The first Macross Frontier movie was damn good, on all levels. It handled all that it wished to cover exceptionally, a vast improvement over the presentation in the series for the most part. There will be several posts about it, both from my comrades and I and on other blogs, but right now, as the adrenaline from finishing it still flows through me, I’d like to concentrate on the first thing that struck me about the movie. Where the original Macross Frontier felt rather bland to me visual presentation (even with all the pretty CG Valkyries), The False Songstress is engaging in its visuals right from the start. More than just looking good, they also show a great deal of creativity that was lacking in the series, and this creativity is used to great effect in communicating several things. To start with in this post, the sense of scale and the meaningful touches to the environment and shots were as communicative as dialog.
From the start what I noticed was the sense of scale that the visuals imparted to the show. It’s a sense you never really got in the series so much, but from a scooter ride to the final battle it’s impossible not to notice how BIG everything is. The scale is really driven home to the viewer through the kinds of visuals used. First there’s the Frontier itself.
The Macross Frontier Fleet
While the numbers of inhabitants are quoted in the series and we get an impression of the hilly environs of the Island Frontier and surrounding smaller Islands, the immensity of it is never driven home in quite the same way as it is from the start of the movie. Large vistas like in the picture above show the scale in three main ways. Seeing all the buildings, the traffic, and the infrastructure demonstrates what the population numbers suggest. Another way is that the elevations changes are clearly visible whenever the characters are outside. The heights and islands and skyscrapers give the Frontier that ‘big’ feel to them. As much as I hate to say it, Macross 7 actually did a better job of conveying this than the original Frontier series, but here it is in glorious high-budget animation. And finally, the false sky that Alto yearns to leave behind seems to be more present than in the series, with the lines of the outer shell crossing the skyline in nearly all the shots. The movie also allows us to see through the false sky a bit more, making ships and Islands visible that are nearby.
There’s also a smaller, detail-oriented scale to things, and a method that conveyed more than words could about the history and present day of the Macross universe. For instance, the above image from the memorial hill area. While the cemetery and body recycling system already mark it as a place of remembrance, there are things like this engraved map of the Sol System to remind humanity of where they came from, and what they’ve lost. Earth by this point isn’t quite the bombed-out, lifeless sphere it was after the Zentradi bombardment in SDF Macross, but at least as of a few years ago it seemed that Macross City was one of only a few areas now fully rebuilt. There are also plenty of shots that provide a more human scale to things. Parks and city streets just felt ‘right’ in conveying a real sense of place instead of just being a stage for characters to interact. Michel trailing after Ranka on the city streets, the nature trail Alto and Sheryl rode down, and the park where Alto sought out Michel’s advice had the right perspective and detail to make them feel almost like real places in a real city (spaceship.)
You just couldn’t resist, could you Kawamori? You damn dirty hippy! That said, shops and signs really did add to the feel of the city, and were used more prominently than in the series.
A quick word also on the concerts. As one would expect from a movie with a larger budget:runtime ratio, they’re bigger, flashier, and more elaborate. This further adds to the sense of scale in the Macross Frontier movie. Everything’s just bigger!
The Scale of War
Combat is also something handled with an appropriate scale and nice amount of detail. While the series had its share of urban combat, quite impressive at times, you never got the sense of scale that you do here, on the macro or micro level. The city feels appropriately large, so that all the combat isn’t just in one area. The initial fighting is spread out, and late in the movie when Alto’s flying through the streets in gerwalk mode it shows that it’s actually possible to run, evade, and ambush within it, instead of it just seeming like a single fairly open ‘stage.’ The Valkyries and their Vajra opponents also feel appropriately massive, which I think was a result of them being shown up against buildings, cars, and familiar backgrounds for effective scale reference by the viewer. In that way it reminded me of the ‘Fight of Fights‘ in Gundam: the 08th MS Team. Continuing that same feeling were smaller details, like the shell casings in the second image. Ranks is huddled amongst them, and while not specifically afraid of being hit by them, the potential is there. It also goes to show just how big the Valkyries and their weapons are compared to the small, squishy humans the gigantic armored machines are there to protect.
While the first Macross Frontier movie leaves out much of the darker themes that were present in the series (to be discussed in part in a future post), it doesn’t omit the level of destruction caused by the Vajra attacks. Here’s hoping that said darker elements are back and as well done as the content the first movie chose to cover, but for now I can be content that the movie didn’t make things too much nicer for the characters. Scale is also something seen in the presentation of the destruction caused. But the large scale damage doesn’t devolve into the sort of playful glee at destruction for the sake of spectacle that some series and movies like to use. No “Bay-splosions!” here, thankfully. What it does show, particularly in the casualties at the concert is exactly how many people and how much infrastructure are being destroyed. It wasn’t even concentrated fire that caused the scene before Ranka’s eyes that made her act, just some stray shots. The destruction and subsequent compromise of the Frontier’s environment was an interesting detail of the series, but here it’s presented directly to the audience instead of a more indirect approach. Here I think is another indication of the superior cinematography in the movie, with the destruction given the proper scale by using points of view closer to that of a person who might actually be standing there. Using relatable objects like cars, and effective framing with rubble and debris also make it feel more like you’re looking at a real disaster scene.
Shot Composition and Individual Scale
On a more intimate scale, the Macross Frontier movie also blows away the original series. While I greatly enjoyed the series, one of my problems with it was that it felt kind of plain and generic. This wasn’t about specific things, as I liked the story, characters, universe, and mecha, but rather the general feeling the series gave off. The details were satisfying, but it didn’t feel like it had the overall richness to match. While elements of the story have been changed significantly in the movie, they are basically the same, and it’s a wonder what some actual creativity and artistry in the presentation can do it give events a real feeling of depth. As two examples there’s the scene where Alto is confined to quarters when Sheryl is suspected of being a spy, and the scene at the Family Mart where Alto and Ranka are able to talk about her rising stardom and what Sheryl means to Alto. The first is Alto all alone, and whether or not the Fold Quartz actually directly conveyed memories or not, it was interesting even without this plot device. We have Alto, caught between what he knows of Sheryl and what he’s been told about her, plus his own growing connection and sympathy with her via acting. Sitting in the candlelit room is atmospheric in itself as he contemplates important things, but it has even more. The framing of the bunk beds adds an even more enclosed feeling while he ponders his inner thoughts, and the candle returns as a motif for him anytime he thinks about acting and its role in identity. And then the earring, which at first is a reminder of Sheryl, triggers a moment of both Alto doubting his identity and further identifying with Sheryl.
In the other scene, Alto catches up to a previously silent Ranka when she suddenly becomes talkative and tells him all about her career as a singer taking off, right as her Family Mart jingle plays over the speakers. And while this serves to advance the plot, it also is interesting for its presentation. The ‘camera’ follows them through some of the aisles, always keeping a fairly low, eye-level position. And then there are the shots like this one. The store scene always feels cramped and confined, and incredibly commercial with all the glossy magazines and various foods and items on sale around them. Adding on to this are shots like the one above, almost looking as if they were taken from a security camera. It literally adds another angle to the cramped feeling of the scene, reinforces the commercial feel (where else would have a camera like that?), and feels invasive, like people are watching Ranka in the same fashion she’s now being watched as an up-and-coming idol. In a way Ranka comes to Alto from a position of strength, telling him the good news about her dream. But at the same time she seems to be losing power and volition as the demands of her jobs increase, which is reinforced through such a confined and commercial setting/camera angle. She’s desperately trying to connect to Alto while trapped in this little commercial box of a store (with someone (Grace, the public) perhaps watching her.) Macross has from the start liked to tackle the idol phenomenon over the decades, as well as commercialization’s up and down-sides, and I think the Family Mart scene does this visually while the characters’ dialog handles the plot itself.
A minor final note, but one worth mentioning, is a better focus on representing events from the pilot’s point of view. This was something done very well in SDF Macross and Macross Plus, but which unfortunately was rarely or poorly done in the Frontier series. But here there are a variety of shots that make you feel like you’re in the cockpit, either through the pilot’s eyes or through an imaginary RIO/co-pilot in a rear seat. Immersion in this way was something I really missed in the Frontier series, and it’s great to see it back again.
Concluding Thoughts
Macross Frontier: The False Songstress is impressive on many levels. Indeed, I had to separate my thoughts into three potential posts on it all, so more is on the way. One way it does this is by adding the artistic and thematic techniques that were largely absent in the series. And the effect is dramatic, making it very much more engaging minute-to-minute than the series. In a way it seems like a return to the original SDF Macross in terms of cinematography and thematic conveyance. Despite its age, the very first Macross series was adept at shot composition, meaningful visual details, and picking the right camera angles to help convey information or the meaning of a shot or scene. And now the Macross franchise is back in form, providing a rich and satisfying visual experience that makes both the interpersonal and the military scenes so much more satisfying.
31 Comments
Great post. Love it. I still have a few hours until my dl completes, but I’m more than happy to look forward to seeing what you mention here for myself.
Looking forward to your thoughts after the dl finishes. If you’re downloading the larger 720p version, I’m being generous with my seeding bandwidth as we speak.
Come on, why would you read this post before watching the movie? This is what I’m talking about…
Yeah I regret doing so already.
I was kinda wondering why you’d read before watching too, heh.
Because when it comes to Macross, I get full retard. Also, old habits die hard. The moment a Macross Frontier post appears on this blog I read it.
Gah, must watch! A week for my dl to finish unless people actually start seeding to me… Nyoron~…
As I mentioned to Ghostlightning, the 4GB 720p version is seeding pretty well, and I’m personally setting a high upload limit so I can contribute. Not sure what the seeding is looking like on the other versions.
I throughly enjoyed watching this. Its revision on the story was a little more refreshing overall compared against the regular tv story. Changing some of the plot devices or how certain characters are not so bad as they seem, allowed to introduce a different direction in the story. (still got the second movie to go) In someways, it flushed out the 3 main characters interactions and development better in 2 hours than the whole series did. Plus being over 80% new animation helped a bit.
I am still partial to the old cel animation fighting sequences of the older series, but found this one to be better presented. The fight scenes were fast, but not distracting. As you said incredible sense of scale was given to the overall colony fleet. Something akin to how the video game Halo presented the space around it. Always large and encompassing.
Allowing Grace and Brera to (for now) be on the side of the good guys was definitely and interesting and well-done change to things. We get to see them more and Brera especially gets to be fleshed out a little more instead of being generic ‘angsty guy controlled by villain, yearning to be free’ like in the series. It’ll also make their inevitable betrayal more fun, since they’ll go from good to evil instead of neutral to evil. I’m wondering if there are 2 or 3 movies planned though. While I’ve only heard about the second one, a third would allow the second to be darker and focus on the bad stuff going down, kind of like Empire Strikes Back was to Star Wars. Though even the slightest word on the next movie or movies is complete and baseless speculation at this point, heh.
You did see the next movie preview at the end of the credits right?
Indeed I did, but it was such a teaser of a trailer that all there really was were some flashes of images and some sort of custom-painted VF-1 to make the SDF Macross fans salivate. The presence of the ‘corrupted’ Macross-class is evidence that it may be only the second of two, but again, that’s just speculation unless there’s some sort of news to corroborate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Uk-0oQXPQ
I believe this confirms it. Feb 26, 2011
I must say, I disagree on some points. The movie was very enjoyable to watch, but compared to the complex characters of the series, the ones presented here seemed rather mundane.
You mention Michael trailing after Ranka, but that scene was taken directly from the series. The park where Alto and Michael have a conversation was the one shown many times in the series, where the panorama platform was located.
I must totally disagree on the series being plain and generic. I got great enjoyment out of the characters ( excepting Ranka ) and their interactions, and I thought the characterizations of Sheryl and Alto impressively well done. The supporting characters, while never really fleshed out, gave off all the right vibes to fill in the blanks as to their personalities. The story itself had some minor hic-ups, but so does the movie.
In contrast the movie ejects most of the characterization of the secondary characters and barely fleshes out the mains, excepting Alto, who gets a boost in the motivations department ( at the the “obvious motivations” department… it was all there in the series, but less explicit ). The lack of Klan was especially egregious, IMO.
That being said, the movie corrected some mistakes the series made, with Ranka not being as terribly self-centered as she was in the series and Sheryl not dominating the triangle so much. Mind you, I liked how it played out in the series, but from a creative standpoint, having a heavily lopsided triangle is not good for tension.
The problem with the even approach is, to me, that at this point the triangle doesn’t feel serious. None of the three seems to really want be *that* interested in the other two ( not counting a Sheryl/Ranka pairing here, of course ), so the tension is way down. I suppose that will change in the second movie, but it is a thing to keep in mind. All in all, the story was driven much more by the plot than the character interactions, a big change from the series. At this point, I prefer the series approach.
Some of the secondary characters like Ozma and Cathy were barely there, but I maintain the argument I’ve made. Alto was given much, much more characterization than in at least the first 3/4 of the series, if not the entire run of it. Dialog did much to improve this, as the movie got to the heart of his identity and motivations that took much longer and still weren’t as complete as in the series. For example, the paper airplane analogy for acting, his visual conceptions of being lost in acting, and the scene where he sees some of Sheryl’s memories.
Michel trailing Ranka I do recall in part, though the moment that struck me (sidewalk up a steep hill) seemed new to me. That they chose to use this part over others demonstrates their good choices in what material to use, and in not trying to cover too much at once. Trying to do it all would have led to mediocre results all around. The park also felt more ‘right’ in the movie. Maybe it was the time of day or the camera angles, but the same area felt like a real place this time.
As for secondary characters, the movie only has so much time, and personally I’d rather they sideline the secondaries than try to do too much and accomplish nothing. Klan was my favorite secondary, but even so I don’t mind her getting only token appearances in the first movie. I also liked Max in SDF Macross a lot, but didn’t begrudge DYRL cutting down his exploits because it’s a movie and only has so much time. But there’s at least one more, so perhaps the secondaries will get a little more screentime. (On a personal note, I never liked Ozma or Cathy anyway, so they can stay offscreen, hehe.)
On the larger issue of plainness in the original series, that is, once more, not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. It felt like it had very strong ‘components’ in the characters and overall story. However, in my opinion it never came together to be a truly great series like SDF Macross and Macross Plus. The main reason in my view being that it had very bland direction. Good direction, visual and character, would have brought the series together into an amazing, polished gem of a show. I can’t help but think how I wouldn’t have dropper Frontier after 5 or 6 episodes the first time I tried to watch it if it had had the kind of creative directing that the movie did.
Fair enough preferring the series approach, but I maintain my own opinion as well. There was a good deal left out of the first movie, but I thought that it did an exceptionally good job on handling what I decided to focus on (and in not biting off more than it could chew in 2 hours.) And I expect most of the omitted themes and dynamics to be in the next movie.
Again, I must disagree about Alto. While the series took a much more subtle approach, it conveyed its message about Altos disposition to my complete satisfaction. The movie did lack in conveying Altos sense of honor, duty and loyalty, which was one the strong points of his character as shown in the series.
But of course I am judging half a work at this moment, so maybe the second movie will emphasize these aspects more.
I disagree about Frontier being more bland than Macross Plus or SDFM. But that is personal preference and can not be judged as “right” or “wrong” for either of us.
As much as I enjoyed the whole “San Francisco” vibe (with some slight L.A.) of the original series, it’s nice to see some extra details (such as that Sydney Harbor bridge) added in.
Those things make Frontier seem bigger, and also more diverse. There’s a point I had wanted to make about that, but had to cut to avoid too much tl’dr in this post. Look for it in one of the other upcoming posts (I have two more planned, one a co-op with Crusader and perhaps other comrades.)
I don’t think that bridge which Alto and Ranka crossed at night was the Harbor Bridge… well it slightly resembles it, but it lacks those pillars on either side of it.
But still, nice to see that Sydney was given some recognition – there was a Sydney Opera House look-alike at the beginning!
im not so much a fan of the movie… it could be though because i did watch the series and everytime i see ranka im over come with hate… but what made the series good in my opinion was the story elements that seem to have been dropped in the movie. the animation is great though and i do like the more girly alto hime.
LONG LIVE SAKURA HIME!!! and what i really did not like was ranka singing ranka singing diamond crevasse…. i really liked how they used the song in the series, and ranka sang it in a scene that lacked any importance!
Oh, I’m preparing to stoke the still smoldering embers in my heart to full firestorm in the next movie, hehe. I’m looking forward to falling in hate with that green haired traitor all over again! Ghostlightning is also not too pleased with the song changeups, but I rather liked them. Gave a new spin on things, added some diversity to who sang what type of song. And Sheryl knowing Aimo was a nice touch for respinning the mystery.
well with songs it was really just diamond crevasse. i mean in the series sheryl sang it to alto as he was leaving to battle, as well as the fleet, she was preparing to leave to galaxy when it was saved, it also marked her last concert till near the end of the series. and the scene of the fleet preparing and leaving with the song played was just wonderful. in the movie it was just there.. and then ranka sang it on top of it.
I love all things Macross and when I saw this post i knew the movies was available
can’t wait for the DL to finish. I’d have to agree that the Scale looks much better in the few shots there than in the series.
Enjoy, it’s quite the show. Even for someone like me who almost always prefers the series versions of a story, the near total retelling in the movie just seems much superior.
So much to say but you are right about scale there is so much here to pick at and while much more revisionist than DYRL, there seems to be blatant reason why there were instances of ham acting on Ozma’s part. I did enjoy more insight of my Alto-hime’s character. But it’s pretty obvious that this is merely a reinterpretation and in places out right revisionism all for the sake of having a Macross Frontier movie in the next macross series. We must coordinate our efforts comrade to ensure that we harness all of our collective Macross Lifer Fanboyism.
Could be, we are dealing with Kawamori here. There was even the mini-troll with Michel near the end, especially for people who’ve watched the series. Who knows what’ll happen with the movie vs ‘movie’ thing, as even DYRL was never cleared up as to whether it was supposed to be definitive, even when later series borrowed design elements that were supposedly only supposed to be part of a movie within a movie. In either case, unlike DYRL, I think the events here will be the ones that I set as my own personal canon.
I’ve just watched it and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. Too bad Crusader didn’t write about it. I really like his reviews of the Macross F TV series. I read them all, so much fun. ^_^
I too remember having a lot of fun following his posts during the series, back when I was but a lurker. But don’t worry, he and I and ghostlightning have much more planned on the topic in the next few days.
Overall a very enjoyable experience now that I’ve gotten a chance to watch it, a bit rushed but what can you do and for the most part I’m liking a lot of the revisions so far, though there is probably still some foreshadowing in the background that a lot of the old story elements are waiting in the wings to play out, though for now I’m enjoying a certain character sticking around this time, if only to see if anything more will be developed in regards to his relation with Klan. Probably one of the most powerful moments for me was Alto’s ‘identification’ as you called it, with Sheryl, made more poignant after his reveal concerning the complex he had with kabuki acting, I think it was probably the first time it was ever driven home to me just how big of a deal that was for him and how easily he could have lost himself in it. Overall though I’m liking the balance so far in regards to the triangle, and hopeful that Ranka will get a better stick by the end of it this time, in terms of both character development and overall position, when the second movie roles around.
Best addition to the movie: Sheryl making out with herself. mind = blown
Definitely agreed about the detail of the Frontier; I had to pause the movie at several points to admire the landscapes and cityscapes. Even simple scenes like Ranka blowing through the city on her Macross Segway are awesome because of all that detail.
What is this about Island Frontier its a shame for them who are interrested in boats!
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