Classical Japanese Cinema

Question 1

because they developed differently, classical Asian cinema and classical hollywood cinema have different…

Answer 1

conventions

Question 2

define jidaigeki

Answer 2

distinctive Japanese style of film, movies about the samurai period

Question 3

during WW2, the japanese government was very… (2)

Answer 3

authoritarian and used strict censorship

Question 4

jidaigeki films of WW2 era celebrate..

Answer 4

the traditional samurai value of loyalty to their superiors

Question 5

how many years post-WW2 does America occupy japan?

Answer 5

6

Question 6

during the american occupation of japan, movies were…(2)

Answer 6

• heavily censored
• supposed to avoid “traditionalist themes”

Question 7

during the american occupation, jidaigeki films became…

Answer 7

almost impossible to make

Question 8

with japan’s independence in the 50s, filmmakers were freed from…

Answer 8

extreme political censorship

Question 9

example of post occupation japanese cinema is…

Answer 9

Godzilla (1954)

Question 10

other films of the post occupation period explore the clashes between…

Answer 10

traditionalism and modernity in daily life

Question 11

what genre were filmmakers able to revive in the post-occupation period?

Answer 11

jidaigeki

Question 12

post occupation jidaigeki films looked at the samurai legends with a…

Answer 12

much more skeptical eye

Question 13

who was Yasujiro Ozu?

Answer 13

japanese filmmaker whos work shows the most extreme examples of the distinctive japanese style

Question 14

main difference in japanese classical cinema involves…

Answer 14

composition

Question 15

define composition

Answer 15

the arrangement of the objects within the frame of the shot

Question 16

how did composition in japanese classical cinema differ? (2)

Answer 16

1. used symmetrical compositions
2. the composition of conversations

Question 17

why did classical hollywood cinema tend to avoid using symmetrical compositions?

Answer 17

because it felt overly formal and ordered

Question 18

how did classical hollywood tend to film conversations?

Answer 18

at a 45 degree angle to the face so the audience can see both characters in each frame

Question 19

define objective perspective

Answer 19

when the audience can see more than either character can

Question 20

what type of composition does Ozu tend to use for conversations?

Answer 20

frontal composition

Question 21

why does Ozu use frontal compositions?

Answer 21

so only one person is visible in each shot, creating a series of eyeline matches

Question 22

Kurosawa tends to use symmetrical composition only to emphasize…

Answer 22

the idea of traditionalism or formality

Question 23

Rashomon uses an…

Answer 23

original kind of storytelling

Question 24

define stylist western

Answer 24

italian westerns, inspired by Kurosawa’s samurai films based off american westerns

Question 25

what was the influence of classical japanese cinema? (2)

Answer 25

1. showed western filmmakers that there wasn’t a correct way to make films
2. encouraged western filmmakers to experiment more with the language of film