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katiaelizabethanderson-blog · 5 years ago

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Ohayo ((オハヨウ) Satoshi Kon (2008) Film & Animation

scene 1 - 5

scene 6 - 11

scene 12 - 17

scene 18 - 23

scene 24 - 29

scene 30 - 35

The scene numbering is to make it easier to read the text as it might be hard to read in the screenshots, but the screen grabs of the scenes are still easily visible. Below is the corresponding notes (numbered) for each scene.

Scene Notes

The first scene is a title page, written in japanese is the word ‘Ohayo’, which translates to goodmorning in english.

This transitions with a close-up of some objects in the main characters room, a happy birthday flower bouquet.

This is the close-up. It pans down slightly, and transitions (the same way, by fading in opacity) to another detailed close-up.

Presumably a birthday present, and a birthday card. Some princess pink quilted handbag and basket (maybe lunchbox?) has flowers and the same ribbon as the bouquet. These items seem out of place in such a messy apartment with muted colours and old fashioned patterns as seen from the rest of the scene(s).

Cut to a close up of the main character who is trying to ignore her phone alarm. The outer edges of these close up shots are out of focus, leaving only the features of the face in sharp clarity, so we remain focused on the subject.

She scrunches up her face, an honest expression, unable to ignore the alarm any longer.

Wider shot of the room reveals a messy room, cluttered with things and posters all over the place. She lifts herself up heavily, slumped, and reaches out to grab her phone to shut off the alarm.

The one half of her remaining in bed is noticeably more opaque than the one who gets up to turn the alarm off.

Cut to her in the kitchen, where she bends down almost out of shot to get some orange juice out of the fridge. I like the portrayal of a woman here, as seen in the scrunched up face. It is an honest look at a real person, not an idealistic one, who is just finding it a bit hard to get up in the morning. It isn’t trying to make her look beautiful in every shot, and that’s relatable and real.

She glugs down the orange juice, tilting her head all the way back and finishing the carton. We see through her ghostly figure. The rest of the room is very dark, so we can assume it’s early, as we see the blinds are drawn but it is still very dark. We see her glugging the juice down from the way her neck moves, indicating big gulps. Again, this is honest and truthful portrayal of how people look in real life, when aggressively downing orange juice for sustenance in the morning.

A quick jump cut of her kicking the fridge door closed, we see more details, like piled up rubbish bags. Her life is unbalanced, disorderly, she might be depressed or just too busy to take care of her flat properly and that’s why she’s drinking orange juice for breakfast and not cleaning the clutter and rubbish.

More clutter. She is still visibly see-through. Reaching for the remote on a cluttered table, with old dishes and empty cans, even a half full wine glass.

Interesting angle as we see her sit down in front of the old fashioned style tv, turning it on, we see the news in the next scene.

Over the shoulder shot, dynamic use of small space. Would be hard to do this in real life setting, without warping perspective with a lens that would give the same frame so closely behind the subject.

Back to the same shot we saw before from what seems to be the viewpoint of on-top of the television – where we are now watching her. Her other ghostly counterpart wakes up and turns off the phone alarm, just as she did earlier. They are doing the same thing but out of sync, neither of them whole, or fully awake. Visible in sluggish body language, slumped shoulders, and transparent figures of the same person reveal a sense of emptiness.

Other self passes through her body, for a moment she becomes less transparent when the two halves meet. This is a kind of visual metaphor, that when we are balanced (whole) we feel more ‘full’ – complete, happy, or able. Being transparent like a ghost is kind of weak, no?

The other self goes about her morning routine, getting orange juice that the first half of her already drank.

She drinks it just the same. We view both halves of the main character at the same time quite often.

Close up of more transparent self (2nd awake).

Body language shows tiredness

Opening the bathroom door, the sun has come up now, illuminating the other ghostly self.

One half disappears into the bathroom, and the other self continues to brush her teeth, as their heads both disappear behind objects in the room.

We move to a side view from the perspective of the kitchen, and see a light and dark lighting of both halves. Again showing this theme of balance, light and dark within one whole. This reminds me of the present (gifts in scene__) in the first opening scene which seemed out of place in a dark and messy apartment, something so pristine and new, seemingly gifts for a different person more suited to them. Neat and tidy, more posh, more expensive, more ‘girly’ personality that the room (the owner of the presents) disputes.

They pass through each other again. This is significant conceptually and aesthetically. I have done this in my own film, and it’s a great powerful effect. They cast shadows on each other, it’s interesting to watch how they interact without knowing the other is there. Opposites of orange and blue coloured lighting are viable, another nod to the theme of duality, imbalance or contrast in one thing.

The second self to wake up is becoming less opaque, as the first one who woke up is becoming much more transparent. These are all indicators of becoming whole again, feeling like herself again, waking up to real life.

A moan escapes as we pan up from a shoulder height shot (close up) to her face looking up into the shower. The lighting is noticeable in the highlights and outlining of her side, and the water is very reflective on her skin.

They are both in the shower, that’s why she is less opaque.

This becomes more obvious when we see them separate from each other again, as she gets out of the shower.

2nd half of her is still very transparent at this point, much more see-through than she was at the start.

Steaming her face, close-up. Foliage in the foreground.

We see them separate again for a moment

Before they connect again, making a fully whole (not at all transparent) subject, signifying their merging and completion of the morning routine. Ready to start the day, I’m actually awake now.

This shot is the only scene where I believe she is made to look very pretty. Only once she has combined the light and the dark halves, is she allowed by the artist to be celebrated and become the object of desire or attention. There is a brief moment where we see her in the shower, it is a nice shot, and she is drawn in a pretty way, but this is where she looks almost angelic – a contrast to her scrunched up face or gulping of orange juice in earlier parts of the video.

She finally greets herself (and the viewers watching) in the mirror, and we see her in an over the shoulder shot again. The only non-diegetic sound other than the faint music in the beginning of the short, she speaks the title of the movie, Ohyao (good morning). And that’s the end of the short.

This last scene is no longer than 2 seconds. Is she greeting herself in the morning – or her other self? Is this just a confirmation that the combining of the two selves made her feel neutral again, ready to start her day, and that’s why she said it? I think it’s just a good morning, a sigh, a nod to encourage herself that she is ready for the day after reluctantly getting up.

General notes

· stars dark (dark blue, grey) ends light (yellow/orange)

· no speaking other than the title at the end by MC (the main character) at the end

· still elements of blue in the scene at the end, but it’s light blue, signifying a release of sorts, a lighter scene or transition from that ‘dark’ place where the main character started off.

· the only time where she looks happy is the last scene when she is ‘whole’, i.e. when the two ghostly halves meet up at this part of the morning routine. A glimpse of this happiness is caught in the shower scene in the way that she is portrayed to be pretty, as a sign of everything coming to a close or back to normal, imitating that feeling of ‘waking up’ when you have a shower in the morning and not really being fully awake until we do so, as most of us can relate to.

Notes on the soundtrack

Calm chime music (non-diegetic, not heard by character), like a child’s ballerina box play as an introduction along with a title page, setting the tone of what’s to come. However, the sound is a bit sad. This works well as it transitions into background shots (close-ups of elements of the room) which further set the scene like the music does... Elements of this chime melody are quiet but still appear in some other parts of the film. The intro music is charming and peaceful, and fades out to a woman sleeping peacefully - then disturbed by her morning alarm which sounds very different to the intro music, and changes the atmosphere from calm to disturbed (also paired with her annoyed expression at the sound of the alarm).

Disturbed by a telephone ringing (phone alarm). Sighing follows from the main character and some rustling of sheets, intro to some diegetic sound (what the character hears, we hear). She turns the alarm off and gets out of bed, her footsteps can’t be heard. The scene cuts straight to her standing in the kitchen opening the fridge, so there is no visual of the main character actually walking until much later, and therefore no need to replicate/add the noise of footsteps.

In terms of music, (non-diegetic), there is a changing of pace in the music once the character has woken up, and the music continues to speed up until the last scene when the MC greets herself in the bathroom mirror (scene 35). It particularly seems to change just as the tv is turned onto the morning news, and seems to imitate that sort of announcement music that you would hear from the news, except on a more ‘chimey’ and calmer toned (also paired with light piano melody as it transitions to be more smooth as the music then intensifies and changes tone slightly, leading to the climax of the whole morning routine, the end scene).

Other sound like - brushing teeth, yawning, gulping, fridge door rattling, shower running, shower curtain moving, dripping water, and general noise from the tv can be heard.

WATCH OHAYO HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYUFBnAmK28&t=1s

#5IMAG003W #5IMAG003W.2 #5imag003 #wps

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