In film narrative, the role of space is mainly reflected in two aspects. "On the one hand, it is a place of behavior, and the space at this time is more of a background role", on the other hand, space can be regarded as a structure, and the space itself at this time becomes the object and content of the narrative, not only a place of behavior, but also a "place of action", with its own narrative initiative, which plays an important role in the shaping of the character image in the narrative of the story, the psychological performance of the characters, the development and change of the plot structure, and the embodiment of the symbols and metaphors of the story.
Space and people
Space shapes the persona
The shaping of the character image by space refers to the space as the place of action of the character, the place of life and action of the character, and the shape of the space often reflects the character characteristics of the character.
What kind of character the characters in the story have, what kind of spatial shapes will be created to match them, and these spatial shapes, in turn, are shaping the overall image of the characters. Imatoshi once said that in the production of animated films, "it is more important to show the impression than to draw it carefully, and it is not casual to draw", so as to show that every arrangement of his has a purpose, and it is not unintentional or random to be placed there.
Among the various spaces, the room as a "home" is the most closely related to people, and the "home" in which the protagonists live is often used in movies to create corresponding characters. "Unhemp Room" is Weima's home, and as the "second protagonist" in "Unhemp Buya", it plays an important role in shaping the character image of "Mist Yue Weima".
In the film, "unhemp room" has two meanings, one refers to a personal website called "unhemp room" on the network, and the other refers to the real room in unhemp life. In the "unhemp room" in the network, it is the dwelling place of the unhemp image. There is a column called "Unhemp Diary", which contains a daily diary written in the unhemp tone.
The image of the untouched in this space is revealed through the text and photographic records in the diary. In the diary, Weima is portrayed as a victim image who is forced by an economic company and does not want to become an actor but wants to continue to be an idol, and the "Weima" on the Internet strongly denies the efforts and costs paid by the real Weima to become an actor, and still wants to maintain the pure idol image of "Weima" on the Internet, and instigates fans to kill the real Weima, and impose the pure image he maintains on the network on the real Weima.
In the real "unhemp room", when the image of Weihemp is still a pure idol, the unhemp room is clean and tidy, clothes are neatly hung on hangers, magazines and books are neatly placed in bookcases, all kinds of furniture are neat and bright, a specific space is set aside in the room to stack dolls and souvenirs sent by fans, the corner is also decorated with dried flower bouquets made of flowers sent by fans, and there is a fish tank on the cabinet next to the TV, which contains carefully fed tropical fish.
This clean, bright, warm and lively space, full of girly feelings, shows the innocent and pure and positive image that was not numbed at the beginning of the film. As Weima went further and further in the career transition to an actor, the "Weima's room" began to change accordingly.
First it went from neat and clean to disorganized, and then it was chaotic and cluttered piled up, as if no one had cleaned the room for a long time. The chaotic "Weima's room" shows the chaotic state of Weima's whole person, reflecting the image of a mature actress who has not yet fully shaped and is in chaos after Weima's pure idol image has abandoned.
In "Tokyo Godfather", the homeless house where Ah Hua and Ah Jin temporarily live is also an important part of shaping Ah Hua's image. In the movie, although A Hua is a male wanderer, his identity as a homosexuality gives him a feminine temperament, coupled with good cultural accomplishment, forming a warm and sensual maternal temperament on his body, so that A Hua appears in the movie as a sensual maternal image without a sense of violation, which can be reflected in Ah Hua's arrangement of the room.
The homeless man's house was originally made of old cardboard, and the original appearance of the interior was naturally shabby, but the home was posted with a beach painting "wallpaper" with blue sky and white clouds, blue sea and white sand, a variety of life-rich photos behind the bed, a small kitchen in the corner was neatly placed with bottles and jars neatly stored in a plastic frame, a small table behind Ah Hua placed a photo of him and his dead lover, and a wine bottle with a rose next to it.
It can be seen that the arrangement of all this room is naturally not the work of the sloppy Akin, all these things have been marked with the unique mark of Ahua, reflecting Ahua's love of life, full of warmth and motherhood.
Although the family of Sachiko Nishizawa who abducted Kiyoko due to family misfortune in the film is an apartment, the room is filled with all kinds of leftover takeaway boxes from the inside to the outside, the ashtray on the table is stuffed with cigarette butts, the clotheslines pulled up around the room are full of crumpled clothes, empty wine bottles, rotten magazines, old newspapers are mixed with white garbage piles, so that there is no place to stay.
Bags of garbage have been piled up on sleeping quilts because of too much, and the whole room has become a sea of garbage, and the people living in it are not homeless but more like homeless people. In the shape of the space of Sachiko Nishizawa House, the image of a couple living in decadence all day and living a depressed and unhappy life is created.
The spaces in which the various characters in "Red Hot Chili Peppers" are located also reflect their personal image characteristics. The chairman's office is spacious and bright, behind the desk is a huge bookcase, riding neatly arranged with sets of European-bound exquisite books, the room is surrounded by greenery, in the chairman's huge office, people have become a small part, the side reflects the chairman's majestic image and the desire to control people's control.
Compared with the chairman's gorgeous and spacious office, the studio of Tokida, a genius inventor at the same research and development company, is like a small warehouse storing sundries, stacked with various machinery, wires and parts, several computers and controllers running at the same time, making the room very hot, and the only tool to cool down is a small, worn electric fan.
This kind of workspace not only shows that Shitian, as a high-end scientific and technological talent, is squeezed by the company to the best of his resources, but also reflects the image of Shitian as a science and technology fanatic who does not care about material satisfaction and devotes himself to scientific research and development.
Space expresses the psychology of the characters
The expressive effect of space on the psychology of characters is mainly reflected in the transformation of space modeling and the use of subjective lenses in the film. The transformation of space shape can reflect the change of the state of the character and show the psychology of the character's change. The subjective lens represents the character's observation of the environment, and the image in the lens is a reflection of the character's heart and reflects the character's psychological state.
In "The House of Unhema", on the road to transformation from an idol to an actress, Yuma's agent Rumi and the company's president Tachi have had many disputes, and in the scene space of the three disputes between the two, the difference in space modeling reflects the transformation of the character's psychological state.
In the first argument, Rumi and Tasho sit on one side of the table, and Yuma is sandwiched in the middle, facing away from the camera, and the image of the three is reflected on the glass case behind them.
Rumi disagrees with Yuma's complete transformation into an actor, while Tasho supports Yuma's abandonment of idol status. At this time, Weima has not yet made a decision, and his heart is uncertain about whether to continue to be an idol or transform into an actor, and the spatial shape of the three-person position reflects Weima's ambivalence.
In the second dispute between Rumi and Tasho over Yuma, the spatial position of the two is still sitting on one side, and between the two is a TV, and the TV series in which Yuma participates is playing, at this time, Yuma is absent, and the withdrawal of Yuma in the quarrel suggests that Yuma's position began to change in the choice of being an idol or an actor. The third dispute between Rumi and Tasho also took place in the office, and this time, Yuma officially decided to abandon his idol identity and become an actor.
In the same space as the first dispute, the three are still in the same position, but in the performance of the movie camera, only the shadow of Oma and Tasho is printed in the mirror behind him, and Rumi is excluded. It shows that at this moment, Weima's heart began to be firm, and he completely stood on the side of Tian Suo. In the same space of the firm, the different shapes of the characters' positions reflect the course of psychological change and the change of psychological state of the central character.
Imatoshi's films often focus on integrating detailed portrayal into the portrayal of spatial scenes, so as to better express the psychology of the characters and show the inner activities of the characters, not only "The Unhemp Buya", but also "Tokyo Godfather". The various architectural images of houses in the space shape reflect the inner state of the characters from the side.
The tearful house reflects Ahua's reluctance towards Kiyoko.
The mocking house shows Ah Hua's mockery of Ah Jin's bad gambling luck.
The terrifying house shows Miyuki's inner uneasiness when she is held hostage by a foreign killer.
The dignified house shows the solemnity of Akin when he will face a battle next.
The laughing house shows the excitement of the two when Akin and his daughter meet.
The smiling house reflects the joy in everyone's heart after finding their "home" at the end of the film.
Another major aspect of the character's psychology is the display of the subjective lens in the lens space, and the subjective lens, as a narrative from the perspective of the character, reflects the direct emotional and psychological embodiment of the characters for what they see and the situation they are in.
When Weima participated in the performance of the TV series "doublebind" for the first time, the movie used flashing subjective shots to quickly skim through the scenes, the camera was shaken from left to right, and then from right to left, representing Weima's line of sight looking around, the people in the camera looked at the camera obliquely, secretly or honestly looking at the camera, that is, looking at Weima, some people's faces even had mocking smiles, these subjective shots showed Weima's extreme lack of confidence in himself who was still a rookie actor, Thinking that others are secretly watching their every move, secretly evaluating themselves, the different forms of the lens space show changes in the psychology of Wei Nuan.
When Weima is being tricked by the producer to perform the rape scene in real life, the constant appearance of looking up at the stage lights above his head is a confirmation of whether Weima is in reality, reflecting Weima's anxiety and confusion about not knowing what will happen next.
And when it is really violated, the camera quickly skims over the faces of the lively people around with a flashing technique, representing the viewing from the subjective line of sight of Weima, sometimes blurry, sometimes wandering the lens picture, as if in the unreal, reflecting the instability of Weima's mental state, showing the fall and collapse of Weima's inner wandering between the real and the unreal in this fake performance.