8/8 Prodution Snapshot Diary

Day 6 of shooting. Our morning location shoot was troubled by some red dragonflies. What the?! Gunpowder… Since it was such a clear day, we shot a photo for the cover of the upcoming Jellyfish Eyes 2 Ketsumeishi soundtrack album (obviously a lie). Production Chief Daisuke Muramatsu. He’s in charge of everything from making sure cast and staff get where they need to go to location hunting and lunch arrangements One of the hardest parts of location shooting is controlling automobile traffic. If there was an accident, we’d be in big trouble. Production staff Yuji Saito. He’s always thinking of the next step. Up early in the morning and work til dawn – this is the life of a film industry professional. It’s only love of movies that keeps them going. The rubberized and cellophane tapes used by the art department. So many varieties. A mold for a wig that’s certainly seen better days. VFX Supervisor Hideaki Maegawa. He’s really into it today. Here the production and performance teams go over the preparations for an action shot involving bicycles. A sense of speed is important so they plot out the movement and angles.

8/7 Production Snapshot Diary

Today we worked with huge lights that showed off the best of what the lighting crew can do. Take a look! Is this scene drawing on psychedelic culture?! 3rd lighting assistant Daisuke Miura. 2nd lighting assistant Tomohiro Nito. And now the manages the mixing, Jun Kodama. Kodama-san stumbled upon this work by chance. After spending a year studying in New Zealand in his 20’s he had decided to live abroad for a while and upon returning temporarily to Japan, took up a part time job doing lightning. Now he’s the senior member of his team at 32 years old. I guess we can say he has lived abroad, in the fantasy world of the movies he makes. Lighting equipment is provided by the former studio of the world famous Kurosawa. Today, as ever, chief 2nd assistant director Shiozaki looks over the new copy of the script for consistency and matches the details with the day’s schedule. It’s an intellectual puzzle that never seems to end. And here is Shiozaki-san’s masterpiece. A quickly revised master schedule and plan. We found this rather quaint grafitti in the back of the Nikkatsu studios.

8/6 Production Snapshot Diary

And now the on-set shooting as started as well here at Nikattsu studios in Chofu! We’re working in Studio 12. Nikkatsu has been around for one hundred years! So much history!! The red lamp is lit during actual shooting. The blue lamp is lit during testing. Entrance is forbidden! 2nd assistant director Yuki Kishizaku checks over the storyboards. For part 2, we have had to change just about everything on site (s-sorry everyone…). The production team has had to worry about context and consistency and has done their best to communicate all this to the actors when I can’t. Sorry for making this so hard for everyone. Double 2nd Assistant Director Toyohiro Miyatajoins us from today!! Because it’s such a tight set, every move by the actors has to be calculated and the amount of preparation time necessary is constantly increasing. A gift from producer/assistant director Nishimura. The foundation holding the set together. No shoes allowed on set. Checking props on their iphones! On the left, stylist Kazuki Yunoki, on the right special effects staff Yuta Okuyama, and in the middle assistant to the stylist Manami Ohsumi. Art director Takashi Sasaki. Sasaki-san has worked in the past on “Moteki“Ten years ago, we also worked together on my short film “Inochi”. From left assistant sound recorders Hiroki Kunihito and Tomohito Nakagawa. The special equipment team. From left to right Watanabe-san, Kaoru Hashimoto-san, Aiko-san. Here, they are supplying wind to give the set life. Equipment operator Tsunenobu Tsukimura. In full concentration as he operates a crane. The green screen is for composite shots. Here we see camera crew chief Mio Nakajima. She supports DP Nagano by keeping everyone on their toes with regards to angles and lighting.