"Moving 4K Remaster Edition" Director of Photography/4K Supervision: Toyomichi Kurita 30 years after its release, creativity continues to this day [CINEMORE ACADEMY Vol.35]

The concept is Utagawa Hiroshige

Q: Please tell us about the actual filming. In the scene where Renko runs out of the hotel on their trip and Kenichi chases after her father and the two of them talk, I was amazed by the camera work and angles that followed the whole scene.

Kurita: On set, I first watched the play and then thought about how to shoot it most effectively. I was always conscious of perspective, and the ukiyo-e prints of Utagawa Hiroshige were a major part of the basis for the concept this time.

As for the camera movement, we laid plywood on the ground and floor, which we called a "dance floor," and then placed a dolly on top of it and shot using both a zoom lens and movement. It was a shot that couldn't be taken unless everyone was in sync: me operating the camera, the person operating the crane, and the person controlling the focus and zoom.

"Moving 4K Remaster Edition" ©1993/2023 Yomiuri Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd.

Q: In the scene where Renko walks among the graveyards, the numerous lit lanterns are breathtaking.

Kurita: The lanterns were prepared by the art department, and all the staff lit them up together. Since we prepared everything from scratch for the shoot, it was difficult from preparation to shooting. This scene was shot during the magic hour, so it was a constant race against time. And the location of this graveyard is exactly what Hiroshige was like to me. Hiroshige was someone who effectively created the foreground, middle ground, and background. I wanted to follow that example and create a clear foreground, middle ground, and background for this scene. The graveyard where Renko is walking is a place for the dead, and the background in the back is the streetscape where the living people live. There was a contrast between them. It's true that I wanted to shoot the foreground, middle ground, and background, but the meaning of that may have been added later. When you see the actual edited version, taking into account the flow of the scene before and after, you can feel the meaning.

The story up until then had been set on the other side in the background, where everyone lives, and in the first half of the film the mountain with the grave was in the background. I think this is largely due to the fact that we shot in Kyoto. From this scene onwards, Renko wanders around the place symbolized by the grave in the foreground. I feel like the signal is given in the first half of the story with insert shots of the rustling trees and the like. The atmosphere that each scene creates is edited in such a way that it unconsciously catches the audience's attention, but I didn't expect Somai-san to use it in that way. It's nice when there is one. I want the viewer to feel something even without a direct explanation. This is an area that took a lot of time to grade this time around.

Restoration comparison video

Q: Was there a specific request from the director to include inserts such as high-speed shots of the rustling trees and the moon?

Kurita: There were no particular instructions from the director. It wasn't in the script, so I just filmed it when I noticed it. The rustling trees weren't shot at high speed, they actually moved slowly like that. And the insert cut that was thought to be the moon was called "Day for Night," and it was a shot of the sun in the daytime that was then colored blue. He used every shot effectively. Somai hadn't used insert shots much up until then, so it was surprising.

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