Modern Anime Composition
Scene from The Big OThe use of color and shape in American cartoons is a direct descendant of seven minute Warner Brothers shorts. Bright primary and secondary colors, the same as from a small box of crayons. Objects have heavy black outlines. Bright contrasting colors, the same as on children’s’ toys. Every scene is filled with light even if it is taking place in a dark cave, and the camera angle is stuck in a perpetual three quarters view.
The simple shapes and simple colors are designed to appeal to the very young. It is designed to sell a product, like a bright colored cereal box. Japanese animation, in contrast, is not all produced for those who are still on their first set of teeth. Visual design and color schemes are wildly varied and custom tailored to suit the mood of the anime.
A “shining” example of how different style can be is the 1999 television series The Big O. The story is set in Paradigm City, the last remaining corner of organized civilization left in a post apocalyptic future.
“This place, Paradigm City, is a city town of forgetfulness. On a day 40 years ago every person here lost every memory of everything which had occurred before that day. But humans are adaptable creatures, they make due and go on with life… They can still have something of a civilization, even without a history… But memories, like nightmares sometimes appear when you least expect it.”1
More scenes from The Big O:
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The Big O is a film noir, just like any classic detective movie. “Film Noir (literally ‘black film or cinema’) was coined by French film critics who noticed the trend of how ‘dark’ and black the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France following the war. It was a style of black and white American films that first evolved in the 1940s. Strictly speaking, however, film noir is not a genre, but rather the mood, style, point-of-view, or tone of a film.”2
The color pallet in Big O is dark, black together with dark browns, grays, and blues make up most of the color. When other colors appear they are always very dark or very pale, as if the life was being drained out of them. The noir color scheme is so well done that the few times in the series where Roger Smith (protagonist) goes into a area with bright lights and rich hues instead to seeming happy or exciting like it normally would. The scene gains and other worldly sense of foreboding, just like the airplane scene from North by Northwest.
Film noir is not the only motif Big O borrows from the 1940s. Everything in the series is drawn in an Art Deco style. This style was popular in America during the 1920’s , 30’s, and 40’s. Art Deco is characterized by long, thin forms, curving surfaces, and geometric patterning. The practitioners of the style attempted to describe the sleekness they thought expressive of the machine age.
The style influenced all aspects of art and architecture, as well as the decorative, graphic, and industrial arts. Works executed in the Art Deco style range from skyscrapers and ocean liners to toasters and jewelry.3 The world of Paradigm City is a 1940s vision of the future.
The technology is much more advanced than what we have today but the style of the show makes it seem dated. This style reinforces the the degenerative state of the post apocalyptic society. Added to the dark and retro-futuristic themes the animators make use of zoomed out shots, close ups, and odd camera angles. The Big O is a great example of how different animation can be from the established norm (in America) is. Being an Anime director in Japan can be a serious job. This series’ cinematic effects make it seem more like an actual film shot on a set using real actors than a quick and dirty Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Footnotes:
1. Hajime Yatate, The Big O (Original Creator)
2. www.filmsite.org
3. “Art Deco” The Columbia Encyclopedia , 6th ed.