Akira Kurosawa March 23, 1910 – September 6, 1998

Japan - Culture

Akira KurosawaMarch 23, 1910 September 6, 1998There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself. (Akira Kurosawa)

1IntroductionWhat is your name and profession?My name is Akira Kurosawa. I am a film director, screenwriter, editor, and producer. I directed over 30 films and wrote numerous screenplays. I started in film when the Japanese film industry was just beginning. I began work with Photo Chemical Lab in Tokyo, which was founded as a kind of research institute for sound films. I was one of five people hired as an assistant director out of five hundred applicants. With only one exception, all the new assistant directors came from the finest universities and had impressive credentials. I was that exception, the one with a very odd curriculum vitae.Mr. Kurosawa photo from sctheatre.org

2IntroductionPlease list significant contributions you have made?Although I dont like to appear immodest about my work, I can tell you what others have found significant about my career. I developed several original techniques in filmmaking. For one, I like to use telephoto lenses in order to keep the cameras farther away from the actors. If the camera is close and the actor knows he is being filmed, he inevitably reacts to the camera. I also pioneered the use of multiple cameras in shooting scenes. This also prevents the actor from knowing which camera to instinctively turn toward. I also introduced several new lighting techniques to my profession.

I made many films that you might recognize, such as The Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Yojimbo, and The Hidden Fortress. If you never saw my original works, you may recognize the remakes by American and Italian filmmakers. The Seven Samurai was remade as The Magnificent Seven, Rashomon became The Outrage, Yojimbo was made into A Fistful of Dollars and The Last Man Standing, and The Hidden Fortress was ackowledged by George Lucas to be a major influence on his Star Wars series.3

IntroductionRashomon is a very important film to me. It was one in which I finally got to test some of my ideas and apply some of the research that I had done on film. It is the story of a violent incident and the search for the truth afterwards as told from four different perspectives. There are only eight characters, but the story is still deep and complex. In this film, my desire was to show how people cannot tell the truth about themselves toMovie trailer from janusfilms.org This film was my first internationally recognized film, and brought a lot of attention for the entire Japanese film industry. Although the film was successful in Japan, I was not making a lot of money in those days and I had resigned myself to eating cold rice for awhile. I was spared this hungry fate when Rashomon won the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival and later the American Acadamy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Since that time, I have one every major film award.themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing.Click on the picture to see a movie trailer for Rashomon.4Cultural ValuesHow important were your Family and personal life to your success and well being? Growing up, my family was extremely important to me. In fact, three of the people who have influenced me most in my life are my brother who was closest in age to me Heigo, my little big sister and my father. I had three older brothers and Heigo was the closest to me and I respected him very much. Unfortunately, Heigo and my other brothers died young, leaving me as the oldest male member of the children. It was then that I began to feel a great deal of obligation to my father to be successful and to bring honor to the family. I began to seriously try to find my path in life and applied for the job at PCL studios.5Cultural ValuesHow do you want to be remembered?

I have worked tirelessly in trying to bring my visions to the screen for others to appreciate. My movies have been a way to express my impressions of human nature and relationships, and I have gone to great pains and long hours to present everything perfectly so that the images I present provoke emotion and understanding in the viewer. I would like to be remembered as I see myself, a simple artist.Why do you think you were so popular with the general Japanese society?

Well, I wasnt at first. In the beginning of the Japanese film industry, we worked for very little money and there was no fame. Sometimes I think that circumstances conspired to put me into the spotlight. There was a strike at Toho studios where I was working as a director that caused it to split into two studios. One studio took all the stars, and the other kept all the directors. I stayed with the original Toho with the directors, and as a result of not having well known stars the studio had to advertise its movies with the directors names. Also, I was very proud of Japan and of its history, and I think that shows in my movies.6Cultural ValuesWhat are your motivational drivers?

I think that the need to be creative motivates me. I have also found that I am very motivated by encouragement, and many people have recognized my films with awards and praise. I remember when I was in elementary school and really struggling in my academic classes. Most of our art classes involved just copying pictures as closely as possible, but one day our teacher Mr. Tachikawa said to just draw whatever you want. I dont remember what I drew, but I really threw myself into it. When the pictures were put up, the other students laughed at my picture but Mr. Tachikawa praised it to the skies. It encouraged me greatly and I really started to apply myself in school. I have never forgotten him and what he meant to me. Akira Kurosawa about 1951 on a movie set. Photo: Francis Haar

7PlanningWhat role did planning play in your career success and why is it important?I would like to say that I had a plan for the way my career developed, but it simply wasnt the case. Often, I felt that circumstances dictated the course of my life with big events such as the deaths in my family, the Great Kanto Earthquake, The World Wars, the rise of the unions, etc. All these events brought me in a winding path to filmmaking. Once I arrived in filmmaking, planning did become more important in my life. Making a movie requires a great deal of planning and I have managedmany movie productions and scripts.Photo from filmregister.com

8Risk ToleranceHow would you describe yourself from a risk taking standpoint (risk averse, risk neutral or risk taker) and why?In general I was not a big risk taker. I liked the security of working for Toho studios and being part of the fine group of filmmakers there. When the censors, whom I hated, would review my work and demand that this or that be removed, for the most part I went along. What else could I do? There were a few times when they pushed me to my limit and I exploded on them, but that was not often. I tried to be apolitical. One great regret of my life is that I did not oppose Japans militarism before the war. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I did not have the courage to resist in any positive way. ** This is taken directly from Something Like an Autobiography by Akira Kurosawa, 1983. p. 1459InnovationName one innovative success and/or failure you experienced in your career?I think that my most innovative contribution to filmmaking was my camera technique. It may now seem standard, but at that time it was truly an innovation. I really wanted to be able to get my actors to seem more natural and committed to the scene and I recognized that the cameras were a subconscious distraction to them. This is why I began to use telephoto lenses in order to shoot from farther away and I used multiple cameras so that they wouldnt respond to the camera. The actors began to forget about the cameras and immerse themselves more in the scene. The results were really quite impressive and a sharp contrast with the films of the day.10LoyaltyHow would you define loyalty from a co-worker, colleague or family member perspective? Why is it important?

I place a lot of value on loyalty, especially at work. At the time of the great labor dispute at Toho studios, I was very disappointed when the stars split from the company and went to work for New Toho. I had worked with many of them for years and felt very connected to them. Their departure left bitterness between us for years. Personally, I had spent years working under the supervision of Mr. Yamamoto, another great Japanese film director, and I would never be disloyal to him. Though I had many opportunities and offers from other studios, I always respected him and considered him as my teacher.11LeadershipHow would you define your leadership style?

I guess you would say that I have a consultative leadership style. I always tried to involve my assistant directors in the process and gave them many assignments to complete without my supervision. However, I always retained the final word over the elements of my work. I communicated my vision for a project and enlisted the whole production company in making it reality. I have often compared being a director to being a general of the army. My troops are the production company and it takes the coordinated efforts of everyone to make a movie. 12Workplace InterrelationshipsWhat was your strategic approach to developing allies?

I really wouldnt say that I had any strategy. I developed good working relationships with other directors and actors I respected, and tried to avoid working with others whom I didnt. Is teamwork important in filmmaking like it is for business?

Oh, yes. I always considered my film crew as a team. We worked and sacrificed together, sometimes under terrible conditions. Without each others support, we couldnt have been successful.

Akira Kurosawa during an interview with the BBC. Photo from pbs.org13Decision MakingWhat was your approach to decision making as a leader?In my early years as a student I sometimes made some bad decisions, but I stuck with them. My father always taught me never to quit. Once I told my father that I was interested in learning kendo. He agreed to purchase the lessons, but I had to get up two hours early every day and walk a mile to class and back before going to my regular classes at school. It was hard to do but I didnt quit. I think that some of this training from my father stayed with me into my film career. Once I had a vision for one of my films, I stayed with it, and my decision making was guided by my creative vision. I always involved my assistant directors and crew in the process, but ultimately the decisions were mine. 14Use of TechnologyWhy is technology important and how would or did you use it strategically?Certainly technology was important to my work. When I started making films, movies with sound was in itself a new technology. I used this new technology to bring to life my characters and the stories that I created. I tried to make maximum use of the latest camera and film technology. In order to get the maximum from my pictures, I did a lot of research on art, theater, and filmmaking. I think that the combination of my artistic vision and the use of technology led to many of the filmmaking innovations that I am known for today.

Photo from PBS.org15Interview ReferencesThis interview is fictional and responses are a composite of ideas derived from the multiple sources listed below, except where cited in the text.Something Like an Autobiography, Akira Kurosawa, 1982. Random House, Inc. New York, New York, 1983. ISBN 0-394-71439-3

PBS.org. Great Performances, Akira Kurosawa. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/kurosawa/kurosawa.html

JanusFilms.com. Rashomon. http://www.janusfilms.com/rashomon/index.html

16Photo ReferencesImages were used from the following sources:PBS.org. Great Performances, Akira Kurosawa. Retrieved October 20, 2009 from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/kurosawa/kurosawa.html.

SCTheatre.org. Welcome to SCTheatre.org. Retrieved October 26, 2009 from http://www.sctheatre.org/playbill.html

JanusFilms.com. Janus Films Presents Rashomon. Retrieved November 2, 2009 from http://www.janusfilms.com/rashomon/index.html.

Something Like an Autobiography, Akira Kurosawa, 1982. Random House, Inc. New York, New York, 1983. ISBN 0-394-71439-3

FilmRegister.com. Akira Kurosawa. Retrieved November 3, 2009 from http://www.filmregister.com/people/Akira_Kurosawa.html

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