Reviews

Nov 23, 2014
Why am I touching on this again? Because this time I want to try a more 'formal' analysis. Evangelion is basically a textbook on editing for powerful effect. The lessons to be gleaned from its bold and daring cinematography gives it an edge over basically almost every show out there formal structure-wise.

I already made a blog post on this but I still think its a technique that really more people need to be aware of, that is of his 'pregnant silences'. In my blog post I went through a list of the 26 ending shots of each episode to see how many of them used silence as opposed to any type of music in the shot. Some of his endings even cut of exactly at the moment when a character finishes a bit of dialogue or the dialogue carries over into the 'to be continued' image. The most daring was probably Episode 12's ending since it ended one of the most seemingly banal shots (of them eating ramen) at the end of Asuka's comment about Shinji. Episode 2, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 24 also stand out. The MOST daring AND brilliant though was End of Evangelion's sudden cut which is basically one of the most lauded and memorable moments in anime even today. The note which that finale ends on literally resounds throughout everyone in the cinema.

Anno knows that the ending of an episode is the 'definite' end, the ultimate full stop that the viewer experiences. He leaves his last words for these full-stops to give them the ultimate weight. It's a shame that not enough people learned from his dramatic manipulation especially considering that now everyone writes ED songs that have beginnings which carry over into the ending shot so that the ending of an episode ties in to the ED. Now everyone wants to end on a note that's full of fire and power. Of course this isn't wrong and there are great uses of it (FMA:B Elric bursting back through the gate to shout to his brother) but sometimes separating the ED song and the final shot is the best way to go. Even the maddening ending of Inception had to have the semi-transcendent music to emphasize the weight of the top spin. Just thing how much more powerful it would have been if Nolan left it silent.

This technique isn't new though. If you watch the ending of Godard's Vivre sa Vie its basically one of the things that makes to movie so memorable. Synecdoche New York, though it doesn't end with complete silence, also cuts the music at the last word to leave a pregnant almost-silence (there's still the beeping of electronics).

The other thing is his fast flashbacks. This, likewise, probably isn't new. The example that most comes to my head is Haneke's Cache where we're suddenly thrown contextless images which are eventually revealed to be different parts of the main protagonist's childhood throughout the whole film. These are short cuts that make it seem as if the unconscious or memory itself is slowly intruding into the present. Anno does this with shots such as the first episode where Shinji seems to see Rei in the street (Though this shot ends with the sound of birds) or the scene where Shinji recounts Rei wringing the washcloth like a mother or of course the shots of him crying like a child. Yet those that are silent, like Haneke's flashbacks, bear the most weight. I don't think Anno has done a sudden contextless flashback to a completely different scene the way Haneke has though.

Now to talk about the silences that occur within the episode rather than at the end of the episode. Anno is, of course, famous for his long silent or dramatic takes, especially in a medium that doesn't like to draw out the length of their shots so much. The most memorable is the ending of episode 24 with classical music but he's also great at having long awkward moments in lifts or going up elevators. The 'runaway' stretch in episode 4, though not being a single long cut, is just pure atmospheric silence with only ambient noises. The ambient noise crescendos during the 'red screen' moment to show Shinji's existential uncertainty and confusion.

I should one day do a shot breakdown analysis of the 'runaway' stretch just as an example of a great atmosphere setting moment in animation.

Which animator, of an action sci-fi series no less, is ever willing to take the breaks to action that Anno does? Episode 15 is just a pure character exploration episode, a breather (though not any less emotional) before the non-stop descent into madness. Panty and Stocking's single shot sofa episode comes to mind but that was just a comedic experimental interlude. Most 'filler episodes' that cut the action tend to be about silly things like going to the beach or just having fun. Evangelion makes its breather episode a psychological breakdown of the various character's longing for company and human connection.

Only Anno uses silence the way he does. Steins;Gate uses light banter to create a great balanced pace between plot development and tension. Nagi no Asukara uses beautiful scenery and banter as well. Yet in the end these techniques still want to derive some form of entertainment or emotional lightness from us. Only Anno would grab us and hold us down with an almost complete abolishment of any lightness or comedy whatsoever yet still create releases from the great tension that takes place between action or stretches of madness.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. There's an entire wealth of techniques to uncover. How to manipulate shots for emotional crescendoes, how to get by on a low budget, how to hinge character personalities on psychological theories, how to use color for disorientation... Hopefully I'll eventually be able to plunge into all that Evangelion has to offer.

(Now the 'runaway' scene from episode 4 shot-by-shot breakdown is on my blog.)
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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