|
[[Image:Ran storyboards.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Prior to filming, Kurosawa spent ten years storyboarding every shot in the film as paintings. This is the Third Castle upon Hidetora's arrival.]]
The''Ran'' was Kurosawa's last epic directorialfilm styleand involvedby thefar usehis most expensive. The film used approximately 1,400 extras, which required 1,400 uniforms and suits of lusharmor to be fabricated. These were designed by [[Costume design|Costume designer]], [[Emi Wada]], and expansiveKurosawa, locationsand were hand-made by master tailors, taking over 2 years to make. The film also used 200 [[horses]], a number of which had to be imported from the mountainsUnited States.<ref name=IMDB>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089881/ Internet Movie Database]</ref> Kurosawa loved filming in lush and plainsexpansive locations, and most of Hidetora's'Ran'' kingdom werewas shot atamidst the mountains and plains of [[Aso|Mount Aso]], Japan's largest active volcano in [[Kyushu]]. Kurosawa, was also granted permission to shoot at two of the country's most famous landmarks, the ancient castles at [[Kumamoto, Kumamoto|Kumamoto]] and [[Himeji, Hyogo|Himeji]]. (the Hidetora's third castle, beingwhich was burned to the ground, was actually a [[Setreal construction|filmset]]building which he built on the slopes of [[Mount Fuji]]. No miniatures were used for that segment, whichand wasTatsuya razedNakadai had to do the scene where Hidetora flees the castle in one take. Apparently, Kurosawa also wanted to include a scene that required an entire field to be sprayed gold; it was filmed but Kurosawa cut it out of the final film) during editing.
Kurosawa would often shoot a scene with three cameras simultaneously, each using different lenses and angles. Many [[Long shot|long-shots]] were employed throughout the film and very few [[Close-up|close-ups]]. On several occasions he used static cameras and suddenly brought the action into frame, rather than using the camera to track the action. He also used [[Jump cut|jump cuts]] to progress certain scenes, changing the pace of the action for filmic effect.<ref>http://jclarkmedia.com/film/filmreviewran.html</ref>
On several occasions he used static cameras and suddenly brought the action into frame, rather than using the camera to track the action.
He also used [[Jump cut|jump cuts]] to progress certain scenes, changing the pace of the action for filmic effect. <ref>http://jclarkmedia.com/film/filmreviewran.html</ref>
* The castle destroyed in the middle of the movie was specially constructed on the slopes of [[Mount Fuji]] for the film and then burned down. No miniatures were used for that segment, although an optical of another castle being burned at the end was used.
* The film used approximately 1,400 extras, which required 1,400 uniforms and suits of armor to be fabricated. These were designed by [[Costume design|Costume designer]], [[Emi Wada]], and Kurosawa, and were hand-made by master tailors, taking over 2 years to make.
* 200 [[horses]] were used in the film, a number of which had to be imported from the United States. Kurosawa used his extras and horses so efficiently, that when the film was ready for premiere, newspapers in Japan were reporting that thousands of extras and horses were used to stage the battles.
* Akira Kurosawa's wife of 39 years, [[Yôko Yaguchi]], died during the production of this film. Kurosawa halted filming for just one day to mourn before resuming work on the picture.
* A scene which required an entire field to be sprayed gold was filmed but left out of the final film during editing.
==Cast and Characters==
| 