Seven Samurai is a Japanese film set in sixth century feudal Japan. In it a band of samurai work together with the people in a small farming community to help defend themselves against a pillaging group of bandits. The leader of the samurai group is Kambei, unlike many samurai of his timed, is only trying to do good and help others instead of wanting money or titles.
The director of this film, Akira Kurosawa, is said to be one of the best filmmakers in history and has influenced countless other filmmakers all around the world. He is noted for taking full advantage of the frame. His shots almost always have something interesting going on in them. Scenes that are supposed to be impactful have a clear intensity to them through a combination of the acting, composition, cinematography and many other factors.
Movement of the camera is very important in his films. There is a sense of flow in all his movies. One scene leads right into the other with an almost unnoticeable cut that keeps the tension and makes the story flow gracefully. In a scene in Seven Samurai where Kambei and two other samurai are planning on how best to defend the village, they are looking at map of the village then go the location where they think the enemy might attack from. We see the mountain that was mentioned on the map in the background as the characters walk towards the fork in the road that was also mentioned on the map. Shichirōji, who the samurai decide to ask to build a fence does it in the scene that follows right after. The way the camera moves and the way the scenes are edited together make the story flow smoothly. All this is possible because Kurosawa, on top of directing the film, also works as his own editor. He is able to make the story flow just as it does in his mind by editing it himself.
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