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Shall We Dansu Essay

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The film Shall We Dansu? (1995), directed by Masayuki Suo, is a heart-warming and a slice of life film that has touched the lives of everyday people. It is one of the films that has gained an exceptional popularity across the Japanese cinema along with great reviews given by prominent film critics across the globe. In this paper, I will focus on analyzing the cinematic techniques of one particular scene in the film and how they affect the development of the story. The scene that I will focus on is at the end of the film when Mai teaches dance sequences to Sugiyama and Toyoko to prepare them for the amateur dancing competition. There are multiple cinematic techniques used in this scene: medium and long shots, warm lighting, diegetic sounds of Mai’s voice overlapped by the non-diegetic sound of orchestra music, and complex camera work that follows along the dance sequences. These film techniques help understand Mai’s character in more depth, set colorful and buoyant atmosphere and put emphasis on the overall themes of the film. After breaking down the scene into individual frames, both medium and medium close-up shots are frequently used to emphasize Mai’s emotional development. The medium shot is a framing that shows the upper half body …show more content…

The medium close-up shots of Mai’s decisive and smiling faces, warm lighting, and diegetic sound of her voice indicates that she has overcome her past discouragement through dancing. Her smiling face in Fig. 1C depicts that she has clearly regained her confidence and true passion in dancing to continue her dream as a dancer. Her smile looks more illuminated with the help of lighting and the medium close-up shot distinctly captured her emotion, drawing the audience deeply into Mai’s disposition, thoughts, and

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