Months ago when I watched episode 53 of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I noted a nice little sequence that took place towards the end of the 22 minute arc. It involves Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye standing before the homunculus Envy, who has just revealed the true murderer of Roy’s best friend, Maes Hughes (which took place back around episode 9 or 10, if I recall). As Envy stumbles back into action, he taunts Roy while transforming into his beastly form. 

It’s a interesting sequence not only because of the fluid animation (though to be fair, it was reused from a previous episode) but also because of how it places Roy and Riza in relation to Envy’s transformation. While the camera switches angles and depth to create a lot of movement, there’s still a spacial establishment consistent throughout the 30 second sequence. Here is a video and some screenshots to help illustrate what I’m getting at: 

These two screenshots show a nice establishment of where Envy, Roy and Riza are standing relative to one another: with Envy directly on screen, we understand that he is closest to us while Roy and Riza are farthest from us, relatively. And while they are all generally dead center it’s a short enough cut (with plenty of movement) to not be a stagnant framing choice. 

The camera switches to Envy’s hand, showing the beginnings of transformation…

Then a switch to his face…

…and then a simultaneous movement of Envy away-upwards and the camera away from Envy establishes where his transforming hand and face are in relation to his environment (it also helps establish his size). 

The camera switches perspective, now looking at his profile/lateral part of the body…

The camera switches again, now behind Roy and Riza with Envy in the far off distance/horizon. Here’s when my particularly favorite part starts: 

We see Envy beginning to transform into his larger self…

…and he explodes off into his true form. The camera tilts upward and slightly zooms in simultaneously, switching into a low angle framing. It makes Roy and Riza look very small and Envy much more intimidating, which is perfect given the circumstances. 

We now get a small glimpse at Roy and Riza’s reaction, which is a small but effective moment since a lot has been happening up until this moment (plus it makes them look badass since they’re completely calm). 

We get a closer look at Envy’s face, which is monstrous and (frankly) intimidating. As he roars, the camera transitions to this….

…a close up of his neck region, where the transformation completes (and heightens the further disturbing nature of his true form). 

We see Envy’s hand smash onto the floor, emphasizing his gigantic stature…

And then finally, with a low angle framing the camera tilts upwards as Envy lowers his head down towards Roy and Riza, again establishing his intimidation factor and gigantic size. 

This last shot is a small but important detail: all characters are spatially established relative to their environment and to each other. We know Envy is huge, but now with a master shot we see how much bigger he is compared to Roy and Riza, and how far these characters are away from one another. We also get a sense of how big the room is – height, length, and width wise. 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Envy was animated primarily by Tomokatsu Nagasaku (please please please, if I’m wrong send me a message so I can correct this immediately). From a basic composition POV, I feel that Nagasaku has a better grasp for framing and establishment than Kameda (who’ve written about previously). Kameda may be more altruistic and creative in certain respects, but Nagasaku does a better job at keeping the action cohesive and fluid on many levels. 

Recommended Reading

• Bond vs. Chan: Jackie Shows How its Done, by David Bordwell – this is a fantastic demonstration of how action sequences can be framed either into cohesiveness or disjointedness. Bordwell analyzes excellent aspects of action. 

• Behind the Scenes: Chrono Trigger and Action Movie Philosophy, by Freddie Wong Productions – an very video nice breakdown of how an action sequence is filmed, and how editing can really affect the cohesiveness and fluidity of how a final sequence turns out.