Thorough analysis of lighting and photography, how did Ultraman become your childhood shadow?

For many people, the “Ultraman” series can be said to be the most impressive work in childhood. There are already a lot of historical sorting and series interpretations about Ultraman in China. Today, we are going to talk about a question that many people may have noticed but never thought about—

Why do many people think Showa and Heisei Ultraman are very scary, even the shadow of childhood? Or conversely, why do many people feel that the new generation of Ultraman has become less scary?

Regarding the “Shadows of Childhood” in the previous Ultraman series, there have been many clips shared on the Internet, but rather than “is it”, we want to answer “why” from a technical point of view – Ultraman’s sense of horror comes from Where did it come from?

In addition to factors such as story text, picture quality, and sense of age, those psychological critiques undoubtedly come from the impact of visual images. This issue of Animation Academic Party · Intensive Reading compares New Generation, Showa, and Heisei Ultraman from the perspective of lighting , photography , etc., and tries to answer this question.

01

light up

First of all, in order to take care of the audiences who are relatively young or who don’t know much about “Ultraman”, let’s briefly introduce the general classification of the Ultraman series and their respective characteristics. If we only consider the “Ultraman” series shot in Japan, it can be roughly divided into the Ultraman of the Showa series shot from 1966 to 1980, such as the first generation, Jack, Seven, Ace, Leo and so on. Then there are the Heisei Ultramans shot from 1996 to 2009, the most famous of which are the “Three Heroes of Heisei”: Tiga, Dyna, and Gaia. Finally, there is the new generation of Ultraman from 2013 to the present. 

Showa Ultraman from 1966 to 1980

Heisei Ultraman from 1996 to 2009

The new generation Ultraman from 2013 to present

As I said at the beginning, I believe that if you have seen friends of Showa and Heisei Ultraman when you were a child, you will have left a “childhood shadow” more or less. For example, the previous Ultraman is like this :

Ultraman Tiga (1996) 14 episodes

Ultraman Ace (1972) 19 episodes

The most intuitive feeling of the horror of Showa and Heisei Ultraman is undoubtedly the impact from the visual picture. When it comes to the pictures of film and television works, lighting is an indispensable factor. In the filming process of film and television dramas, lighting is an indispensable part. In addition to the most basic lighting functions, a good lighting engineer can create atmosphere or shape characters and objects through lighting. We may often hear people say that “a certain work has a cinematic quality”, and this “texture” often comes from the lighting effect. Even to a certain extent, lighting directly affects the success or failure of film and television works. 

The change of the single light to the face shape of the character

Some special lighting effects (pictures from the Internet)

  To get a general understanding of the changes in the lighting methods of the Ultraman series, we may start with the brightness of the lights, and the “ war room ” of each series of Ultraman is the best case for comparison. The following are the lights in the war room in ” Ultraman First Generation” and “ Ultraman Ace” , and there are even comparisons in some scenes of ” Ultraman Seven” and “Ultraman Jack” from the Showa series. Extreme dark proportions. 

The First Ultraman (1966)

Ultraman Ace (1972)

Ultraman Seven (1967)

“Jack Altman” (1971)

After 16 years of stagnation, “Ultraman Tiga” in 1996, as a commemorative work for the 30th anniversary of the series restart, once again opened the short-term peak of the Ultraman series. Judging from the representative works Diga, Dyna, and Gaia, they all continued the visual style of the Ultraman series in the Showa period to a certain extent. For example, this is the war room of “Ultraman Tiga” in 1996, and the war room of “Ultraman Gaia” in 1998 .

 

Ultraman Tiga (1996)

Ultraman Gaia (1998)

Through the previous examples, we can see that the war rooms in the Ultramans of the Showa and Heisei series are dim, and the stories of Ultramans in these two periods are generally terrifying and depressing, just like “Isot” There are a lot of Japanese weird stories and folklore stories in “ Man”, and there is even a plot in which the guards are almost wiped out in “Ultraman Leo”. In contrast, the new generation of Ultraman’s crew is obviously “sufficient for electricity”.

Since several works do not have the traditional concept of “guard force”, there is no “base” in the past. Instead , Ultraman’s human form in “Ultraman Oub” lives in an ordinary family, and the general use of typical Japanese drama lighting, highlighting the outline of the characters and illuminating the surrounding environment, breaking the shadows, and trying to simulate real light source. 

Ultraman Orb (2016)

In 2021’s “Ultraman Triga” , the “Guard Team” is back. The production team may obviously worry that the base is not bright enough. In the base, you can see that there are multiple windows to simulate the real light source. The whole environment is very bright. The various lights on the device even feel a little cluttered. 

The translucent garrison base in “Ultraman Triga” (2021)

In the Ultraman of the Showa and Heisei series, the production team will deliberately create a large area of ​​dark shadows. Especially in some terrifying scenes, coupled with the low quality of the picture, the audience could not see the details of the picture, which would produce a sense of depression and terror. In the Heisei series as a whole, although the heavy shadows are slightly reduced, they basically continue a similar technique.

Ultraman Jack Episode 31

In addition, the production team also likes to use special lighting effects to create an eerie atmosphere. Bize this kind of atmosphere with warm light + large shadows to create a dusk and apocalypse: 

Or create a corridor with a strange atmosphere by means of color filter paper or color filters, and red lights are specially added in the depths of the scene to further render the atmosphere: 

Ultraman Tiga Episode 22

Whether it is atmosphere creation or character modeling, these exaggerated and terrifying lighting methods in the new-generation Ultraman series are relatively rare. In the new generation of Ultraman, almost all characters and environments are filled with light, and even soft light is added to make the actors look better. Even if the plot is also in a dark environment, the overall will not create a weird and terrifying atmosphere like the Showa and Heisei Ultraman. 

For example, in the 2020 “Ultraman Zeta” , the 19th episode that many people said “Dream back to the Showa”, this episode uses a relatively dim light treatment, and uses works from the Showa and Heisei series indoors. A similar large shadow lighting method in , but it only stops there. Let’s take a look at the next shot of this female alien. Although the background is completely black, there is still a small window as a light source. If we look closely at the lower part of her hair, the camera crew also set up a light behind her. Draw the outline of the actor. In addition, there should also be a low-brightness light or reflector in front of her to fill her face and clothes, so we can clearly see the details on her clothes.

 

‍”Ultraman Zeta” Episode 19

And if we continue to look at the shot of the next protagonist, we can see that there are many obvious light sources and reflections in the background, which directly reduces the horror atmosphere. 

Ditto

So how will similar scenes be represented in the Showa and Heisei systems? Let’s take the 8th episode of the Heisei series “Ultraman Gaia” as an example. We can see that there is a window behind the same heroine to simulate a real light source, but there is no additional contour light behind the actor, so the overall environment looks darker . In addition, it can be seen that there should be a low color temperature fill light on the right face of the character, that is, a slightly yellowish light, while the left half of the face is light with high color temperature, so that the left and right faces form a contrast, there is no doubt that this is the case The lighting method is more subtle and spooky than the example above. 

Ultraman Gaia Episode 8

In fact, in the works of the Showa series, similar characters are more bold, and there are often yin and yang faces with special compositions, such as the appearance of the female alien in the following “Ultraman Ace”. 

Ultraman Ace (1972) Episode 48

02

photography

In the previous part, we roughly sorted out the lighting differences between the new generation Ultraman and Showa and Heisei Ultraman works. Next, let’s talk about another important factor that affects the film and television picture: photography . Generally speaking, photography in Showa and Heisei works will be more involved in the narrative. In Showa and Heisei works, we often see some shooting techniques that are not commonly used in ordinary film and television dramas, such as hand-held shooting, unstable composition, close-up, wide-angle lens, sliding zoom, etc., and even the choice of shooting angle is intentional Move closer to Japanese horror and thrillers. 

Ultraman Tiga (1996) Episode 22

Sliding zoom shot from episode 27 of Ultraman Tiga (1996), highlighting the subject and creating the illusion of being “sucked in”

The most typical way for photography to participate in narrative is to use handheld shooting and subjective lenses to increase the sense of presence. Let’s take the 22nd episode of the more famous “Shadow of Childhood” “Ultraman Tiga” as an example. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist Ogu and his teammate Horii go to a house in a village near the Space Observation Center to investigate. The inside of the house consists of 2 shots: first, Oko enters the narrow, dim room from the front, and then Horii goes to close the open faucet. Why was hand-held shooting chosen here? We can see that the viewpoints of these two shots are actually moving from the empty shots to the characters. Doing so can deliberately emphasize the perspective of the “third party”, which will give us the subconsciousness of “there is something in the room”. 

Ultraman Tiga Episode 22 The next shot, still an erratic hand-held shot, adds a strong sense of restlessness to the shaky footage. The composition and the angle of the shot are more daring here: an oblique shot with an elevation angle—as if the monster were at the person’s feet. The dark room and the tall trees in the background add to the oppression.

 

In addition to using hand-held shooting to increase the sense of presence, there are also many use of subjective lenses in the works of Showa and Heisei Ultraman. For example, in the 16th episode of “The Woman Who Disappeared in Midnight” in Ultraman Leo (1974), we first follow the camera to learn that the “girl ghost” walked into the apartment, and then we follow her perspective to open the next shot. The door goes through the hallway. 

Ultraman Leo Episode 16

In the next shot, the female ghost entered the girl’s house. It’s important to note that at the end of the previous shot the cameraman pushed the shot against the door. Immediately afterwards, the cameraman used a complete zoom process to imitate the subjective perspective of the ghost passing through the door, then continued to look around the house from the perspective of the female ghost, and finally used a push shot to imitate the feeling of approaching the girl. 

In fact, in the previous Ultraman series, close-ups were also a very important horror element. For example, the weird wide-angle close-up shots, due to the distortion caused by the wide-angle, make the characters look particularly scary: 

Ultraman Jack Episode 31

On the whole, the Ultramans of the Showa and Heisei series have a strong sense of design and boldness in terms of composition and camera connection. For example, in the 33rd episode of “Ultraman Jack”, this kind of experiment or independence even appeared. Film-flavored shot – two-thirds of the entire screen is occupied by black parts, and the remaining one-third is almost blocked by the middle pillar. The captain and Xiang Hideki originally disagreed, so the two were separated from the bottom left and bottom right of the screen. , and as the conversation squadron leader began to understand Xiangxiushu, he walked through the middle pillar to the area that belonged to Xiangxiushu. 

Ultraman Jack Episode 33

In contrast, the photography style of the new generation of Ultraman is more inclined to ordinary Japanese dramas, focusing on close-up and medium shots above the chest and knees, maximizing the display of characters and environments, and trying to hide the existence of cameras.  

03

Epilogue

Finally, in addition to lighting and photography, there are many factors in Showa and Heisei Ultraman that make us form a terrifying impression. As said at the beginning of the video, the reason why they are scary, in addition to the direct psychological impact on the audience in the production of lighting, photography and sound effects, is the text. There are many serious topics and horrors in the Ultraman works of Showa and Heisei. plot.

 

Ultraman Leo (1974) Episode 28

And especially in the Ultraman of the Showa series, both Ultraman itself and the plot have a very strong sense of mystery of supernatural power, which was a unique characteristic of the era at that time. In the new generation of Ultraman, not only the deconstruction of Ultraman itself is carried out, so that they have a personality, and they can communicate with humans and even complain. In the arrangement of the plot, it also focuses more on Ultraman, instead of starting the story entirely with humans as the center. Ultraman will also have his own past, old enemies, relatives, masters and so on. In this textual framework that has lost the sense of distance, it may be difficult to mention horror and horror.

Ultraman X (2015) Episode 1

The above is the whole content of our animation academic party and intensive reading~ So for readers, were you scared when you watched Ultraman when you were young? Which episode do you find scariest? Welcome to share with everyone in the comment area!