THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE

CHANGING WORLD AND SOCIAL RESEARCH I

(ICWSR’2015 – VIENNA)

PROCEEDINGS BOOK OF
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
THE CHANGING WORLD AND
SOCIAL RESEARCH I

EDITORS

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necmi UYANIK

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ufuk Deniz AŞCI
Inst. Yusuf DEMİR

ISBN: 978-605-5583-68-2

Vienna, AUSTRIA
August 25-28, 2015
 COMMITTEES

CHAIRMAN OF ICWSR’2015
Prof. Dr. Ramazan YELKEN, Selcuk University, TURKEY

GENERAL COORDINATOR
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necmi UYANIK, Selcuk University, TURKEY

COORDINATOR
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ufuk Deniz AŞCI, Selcuk University, TURKEY

VICE-COORDINATOR OF ICWSR’2015
Inst. Mustafa ZENGİNBAŞ, Selcuk University, TURKEY

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Prof. Dr. Adnan KADRİÇ, Sarajevo University Oriental Institute, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Prof. Dr. Anisoara POPA, Danubius University, ROMANIA
Prof. Dr. Benjamin FORTNA, London University, ENGLAND
Prof. Dr. Bilal KUŞPINAR, Necmettin Erbakan University, International Rumi Center for the
Study of Civilizations, TURKEY
Prof. Dr. Hayati DEVELİ, President of Yunus Emre Institute, TURKEY
Prof. Dr. İsa BLUMİ, Georgia State University, USA
Prof. Dr. Mustafa GENCER, Abant İzzet Baysal University, TURKEY
Prof. Dr. Numan ARUÇ, Macedonia Science and Art Academy, MACEDONIA
Prof. Dr. Peter HAIDER, Vienna Universal Peace Federation, AUSTRIA
Prof. Dr. Thomas DREW BEAR, Lyon University, FRANCE
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fuat BOYACIOĞLU, Selcuk University, European Center Research and
Application Center, TURKEY
Selçuk ÖZTÜRK, Chair of Konya Chamber of Commerce, TURKEY
Mevlüt BULUT, Yunus Emre Institute, Manager of Vienna Branch, AUSTRIA

CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT
Inst. Yusuf DEMİR, Necmettin Erbakan University, TURKEY
Inst. Menşure AŞCI, Selcuk University, TURKEY
Inst. Güngör TOPLU, Selcuk University, TURKEY
Res. Assist. Süleyman UZKUÇ, Selcuk University, TURKEY
Res. Assist. Fatih Numan KÜÇÜKBALLI, Selcuk University, TURKEY
Res. Assist. Rıza ÖZBÖLÜK, Selcuk University, TURKEY

TECHNICAL STAFF
Musa Selman KUNDURACI, Selcuk University, TURKEY
 A Study On Cinematographic Language Of The Film “Dreams” By Akira
Kurosava
Mehmet Sefa DOĞRU*1, Aytekin CAN2 and Enderhan KARAKOÇ3
1, 2
Faculty of Communication, Selcuk University, TURKEY.
(E-mail: sefadogru@gmail.com, aytekcan@elcuk.edu.tr)
3
Faculty of Communication, Selcuk University, TURKEY.
(E-mail: enderhan@selcuk.edu.tr)

Corresponding Author’s e-mail: sefadogru@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The filming which resembled the theatre during the first years of the cinema due to the
stability of cameras, cinema completely underwent changes when the film-makers discovered
that the location of the cameras might be changed and the opportunities of the cinema for
narration were reformed. The places to be filmed, actors and the parts which completely seen
in the viewfinder were determined according to the issues the director desires to film. All the
elements forming the enactment such as zooming, plans, camera movements, colors, and
lightening, sound, acting and visual effects have shaped the narration and provided strength
and this occasion drew the attention of the audience to the motion picture screen.
All the principles of composition from lightening to colors, from the perspective of the
cameras to the camera movements gained settled meanings throughout the prolonging years.
Except the settled meaning, the majority of directors sometimes consciously abandoned this
meaning in order to create different effects. First of all, the settled meanings should be known
in order to perceive those usages. The trials related to the effects of the composition have been
going on since the beginning of the history of cinema and will continue in the future.
In all the activities of imagery, directors had to be creative in order to scope with the
limitedness in their struggles against the materials of imagery. Akira Kurosava who is owner
of the scenes with poetic narration each and creative cinematographic application is also
regarded as one of the most important and impressive directors of the cinema history. For that
reason, a general review of the cinematographic structure of the movie “The Dreams” which
is one of the most spoken films. The sampling which we tackle in this direction is the first two
short films and we aimed to analyze them through “the critics for enactment” in accordance
with the determined parameters.

Keywords: Akira Kurosova, Cinematography, Cinematographic Narration, Composition, The

Mise en scene

1. INTRODUCTION

The director who decides about the scene and emotion of a film also has numerous vital
touches from the location of the cameras to the position of the acting people and objects. The
process beginning with reading the screenplay follows a flow from the stylistic approach to

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the materialistic ones.
The method of the director for filming, the importance he gave for fiction, the visual
arrangements he executed in time and space, the phraseology he actualized using the camera –
camera movements, height and angle – image editing, lightening and numerous
cinematographic elements are the keys for his style.
The necessity for organizing all the elements of art painting composition so that they
serve the narration in terms of time and space and become a part of the structure they belong
to is inevitable. The objective is not only to establish a nice image alone but also obtain an
image which can serve the entire film.
The objective of each visual element is to transfer the information to the audience
about the direction of the general tone of the film when it is evaluated considering the entire
narration. The director masterly plays with visual structure elements. Thus, he arranges them
effectively; he picks and chooses the things to be left in the darkness and the things to be
enlightened. He challenges to symmetrical and asymmetrical arrangements. He blurs or
makes clearer. He makes his choices for simplicity or density. Thus, he gradually builds the
hints about how the audiences will progress in this magic world and where they would reach
to at the end of their patience.
The reality filmed by the camera and thus underwent changes gains a cinematic
structure. The film language which appears as a result of the arrangements of the images is
kneaded through the artistic point of view of the director and gains new meanings. By this
means, a context is formed except the solely images.
Having all these in mind, the cinematographic applications which are the products of
a common language that has been improving since the early silent motion pictures and a rich
inheritance will continue their existences in the future as seen in the past in the name of
producing new and creative solutions.

2. THE CINEMATOGRAPHIC NARRATION FROM SILENT MOTION

PICTURE TO THE PRESENT

The Lumier Brothers who didn’t employ the elements such as script play, actors and
the décor were solely contended with determining the external reality, events, constructions
and daily developments. Those elements which would establish the foundation of the
fictitious cinema in the future hadn’t been discovered at that time yet. The cinema soon
realized that it had some specific qualifications. Camera has gained speed, the kinds have
emerged consecutively, filming scales were explored and the way has been cleared for the
cinema (Yıldız, 2014: 95).
Cinematographic images were established on construction, arrangement and
simulative re-creation of the external reality. The external reality has been re-created
artificially and it was transferred to the screens. The emerging of cinematography as an
element of art and a cultural phenomenon is related to a serial of technical inventions
(Yıldız, 2014: 53-62).
When the cinema camera was invented at the end of the 19.th century, the first
activities filmed simple events such as; the man watering garden, the workers leaving the
factory, a train entering the station etc. The film-makers headed for dramatic productions and
they designed them as “filmed theatre plays”. They set up the camera in front of the stage as if
it was an audience sitting in the theatre. While watching such films, the audiences felt that
they were looking at the stage from a disconnected and unprincipled perspective. The film
makers realized the requirement for the solution for the problems such as flatness of the
screen and other limitedness. The very first responses to them are to divide the movement into
the plans and sequences consisting of them (Brown, 2008: 2).
During the early stages of cinematography, the audience wasn’t able to make any
discrimination between the images and the reality; it makes people believe in this way. The

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audiences slide into the feeling that they encounter a real event and a real object. The director
combines the elements of the reality in accordance to the order he desires, he shortens them
and he creates his own filmic time and space (Yıldız, 2014: 63-65).
Through the composition, the director tells the audience where to look at, what to
look at and what order to follow. An image should solely transfer meaning, style, spirit, air
and lower text without the help of the external sounds, dialogues and other explanations.
Cinema has experienced it in silent cinema movies in its purest form; however, the principle
is still valid; the image stands on its own legs (Brown, 2008: 2).
The composition of the images is an important way for the directors to narrate story
and transfer the ideas. A significant characteristic of the arranged image is the location of the
framework. It can be close or distant to the framework and the filmed objective. Each of those
arrangements reveals different semantic responses (Ryan and Lenos, 2012: 49).
At this stage today, the scene includes the organization of the objects within the framework of
the camera. Everything the camera frame on the screen is a part of the scene; all the elements
such as the players, their performances, light, costumes, decors, colorful lens effects, the
location of the players in the place should be gathered up in order to create a filmic spatial
feeling among the audiences (Hunt et al., 2012: 118).
While controlling the scene, the director stages the event to be filmed. However, the
comprehensive explanation of the cinema as isn’t limited with the things which were put in
front of the camera. The filming doesn’t exist until the models are recorded on a film. The
director also controls the cinematographic qualifications – not only what is filmed but also
how it is filmed. It includes three options such as he photographic content of the filming, the
framework of the filming, and the duration of the filming (Bordwell and Thompson,
2009:167)
Although the audience is conscious that the images have been animated artificially, he
feels sad, gets excited, loves, hates and experiences a dense sensuality through getting
fascinated by the flow of the film. The director has the ability to take the audiences to various
places and time at the same time through the illusions of light the organizations of décor,
through special methods which he will follow in fiction using the special effecting powers of
sounds and effects through the movements of the receiver and continuously keep their
attention awake (Yıldız, 2014: 69-70).
Apart from all these, it is an instrument of narrating a story although the way plans
are framed is an artistic choice. While narrating the story, the audience may reach only a
small part of the information; at the same time the hidden information may become visible
only when a special camera which hides the information is activated or moved (Brindle, 2013:
42).
Anything and everything in the composition of a plan is interpreted as it is since it is a
related and necessary function in order that the audiences understand the story. It is one of the
unwritten rules of story narration for thousands of years and it has maintained its importance
since the day it was used for the first time. The location, dimension and visibility of
everything in the framework have all been effective for the audiences in understanding its
importance in the topic (Mercado, 2011: 18).
Each film consists of thousands of different plans; each of those plans provides
definite meanings to the film. Everything seen in the frame is chosen due to its importance.
The angle of the camera, the distance to the topic and other elements will contribute specific
meaning to the frame. The camera doesn’t record the absolute reality. It tears apart the pieces
of reality from their places in life and reflects them to the screen beginning with the moment
of recording. Thus, it changes its nature and attributes a meaning to it. When the images are
lined up one after the other, namely, when a film language is established; more meaning is
attributed to it and a new context is established except the images (Hunt et al., 2012: 118).
The image is open to a serial of reading according to the types of filming. The size
and dimension of the objects in the filming give the basic semantic reading while the angle of

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filming shapes the basic meaning, namely, “preferred” meaning. All those preferred readings
or the codes of traditionalist cinema should be read in accordance with those agreements.
However, majority of film makers haven’t adhered to those rules. As a result of their
“destroying” and “bending” those rules or depending on those general filming applications,
the audiences may conclude that their films have some characteristic aspects (Hyward, 2012:
110-187)
The images are considered as words. Different filming angles, heights and types have
meanings which have been situated after being employed in films for more than a hundred
years; however, it always varies according to the context of the narration. The directors use
the plans as they desire in order to create an effect or create an irony instead of acting
according to the rules (Hunt et al., 2012: 120,122).
Related to this topic, Orson Welles used a hole which was specially dug for the
camera in the film Citizen Kane (1941) and filmed the most fallen situation of Kane after
being defeated in the elections through an extremely lower angle. Despite having no power,
Kane becomes giantic in the eye of the audience. In the film Taxi Driver (1976), similarly,
Martin Scorsese situated the hero of the film, Travis, to the edges of the frame. It gives signals
about his social marginality as a man at the edges (Hunt et al., 2012: 120,122-124).
The organization of the objects within the frame obeys the definite common sense
principles showing appraisal. A director generally attributes more significance and value to
the characters on the center of the frame or on the upper half of the images. The characters
with less significance or secondary importance are located on the lower half of the image or
near the edges of the frame. The lower half of the image generally functions as a way to
decrease the value (Ryan and Lenos, 2012: 49).
Despite the community related to the composition and light, each studio has
developed its own different mise en scene. In 1930’s, they have asserted their own styles
through their own experts, producers, directors, director of photography and art directors.
MGM exhibited embodiment of bright and narrow focus while Warner Brothers employed the
composition strategies which majority of them are different, weak lighting –especially in the
famous Busby Berkeley musical shows which not only employs the choreography of the
dancers and the characters but also arrange their bodies so that they form strange erotic
figures – and more active cameras (Kolker, 2009: 81-82).
The meaning of the uses related to the field and locations may vary. The individuals
who are always on the top of the frame don’t have the higher power as well as the people at
the bottom don’t have the less power. Sometimes, the main character is located into the edge
of the frame in order to create pity or empathy. The distribution of the field in the frame is
ideal to create meaning. The empty field may be used to set meaningful emphasize. The
composition the composition is also based on the visual organizations such as foreground and
background. The composition elements within the frame may be both regular and symmetrical
and irregular and asymmetrical. The contemporary film makers have employed symmetrical
compositions against asymmetrical compositions in order to create meaning. (Ryan and
Lenos, 2012: 51-61).
No matter they are black and white or color, the light may either flattens the scene or
may curve the scene through the light as if it was a sculpture and produces an effect of
narration. It directs the audience about how to interpret a character and his behaviors or the
direction of an entire film. As a part of the light composition, generally, the films helps in
providing depth and texture to the two dimensional spaces of the film screen, draw attention
or distort it; it directs the audience within the image, even it makes the audience a part of the
whole mise en scene (Kolker, 2009: 100).
In order to receive positive responses from the audiences, consequently, the locations
and movements of the players in the space should be planned. Since watching a film is a
sentimental experience, the organization of the scenes, staging, lightening, and filming and
montaging styles should stimulate the responses of the audiences conveniently for the

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purposes of the scenario. The attention of the audience should be focused on the player, object
or the movement with most significance in the story at that time (Mascelli, 2007: 207)

3. METHOD

In this study, the method of “the mise en scene critics” was used in order to examine
the film through the preferences of the director. The mise en scene critics are based on the
term mise en scene. The mise en scene which is directly related to the staged activity has six
sub-entries. The elements of the mise en scene are décor/place, lightening, costumes, hair,
make up, and the movements of the characters. Nowadays, the term mise en scene is used in a
broader meaning. The mise en scene includes everything related to filming that contains
establishment of live stage, designing costumes, the performance of the actors, lightening and
camera angles, camera movements, the distance of the camera, the use of sound and
establishment of composition established by the director or the producer in order to guide the
perception of the audience (Kabadayı, 2013: 45). Lightening serves the reflection of the
psychology of character within the space surrounding him –in accompany with make-up. In
order to make the audiences are fascinated with the topic, natural lightening is preferred
(Kabadayı, 2013: 45).
In order to make the mise en scene understood by the reader, it is assumed that the
reader recognize the elements of mise en scene. Thus, the resolution may be executed while
criticizing without considering what the mise en scene is and what it contains (Kabadayı,
2013:114).
In the critics of mise en scene, the points such as the length of filming as a visual
style, the transitions between the filming, whether the camera movements are employed or
not, whether this occasion is related to the type or not, the reasons of the light used in the
lightening, the reasons for the dynamic shot and technical comparison of similar sequences
are tackled (Kabadayı, 2013: 115).

Accordingly, the first two short films in the sampling film were analyzed within the
context of the parameters given below;
i. The Frame and the Image,
ii. Lightening and Color.

4. THE CINEMATOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF THE FILM “DREAMS”

4.1. The Identity of the Film

Director: Akira Krosawa, İshiro Honda , Producer: Mike Y. Inoue, Hisao Kurosawa ,
Casting: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishô, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada , Scenario: Akira
Krosawa, Director of Photography: Takao Saitô, Shôji Ueda, Montage:Tome Minami Music:
Shinichirô Ikebe, Type: Drama, Fantastic Duration: 119 min., Country: Japan, Languages:
Japanese, English, French Date of Coming Out: 1990

4.1.1. The Topic of the Film: Sunshine through the Rain

The first dream of the film is about a boy at the age of 8 who violates a prohibition as
a result of his curiosity. According to a Japanese legend, foxes make celebrations between
each other when the weather is rainy and those days are regarded the special day, it is
forbidden to go out of their homes. Because, the foxes don’t like people around them see their
wedding ceremonies.
In this story, his mother warns the boy about not going to forest. However, the boy
ignores his mother’s warning and goes to the forest. This attitude also means the violation of
the prohibition; he sees things he shouldn’t have seen. Hiding behind a tree, the boy sees the

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celebration of the individuals who are in the form of human beings.
When he gets back to home his mother tells that he violated the prohibition and for
that reason the foxes got angry, the foxes left a knife to boy so that he would kill himself and
he should kill himself.
If the boy apologizes from the foxes, he might be forgiven. However, it is not so easy.
The boy asks how he can find the foxes. His mother replies: the foxes live under the rainbow.
The boy sets off to apologize.

4.1.2. The Frame and the Image in the First Dream:

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 3 Figure 4

In the opening montage of the first dream, this fixed middle plan which takes about
38 seconds (Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4) provide information about time, space and characters. At
the same time, this long fixed plan prepares the audience for the events to occur very soon.
The opening sequence of the film also determines the tone of the film and creates a motif.

Figure 5

This dual plan which takes place in the following scene (Figure5) was used to film the
master plan of a conversation between two people. On the contrary to the common use,
however, it was framed in the scale of stature not in the scales of mid shot or medium close
up. This plan was mounted in the bloomed form with the previous plan in order to shape the
dramatic curve of the conversation.
It gives a clue about the mise en scene of the characters (the mother and the son) and
the aspects of the relationships between them. In addition to this clue, this plan strengthens the

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relationships between the characters and allows the audience contrast and compare those
characters.
This plan (Figure5) wasn’t supported with the scales close enough to reflect the
psychological structure, emotions and mimics and briefly all of their personality aspects of the
characters. Because, the director prioritizes the given information and the relationship
between this information and the nature instead of the characters. There is more information
about the space.

Figure 6 Figure 7
In the two plans above (Figure6, Figure7), “The Rules Of Thirds” (Mercado, 2011:23)
and “The Rules Of Sixth” (Hart, 2007:205) were employed to create visually coherent
compositions.
The boy who was located on a line which begins at the right bottom edge of the frame
towards to inner parts and in the one-sixth of the frame dimension parallel to it (the rules of
sixth) (Figure 6) has a great importance with his movement direction beginning from the outer
lines towards the inner parts. Although it fails in catching the weight of rules of thirds, it was
used as a useful composition instrument.
The boy who is a significant element of the lively and moving composition was
located on the intersection of the lines. Since the boy is looking at the right direction, he is in
the coherent point at the left bottom (Figure7). This location allowed for enough gap in the
direction which the character (the boy) looks towards that means a rule in order to provide
balance in the composition since it gains weight according to the boy’s glance.
The boy who was located on the rules of thirds or the rules of sixth lines in this plan
strengthened the dramatic power of the composition. The five-sixth of the frame was set free
and trees were located on that region, thus, a much stronger effect was created. By this means,
the lifeless composition and the feeling of weak visual tension was avoided.

Figure 8

In the plan above (Figure8), the phenomenon “rhythm” which is one of the basic
designing principles rather than a simple image was successively applied; the repeated similar
elements established an organization design and played a key role in the visual field of the
stage.
At the same time, the organization of the elements on the stage considering the “linear
perspective” has strengthened the visual narration there. The location of the players through a
“crosswise (diagonal)” line provided dynamism and enthusiasm to the stage.

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 Figure 9

According to the “Hitchcock Rule” (Mercado, 2011:23), the dimension of an object

within the frame should be in proportional to the value it has. In this plan (Figure9), the
director shows the knife given by the foxes to his mother so that the boy who made the foxes
angry since he violated the prohibition and was sentenced to death would kill himself. The
director demonstrated through this plan he set up with “Hitchcock Rule” that the intervention
to the nature and distorting the ecological balance punishment would be so giant.
This plan given by the “Subjective Point of View” suddenly associates the audience
who were used to watching the events from the point of an invisible third person (objective
point of view) with the huge tension which a small boy experienced and confronts them with
death.
The balance is an important element of the composition. Every element within the
frame carries a visual weight. The visual weight of an object is related to its dimension. The
location of the object within the image composition, its colour and physical aspects directly
affect this weight. The visual tension emerges as a result of the interactions between
symmetrical and asymmetrical elements and their locations in the frame.

Figure 10
In this plan (Figure10), Krosawa, limited the movement direction of the small boy as a
messenger of a research which may go on forever instead of drawing the spiritual chaos
surrounding the small boy, his hopelessness and this dramatic moment in the story using
close scales.
Although majority of visual composition principles are obeyed, the direction the boy
looks at and the direction he moved towards were intentionally carried to the very left of the
frame contradictory to the rule of one-thirds. This composition lacking of the conformity and
balance successively emphasized the unconformity and imbalance resulting from this, the
emotional trauma which the character encountered during his hopeless journey in order to
redeem him to the foxes and the sorrow he burdened.

4.2. The Topic of the Film: The Peach Orchard

As it was in the first dream, the hero of this dream is also a boy. The film refers to the
toy festival in the Japanese culture. Our hero, at the age of 10, mentions about a girl he
claimed that he has always seen near his siblings.
His sister tells him that he is mistaken. Our hero objects to her and insists that they

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were six sisters. While serving the tea which he brought for her sisters, he sees the girl he was
sure about her existence in the other room. He disobeys his sister’s warning and heads out
after the girl seen only by him. He leaves home. When he reaches the garden, he finds out that
the toys he and his sisters always play are living. They are the spirits of the trees and the lives
of the seeds. The spirits tell the child they will never come to his house anymore because his
family has chopped down the peach trees.
The spirits of the trees ask the boy this question: “How can you celebrate the day of
blooming of peach trees and their coming after those trees have been chopped down?” The
boy who becomes full of sadness due to the missing trees starts to cry. One of the spirits states
that the boy was a good one and he cries whenever a tree is chopped down. Another tree
claims that he feels sad for the missing trees since he can’t eat fruit anymore. Upon this
accusation, the boy objects; “No, the peaches can be bought.
However, where can you buy an entire garden that blooms? I love garden and the
peach trees blooming there. But, they aren’t here anymore. That why I cried.” The spirits of
the trees conclude that the boy is a good person and allow him see the garden just as the trees
are blooming. They show symbolic blooming through dance and music and the garden
becomes bulged with trees. But all the trees luridly disappear again soon afterwards.

4.2.1. The Lightening and Colour in the Second Dream

Figure 11

In this first opening plan of the second film (Figure11), general lightening dominates
the space. The lightening is nearly completely frontal and direct. The qualification of the light
isn’t playful. The main target here is primarily to make the objects visible. The carefully
balanced frontal and outline lights rousingly revealed the picture.
At the same time, it provides general information about the heat of colour, the hour of
the day, the direction of the light and weather conditions. The enlightenment of the stage
through pictorial method presented the sun light coming from the environment as we see in
real life through imitation method. There is no random distribution of light in the place which
makes some elements bright while some others remain in the form of dark shadows. The
director has preferred a soft light which was distributed to the general and concretize the main
lines of the objects instead of lightening in order to feature the player.
The spotlight is purged of the halation of the lens and photopsy which might decrease
the quality of the picture. Natural shadows are away from undesired and disturbing air and
provide the conditions reflected from the nature.
The high-key lightening which dominates the stage provided a bright and energetic air to the
picture and strengthen the sense of reality

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 Figure 12

In this plan (Figure12), the shades dominating the space contribute both the air of the
picture and its aesthetical attractiveness. There are shades varying from medium grey to black
in the foreground. The dark shades which dominate the general parts of the space reflect the
air of quiescence and creates an intimate air.
The picture has heavily been dramatized through the dominance of the fields
employing darker shades in addition to the background animated by a brighter value when
compared to the foreground. Because, this plentiful light in the background where the branch
of peach is located in a vase has created the feeling of airiness and joy when compared to the
general of the picture. The similar shade which covers the wide and distinct part of the stage
provides meaning and power to the picture. The general field of the picture which is
comforted by the distinct, small and bright field creates a serious, sombre and mysterious
effect.

Figure 13

In this plan (Figure13), a polychrome organization is dominant. Through toning, the

director scattered the dominance of the different colours on each other in the picture and
minimized the weight of the third colour to a degree of little if any. The harmony of colours in
the picture was carefully provided through the harmony of hot-cold colour. The colours in the
visual designing of the picture direct the audiences in feeling and perceiving the space where
the story has taken place. The colours in the foreground reflect emotional enthusiasm and joy
while the tones of colour in the background provide quiescence and stillness in addition to a
bit of mystery. Through the hot and cold colours dominating the throughout the stage, a visual
harmony was obtained. An air full with tension created. Using the contrary colours, the
perception of the audiences dominating the stage was increased.

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 Figure 14
The green colour on the ground which dominates the entire picture (Figure14) is
primarily the symbol of nature, earth and spring. Green creates a positive effect on the
audience. On the contrary to all the tones of the colour of green, the spring green existing
here emphasizes a new life, birth, innovation, joy and satisfaction. The green colour which
reminds of harmony, trust and abundance increases the effect of the composition. From the
point of colour perspective, the hot colours in the picture become prominent. The vivid and
bright colours in the frame activate and excite the audience. The colour orange reflects
toughness and enlightenment while white colours reflect cleanness, order and clarity (Kırık,
2013: 74). Moreover, the symbolic meanings of the employed colours make a reference to the
collective unconsciousness from the point of Japanese culture.

5. CONCLUSION

Under the light of the analyzed stages, it is seen that every picture in the film employs
information about the visual organizations and principles of composition which enable
audiences perceive them in a definite order rather than being a simple image. Through those
organizations, the director meticulously emphasized the audience where to look at, where to
concentrate on and which order to look at them. Through both framing and enlightening and
other mise en scene elements, Kurosawa conspiratorially guided the perspective of the
audience and revealed the meanings of the stories.
The analyzed stages contributed the spirit of the story through its visual style having
its own meaning and without needing the external sound, dialogues and other explaining
instruments much. Moreover, the film also has pictorial compositions which transfer the air
and the sub-text. The effect dominating the entire film strengthens the notion. The
cinematographic elements which provide meaning beyond presenting the images solely were
carefully chosen and underlined.
Finally, the pictures gained depth, movement and visual power in the mutual
interaction with different components of visual designing principles.
In accordance with all those explanations, the film we have discussed has importance from the
point of revealing the revolution which cinematography has encountered since the silent-
movie period.

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