With the second part of Yukihiko Tsutsumi's massive three film adaptation of end-of-the-world conspiracy manga 20th Century Boys due to hit screens in Japan next month I've been getting a little bit anxious for the trailers and things to show up. After all, if the first film was all about setting up the scenario - which it was - then film two is where we should finally get to see the action really get rolling.
The first trailer for the second installment actually began circulating online a couple of weeks back but at the time all that was available was a very low grade version of the trailer, apparently taped from television broadcast - so there are logos stamped all over it - then redubbed seven or eight times then left sitting on top of a magnet for an hour or two and then finally digitized and uploaded to YouTube, which degraded the video even further. I'm exaggerating some, but not that much, and that particular version of the trailer was such poor quality that it was nearly impossible to make out what was going on in key scenes so I've been holding off until a good version finally became available. Which happened today.
Yes, there are giant robots within, and you'll find the trailer along with the trailers for Part One below the break in the Twitch Player.
That definitely looked better than the trailers for the first part.
This is kind of off topic, but the trailer brings up an old question of mine. And seeing how there's many Japanese cinema aficiondas around here, thought I'd bring it up.
One thing I really don't understand about Japanese cinema. Why do things always look soo cheaply done? They're one of the most technically advanced nations in the world. I remember being BLOWN away by their movie theaters and the crystal clear digital projection.
Yet, with the odd exception or two with films like Casshern, their films generally always look sloppy on a "technical" level. Japanese films of the 70's utilized amazing, vibrant technicolor, yet the vast majority of contemporary films I see now look like crap.
I understand the budget isn't there for huge effects. But it's the image itself. The film stocks used in contemporary Japanese movies are almost always muddy, grainy with washed out colors for the most part. Kodak is Japanese right? Canon is Japanese isn't it? Do they not bother with color correction in post on films at all?
They create the technology American, European, hell, Indian studios use to create "asthetically" beautiful films. Yet Japanese films are generally lit and shot in a fashion befitting a sophmore year film student.
This was obviously shot on video but the trend remains. There's some impressive images as far as costume design and art direction is concerned, yet the bad lighting and amateur looking video image distracts from that.
This is supposed to be EPIC right? It doesn't look like its production values are any different from a Japanese soap opera. I mean, it's really " DV video" looking. It could be high def, but it's just not shot well enough to actually look high def.
I'm still interested and eargerly awaiting an english friendly dvd for the first film though.
Indiemaker0583 is making some good points. I totally concur with his "soap opera" remark.
This looks as cheap as Zebraman, but without that movie's irreverent charm....
I wonder if the trailer matches the actual movie shown in theaters though.. the AR seems wrong to me in all the trailers originating from the official website.
as far as cruddy cinematography in general goes, in the 90s it was just a lot of indie filmmakers using 16mm.. today it's probably just a lot of former V-cinema and TV guys sticking with DV because it's what they know. Tsutsumi is a TV guy and has used the same cinematographer (Satoru Karasawa) for 10+ years.
pt 2: yowza! exciting conspiracy end of world feel.
it depends on the makers' backgrounds. people who started in SFX (shinji higuchi of Lorelei), MV (Casshern, Memories of Matsuko guys?), or fashion photography (Sakuran woman), or still photography (lotsa indie folks) will have different styles/aesthetics. the golden era up to 60s due to financial/structural reasons stopped their apprentice system, so there's a huge gap in passing down the know-how. once TV-style shooting led to some lucrative BO, they didn't find a reason to change when making series/manga-to-film adaptations. you can check midnighteye.com for a lot of these people's backgrounds & trends.
I've worked on Japanese movie sets [small budget or the biggest] and the big boys were using both HD and Film [Arriflex Cameras] to get the goods.
Usually, the Arri was only relied on when they needed to shoot something in pretty slo mo.
HD is cheaper and easier to work with these days, especially seeing as how all J Movies have impacted time schedules and less than stellar pre-production.
I do agree with your statements, too often films look mottled, washed out and I know that sometimes, it's a visual choice but often...and I'm being blunt...they don't care enough.
Getting that oh so important money shot with Hollywood style lighting just isn't feasible or important, as long as the story comes across.
Many a D.P has cried on my soggy shoulder as they've wished for a schedule or director that will let them use a complex lighting system.
Also, often J films do not use sets, they film on location, limiting the lovely light options.
Build on a set [Ala Sakuran] or CG [Casshern] or any Kitamura flick and you'll get some good stuff.
I've seen the first film, and can definitely say that the visual quality of the trailers is spectacularly off from the actual product in theaters.
In fact, it was so jarring it threw me completely off guard.