Original subtitles

Maria!

Mr. Unoyama, Happyakubariki Ltd., huh?

It's premiering tomorrow, I hear.

My, how did you make it in time?

As always, it can only be described as a miracle.

No matter who the director is, or what his directing style is...

...you capture that style and re- produce it perfectly to the last detail.

The man who, despite an extremely tight schedule...

...always completes the first work-print by the deadline.

The ghost animation director who lives in the shadows of the industry.

My, my...

...I've heard rumors about you, but I never thought I'd actually see you like this.

I'd say I should've arranged a business dinner...

but having a studio as I do, though a small one, it's really...

...you know.

Shall we talk about business?

The thing is...

Producer Shinichi Unoyama

Studio Happyakubariki started the all-out production of the animated movie...

..."Talking Head."

However, it has come to an impasse.

The planner and coordinator of the entire project, Director Rei Maruwa...

...mysteriously disappeared 6 months ago.

His whereabouts are utterly unknown to this day.

For fear of the looming deadline and severe financial penalty...

...and in order to remedy the situation, Unoyama summoned me.

Well, that's the story.

It's been a year since production started.

The premiere is only 2 months away, yet I don't even have storyboards.

Even worse, there's no script. Not even the first draft.

I had a lot riding on him, and he seemed to have his own goals for this project.

So I waited as long as I could. I waited when I couldn't wait any longer.

Then came a point that if I waited any longer, the reason for waiting...

...would be entirely gone, but I still waited after that.

But...

But it was all to no avail.

I can't believe you waited that long.

A paragon of producer-hood.

I was boiling with anger inside.

That's understandable.

Boiling as I was, I thought, "maybe... not today but tomorrow"...

..."no, the day after tomorrow, he might show up with a mind-blowing trick."

Well, to tell you the truth, untiljust a moment ago...

Pathetic, isn't it?

But I give up.

I won't wait any longer.

What are your expectations?

If I knew, I wouldn't need you.

He was going to abandon that extremely obscure style of his...

...and break new ground with this project.

Those around him expected him to do so, as well.

Whatever his thoughts and aims were...

...please discover them and put them into the film.

Make it his work from the beginning to the end.

So I am to separate from his style and at the same time...

...create a film that seems unmistakably to be his work.

Is such a thing possible for you?

Of course.

Five million yen now, another five after the answer print is completed.

Get Handawara.

He can give you the details.

Incidentally, that business card is a one-way ticket to the movie, as it were.

You're on your own coming back. That's the rule of the movie.

I'm sure you understand.

Production Supervisor Gen Handawara

I have to tell you in advance, please don't set your hopes too high.

We've already swung around the circle.

Nothing will start now, nor will there be any new development.

Nobody expects anything like that.

Every one of them, thinks that something that's started always comes to an end.

By itself, as a river runs and seasons change...

Hell no!

To end it, you have to start all over again.

That's where my job always begins.

That's what I came here for.

That's tough.

Shooting and editing are done outside, but the other staff are in here.

I will introduce the rest, one by one, starting tomorrow.

I say, screenwriter first.

Alright, then.

Here's the long-awaited director.

Your playtime is over.

Where is Ohtsuka!

The animation director is in hiding.

Question!

What's gonna happen if this director runs away, too?

And what about if the chief runs away as well?

Don't get carried away, you fools!

As requested, we left everything like it was when he disappeared.

Oh, and this is for you.

A piano sketch of the theme song.

That's all there is to go on. The only thing left behind.

Yeah, it helps.

With this, we can raise the curtain for now.

The next day, I visited the screenwriter, ltoh, at his office...

...with production supervisor Handawara.

So?

I worked with Rei from the initial planning phase...

...for about 3 months, I think.

But the script was never finished.

He killed it himself.

Elaborate, if you please.

I mean, looking back...

...I think Rei was after a sort of a horror movie, but that was...

Oh, do you like SFX?

No, I don't.

Rei didn't either.

For instance...

Screenplay Kazumaro Itoh

He hated it when I did something like this.

A movie contains in itself a rational space that is the drama.

In other words, a pseudo reality.

And because of that premise, an act like this can be bizarre and peculiar.

In short, unless this scene that I'm acting out has a sense of reality...

...that could be experienced by the audience as well...

...I would look like nothing but an idiot fiddling with my own intestines like this.

A talking head.

Very classic.

In the past, movies were a wonderment, a horror, and so to speak, magic itself.

It is hard to believe now, but people back then were amazed...

...by a baby on screen smiling at them.

And they panicked in front of a steam engine plowing toward them.

The good old days.

Though that would cost directors their living.

Same for screenwriters.

But such a naive era did not last long.

Brief glory and then downfall.

Just as a kid whose smile alone became insufficient to win affection...

...and would start behaving amiably.

Or a woman on the verge of being dumped would take to new sexual techniques...

...the movie industry started exercising its utmost skills.

However, the audience, having escalated their desire to watch...

...is now reaching the point of apathy.

No matter what or how you show it to them, it won't amount to much.

And?

After much trial and error, a secret weapon was obtained.

An ultimate knockdown blow.

Story.

Replacing illusions and tricks, it became a standard rule...

...spreading reality in the movies.

To disassemble the story and drive the reality away from the screen...

...instead of the other way around.

He was trying to play a game without rules.

To be more precise, a game where you make up the rules as you play it.

There are no pre-existing rules in a movie.

Because the work that's created becomes a rule. That's a movie.

And you say animation is the same.

Naturally.

Animation replicated existing live-action films...

...and by following the same path, evolved into movies.

A newly born monster, by a new magic called "story"...

...went through a rebirth and became a movie.

However, from then on, movies turned toward the creation of...

...more natural, more realistic worlds, in other words, a more naturalistic world.

And in the process, illogical, irrational, fantastic, and improvisational worlds...

...were chased away, and movies as magic itself were quickly forgotten.

And he couldn't stand it.

Instead of a movie existing only to tell a story, he said...

...the challenge is how faithfully you can tell a story called a movie.

I see.

You do?

That's incredible.

And, the script that was killed?

It's a clearly and logically structured, first-class mystery...

...with a serial killer case as a motif. Or, it was.

A few days before he disappeared, the script disappeared...

...from the computer's memory. It vanished, just like smoke.

It may have been his doing.

What do you want to do?

I'm still bound to this project.

Or, am I going to be fired?

Do you say a movie must have a happy ending?

I think as long as it finishes, anything is happy.

Besides...

Over time, films discolor, wear out, burn or melt away and disappear.

That's what he- Rei, always said.

I like that.

Continue working on the script, please.

What a worm.

The script was stolen? A downright blatant lie!

I say he never finished it in the first place.

It doesn't matter.

Either way, nobody else will want to write such a story.

But, doing what we're doing, are you sure anything will come out of it?

Making a movie is the same as committing a crime.

No matter how cleverly you hide it...

...your methodology and process will reveal your motive.

Or the production scheme, that is.

Even if it's unfinished like this one.

Actually, all the more so because it is unfinished.

There must be evidence scattered around.

Oh?

So, you, as the incoming director, also have a role as a detective?

A detective?

My client's request is for me to complete the attempted crime...

...not to arrest the culprit.

I'm a criminal with no personal motive.

Simply put, sort of a hit man.

In Front of Happyakubariki Next Stop: Wisdom Tooth

You wanted to see me?

One Alligator, Two Alligator, Three Alligator...

Four!

What's this?

A filler until the script gets finished.

Six months from the kick-off, both the advances and the...

...interim payments have been completely spent.

You haven't even finished the trailer. You must have cash-flow problems.

Well, you know a lot.

Before I can start directing...

...bringing this production into existence is part of my job...

...as a migrant animation director.

Delivery is 3 days from today.

Make arrangements so the ADR can take place as soon as tomorrow.

May I ask you a question?

The trailer and movie are two different things.

But can you make a trailer for a movie that has no story yet?

A trailer of any movie is nothing more than a notice that the movie's coming.

That's also the condition of being a good trailer.

A trailer simply establishes itself by being a trailer.

Don't you agree?

I see.

What kind of bullshit is he giving us?

Prepare for the animation and finishing work...

...and arrange for the photography and print lab!

Oh, hey, Han.

What do you want to do about the editing?

Quit sleep-talking!

The materials are gonna be on the rostrum only once...

...before the print is made!

We're gonna replace 'em all with negative-cutting is done, of course!

We'll pick up the timing from the magnetic and synchronize pictures...

...to the sounds on the sheet, so the ADR won't require any pictures!

So we won't need any film, and therefore there's no editing!

You're being absurd again.

Good morning.

This is Handawara from Happyakubariki. Is Ms. Shijimi available?

First of all, think of what the sound effects people and editors will say.

It's always me, come on.

I'll take care of them! You book the subcontractors for the finishing work!

Nice resources like that are long gone! We don't have anyone left, I told you!

Have we just met or something?!

If you can't find any subcontractors, then use your family members to do the job!

Call in your wife or whatever!

Call in the girl working at the convenience store you go to...

...along with anybody else!

You crack me up, Han, really.

I should call in the president's family too, huh?

Yeah, call them.

Call them now! Call them this instant!

I definitely will! I definitely will!

Thank you for your continued business with us, this is Handawara.

Director.

This is Ms. Shijimi with Omnibus, correct?

I'm...

The stalled project had started moving forward again...

...and the crew's work environment had started taking on a more dramatic air.

However, producing a movie is always nothing more than a monotonous process.

In order to conceal the monotony...

...they rely on their numbers and exercise their utmost skill.

But ultimately, not knowing what to do...

...they end up performing a boring and stupid play on stage.

On that corrupted stage, the director alone must put other players in order.

It's a difficult act that's required of him.

While the true director, waiting in the wing...

...gloats and maliciously manipulates him.

Being in the vortex of this stupid play called "movie,"...

...what did my predecessor see?

Let's have a talk with the animation director about characters.

Where's Ohtsuka?

Well, as always...

Just as I've heard.

He never answers the phone, he's always missing.

Nobody has ever seen him. He's the "phantom animator."

You know a lot.

I've always wanted to get a glimpse of him with my own eyes.

Idiot!

That kind of attitude is why he treats us with no regard.

If thatjerk keeps hiding in his apartment, kick the door open and-!

It doesn't matter.

We'll deal with the characters later. Let's decide about the colors first.

Color Setting Aya Yasuda & Tsuya Yasuda

The cinematic system has always demanded one thing as its ideology.

Actuality.

Reality.

Hence, the audience in the past was reluctant to leave the reality...

...created by black-and-white films.

The belief that color does not go well with realistic stories...

...led to the creation of many black-and-white masterpieces.

Even after color films became common.

From the close-up of a shining holy lady who receives divine favor...

...to the rain-soaked pavement of the warehouse district...

...where Ionely gangsters stand still.

Everything that was sincere was filled with light and pictured the world...

...of the black to white scale. This is where truth resided.

Gaudy color films simply contributed to the creation of vulgar...

...and nonsensical worlds with stimulating, spectacular, and glamorous landscapes.

And?

But the truth of the matter was exactly the opposite.

Yes. Preceding the films of truth pictured in black and white...

...the real world was always full of colors.

It was and is. Long before cinematography was born.

The world people wanted to believe in was actually the fiction...

...given birth to by technology.

In 1927, Herbert Kalmus successfully developed a negative film...

...that was light-sensitive to the three complementary colors to RBG:

Cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Hence, the curse of colors in the movies became a reality.

The mask of truth was smeared with a violent-colored paint called Technicolor!

The effort of making heavily made-up faces appear to have...

...the brilliance of natural skin only change the orderly idea into a real fake.

It was nothing more than a fight without reward.

Movies, having created a sacred kingdom, utterly ruined it...

...with the same methods and techniques and never looked back.

On the other hand, as a public amusement first and foremost...

...the newly-born color films had to do more than just reproduce the colors...

...of the things that existed in the real world.

Color movies had to be artificially processed as things...

...with their own strengths in order to contribute to the spectacle.

An image that reproduced beautiful colors was nothing more than a...

...picturesque image that did not contribute in the slightest to the story.

This made the movie a beloved child of the times.

In order to make colors a part of a film's explanatory action...

...and to utilize it as a motivation in the drama...

...they had to wait for the cinematic vision...

...that was implicitly shared in that era, to mature.

Should we repeat that?

In order to have colors function as an important factor in a drama...

...a series of films had to exist first. That's what you're trying to say.

Yes!

Yellow ribbons and...

Red shoes.

Oh, the now-defunct Soviet Embassy's red flag!

But the glory of the color films did not last long.

As color became a normal part of filmmaking...

...the colors retrogressed from being the motivation, to the background...

...and the subtle coloration of Kodacolor put an end to the last myth of the colors!

When the Black Hood changed to the White Hood, and then to the Purple Hood...

...the end of the series was already creeping up.

Clapping their hands in a dingy show booth...

...but how many children realized that?

The movies traded precious memories for instant gratification.

Really stupid, don't you think?

So, my predecessor's actual plan was?

"Do everything at face value."

"I don't want to use any colors that can't become words."

A story that seems sensual, but perhaps not.

For example, a heroine who's the only woman among characters.

Fine. Start from there.

Mr. Director, do you know...

...the Italian American who embraced the newly-born Technicolor...

...at the drop of a hat?

Walt Disney.

Come to think of it, he was the one who dragged "story" into animation.

Very suitable as our figurehead, isn't he?

Cola definitely has to be Pepsi, huh?

Absolutely.

Is it alright?

At least in movies, it's not bad to be free from colors.

Besides...

Over time, films discolor, wear out, burn or melt away, and disapp-

Over time, films discolor, wear out-

Han!

It's Itoh.

Assistant Animation Director Tamiko Kobayashi

Tamiko Kobayashi, age 28.

A crackerjack assistant animation director...

...a.k.a. "Tanko the blank frame."

A good student of mine and a colleague.

She and I have survived a number of life-or-death crises together.

Anticipating the complexity of the situation...

...I summoned her, my last trump card.

But later, it would complicate the situation even more.

But, not being God, I couldn't possibly have known that then.

Is it alright to start right away?

Go ahead.

First of all, the producer, Unoyama.

As a pretty big player, he seems to have a lot of enemies in the industry.

The "director problem" becomes more and more complex...

...and not even the distribution company has been officially decided...

...but he's still supporting the work front.

Nobody knows how he's doing it.

He paid me generously, though.

Why was he so obsessed with the idea of using that Rei Maruwa, of all people?

Talk about mysteries, that's what I call a mystery.

"That" Maruwa?

Do you want to hear?

I collected all the reviews on him and his works.

No, it won't help ourjob in any way.

There are only two kinds of movie critics.

Those who dislike animation and those who don't.

No, those who don't watch animation and those who do.

Gen Handawara, age 33.

Has 8-years experience as a desk-chief.

Was head-hunted for his skills and moved from Aji Production.

Has chronic illnesses in the liver, pancreas, kidneys, and heart.

Toshiki Tahara, age 29.

5 years experience as a production assistant.

Fired by a studio for selling cells through illegal channels...

...and was taken in by Unoyama.

Yasuo Handa, age 22.

Former wrestler.

Saw a want-ad 6 months ago and joined the company.

The color keys, Aya and Tsuya Yasuda.

Ages unknown.

Self-proclaimed twins.

Three years ago...

...while working on a certain project for a certain production company...

...they colored a character's skin all green and were severely chastised.

The animation director, Shinichiro Ohtsuka.

Age, nationality, country of origin, etc., all unknown.

No such person resides in the files.

Key animator, Jiro Itano, age 27.

Has been convicted for the illegal possession of firearms...

...violating use of explosives laws, etc.

Worked at Torajima Animation Company until last year...

...but was fired for nearly killing an assistant animation director...

...and was taken in by Unoyama.

Another key animator, Shoichi Yamashita, age 22.

Came to Tokyo at the age of 16 and kept moving from studio to studio.

Currently has no permanent address. Tends to be emotionally unstable.

Key animator, Hiroshi Kitakubo, age 28.

Background unknown. No permanent address.

Tends to display an abnormal fixation for knives.

The inbetweener checker, Chie Sasaki, called Chie.

Age unknown.

Rumor has it that she's been around since the time of "Akado Suzunosuke."

Except for Handawara, they're all a bunch of good-for-nothings.

Anyone else?

Of course it's a silly rumor, but a ghost apparently dwells in this studio as well.

A "guest," you mean.

Though every studio has a story like that.

No. If you think a movie...

...that's going to be spoken of uncaringly shouldn't be made at all...

...then you shouldn't speak uncaringly of a "guest," either.

Don't disturb the deceased. Don't meddle with the gods.

Yes, the fact that we don't know the audience makes it possible for us...

...in movies, to speak or hide freely.

By the way, did you hear about screenwriter Itoh?

They say it was a horrible sight.

Anything to do with this job?

Can't tell either way yet.

But why did he die the way he did?

In a movie, people tend to want to spill their guts.

It's true that a lot of truths are in what's spilled...

...but things that could nauseate you are also in there.

Despite that, when the act of spilling one's guts is often attempted...

...it's because movie-making is still considered a special privilege.

Just as practicing magic is.

Itoh was one of those who was caught up in such an illusion.

A screenwriter tends to fall into a Ionely dialogue with his movie.

It causes him to isolate himself, to feel stagnated and frustrated and eventually...

...it invites a situation where he ends up spilling his guts out.

That's precisely why one should make a movie by communicating with others.

"Dialogue propels a movie forward."

You haven't changed.

Director!

L-it's the color keys, Aya and Tsuya!

Their heads were stuffed into paint bottles or something?

How did you know?

What?

I can't believe these two would commit suicide.

But who? What the hell for?

The screenwriter Itoh was found as a dismembered corpse.

And now the color keys Aya and Tsuya.

Maybe there will be many more deaths.

It's possible that this only heralds of more serious matters.

Handawara, hurry.

To Ohtsuka...

The animation director Ohtsuka's apartment!

Hello, this is animation director Ohtsuka.

By the time this animation is discovered, I will probably have left this world.

Someone nailed my apartment door shut, making it impossible for me to get out.

2 weeks have gone by.

Thinking that someone would eventually rescue me,

...I took the situation lightly and stayed holed up in my apartment.

How stupid of me.

By the time I ate up all my food...

...I had no strength left to break the door open.

And, I tried to call for help...

...but the phone didn't work since I hadn't paid the phone bill.

Most likely, I will gradually die from exhaustion.

I guess you could call it fate.

Given the infamous name "The Phantom Animator"...

...which I never reflected on until now, I have spent my life in idleness.

Maybe I am being made to pay for it now.

Yet, during these last moments of my life...

...as animation director of the current project...

...I wish to continue making notes about the theme given to me by Director Maruwa...

...until I run out of gas. That's why I picked up my pencil.

To the inbetweener in charge;

My hand is shaky from malnutrition, so the key drawings are rough.

But please frame the two in-between into two.

To speak about a character always involves a certain type of difficulty.

That is because, when speaking about a character...

...one is more vulnerable, is strongly urged by one's unconsciousness...

...and without even realizing it, is forced to take an ideological standpoint.

As you know, the audience usually understands the roles in the story...

...such as heroes and villains, through cinematic figures called...

..."personas" or the instance of "specific roles performed by actors"...

...as well as the instance of the individuals who are identifiable...

...and have inner human rights.

However, in animation...

...actors serving as actual entities of these "personas" do not exist.

That makes the matter even more complex and mysterious.

As long as movements and voices are added accordingly by voice talents...

...there are no characters that cannot exist in animation.

Not to mention ordinary people, but animals, plants, monsters, aliens...

...and even desks and chairs and melon bread...

...or even a gunk can, as an existence that has inner personality...

...and a specific role in a certain story, can be created.

A dream character can be anything and can be drawn in any way.

A character that a real actor cannot play, even if he tried.

However, because of this unlimited possibility...

...animation characters are forced to suffer from not being able to shoulder...

...the ideological demands placed upon them.

In other words, the preferences and personal feelings of the people involved.

Tall. Short.

With long hair, or short.

Pretty. Ugly.

Man. Woman.

Child. Old man.

The planning meeting gets entangled, the director gets mad...

...the animation director is called names, the sponsor is cursed...

...and the fans send razor blades.

A character is drawn by multiple animators...

...and does not bear the slightest resemblance.

Yet, as long as its voice is performed by the same person...

...or even if voice talents change in an emergency situation...

...the existence of that character is unquestioningly identified.

What a mystery.

After all, is a character an existence which, using images as a catalyst...

...and propagates itself inside the mind of the audience...

...an existence without substance?

Is it an image reinforced by countless episodes and situations...

...and nothing more?

I suspect the director's hesitation resided on this point.

The task given to me, to design an "absent character"...

...may have been derived from his fresh attempt, secret malice and his obsession.

A character who is repeatedly spoken of in the movie.

The one who is always the main topic of conversation...

...and yet does not appear on screen even once-an absent character.

A character doesn't need a persona or a specific instance of a mysterious air...

...of a certain character which is emitted as the sediment of the persona...

...because it's absent.

A character who is never exposed to the eyes of an audience...

...although recognized as an inner personality.

A character defined solely by the intention of the creator...

...a pure and ultimate existence.

But, after having shut myself up in the apartment, waiting for death as I am now...

...what comes to my mind is something exactly opposite.

A character that is constantly on screen, but who in reality is absent.

Maybe such a character could also exist.

OK. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Quite a performance.

If at least half of it was in color, I could've added a bit more sound, too.

It's alright.

You even added some neat effects.

It turned out to be a nice posthumous work.

The line-drawing is the posthumous work?

Pathetic.

So, what about the autopsy result?

The estimated time of death is a week ago.

From starvation.

His stomach was completely empty.

So it was right after the mutilation murder of Itoh...

...and 5 days before Aya and Tsuya's drawings.

I wonder if it's a serial murder case by the same killer.

From the screenwriter...

...to the animation director...

...to the color keys.

Who's next?

Can't tell you. But...

But, what?

Judging from what's happened so far...

...you could say those with whom the director had...

...or tried to have a meeting with are being killed in that order.

Congratulations Kawai, you are on.

What? Why?

Because the sound effects and music are in one and the same boat.

Mutilation, starvation, and drowning.

The next murder method would be... What do you think?

Don't know.

Recording Director Shijimi Shiba Composer Ken Kawai

A serial killer or whatever he is.

We the sound producers can, if we want to...

...decide life and death of a character by a mere sound effect or a line.

I'd like to see him try to kill me!

The introduction of voices into movies.

Movies kept telling the stories of their own origins...

...and, as tragedies and comedies about silent film stars'...

...and master filmmakers' downfalls, also kept telling...

...almost over-sentimentally, stories about the happenings of their world.

It was, by no means, an accident.

Because the introduction of voices was started as a change...

...to the movie character's instance, and as the story about man's existence.

The movies were closed and self-sufficient.

In silent movies where existence precedes essence...

...a person first comes into existence as an action-performing subject.

The world is already there when he notices it.

Having been suddenly thrown into its vortex...

...he has to accept it without a choice.

And thereafter take a role in the story by taking actions.

With no memories of himself, prior to acting out his story...

...of the time when he was still unborn.

On the other hand, in movies that acquired voices...

...the character appears as an existence who already has a personality.

A modern ego, that can't be challenged.

Then, after speaking his scripted, magnificent lines...

...he starts taking actions.

Movie-making, though I hesitate to say so, is not a fixed occupation.

Movie-making, well, if I can say so, isn't a fixed occupation. Ha-ha-ha!

Movie-making, yo, if you wanna know, ain't no fixed occupation!

Moreover, in this case, "voices" do not necessarily refer solely...

...to characters' spoken dialogue and monologue.

In movies, their inner thoughts are also expressed and told as voices.

Indeed, by speaking the characters have freed themselves...

...from the silent movies' world of excessive and stylized gestures...

...and pushed themselves up from being merely performers...

...who play certain roles to that of personas.

And that same technology made it possible for animation characters...

...that were after all nothing more than theoretical patterns...

...to appear to have complex minds.

Animation started telling stories and then became movies.

Night after night, maddening animation ADR sessions are being held.

It is a place of celebration...

...where the history of transforming silent movies to sound is re-enacted.

And it is also a Sabbath of the heretics with a picture-less film...

...placed in the altar as their idol.

In the world of animation, the true ruler of the work...

...who can control not only a character's life and death...

...but also its entire existence, including how its innermost mind works...

...is none other than the sound director.

In his presence, even the director himself is just a mere technician...

...whose onlyjob is to design the images and oversee the production.

What should be looked for in a director is not creativity...

...but rather an ability to manage the production.

And for this reason...

Enough!

I've had enough of this farce.

I have no intention of letting a voice from outside the images...

...speak about movies.

It's true, in the history of movies...

...voices were always subordinate to the images.

And at the same time, regardless of circumstances...

...they dominated the images as the voice of truth...

...and put them in their proper order.

No audience doubts the narration.

However, that's precisely why one must make it clear who is doing the speaking.

The voice dominating the images.

What power does that voice hold as the foundation?

What one must take measure of is its true identity.

The words sound truthful, as long as they are spoken along with the images.

That tacit agreement between creators and audience is indeed...

...the spell of voices from which movies cannot get free.

That's the trap movies walked into right on their own...

...by having pretended to assume the air of reality.

The matter is always simple.

The only thing that's true is the moment in the act of speaking!

You merely stretched the interpretation of the movies' fate...

...as a means of expression.

This is also the limitation of the system...

...because a movie is defined by what comes after it.

It may have worked on a greenhorn who just started...

...but not on me and Kobayashi, who have seen hell countless times.

You came before your time.

From now on, the use of off-screen voices such as narration in this film...

...is prohibited by the authority vested in me as the director!

Wait!

Please. Please.

You are going to protect us, aren't you?

That's outside my contract.

But please, can't you possibly...?

Mr. Kawai, was it?

Originally, an image isn't a dangerous thing at all.

It's objective, fair, and if I may say so, democratic.

However, when a certain type of image is tied with music...

...it becomes something alluring that could contain the danger of ruining a person.

That's why music must be kept as a faithful partner of the images.

I'd try not to be alone, if I were you.

Excuse me.

Waitjust a second, please.

Stop pestering me!

Like I said, you can't get away by just saying "you can't finish it."

I told you, your crying there ain't gonna do any good.

Just listen to me!

Shut up, you jerk!

Putz!

Hello, is this Torajima Animation?

My name is Chie.

Yes, well, may I please...

...speak with the key animator Mr. Utsunomiya?

Ah, is this IG?

Sorry to bother you when you are busy...

...but is the animation director Mr. Kise there, please?

Endo, dear.

I want to ask you a favor.

Yeah, can you bring over the game?

Mr. Kaneda?

It's me, Chi-e.

How are you?

The animation director Ohtsuka was the fourth.

If we are to take the logical course of thinking...

...the murderer has to be someone involved in this project...

...who gains in some way by the deaths of the victims.

The question is, what is there to gain?

To hinder the progress of the project?

The victims, every one of them...

...talked their heads off about movies before being killed.

If ourjob is to materialize my predecessor's intentions...

...and if the murder's goal is to hinder us...

...then I can't say for the life of me that he's being efficient.

They really did talk a lot.

Though it's true that self-reference is an element of a good movie.

Did it help?

Huh?

Well, that's a different matter.

In truth, a movie that has been spoken is always nothing but a memory of the movie.

One cannot even quote it, let alone point it out.

And when one wishes to talk about it, it cannot be presented.

On top of that...

...it's not even an experience that can be shared with others.

It's a personal experience.

That's what watching a movie really is.

One cannot describe in words what he's seen.

Because, there is no relationship whatsoever between seeing it...

...and describing it in words.

To watch a movie, to have watched a movie...

...to talk about a movie one has watched, and to talk about watching a movie.

There is nothing in common among these actions.

Needless to say for multiple people, but even for an individual...

...a movie can never stand in front of us as the same experience...

...unless having the illusion as a premise that a film as a text is a single thing.

Yes.

A place where one can speak accurately about a movie.

If such a place exists...

...it's probably only inside the theater when the movie is actually in progress.

Dr. Tondabayashi of Sohsui Surgery Institute...

Dr. Tondabayashi, please... ...come to the ICU No.2.

Hey.

Mr. Morita!

Hey.

Hey.

In a tight fix, aren't you?

The guys in the studio look ready to kill.

A play preaches the unity of the audience...

...while a movie preaches the isolation of them.

Sorry, but we'll have to give you some trouble again.

Well, it's my job to make things look plausible.

It's too early for me to start, but I thought I'd show my face.

Everything has to be seen at least twice.

Editor Kiyokazu Morita

It's always necessary to see things twice.

To see them twice, and by doing so, bring two things together...

...and establish some sort of relationship.

That's what I call editing.

This is also the correct way of viewing a movie.

It's necessary to see it twice.

It's necessary to see it twice.

It's necessary to see it twice.

It's necessary to see it many times!

That's why you bothered to show up?

You have to be diligent to be an editor.

Seems there isn't enough material for me to start, so I'll see you later.

How dare they drop dead without permission?

The deadline is almost here, and we don't even have the trailer finished.

Can I ask something?

When did you start being a migrant animation director?

Maybe it pays good, but isn't it tough with enemies everywhere?

Why not settle down at some studio?

The best work is always done in a foreign place, in a situation similar to exile.

They say all of Lenin's ideas were formed while he was outside Russia.

In those days, the Russian people suffered from hunger...

...but Lenin himself was riding a bike in the mountains near Zurich.

By being in such a situation...

...by being in two different places simultaneously...

...one can best contemplate ideas.

In two different places simultaneously.

Right. Having one's self divided into two.

A situation like that.

But anyway, doing what we're doing...

...are you sure anything will come out of it?

From here to there, and from there to here, we'rejust moving.

What a movie always protests is "a different place and a different space."

A movie is made by moving.

Look.

The movie is right in front of our eyes now.

Hey, wake up!

Are you alright?

Pretty good, aren't you?

A mere migrant animation director, acting as he pleases.

This is where your filmography ends.

Finish him!

Yeah!

Director.

This photo-gun is capable of 24 FPS rapid-firing.

When they break the rule of the subjects and go over the 9 feet line...

...that's our chance.

Go.

Having failed to arrange an army of subcontractors...

...those 3 launched a desperate attack on us, but ended up destroying themselves.

And, things continued to take turns for the worse.

The evil hands of the faceless killer...

...began to reach out toward the other members of the staff.

The next day, Kawai the composer...

...who had been frightened by the shadow of death and gone into hiding...

...was found drowned in Yugawara, where he had run away.

And, upon hearing the news, Handawara...

Han?

Han!

Haann!!

Haann!!

Our one and only ally, the chief who was struggling on...

...while leading the incompetent assistants, was no more.

And as if to deliver a final blow...

...the sound director Shijimi was killed by poison laced in her lipstick.

I can't see you

From behind the curtain, a voice came

I lifted it with the tip of my finger

And saw only an empty space

It's only my imagination

There's nobody there

The past I've been looking for is a fake

The days I miss so are not here

Oh, I cannot say goodbye

Twisted times passing each other

Behind the time when the light shines

You block them off

The color that changes when the moon waxes

Light and shadow do not mix

Fascinated by the closed world

I start falling without knowing

Looking through a piece of blue glass

Maybe I can meet my shadow self

The colorless outline is sneering

Oh, sharing a dream, that's all it was

One person replacing the other

Behind the time when the light shines

I block them off

The color that changes when the moon waxes The front is the back of the back, so...

...From behind the door of the emergency exit

Looking for tomorrow...

Looking for tomorrow...

Can't sleep?

You should try to get some rest at least.

As if to race against the looming deadline...

...the situation took an abrupt turn.

Yet, the movie had to be propelled forward without a moment to spare.

However, on that day...

...I was beginning to understand the true nature of the strange feeling...

...that had constantly clung to me...

...since I first set foot in this studio.

Manager Nagarawa, Manager Nagarawa, please come to the nearest phone.

This is a routine work-related announcement:

Dr. Ohmura, the pot-boiled noodle you ordered is here.

Please eat it before it gets cold.

The same, familiar studio. The same sight.

And the same faces.

Yet, something was different.

This is a routine work-related announcement:

After 2:00 p. M...

...the central elevator may be used for the transportation of dead bodies only.

The situation couldn't have been any worse.

The work continued to stagnate.

The staff members were dropping off because of the mysterious serial killer.

And, hiding something important...

...Tamiko, my assistant, was probably keeping a watch over me.

And, it's possible...

...because of his obsession with the production...

...Handawara came back as a zombie.

With those two as my team, I had to complete the unidentifiable movie.

You pushed the plot forward this time.

It'll be hard putting them together.

There's no such thing in a movie as a cut that can't be connected.

As long as you have this.

Unlooked-for intruders and unexpected cuts.

With the ability to swallow them all, a movie can be an incomplete system.

What's important isn't a narrative consistency between cuts...

...that are connected together.

It's what sort of relationship you can discover between the cuts.

Isn't that so?

Shall we start?

An unfinished movie left behind by a director who disappeared.

A series of murders takes place following the disappearance.

By identifying the murderer and presenting his motives...

...all the mysteries are solved.

I put them together based on that pedestrian plot for a start.

I don't know about that.

We've been freewheeling wildly until now.

An ordinary ending is impossible, I should think.

Hey, don't tell me you're going to start using deconstruction...

...and metafiction and all that postmodern stuff.

Sorry, but that seems to be the case.

Think about it.

What was the proposition given to the now-dead crew by my predecessor?

"An absent character."

A movie that is the story.

A game for which you make rules as you go along.

Yes, something does stink pretty badly.

L-I took this job 'cause I heard it was an entertaining film.

But the very person who set up this whole thing is absent.

Give it up and redo it.

First of all, is this really a serial killer case?

We can start from there.

We have to go back that far?

Look behind you.

A man who died once is still taking a part in the story as a zombie.

How can you be sure that other guys aren't behind my back...

...having midnight tea parties?

Perhaps with Kobayashi here?

A death of a character in a movie...

...is nothing more than an agreement made for the story.

It could be breached at any time.

Disguise, proxy, illusion.

If one wants to, it's possible to play hardball and bring him back as a cyborg.

As long as things are progressing outside the boundary of realism...

...it's dangerous to set absolutes on past developments as fixed facts.

Oh, boy.

Hello, cutting room.

Yes.

Yes, thank you.

Tahara and Handa are on the way here to pick up the rushes.

Should we take a coffee break?

The rich aroma that forcibly interrupts the story.

The deep taste that makes even a zombie's eyes pop out.

When you are tired of a confused story.

For you, who know the difference, try Dog Blend.

What ajoke.

Human beings being bossed around by a zombie like that.

We can't let that creep work as the chief of this movie!

I'll show them.

Soon, I will, by my own hands...

I mean, if you think of the seniority list, the next chief is, you know...

Oh, but I'm not...

I'm not... I'm not...

When the day that I become the chief dawns...

...I will first throw out thatjerk of a migrant tech director.

Hey, the light!

On March 14, 1932, an American, George Eastman, acknowledged his wishes...

...about the disposal of his property in the presence of his lawyer.

Shortly after the lawyer left, he shot himself to death.

The true inventor of the movies was Louis Aime Augustine Le Prince.

On September 16, 1890, after visiting his siblings in Dijon,

he got on a train going back to Paris and nobody ever saw him again.

Neither his body, nor his luggage were ever found.

The developer of the camera capable of shooting 4 frames per second...

...using paper-based film, was the Englishman William Friese-Greene.

In 1921, at a gathering of movie industry people...

...which included not even one person who knew him...

...and while passionately giving a speech in front of an audience, he died.

A natural scientist Emile Reynaud.

Caught by a spell of depression that nothing was going well...

...he threw his films and equipment into the Seine in 1910...

...and died in a sanitarium in Ivory in 1918.

And, the great "Grand" George Melies.

Melies produced a staggering 4000 movies between 1896 to 1914.

In the 1930's Melies was sighted at a kiosk in the Montparnasse station...

...with his second wife.

He was making a living by selling souvenirs.

He died on June 21, 1938.

What is the ominous shadow creeping up behind the history of motion pictures?

The truth would freeze the whole world in fear.

"Talking Head." Coming soon.

Well, looks pretty good.

Replace the blanks tonight...

...and finish the first print by the afternoon the day after tomorrow, right?

Yeah.

Hey, where is Mr. Morita?

We're in the home stretch now.

You're determined to do this?

Once the truth is revealed, the movie comes to an end.

Now that the story has been developed around the mystery...

...that's the only way it can come to an end.

Although, whether it will be the confession from the mastermind...

...of this whole thing, or a mystery-solving clue is yet to be known.

Either way, it's by surviving that one is qualified to tell everything.

Get Itano for me.

Redo these.

Can't hear you.

Surviving to the end, your existence itself is set for a retake.

Go and be reborn once.

Self-replacement trick!

Right behind you.

Come out!

Did you call me?

Fool.

Come out! It's your turn.

What's the matter?

What's the point of hesitating now?

You or me, whichever survives will tell the truth...

...and put together a new crew to complete the film.

That's the only way.

In any case...

...a truth told at the end of the movie can't possibly be the one and only truth.

True.

But we aren't the only ones remaining here.

You must have known it since long ago.

Maybe ever since when you set foot in this studio for the first time.

You just refused to acknowledge and accept it.

What are you talking about?

I'm finally beginning to see.

A movie that has a name, but whose nature is unknown.

Staff who were killed in order.

They were faithfully acting out the roles given to them...

...and at the same time, hinting about the truth of the matter.

A movie that is the story.

A man who is being constantly spoken of by others but never shows himself.

The existence who rules the situation from outside the frame.

And that's not all.

The man who cast a shadow behind every single incident.

Everything was done to materialize his intentions...

...and it progressed according to his plan.

Yes.

The movie is, as we speak, moving forward as scheduled.

Your predecessor isn't missing, nor is he dead.

He must be, as we speak, somewhere in this studio directing this film.

You and I, who are appearing in this movie...

...in order to materialize his intentions, are nothing but characters in the story.

The one who remains standing in the end to tell the truth...

...it's neither you or me. It's him!

Director's Office

Producer Shinichi Unoyama

Screenplay Kazumaro Itoh

Music Ken Kawai

Animation Director Shinichiro Ohtsuka

Character Design Yuji Izubuchi

Director of Photography Akio Wakaba

Art Director Mitsuru Ohkura

Art Desk Hachiro Kobayashi

Backgrounds Kohji Zeshin Mitsuko Shimotani Tadashi Kimura

Key Animators Jiro Itano / Shoichi Yamashita Hiroshi Kitakubo / Jyunji Abe Sachi Akimoto / Nami Tsuchiya Kyoko Godai / Fujiko Mine

Production Supervisor Gen Handawara

Production Assistants Toshiki Tahara / Yasuo Handa

Animation Produced in Association with Studio Dutch / Toriyama Production Tokyo Movie Piiman / Film 21 Studio Kinpeibai / Tsunoebi Studio American Grisder / Studio Kintaro Continental Room / Tohnichi Animation Office of Hide Idera / Studio Summit World Animation / Office Mamoru Morita Editing Office

Produced in Association with Studio Happyakubariki Ltd.

Assistant Animation Director Tamiko Kobayashi

Director Rei Maruwa

"Talking Head" Premiere

Good work.

Just as I thought, the best apprentice trained by him.

It turned out splendidly.

Maruwa

But you know, I should have realized.

Though we knew of his abnormal obsession about this project...

...when his bizarre behavior came to our attention...

...he was already becoming schizophrenic.

The crew members were confused and the work was halted.

He couldn't even distinguish between me complaining and his doctor.

According to the doctor, it was a second personality conjured up...

...in order to save the one that had broke-down.

But a "migrant animation director?"

Old habits die hard, as they say.

It was necessary.

Oh?

To begin with, a movie is more than one director can handle alone.

That's what he taught me.

That if you can't do it by yourself, you must conjure up a second self.

What the director had to rescue was not himself.

Maybe, I myself was the third personality conjured up by him.

Come on, don't give me that. It's your turn next?

They say a director could occasionally develop complex feelings toward his crew...

...that's not unlike the urge to kill.

I forced you all to play along with such an obsession...

...and I'm sorry about that.

He never returned to normal, but his work is going out into the world.

It also means that I didn't waste my money after all.

You did well.

You perfectly completed what your predecessor intended to do.

Indeed, the movie is right in front of our eyes now.