FACULTY OF FILM, THEATRE AND ANIMATION (FiTA)

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY MARA (UiTM)

CODE/COURSE NAME:
FFF111 FILM HISTORY

NAME OF LECTURER:
MUHAMMAD SHAHRAZIF BIN TAJUL MUHD MAJIDI

TITTLE OF ASSIGNMENT:
FINAL INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH ESSAY

NAME OF STUDENT AND NO MATRIX:

WAN NOR IKHTISYAM BIN WAN HASSAN BASRI
(2023850804)

PROGRAM/CODE:
CAFF1111 - DIPLOMA IN FILM

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
21 JANUARY 2024
 FINAL INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH ESSAY

In my final individual essay, I want to demonstrate how to conduct appropriate research by

following the guidelines and selecting three questions from the five questions given in the lecture’s
slide that my lecturer had presented to the class. By this essay, I would choose the lecture week 8
which is Japan Cinema.
The three questions that I choose :
Question 1 : Who is Akira Kurosawa and what were his contributions to the world of
cinema?
Question 2 : Who is Yasujiro Ozu and what were his contributions to the world of cinema?
Question 3 : Explain Anime.

AKIRA KUROSAWA

Akira Kurosawa who was born in Tokyo, Japan, on March 23, 1910, and passing away in Tokyo
on September 6, 1998, Akira Kurosawa was the first Japanese director to receive widespread
recognition for his work, which included Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954),
Throne of Blood (1957), Kagemusha (1980), and Ran (1985) .

Akira Kurosawa, a hugely famous Japanese film director and screenwriter who lived from 1910 to
1998, is regarded as one of the most significant and renowned individuals in movie history. He is
well known for his outstanding storytelling, creative methods, and significant influence on the
international film business. Kurosawa frequently examines society problems, the human condition,
and nuanced human emotions in his works.

Early life of Akira Kurosawa

The story of famous Japanese film director began when he leaving secondary school, Kurosawa
started painting in the Western style after enrolling at an art school. Despite receiving significant
art awards, he abandoned his dream of becoming a painter and joined the PCL film studio as an
assistant director in 1936. He was employed there until 1943, mostly serving as Yamamoto
Kajirō's assistant. Yamamoto is one of Japan's most prominent World War II film directors. During
this time, Kurosawa gained recognition as a superb scenarist. Even though some of his best
situations were only written in publications rather than on film, experts recognized them for their
innovative portrayal and gave them prizes.
Akira Kurosawa’s Films

After receiving a promotion to director in 1943, Kurosawa created his first feature film, Sanshiro
Sugata, based on a screenplay he wrote about the Japanese judo experts of the 1880s. The film
was a huge hit with audiences. His second film, Ichiban utsukushiku (The Most Beautiful), which
tells the tale of girls employed in an arsenal, was completed in 1944. He then got married to
Yaguchi Yoko, the actress who had portrayed the movie's lead role, the two of them had a son
and a daughter. He was filming his film Tora no o fumu otokotachi (They Who Step on the Tiger's
Tail), a parody of a well-known Kabuki drama, in August 1945, when Japan made an offer to
surrender in World War II. However, most movies about Japan's feudal history were banned from
being released by the Allied occupation troops, thus this excellent comedy wasn't released until
1952.

In Waga seishun ni kuinashi (1946, No Regrets for Our Youth), Akira Kurosawa uses the
execution of a person suspected of espionage during the war to depict the history of Japanese
militarism from 1933 to the end of the war. This was the most popular postwar film that criticized
Japanese militarism in terms of both artistic and financial success. But it was Kurosawa's work
Yoidore tenshi (1948, Drunken Angel) that established his reputation. This melodramatic tale of a
drunken doctor and a consumptive mobster residing in the postwar devastation of downtown
Tokyo blends violence, misery, and despair. Mifune Toshiro, a fresh actor who rose to fame with
this movie and went on to feature in most of Kurosawa's productions, played the gangster.

Akira Kurosawa’s Contributions to the World of Cinema

When Rashomon by Kurosawa debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 1951, it took home the
Grand Prix. The Academy Award for best foreign-language film was also won by it. For the first
time, a Japanese movie received such widespread praise abroad, and as a result, Japanese
movies gained significant attention worldwide.Furthermore, a number of critics consider Ikiru (To
Live) to be among the best films ever made. It is about a lowly government officer who finds out he
only has six months to live due to cancer. He looks to his family's love for comfort but finds it to be
hollow, he then looks for pleasure but is disappointed. Finally, he finds redemption by utilizing his
status to help the underprivileged. In this film, which is filled with powerful moral lessons, shows
how the family system broke down and how officials in postwar Japan were hypocritical. Kurosawa
does this in a very realistic way. The film represented the living and spiritual state of the Japanese
people at the time, who were starting to recover from the desperation brought on by their defeat in
the war. It was a remarkable sight.
Moreover, Kurosawa's epic Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai) is regarded as his most
commercially successful and enjoyable film. In order to defend the hamlet from a group of roving
bandits, it shows a village of peasants and a few samurai without a leader. It was completely
Japanese in style, even if his love of Hollywood westerns served as inspiration. Ironically, one of
the best American westerns, The Magnificent Seven (1960) directed by John Sturges, was
inspired by Kurosawa's film years later. Another notable achievement of Kurosawa's was his
transformation of classic European literature into Japanese-set motion pictures. The movie
Hakuchi (1951), which is based on the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
Kumonosu-jo (Throne of Blood), which is adapted from Macbeth by Shakespeare, and Donzoko
(1957), which is based on a drama by Maxim Gorky, are all expertly Japaneseized. Throne of
Blood, a film that employs the scenery and acting style of the Japanese Noh play while omitting
the original material, has been dubbed the best of all the numerous Shakespearean tragedies that
have been filmed. Kurosawa's films gave the creative Japanese film, which had been following a
naturalistic trend, a distinct sense of style. His more commercial works' violent action also had a
significant impact.

After Akira Kurosawa Rashomon's groundbreaking success, several Japanese directors gained
sizable foreign fan bases, but Kurosawa's films still arouse strong attention in the West. In the
subtlety of their feeling and philosophy, the mastery of their visual composition, and the way they
treat samurai and other historical Japanese themes, they represent a singular fusion of elements
of Japanese art with a distinctly Western feeling for action and drama and a frequent use of stories
from Western sources, both popular thrillers and literary classics. Kurosawa received a great deal
of recognition for his work in movies and throughout his career. The Japan Art Association
awarded him the Premium Imperiale prize for theater/film in 1992, the Directors Guild of America
gave him a lifetime achievement award in 1992, and the 1982 Venice Film Festival awarded him a
Golden Lion for Career Achievement.

YASUJIRO OZU

Yasujiro Ozu was born in 12th December 1903 Tokyo, Japan. He died at the age of 60 on 12th
December 1963. Filmmaker of motion pictures who founded the genre of shomin-geki, or
"common-people's drama," which focuses on Japanese families in the lower middle class.
Because of his films' emphasis on home connections, their intricate character depictions, and their
visual beauty, Ozu was regarded as the most characteristically Japanese of all the directors and
won more awards in his native nation than any other. Ozu, who was born and raised in Tokyo,
joined the Shōchiku Motion Picture Company in Tokyo as an assistant cameraman in 1923. He
was a director by the mid-1920s, but it wasn't until the early 1930s that he made a name for
himself with exceptional shomin-geki silent comedies like Umarete wa mita keredo (1932; I Was
Born, But... ) and Daigaku wa deta keredo (1929; I Graduated, But... ). His first box office hit came
ten years later with Toda-ke no kyodai (1941; The Toda Brother and His Sisters), a study of
Japanese ideas about motherhood. Between 1942 and 1947, Ozu did not produce any films. A
concern for wartime conditions was mixed with a further refinement of style in a series of
photographs that began in 1947 with Nagaya Shinshi Roku (The Record of a Tenement
Gentleman). Plot was all but discarded in favor of mood and in-depth character analysis. In favor
of simple pictorial pictures, he virtually completely gave up on techniques like camera movement.
The films that best represent this approach are Banshun (1949, Late Spring), Bakushu (1951,Early
Summer), O-chazuke no aji (1952; The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice), Tōkyō monogatari (1953,
Tokyo Story), and Sōshun (1956, Early Spring). All of these films contributed to Ozu's rise to
prominence on a global scale. Later motion pictures like An Autumn Afternoon (1962) and Early
Autumn (1961) demonstrate Ozu's mastery of the decorative use of color in cinema.

Yasujiro Ozu’s Contributions to the World of Cinema

Ozu's unique addition to photography is his usage of still images captured from the viewpoint of a
subject sitting on a traditional Japanese tatami mat. These compositions turned into trademarks of
his work, as did "pillow shots," which are quick, non-narrative looks at objects or scenery. Ozu's
films were elevated above standard cinematic techniques by his painstaking attention to framing,
which gave them a reflective character.

Ozu's films are praised for emphasizing the commonplace elements of everyday existence. He
depicted generational conflicts and the changing responsibilities of women in post-war Japan,
delving deeply into the complexity of family relationships. Considered by many to be his
masterpiece, "Tokyo Story" is a moving examination of the generational divide and evolving family
dynamics.

Over his career, Ozu maintained a constant visual and narrative style. His method was
characterized by slow pacing, low camera angles, and a departure from conventional Hollywood
continuity editing. Rather than limiting his inventiveness, this consistency became a trademark and
added to the ageless appeal of his movies.

Ozu's influence on film goes beyond his lifetime; other directors have named him as one of their
main inspirations. Filmmakers that have praised Ozu's work include Yasmin Ahmad, Hou Hsiao-
hsien, and Wim Wenders. His focus on humanity, universal themes, and a profound
comprehension of the human experience appeals to artists of all ages and backgrounds.
Even though Ozu's films have a strong Japanese cultural influence, they deal with universal
themes like grief, love, family, and the passing of time. since of its universality, his work has
endured since it is understandable and relatable to people all across the world.

Yasujiro Ozu made numerous, long-lasting contributions to international film. He is regarded as a

cinematic icon because of his avant-garde visual style, thematic examination of ordinary life and
family relationships, and impact on upcoming directors. Ozu's legacy is still honored today, and his
films continue to be timeless masterpieces that inspire viewers to consider the complexities of the
human condition on a cross-cultural level.

Yasujiro Ozu’s Awards

The renowned Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu profoundly explored human connections and had a
distinctive storytelling technique that made a lasting impression on world cinema. Although there
may not have been as many prizes during Ozu's active years as there are now, his efforts were
acknowledged on a national and worldwide level. This essay examines Yasujiro Ozu's noteworthy
honors and accomplishments as well as the lasting impact he has had on the film industry.

Yasujiro Ozu won the Japanese Academy Prize, and his films were well-received in his native
country. Ozu's 1957 film "Tokyo Twilight" in particular won him the Best Director prize,
demonstrating both his influence on Japanese cinema and his ability to tell gripping stories.

Not only that, "Tokyo Twilight," one of Ozu's films, became well-known worldwide. His work was
recognized worldwide with Golden Lion nominations at the 1957 Venice Film Festival, competition
selections at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival, and 1958 Berlin International Film Festival.

Ozu is praised for his cross-culturally relevant films that tackle universal topics. His work has
endured because it speaks to audiences all across the world and provides deep understanding of
the human condition, even though he did not win many international honors during his lifetime.

Despite not always receiving a ton of honors during his career, Yasujiro Ozu's contributions to film
have created a lasting legacy. His artistic abilities were recognized by the Japanese Academy
Prize's Best Director award as well as by foreign festival honors. But Ozu's real legacy can be
seen in the impact he has had and continues to have on filmmakers throughout the world. His
films explore the complexities of human relationships in a way that is both universally relevant and
regionally specific. When we consider all of Yasujiro Ozu's achievements, we see that his
influence on film is not limited to accolades but rather ingrained in the medium itself.
ANIME

The Japanese slang word anime (a·nuh·mei) is an acronym for the word "animation." In Japan,

animation of any kind, from anywhere, is commonly referred to as anime (アニメ). However,
anime is often understood to mean Japanese-produced animation outside of Japan. Since anime's
inception more than a century ago, its differentiation from cartoons is more cultural than
technological. With a rich and illustrious history spanning more than a century, anime is a unique
style of Japanese animation. Anime has developed into a broad and significant entertainment
genre from its modest beginnings to its rise to global cultural prominence. This essay explores the
intriguing beginnings, growth, significant turning points, and worldwide influence of anime,
securing its position in the annals of animation history.

The early 20th century saw the rise of Japanese animation pioneers, which is when anime first
emerged. Directed by Jun'ichi Kōuchi, "Namakura Gatana" (An Obtuse Sword), was the first
known Japanese animation, released in 1917. Western animation styles, especially those of
American and European artists, had an effect on these early animations. More animated films
began to appear in the years prior to World War II as studios experimented with various methods
and aesthetics. Prominent individuals such as Kenzō Masaoka and Yasuji Murata made significant
contributions to Japan's expanding animation sector. Then, the Japanese animation industry was
greatly impacted by World War II. Anime was utilized as propaganda during the conflict. Japan
went through a period of economic and cultural reconstruction after the war, which paved the way
for anime to emerge as a unique and significant art form.

Often referred to as the "God of Manga," Osamu Tezuka was instrumental in establishing the
contemporary animation genre. The first anime TV series was created in 1963 based on his
influential manga "Astro Boy" (Tetsuwan Atom). Tezuka's inventive narrative techniques and
character designs established the fundamental aspects of anime.

Then it comes to rise of anime studios. Major animation studios were established in the 1960s and
1970s. Established in 1956, Toei Animation rose to prominence by creating beloved animated
series like "Dragon Ball" and "Sailor Moon." Films like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away"
brought Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata international recognition, as did other studios like
Studio Ghibli. Anime became more and more popular outside of Japan throughout the 1980s and
1990s. The popularity of television shows like "Dragon Ball Z," "Naruto," and "Pokémon" signaled
the emergence of fandom throughout the world. The globalization of anime and the rise of
specialized conventions and communities were made possible by the internet, which was
instrumental in uniting fans around the globe.
The anime industry has changed as a result of technological developments in animation,
particularly the usage of computer-generated imagery (CGI). Although hand-drawn animation is
still widely used, computer-generated imagery (CGI) has been included to improve visual effects
and narrative.

Also, in order to appeal to a wide spectrum of audiences, anime has evolved. These days, genres
include horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, and slice of life. The media has also welcomed
sophisticated, intricate stories that tackle philosophical and societal subjects.

Anime : Factors Behind Its Popularity

A particular kind of Japanese animation known as anime has become incredibly popular all around
the world. Lets examines the various factors that contribute to anime's immense appeal, looking at
its many genres, captivating narratives, distinctive visual aesthetic, inventive technology, and the
active international fandom that surrounds it.

First of all, it’s a wide spectrum of audiences. A large spectrum of tastes and interests can be
satisfied by anime, which is part of its attraction. Everybody can find their ideal anime, whether
they are drawn to romantic comedies, futuristic sci-fi, action-packed adventures, or mystical
fantasy. Anime has a wide and welcoming following thanks to its varied range of genres.

The primary characteristics of anime are capable of creating a hypnotic story. Anime storylines
seem to achieve depth through the intelligent approaches of complex plots, character
development, and complicated philosophical ideas that evoke viewer involvement. This narrative
tool enhances the emotional attachment viewers have towards the medium. Furthermore, one of
the main distinctions of anime is its distinctive visual art form. Anime is full of vibrant colors,
exaggerated character designs, and imaginative settings. The artistic aspect in the production of
anime makes it distinct and vivid.

While anime does use certain elements of Japanese culture, at the same time it analyzes
universal themes and feelings. The subtle balance that cultural specificity and universality unfolds
allows anime to transcend geographical and cultural limitations, which makes it accessible to its
global audience. Anime production companies are constantly using technology to advance their
animation quality. Rather, CGI and other innovative methods are woven into the visual effects,
thus making the medium technologically advanced and visually entertaining to the audience.
Certainly, the most important aspect of worldwide anime is the internet. The streaming channels
and online forums enable fans with diverse backgrounds access to watch, and discuss their
cherished anime shows and movies.

Also, the passionate and dynamic anime fandom is a notable component of it. Cosplay,
conventions, and even online activity such as forums allow fans to form a community. This
generalized passion amplifies the overall anime mood and adds to the sense of unity .As anime
has permeated the contemporary mainstream popular culture, other media forms have been
impacted. Crossover appeal and visibility are also due to various collaborations between anime
and global brands or franchises, as well as references in video games and fashion.

In addition, the popularity of anime is highly linked to its relation to manga, which is Japanese
comics or graphic novels. Many anime are adapted from major manga series, offering a steady
flow of exciting material for devotees of the genre.

Lastly, the popularity of anime is the result of how the factors that make up its various genres,
riveting storylines, unique style, technological innovation, international outreach, and fanatical
devotees combine and evolve. The anime‘s popularity that continues over the time and is watched
by millions of people worldwide indicates its cultural value and never-ending interest. First of all,
anime is strong in its visuals of telling multilayered stories and create stunning imaginary worlds
that refuse to disappear from this world.

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Empire. (2020). Empire. https://www.empireonline.com/people/akira-kurosawa/

Akira Kurosawa. (1910, March 23). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000041/

The Signature Style of Yasujiro Ozu. (2015, December 11). The Criterion Collection.
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3836-the-signature-style-of-yasujiro-ozu
Ebert, R. (2013). Saluting a Master Of the Cinema, Yasujiro Ozu | Interviews | Roger Ebert.
Rogerebert.com; RogerEbert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/saluting-a-
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Deguzman, K. (2021, December 5). Anime — Origins, Evolution and Modern Examples.
StudioBinder. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-anime-definition-examples/

What is anime? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). WhatIs.com.

https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/anime

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2020). Anime | Japanese Animation | Britannica.

In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/anime-Japanese-animation

Team, N. F. I. (2022, June 15). What is Anime? Everything You Need To Know. NFI.
https://www.nfi.edu/what-is-anime/

The Rising Popularity of Anime. (n.d.). The Everyday.

https://theeverydaymagazine.co.uk/photographyandfilm/the-rising-popularity-of-anime

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