Japanese Animation and New Media
Week Ten: Chapter Sixteen: A Face on the Train
Considering animation as an art of movement, we looked at tendencies toward cinematism and animetism at different levels. Miyazaki’s animation strives toward animetism to resist cinematism, yet as the schematic overview, the tendencies toward animetism and cinematism look almost equally balanced. In other words, Miyazaki’s animations present an almost mythic struggle between the two tendencies, with a tentative promise that animetism (embodied in the girl saviour) will provide a freer relation to technology and maybe save the world.
MIYAZAKI
<<CINEMATISM<< >> ANIMETISM >>
<<CLOSED COMPOSITING OPEN >>
sliding layers >>
action ballistics in gag form >>
BETWEEN COMPOSITING AND MISE-EN-SCÈNE
<<Parallax effect
<<DEEP MISE-EN-SCÈNE FLAT >>
Ambiguous or unfamiliar historical and geographic location >>
<<Lush luminous backgrounds
<<GRAVITY BETWEEN CHARACTER & MISE-EN-SCÈNE WEIGHTLESS >>
<<Angling
<<FULL CHARACTER ANIMATION LIMITED >>
<<Limited full animation
BETWEEN CHARACTER AND MECHA
<<Characters are never mecha
Boys and girls differ but work together
Women seize control of weapons
Shojo-Saviour >>
<<BALLISTIC MECHA DESIGN NON-BALLISTIC >>
Whimsical >>
