(clickthru for full video clip)
The first episode of Blue Eye Samurai "Hammersmith" uses framing, blocking, edit, and depth of field to "Show Don't Tell" how important hair is, personally and culturally.
First, Mizu is framed wide approaching the river, so we know (and we know she knows) she's alone, before she uncovers her head, and lets her hair down.
Mizu's hair coming down 'match cuts' to Princess Akemi's hair (also down, and in the same place in frame) as she brushes it.
Akemi's scene continues to be about hair, here tied somewhat closer to aesthetics and beauty. As Akemi examines her reflection, we see her in the mirror, while close to camera her hair takes up fully half of frame.
Akemi compares herself to a drawing, bits of which we see in extreme closeup. She pulls her hair up and smiles . . . then drops it with a sigh.
As Akimi's smile and hair both fall, cut to Taigen - whom we last saw on the ground as Mizu's sword whooshed towards him.
Between Taigen and the camera, fully in focus while Taigen is soft, lies a knot of hair.
Taigen reaches and grabs it as he sits up, focus shifting to his head and making it clearer that the pale circle we saw is his scalp - because Mizu cut his topknot off!
As Taigen turns, showing his bald spot again, focus racks to the three men who turn their backs and walk away, demonstrating he is dishonoured because of losing his fight and his hair.
By featuring hair in different ways, centring and (literally) focusing on it in three different context, Blue Eye Samurai doesn't need any dialogue in these scenes to *clearly* tell us about the importance of hair in this world.
Status Post #11800 (reblog): Interesting facts.
