Sometimes every independent movie producer & director must face this situation, the most uncomfortable situation there is: a last minute cancellation of certain budget. Sometimes stuff like this just happens. Crying doesn't make much difference, (except it makes you feel better sometimes) but there are some ways to cope with the difficult situation. Here's my list:
1. Re-examine your goal. What can be done? You maybe have to leave out that crane shot and buying tickets Nevada for shooting, but can they be replaced with a fresh and creative ideas?
2. Calm down, and believe you will be able to success, with the things you have. (Everything will be good!)
3. Remember, a modern anamorphic DV camcorders aren't so bad, really.
Yes; sadly, it seems now that Arura Movie will be shot with a simple camcorder (with 16:9 though).
Sorry. I'm sorry for myself too. We wanted to use a broadcast level camera.
But sometimes, there simply isn't money enough. So we must accept the situation and move on with the things we have now.
The DVD will be produced and the main channel of the distribution will be of course the internet, so in that sense, we wouldn't have got much benefit from the additional resolution of higher end camera. Our target audience won't care much about the latest technical specs, I guess. Also, a monochrome conversion will conveniently hide the luminance noise of el cheapo sensors in camcorders..
A lot of people still don't have BluRay players or tv sets that support them. I, myself for example, don't have one.
Gladly the script seems good and so far the little feedback I've got from my crew suggests it will be something with a real and fresh content. Gladly, I've got the best crew any producer could hope for. Everyone of this movie are fantastic professionals of their own area, and the interviewees and the people, they are just remarkable.
Now, I just need to work hard with screenplay and get some additional stuff like tripods and lights and reflectors, and we're ready for shooting..
26 August 07 - 23:59Men's Shampoo & Corduroy Jacket
Tonight, I had sauna here in my parents house. Recently my personal life haven't gone so smoothly. There has been some trouble at work, and things just haven't clicked. My old client relationships in work have seemed to dry up a little and there was a setback of the sponsorship deal to my movie. In addition, a friendship with a certain friend seemed to come to an end. Chemistry has changed, stars have took different orientation, the butterfly in Mongolian plain has flapped it's wings - things are probably never going to be same again. Sadly there is a little to do to fix it.
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Japanese director Kazuo Ono's a very short film "The Last Watermelon" was interesting, although very short.
The movie is available for download in: http://www.geocities.com/kazuo_kono/index.html as RealPlayer data.
Do you know more Japanese indie movie producers? Let us know!
20 August 07 - 13:30Finding a cheap airticket to Japan
Im facing a little crises. I realized the costs of airtickets to Japan have skyrocketed. Yes, even the cheapest options here in Europe cost more than a thousand euros. Before with as less as eight hundred euro you could get (not direct) flight to Japan.
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First time since it's birth, Skype network is down. I can't call to my friends or colleagues in Japan about the new articles I'm going to write to Hanami Web. Or get the information I need related to a recent interview and film I'm making. Im stuck with bare emails.
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Mercury is shooting up to 40.9 C causing 9 people to die to heat stroke in Japan. We are not talking about the old people only. 13 years old, healthy boy died to heatstroke on Thursday after playing three hours baseball in this heat. The summer is getting hotter every year in Japan. Now, meteorologists expect that the September would be exceptionally hot.
Ambient 40.9C is the new heat record in Japan. Some urban areas in big cities must be even hotter, as the asphalt base will radiate the heat in certain locations.
To prevent heatstroke, it is important to drink plenty of water and to wear a proper hat or use a sun umbrella. Using winter clothes or fur collars during 40.9C should also be avoided.
The meteorology station predicted that the temperature would drop soon to more bearable levels.
15 August 07 - 14:01Japanese photographer Joins Jaakko's trip..
I made this video to memorize this summer which I spent in my birth town. A Japanese photographer Setsuko joined me in the journey. I hope you enjoy it!
The Japanese reasonable-cost clothing and textile retailer UNIQLO made recently interesting advertisement campaign, UNIQLOCK. The site is amazing webdesign. I really wonder how they could implement so much good looking video material, which loads so fast, even with slow connection.. And the big size video really is rather big size, and it looks awesome, as well as the choreography of the dancers. Electronic music sounds pretty much Haruomi Hosono.. http://www.uniqlo.jp/uniqlock/
The Uniqlock blog part is easy to implement - I have one here in this blog as well.
I really like the design of UNIQLO. I anticipate going there again soon.
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Few days ago, I was helping my friend to do her garden work. Her garden isn't large, few apple trees and flowers. In middle of the garden is a small artificial pond, with Japanese carps in it. The carps gathered near me when I sprayed water to the pond, creating bubbles to the the water.
As the carps looked at me through the transparent surface of the water, I remembered the story I heard from someone I used to go out with.She was young woman who I went out with, two years.
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On December 2006 I published a newsletter titled The Scent of Tatami. In that newsletter. Read it at: http://news.hanamiweb.com
In the newsletter I wrote about Japanese house and it's atmosphere. The scent of tatami. Here in Germany, in my Japanese friend's house, I again realized how similar Japanese people's living style is. And this house even has the Japanese scent, that indistingquishable scent, where ever it comes from.
Japanese people like to draw the line between inside world and outside world. That's why Japanese wear slippers inside the house and take off their shoes before rising to the floor level of the house and changing into slippers. Putting away the practical reason (not bringing germs inside house), I also suspect that by somewhat the same reason, Japanese are so carefull about washing their hands and cargle after coming back inside. Its good to "wash away the outside" before coming inside.
In Japan, neighbors don't march into your kitchen in middle of the night, fishing a beer from your fridge and saying "Ill borrow this". That just never happens, no matter how close friends you are with your neighbor. Fortunately, I might add. Here in Germany, people have somewhat similar set of standards. People respect each others privacy. (I only wish this would be same in the more northern European countries, or say hey, maybe they can add this as EU directive! No beer borrowing in middle of the night -directive)
But then, you know, I saw the room of my friend's daughter. It had three tatami on the corner, on which had futon on. In the left side, there was a box of tissues (Cleenex) and pictures of the Japanese rock bands and her manga drawings decorated the walls. Aside tatami was piles of Japanese manga books, mostly Dragonball, and some Japanese magazines and novels. Every item was cute, and somehow beautiful, and compact. Few cute toys, and Hello Kitty items. I felt like I had just teleported into some suburb of Tokyo, into some students apartment.
That room had that undefined, indistinguishable scent of Japan. A feeling of living in Japanese way.
I want to have that.
So, I arrived to the rainy Germany. It really has been raining here, and boy its cold. As Finland was so hot, I expected something even more hot. But the Frankfurt's billboard announced 15C..
Well, its nice to be back here, in the country of delicious bread and coffee, and friendly professional people.
There is a sense of properness to the people of this country. I feel there is something similar to Japan in this sense. And people dont get drunk in public the same way they do in Finland (which is something what is really disgusting I think).
After having a healthy day nap (I missed last nights sleep almost totally, I was too busy with every tasks..) I cooked teriyaki chicken with some fresh noodles. Now I feel coming back to life.
Tomorrow doing photography of the old german towns.
By the way, I purchased some video equipment, so you might see some footage in Hanami Web in the future.
Please take a look at this. It features my childhoods place in Finland:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COwLCxVcHY4
Tonight, I had sauna here in my parents house. Recently my personal life haven't gone so smoothly. There has been some trouble at work, and things just haven't clicked. My old client relationships in work have seemed to dry up a little and there was a setback of the sponsorship deal to my movie. In addition, a friendship with a certain friend seemed to come to an end. Chemistry has changed, stars have took different orientation, the butterfly in Mongolian plain has flapped it's wings - things are probably never going to be same again. Sadly there is a little to do to fix it.
Few days ago, I was helping my friend to do her garden work. Her garden isn't large, few apple trees and flowers. In middle of the garden is a small artificial pond, with Japanese carps in it. The carps gathered near me when I sprayed water to the pond, creating bubbles to the the water.