Artistic Vision

Tatami Shot
 TATAMI SHOT
SIGNATURE ARTISTIC STYLE

"Tatami Shot" in which the camera is placed at waist height,

facing a traditionally Japanese room in which there are usually
people sitting on the tatami mat floor. The shot is framed in such
way that the natural lines of the room are symmetrically aligned
to the borders of the frame, facilitating frames within frames, if
the scene requires it. The purpose of this particular view is to put
audience on the same level as the characters sitting, to place the
viewer right into whatever conversation is going on. In this way,
it encourages the viewer to participate and makes it easier to
relate to the character.
 You will notice the different conventions apply, utilising what Bordwell and
Thompson designate a "360-degree shooting space", in which one shot might
cut to view in a direction turned 90 or 180 degrees from previous one. Her
consistent presence in each shot is what links them rather than spatial affinities
of each composition.
 Ozu's camera doesn't follow his character, but rather holds
its position while actors move through it to position themselves
in alotted portion of the frame. There is so much symmetry, so
much care lavished on these compositions, that the films could
easily devolve into fussy formalism and indeed you might have
this response because the films do not forcefully emotionalise
the compositions.
 His shots are always meticulously composed, with
prominently placed objects, such as the kettles and other
domestic implements that you’ll notice peppering the frame.
They’re not necessarily useful props for developing narrative, but
they anchor the eye and preserve the beautiful order of the set.
In Ohayo when two consecutive shots are connected, not
spatially, but with a graphic match between two bright red
objects.