The Signature Style of Yasujiro Ozu

Yasujiro Ozu (12 December 1903-12 December 1963) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films. He first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s.

In this paper, I will talk about three movies directed by Ozu and link them to my question and four approaches. My three movies are 'Tokyo Story' (1953), 'Late Spring' (1949) and 'Early summer' (1951). Tokyo Story talks about an old couple who visit their children and in the city, but the children have only little time for them.

Late Spring talk about a twenty-seven-year-old girl who lives with her widowed father, everybody tries to talk to her about marriage but she only wants to stay at home and take care of her father. And finally, Early Summer talks about a family that chooses a match for their daughter, but she surprisingly has her own plans.

In these three films, Ozu talks about family life, marriage, and how this marriage evokes a distance between children and their parents.

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First, I will start talking about the ideology, Ozu's films always deal with themes concerning the dissolution of the traditional Japanese family and the fraught relationships these life events create between the older (prewar) and younger (postwar) generation. He focuses on families, their conditions and the several difference problems they go through in life. His themes and plot were very basic stories of generational conflicts, the dissolution of a family and so on many other things.

He also stresses on marriage and how the transformation of new life and separation affect the parent and child in question.

For example, in Tokyo story, he talks about often exploited conflict of the children and parents but focuses on the commonly overlooked aspects such as the disappointments of parenthood and the growing change of children as they slowly mature and gained their independence. In Late Spring, he talks about the love of a father and a daughter, for example when Noriko (the daughter) don't want to get married because she wants to stay with her father and take care of him, he also talks about the pain of letting go, In Late Spring also, when Noriko finally gets married and her father stays alone and sad. In the three movies Ozu talks about the texture of Japanese life, and about family, distance and marriage.

Moving on to the formalism approach, Ozu has his own style and techniques by using the content and form: mise en scene (the 15 elements), editing (transitions and techniques), sound and cinematography (camera angle, distance and movement). Firstly, the use of the camera in the film is very unique. Ozu usually places his camera at the level three feet above the ground which made it look like the eye of person who is sitting in a Japanese tatami floor mat. That's why the shot got its name: Tatami shot. Most of his films were set in Japanese interiors where the characters used to sit on the floor for example in the three movies, when all the family are sitting together on the floor on the tatami talking and eating. He used the tatami shot to make the viewer feel close to the characters and a part of the scene. Later ozu started using the tatami shots for exterior shots as well which created some very appealing imagery. The tatami level shot gave a very unique look to his films when added with very limited camera movement. Ozu rarely moved his camera, once he got the position he wanted, he would lock down the camera and no one was to touch it. He would rather use the movement of his characters to add dynamism. For example, in Tokyo Story, the camera moves only twice in the entire film, and another example in Late Spring Ozu uses a dolly shot when the two characters are riding a bicycle. He moved the camera at the same speed of the characters to reduce the appearance of the movement.

In most of his reaction shots, ozu made the characters look directly to the camera and talk which also made us a part of the whole conversation. Instead of framing dialogue scenes in the traditional over the shoulder method the manner in which his dialogue was shot would lend you to believe that his characters are in competition with one another as opposed to being in harmony, the constant switching means that the 180-degree rule is broken repeatedly but this is just a grammar of Ozu, we can see this camera procedure was never completely constant , sometimes its character would stare directly into the lens but other times they would look away. For example, in late spring when Noriko is talking with her father, we see her looking at the camera and talking and same with the father and in all the conversation in the others movies (Tokyo Story and Early Summer). Ozu ignores the 180-degree rule. For example, in Early Summer, when the family is sitting on the tatami and drinking tea, we see a man drinking tea facing towards the frame right, then in the next shot, we see the same man facing the frame left.

Ozu uses the 360-degree space instead of the 180-degree space.

The camera placement was also very far away, Ozu uses long diagonals to emphasize depth, he often places other objects in the foreground to add another layer to the image.

Ozu's composition is simple but profound, he places his actors in the background and a set in the foreground, for example, we see the door, furniture, and also sometimes other characters, and that shows us the simple daily lives of the characters as they clean up the house for example in Tokyo story when Noriko is cleaning her house, we see her moving in the background of the frame. Another example, in Early Summer, when Noriko is talking to her family, we see them in the background of the frame and in the foreground, we see the border of the door.

Ozu often shoots from a medium or long shot and very rarely the close up, showing us all the characters together and how they interact with one another.

Something noticeable with Ozu films is that its actors almost locked within the composition of the frame. There's a heavy emphasis on how the image is presented, and frames within frames are ubiquitous throughout Ozus filmography.

Within the film, rarely are dissolves, fades used as transitions and only cuts are used. As transition between the scenes, he would shoot a natural landscape or small portions of objects. These shots are called pillow shot and they are used to introduce the audience to the next scene. Empty rooms are often lingered on whether it's a character about to enter or a character leaving, for example in Late Spring, we see an empty room and then we see the father coming inside it.

When cutting individual scenes Ozu would make sure that no character action is missed during conversation, he would capture one character speaking and cut and capture the other character speaking, and if a character is about to move in the scene we would see another cut so they could once again be locked within the frame, Ozu edits at the end of one character action to capture the following action in its entirety, even if this mean that we cut from room to room to watch someone leave the scene. For example, in Tokyo Story, we see Noriko leaving one room and then since she leaves the room he cuts to the other scene where Noriko enters the other room.

Notice the Ozu's filmography you will almost never see a POV shot that's arguably most subjective shot in cinema but he doesn't rule out the need for them take.

Editing composition and cinematography were how Ozu told his stories and did so diligently because not every frame of a movie requires meaning.

Composition takes center stage in Ozu's film, with every shot displayed more like a painting than a film.

50 mm lens which Ozu used consistently in every single one of his films. Now if you add its familiar with cinematography a 50mm lens is a normal view as it's the lens that's closest to our natural sight, this was just one way that Ozu would cinematize real life.

Moving on to the auteur approache. As an auteur, Ozu has his unique style and school for his film making, he also has specific theme in his films. (as mentioned before). His themes and plot were very basic stories of generational conflicts, the dissolution of a family and so on many.

In the three selected movies, the childhood of Ozu was reflected in many of his films which dealt with family and relations between parents and their children, for example, Ozu remained single throughout his life and lived with his mother until she died, less than two years before his own death. In late spring, the movie talks about Noriko a twenty-seven years old girl, still living with her widowed father, everybody tries to talk her into marrying, but Noriko wants to stay at home caring for her father. The plot of Late Spring reflected exactly the same story of Ozu.

The notable parallels in the characters, cinematography, and theme of Ozu's films suggest that each film is, more or less, a reflection of each other film, and that all three films are the reflection of Ozu's creative vision. In each film, Ozu is attempting to honestly express some personal truth. In late spring, Tokyo story and Early Summer, each one of these films deals with the importance of marriage and family life so the central theme of each film is the same. Also in each film, the names of the main character is Noriko and other characters Shukichi, Shige and Aya. The cinematography, the character position, angle ... are similar in the three movies. Once you see a film directed by Ozu, you will directly know it, because Ozu has his very unique style in the story itself, the cinematography and also the editing.

In each film of these three films, the character mention in conversation events that have happened or will happen, but you don't see the events themselves. For example, we never see the men Noriko is to marry in Late Spring and Early Summer. And also in Tokyo Story, we do not see the parents visit their son in Osaka or the mother fall in. in this way, Ozu requires us to involve ourselves in interpreting the action. He focuses attention on the way the character deal with an event rather than the event itself.

Finally, I will talk about the historical approach. Yasujiro Ozu was born in Tokyo in 1903. He was known to be a poor student who spent more time at the local theater than school. Upon viewing Civilization, Ozu knew he wanted to be a director. After graduating high school in 1921, he failed to pass the entrance examinations for college. Despite these failings, he was able to secure a job as a substitute teacher for a year before pursuing his dream: directing.

In 1923, he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first film the next year. Ozu made thirty-five silent films.  He made his first sound film in 1936.

Then he was drafted into the Japanese Army the next year, he spent two years in China in the second Sino-Japanese war and then to Singapore when World War II started. Shortly before the war ended he was captured by British forces and spent six months in a P.O.W. facility. At war's end, he went back to Shochiku, and his experiences during the war resulted in his making more serious, thoughtful films at a much slower pace than he had previously.

Ozu always use war in his movies but indirectly, for example, the mother of Noriko is dead in the war. Ozu stories mostly originated from his own life experiences, and wartime stories·