out the "viewport" where it rains (characters are behind the camera), camera turns to face the characters (slowdown when facing), all three in the shot (Nick Fury in front, Cap and Stark behind) being mopey. Camera continues to move to the hand of Nick Fury, showing the bloodied carddeck. Still on the card deck, Nick throws it on the table. Cut during throw, to the landing of the cards on the table. Camera moves from the cards to the right to reaction of mopey Stark, to the left to mopey Cap. (Meanwhile, the shadows of the rain on the "viewport" are visible on both characters.

Cowboy bebop episode one music, I'll never forget it. Wishes of peace and love for everyone in the comments

Year after year you're providing great value to your audience. This is why people subscribe. Well done!

Second vid I've watched from you and both have been terrific. Just subscribed so I can see more. I went to film school but didn't have the same love for the industry that I have for the art. I still dissect movies subconsciously while watching them but I haven't engaged in a theory discussion since college. It's really nice to see someone doing comprehensive visual breakdowns and celebrating the medium.

I wonder if this video affects the sales of Kurosawa movies - I know i'll certainly be checking them out

I have never been so inspired on youtube so much after watching this vid.

Never have I pressed the subscribe button faster! Amazing video!

This is the best video for explaining what to look for in film. I’ve shown a lot of people who know next to nothing this video and it’s instantly turned them into cinephiles

How much movement is too much movement? See Michael Bay.

the nujabes and fat jon were a nice touch

The fact I still watch these tells me you both should be making more.

Every episode is a remarkable reminder of what a movie could an should be: bravo!

I watched seven samurai because of this video and channel....all I can say is WOW! you aren't kidding....he truly is a master story teller in film...Watched Yojimbo and sanjuro right after...and they are ALL amazing....Don't know which one to watch next any recommendations anyone ???

Most people only know Kurosawa for classic Japanese directors. I urge everyone to also check out Kaneto Shindo. One particular work of his that stands out for amazing use of scenery and sound is Onibaba. The entire movie is 3 people walking through brush and sitting in huts but it remains captivating the entire time.

Starting this out with Yoko Kanno in the background was a brilliant touch

You're great at articulating why I love Kurosawa. Besides the stories it's that synchronization of camera work. Thanks for the vid

I never tire of watching these videos repeatedly. Especially this one. Master class. Great work Tony

In animation, Miyazaki is a master of movement. Kurosawa may have influenced Miyazaki.

This is simply amazing!

Thank you for the reminder of just how towering a filmaker Kurosawa was. Beautiful analysis. Inspiring.

"A motion picture has to have motion" - Bruce Lee

No kidding, I felt a twinge of emotion at the "sword stuck in the hill" scene. No context necessary, the guy's body language did all the work. Kind of a surprise, haha.

I can't believe this video was released 8 years ago

the music at 5:35 makes the scene even better