Jellyfisheyes

Yesterday was the wrap for shooting with the cast but today we’re still at work getting footage of landscape and location shots. That means that the true wrap date is today.

Even this diary ended up being commandeered by Crew Chief Shiozaki.
Thanks, as always.

This one is Shio’s doing. “Sky! Everyone look at the sky!” he shouted, giving instructions for the shot. Nagano-san and Shimoda-san are the only ones seriously looking.

With the production crew. Chief Shiozaki and the Shiozaki Fishery.

A few weeks ago, we were facing record heat and now there’s already signs of autumn.

At this location, there were different varieties of mushrooms growing seemingly everywhere.

Our last landscape shot. A scene from the point of the main character.

Nagano-san! He’s hanging half out the window for this shot.
And with that, we brought the production to a wrap.

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Principal photography for all scenes is now over. Nishimura-san! Nay, the entire staff! Thank you for all the hard work!

I took this opportunity to rethink just what it is that I want to express with this film.

The answer…

Here in the year 2011, despite all the challenges that Japan faces, I want to make a film that will give the children of this nation the courage to face things head on and forge contacts with the world around them. I want to help them overcome the veil of lies that envelopes this nation and teach them there is meaning in being brave.

Before the earthquake and tsunami, Japan was gripped by a vague feeling of stagnation. Under the increasingly lenient education system, children were raised in a warped manner and those then children then grew up to have children of their own. In the wake of the March disasters it may be true that nothing has actually changed, but I believe that many have come to recognize the deception that governs the lives of those who live here and know that they must toughen themselves in order to fight through the lies.

The coverup of the nuclear accident at Fukushima by the current government is no different from the infamously rosey “state of the war” announcements that the military government made straight up to Japan’s defeat in World War II. Just as then, the government is unable to envision any change without outside pressure and it is only a matter of time before history repeats itself; in fact, I have the sense that it is already starting to repeat itself.
http://ameblo.jp/dailykk/

Though we know there is something inherently wrong with the entrenched strength of the nuclear industry, we can do nothing to stop it. Though we see the effects of lax education and are concerned, we have not acted to change the system’s over all direction

However, I believe that the children of this country, those who have not yet been brainwashed, are aware. They recognize the absurdity of their environment.

I too, when I was a child, took a long look at the anti-Vietnam war movement, the student uprisings seeking to end the ANPO treaty, the news about the return of Okinawa, and the state of environmental pollution, and realized that something was amiss. Looking back, I turned to fantasy worlds to teach me how to digest the deep suspicion I felt and how to fight against my time. Ultraman, Ashita no Joe, Godzilla, Galaxy Express 999.

This is why I have decided to make the same sort of fantasy story for the children of today.

I believe that what we need is a fantasy imbued with an artistic philosophy, hope, and craftmanship that is capable of reaching them in a pure manner and expressing something fundamental about right and wrong.

Set in modern Japan and with children as the heroes, the fantasy will encourage them to face the future and live with passion, the latter of which they will use to change this world for the better! If such a work cold then also serve as a sermon for adults, all the better! This is the ambition that has guided this production

I would like to extend my gratitude here our entire crew. Thank you very much. To the editing team and post production team, I say: our work begins now. Once again, I am relying on you and look forward to our working together.

And now I am left to wonder whether all these ideas will simply float in the ether or whether they will take root firmly in my audience. Only the Gods know the answer to that question. If luck blows the film’s way, then the gods will descend to help. If luck is not with us, then the film can only drift away.

It has now been 20 years since I began my career as an artist and all my works have begun from the philosophy described above. In other words: leave it to luck. And as a sign of the luck that sits with this project and a prayer for its continued presence, I would like to celebrate the successful wrap of shooting, which took place with little to no incident.

To the Gods: Thank you for allowing us to wrap.

I truly believe that the fact that we were able to finish on schedule, despite many complications with shooting conditions, weather, and other difficulties, is because of my Taiwanese fung-shui master, Yu-sensei and his commune with these spirits. He made rain clouds disappear, kept the sun out for hours on end, and I am grateful for his help in getting the shooting done.

I’m sure that all of you reading this think I’ve gone completely nuts, but as can be seen in this year’s disaster, nature exists on a plane beyond man’s reach.If we ourselves are part of nature, then I think there is a natural current in which we must live, just as plants, clouds and animals do. Though science is supposed to teach us how to find that current, in modern times it’s devotees have applied their thinking to all aspects of life and we have lost, as a result, the intuitive side of ourselves, the sixth sense, we had as animals. We have become unable to perceive nature. And I believe that this happened of our own choice.

That is why we need people at our side who still can perceive nature. Artists, holy men, philosophers. Though they may not seem to have any use in the real world, I believe their role is actually among the most essential of all in our modern society.

To put it more simply, we must learn again to live according to our intuition.

And that is why the fact that I have been an able to meet a master of an art that is both unknown in Japan and possessing of a Chinese reality, the fact that such a person helped me to complete the shooting of my film, leaves me extremely grateful.

Master Yu and Chiang Ming Yu – thank you for your help as we dealt with the weather and car accidents

And with that said, shooting is over, but production is nowhere near at an end.
And that means that this production will continue into the future.

I hope you look forward to it.

Takashi Murakami