REPORT OF THE PROJECT 2

CULTURE & CIVILISATION

(FDES 0815)

FNBE JULY INTAKE 2013

MOVIE:

THE LAST SAMURAI

GROUP MEMBER:

SIEW JOHN LOONG (0315871)

GOH YEN NEE (0315551)

OOI KAI YANG (0315663)

TOH YIH SENG (0315976)

SHAUN CHUNG (0315806)

LIEW HONG ZHI (0315836)

LECTURER:

MS. DELLIYA MOHD ZAIN

Summary of the sketch

A war begins when the samurai ambushes Nathan

(Shaun Chung) and he has a fight with a great samurai

or servant of Kausumodo (Ooi Kai Yang), Ujio (Siew

John Loong). Nathan Algren (Shaun Chung) starts to

live in the Japanese village as a captive after he is

defeated. He meets the leader of samurai rebellion,

Katsumoto (Ooi Kai Yang) who wishes to have

civilized conversation and mutual understanding. And

day-by-day, Algren (Shaun Chung) grows to respect the

simple and disciplined lifestyle of the samurai and their

families. At there Nathan (Shaun Chung) lives with

Taka (Goh Yen Nee) and he begins to be more familiar

with her.

Katsumodo (Ooi Kai Yang) is assaulted by a tough

and skillful assasin. Algren (Shaun Chung) and Ujio

(Siew John Loong) try to protect Katsumodo (Ooi Kai

Yang) from the attack.

Back in the village, they prepare for the battle.

Everything is chaos. Knowing they cannot withstand

another assault, they try to break the defensive line. In

the fight, Ujio (Siew John Loong) is shot few times by

the enemies and he dies with dignity. Algren (Shaun

Chung) spots Bargley (Toh Yih Sheng) firing on

Katsumodo (Ooi Kai Yang) and kills him. All of the

samurai are dead, except Algren who is also seriously

injured. Only Nathan survives at the end.

Script of the sketch

Scene 1

-Ujio attacked Nathan: Kogeki (attack)

-Ujio defeated Nathan: Ido shinaide kudasai (do not

move)--Point him with the katana

-Katsumodo fights with Nathan with bare hands: ‘ you

don’t have weapons with you. Samurai will fight with

honour. ‘

Scene 2: 

-Taka helps to take care of Nathan.

-Katsumodo talks to Nathan: I won't kill you.

(Slowly....) You are not allowed to leave the village. I

want you to stay here to understand our true culture and

we mean no harm to the emperor. (Talks louder...)

-Katsumodo talks to Ujio: Kare Ni gai o nokosanai

(Leave him no harm)

-Ujio: Hai (yes)

Scene 3:

- Nathan and others fight with the assasin to protect

Katsumodo.

-Katsumodo: Ujio!

-Ujio attacks the assasin, followed by Nathan.

The assasin is killed at last.

Scene 4:

-Prepare for battle

-Katsumodo, Nathan, Ujio and Nabutada are the one

who left.

-Ujio is been shot few times and dead; ‘ Arghhh!’

-Katsumodo is shot tooby Bargley.

- Nathan kills Bargley.

-Katsumodo talks to Nathan: Kill me. I wanna die with

honor!’

- Nathan kills Katsumodo

- Nathan is the only one who survives.

Costume research and Weapons

Japanese Armour

-Armour in Japan has a history that goes back as far as

the 4th century

- Japanese armour developed enormously over the

centuries since its introduction to the battlefield. It was

worn to varying degrees by numerous classes; most

notably by the samurai (and was seen on the battlefield

both on mounted and foot troops.

Japanese Kimono

- The Japanese kimono is one of the world's instantly

recognizable traditional garments. The word kimono

literally means "clothing", and up until the mid 19th

century it was the form of dress worn by everyone in

Japan. 

Katana (Samurai Sword)

- The first use of "katana" as a word to describe a long

sword that was different from a tachi is found in the

12th century. These references to "uchigatana" and

"tsubagatana" seem to indicate a different style of

sword, possibly a less costly sword for lower ranking

warriors. The evolution of the tachi into the katana

seems to have started during the early Muromachi

period (1337 to 1573). -Starting around the year 1400,

long swords signed with the "katana" signature were

made.

Research on the Characters that Inspired Us

Algren Nathan

-Nathan inspires us a lot because of his life changing.

Although he is meant to fight the samurai at the

beginning, he ends up living with them through culture

understanding. He stops fighting against them and he

helps them. At last Nathan he changes the mind of the

Emperor. The Emperor decided to make Japan to

become a stronger country.

Katsumodo

-Katsumodo is the leader of the samurai. He leads the

rest to protect the village and live with honor. Although

his student, the emperor launches attack to the village,

Katsumodo does not blame the emperor. It is because

he knows that the emperor is surrounded by lots of

wicked people that affect his mindand decision. The

emperor does not mean to do that.

Ujio

-Ujio is the main helper of Katsumodo. He helps to

train the other samurai and he helps to protect very

well. More importantly, he is willing to sacrifice his life

in order to protect his master, Katsumodo.

Nabutada

-Nabutada is the son of Katsumodo. The thing that

inspired us is that he is willing to sacrifice his life to

protect his father, Katsumodo and he ends up dead at

the bridge.

The Final Chosen Character s and Actors:

Nathan Algren: Shaun Chung

Katsumoto: Ooi Kai Yang

Taka: Goh Yen Nee

Ujio: Siew John Loong

Colonel Bagley: Toh Yih Sheng

Nobutada: Liew Hong Zhi

Research of the Movie

Through the research from the internet we know

that the story takes place during the early modernization

of Japan, in the 1870s and 1880s. The Emperor's power

has been weakened by the political and economic power

of his cabinet, by his young age, and by the political

influence of the United States and other western powers

pulling the strings of his cabinet and supplying modern

weaponry and tactics to the modernizing Japanese

army. Cruise plays Captain Allgren, an alcoholic

veteran who has seen and participated in too many

massacres of innocent people, and is offered an

opportunity to reclaim some of his honor by helping to

train the Japanese military in the use of firearms. When

he arrives in Japan, we learn that the first test of the

Japanese army and its new weapons will be against a

rebellious group of samurai who believe they to be in

the service of the Emperor and Japan, but resist the

Emperor's cabinet and the influence of western nations.

In the power void left by a passive emperor, Japan

seems poised to enter into a civil war against its own

values, faith and honor. During the first attack on the

Samurai, Allgren is captured by the Samurai and begins

a spiritual, physical and philosophical journey, which

will bring him a level of self-respect his own culture

could never supply.

Summary of The Research

The movie is basically about a soldier who is

ordered to have a war with the samurai. In this movie,

the samurai learns about the culture and living style of

the samurai. He knows that the samurai live their lives

with honour and they always train theirselves very hard.

The characters of the movie will be Nathan,

Katsumodo, Taka, Ujio, Nabutada and General Bargley.

The script is written similarly with the summary to

make sure everything goes the way it does. Costumes

and crops are drawn and are shown as the pictures

below. And also, the most crucial scene of the movie is

divided into 4 parts and they are drawn in a circle

diagram too.

The final outcome of costumes

Nathan’s Costume in the sketch with his samurai sword (From Shaun Chung)

Katsumodo’s costume with his handmade samurai sword (From Kaizer Ooi)

Ujio’s costume, Japanese traditional clothes with his sword (From Siew John Loong

Taka’s costume which is a handmade kimono outfit (From Goh Yen Nee)

Nobutada’s costume, traditionally Japanese outfit with a lot of props (From Liew Hong Zhi)

Bagley’s costume which is a cop’s outfit with his toys gun (From Toh Yih Seng)

The final outcome of props

Katana (Samurai sword) made up by plastics

Samurai sword that made up from woods

Props that found by members such as toys of gun and archery tools

Sword that made by aluminium slice as outer

surface and plastics for inner

REFERENCES

1) http://www.samurai-archives.com/clothing.html 2) http://www.japan-zone.com/culture/kimono.shtml 3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katana 4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxWapFy5teE 5) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly7SLHiDW8c 6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in38zVtiiZI 7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUHHhuLUJy8 8) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkuWm3AI6sY 9) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkYxzTISRIU