Tail lights in Otomo's Akira

[Gerard Kraus]

Dear Bruce,

I was always under the impression that the tail light remnants were
reminicent of the long shutter speed photos of metropoli(ses ?) and the
traffic caught on them with lines or white and red light. They could also
suggest the speed at which the youths drive around the city.

Best,
Gérard





> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I am showing my class Otomo's Akira and trying to spend time talking
> both about content issues/historical background and also about formal
> issues/artistry.  Otomo often makes streak of the taillights of the
> motorbikes linger on screen after the bikes have driven away.  I
> assume that this is a technique he borrowed from cinema and
> replicated in the anime format (as with the many another borrowings
> from cinema in both manga and anime), but I just  don't know enough
> about the technical way you do this is cinema.  Can anyone imagine
> what I am talking about and provide an explanation?  I assume it has
> to do with some cinematic analogue to shutter speed or something like
> that.
>
> Best,
>
> Bruce
>
>
>
> Bruce Baird
> Assistant Professor
> Asian Languages and Literatures
> University of Massachusetts Amherst
> Butô, Japanese Theater, Intellectual History
>
> 717 Herter Hall
> 161 Presidents Drive
> University of Massachusetts Amherst
> Amherst, MA 01003-9312
> Phone: 413-577-4992
> Fax: 413-545-4975
> baird at asianlan.umass.edu
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
G?rard Kraus (ggk05 at aber.ac.uk)
Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts