Seven Samurai was Kurosawa’s first samurai picture. He came across the story during his research for a film he wanted to write about a single day in the life of a samurai. Kurosawa's film introduced a new plot structure to the samurai genre, depicting the process of recruiting the heroes in order to defend the village. It turned out to be a brilliant way to characterize his heroes and to demonstrate their interpersonal relationships, and has become a common narrative device since. This intricate characterization also allowed Kurosawa to focus more on the individuality of his characters and their own guiding moral principals, which was a new focus in film after WWII because of both post-war attitudes among the Japanese, and American censorship.
Kurosawa also used telephoto lenses, which were rare at this time in cinema. In addition, he used multiple cameras in order to capture all of the action as he knew that it would be impossible to cut multiple takes together because no one take would be the same as the other. His final script was much longer than originally intended, and the film was over budget and behind schedule. This would prove a frequent occurrence for Kurosawa following this film, as he worked on more and more risky, big-budget projects. It did work out, however, as the film became the highest grossing film up ever in Japan of the time.
It is also important to note that Kurosawa was greatly influenced by Dostoevsky. Like the Russian novelist, Kurosawa believed that every moment had the opportunity to hold within it thousands of years. Thus, we can understand the depth that he would write into each character. The director also began to explore the Sengoku period in Japanese history, which he would become known for exploring in later films. The period was full of civil war, starvation, and the fluidity of class structure that was not present in previous generations.
Finally, Kurosawa is perhaps best-known for his skillful photography. His work is often considered the epitome of the idea that each frame should be constructed as if it were a painting; indeed, Kurosawa trained as a painter before moving to film. Kurosawa's masterful composition is evident in the way he frames his shots—which are often composed with classic aesthetic rules (such as the rule of thirds) but also disregard these rules as necessary to draw out certain aspects of the shot—as well as in the focus of the camera, the camera movement, and the profilmic motion. He is known in particular for using motion to create dynamic images, and often uses environmental motion, like wind, smoke, and rain, to contrast with the relative stillness or opposing motion in frames. He uses crowds deftly, especially in Seven Samurai, to maximize or highlight certain motion, echoing certain moods of specific character. These elements have allowed this film to endure and be regarded as one of his greatest films, as well as one of cinema’s greatest films.
