The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese CinemaIn this revealing study, Daisuke Miyao explores "the aesthetics of shadow" in Japanese cinema in the first half of the twentieth century. This term, coined by the production designer Yoshino Nobutaka, refers to the perception that shadows add depth and mystery. Miyao analyzes how this notion became naturalized as the representation of beauty in Japanese films, situating Japanese cinema within transnational film history. He examines the significant roles lighting played in distinguishing the styles of Japanese film from American and European film and the ways that lighting facilitated the formulation of a coherent new Japanese cultural tradition. Miyao discusses the influences of Hollywood and German cinema alongside Japanese Kabuki theater lighting traditions and the emergence of neon commercial lighting during this period. He argues that lighting technology in cinema had been structured by the conflicts of modernity in Japan, including capitalist transitions in the film industry, the articulation of Japanese cultural and national identity, and increased subjectivity for individuals. By focusing on the understudied element of film lighting and treating cinematographers and lighting designers as essential collaborators in moviemaking, Miyao offers a rereading of Japanese film history. |
Contents
What is the aesthetics of shadow ? | 1 |
Shochiku and Hollywood | 15 |
Shochiku and Jidaigeki | 67 |
Shochiku and Germany | 119 |
Shochiku Toho and Japan | 173 |
The Cinemtography of Miyagaw Kzuo | 255 |
Notes | 283 |
Bibliography | 329 |
| 365 | |
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Common terms and phrases
actors aesthetics of shadow argues audience backlight Battle of Kawanakajima beauty Bordwell bright and cheerful camera cameraman cinematographer close-up contrast Crossways culture depict director discourse documentary spirit electric emphasized enhanced face fans female film industry Gerow Gijutsu Hasegawa Kazuo Hayashi Chojiro Henry Kotani Hirai Hollywood Ibid Ito Daisuke Iwasaki Japa Japan Japanese cinema Japanese cinematographers Japanese film Japanese filmmaking Japanese Modernity jidai jidaigeki Jujiro Kabuki Kamata studio Katsudo shashin Kido Shiro Kinema Junpo Kinugasa Kinugasa Teinosuke Kyoto lamps light and shadow lighting scheme long shot low-key lighting low-key tones Midorikawa Mimura Miyagawa motion pictures nese night Night's Wife Nihon eiga satsuei Nikkatsu Ozu Yasujiro Page of Madness panchromatic photographed production realism satsuei shi scene screen screenplay Shimazaki Shimokamo shining shinkokugeki shinpa Shochiku films Shochiku Kamata Soko Nihon spotlights star vehicles style sword fighting Tanizaki techniques theaters three-point lighting Toho Tokyo visual wrote Yukinojo