Montage and Contrast in the Cinematic Works of Japanese Animators: An Exploration of "Visual Force" with Particular Attention to the Works of Shinkai Makoto
Year: 2025
Type: other
Abstract: ## METADATA NOTICE This record provides metadata for the embargoed doctoral thesis titled “Montage and Contrast in the Cinematic Works of Japanese Animators: An Exploration of 'Visual Force' with Particular Attention to the Works of Shinkai Makoto”submitted to the University of Canterbury and currently under institutional embargo. Full thesis will be made publicly available after 30 September 2025: https://libcat.canterbury.ac.nz/Record/in1362023(Relationship type: `isMetadataFor`, per DataCite Schema 4.5) Please do not cite, redistribute, or reproduce this work prior to the embargo date. This thesis explores the possibilities of analyzing montage within the Japanese cinematic animation oeuvre in terms of “visual force”, with particular attention to transitions in colouration and light. This approach is distinct from previous scholarship which can be characterized as tending to analyze the animated image in relation to the relatively conventional parameters of line, composition of forms in the mise en scène and movement. Naturally these parameters continue to be relevant but the contention here is that a deeper understanding of montage is possible if this is augmented with the analysis of transitions of lighting and colouration which operate on a less tangible level. To facilitate this analysis the author has adapted the Adobe Illustrator setup within txhe Adobe Creative Suite, semi-automatically linking with Photoshop and After Effects to track transitions in colouring frame by frame within a sequence and calculate the average of transitions in colouration or light, and visualise them diagrammatically on two axes, typically with “intensity” being indicated on the vertical axis and the frequency and duration of a particular change being mapped on the horizontal axis. This enables us to see dynamic variations in intensity and duration in real time which is inherently more dynamic than an analysis of frames in isolation. The reason that this method works well in this context is largely due to the fact that animation creates and manipulates colour through creative design and not by capturing images with a camera and then editing for continuity and post-production effects. Accordingly it is argued that it is precisely this rather distinctive technical dimension to the creation of cinematic animated images that facilitates an examination on how subtle and less tangible impacts are generated with a particular intensity and a distinct quality of “affect”. The term “visual force” is used to describe in general terms the kinds of impact that operate in this subtle way to generate affect. What is worth accentuating is how these disparate forces also lead toward the re-concentration of “affect”, presenting an innovative form of spectacle which is employed to cultivate distinctive propensities for ‘metaphor’ and ‘allegory’, and to compose an “affective” dimension which does not conform to conventional narrative strategies, but supplements them in highly innovative ways. This thesis has explored the technical dimension of Japanese anime in a way that substantially goes further than the 2D cel animation starting point used by Thomas Lamarre in The Anime Machine, focusing on the animated image by discussing it as part of the “post-cinematic” moment which entails the emergence of distinctive visual phenomena, bringing about a transformation in narrative conventions, character design and the possibilities of generating “affect”. Accordingly, this thesis aims to articulate how the principle of “visual forces” can be applied to cinematic anime, focusing on Shinkai Makoto and Kon Satoshi while using Oshii Mamoru and Miyazaki Hayao as contrasting case study material. This thesis includes case studies of the works of each of these four directors, marking and tracking the changes in the relations of key technical elements to analyze the changes of intensity associated with lighting, and especially changes in colours. Subsequently this thesis will refer back to the case studies and generate a dynamic methodology of aesthetic analysis to clarify the distinctive visual force techniques relevant to each director and to establish key criteria. The final chapter focuses on Shinkai Makoto in particular as his stylistic signature is very emphatically rooted in techniques that manipulate light and colour, and this form the basis of a distinctive aesthetic of animation which has arguably created a new standard of animation techniques for contemporary “post-cinematic” film making.
Author: Wang, Xiaomeng
Language: English
Topic: Cinema History and Criticism
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6949395262
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