was a Japanese

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

who worked with influential film directors

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

and

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, who directed about one hundred films during his career between 1923 and 1956. His most acclaimed works include ''The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums'' (1939), ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952), ''Uget ...

. Ōtani worked on Kurosawa's 1950 film ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori (actor), Masayuki Mori, and ...

'' in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

. Due to setbacks and some lost audio, the crew took the urgent step of bringing actor

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and '' ...

back to the studio after filming to record another line, which Ōtani added to the film along with the music, using a different microphone. He won the

Mainichi Film Award for Best Sound Recording The Mainichi Film Award for Best Sound Recording is a film award given at the Mainichi Film Awards. Award Winners References Sound Recording Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscr ...

for the 1953 film ''

Ugetsu , is a 1953 Japanese historical drama and fantasy film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi starring Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō. It is based on two stories in Ueda Akinari's 1776 book of the same name, combining elements of the ''jidaigeki'' (peri ...

''. In 2000, he worked on the sound for

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary ''Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won t ...

's film ''

Dora-heita is a 2000 Japanese film by Director Kon Ichikawa. It was the 74th film made by Ichikawa. Plot A new magistrate (played by Kōji Yakusho) in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his oppon ...

''.Stuart Galbraith IV, ''The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography'', Scarecrow Press, 16 May 2008, p. 415, Ōtani died of

cerebral infarction A cerebral infarction is the pathologic process that results in an area of necrotic tissue in the brain (cerebral infarct). It is caused by disrupted blood supply ( ischemia) and restricted oxygen supply ( hypoxia), most commonly due to thromboemb ...

on August 3, 2017.

References

1919 births 2017 deaths Japanese audio engineers {{Japan-bio-stub