Autobau bei Opel

Tilt-Shifting Saigon

Just had to share this lil piece. I snatched it fr an acquaintance's blog.

Here's what he had to say abt it:
"It was only recently that I stumbled upon tilt-shift photography. While the process requires a special lens, you can create this effect in the post-production stage with digital photographs using Photoshop. The mesmerizing aspect of tilt-shift formats is that it distorts the focus and scale of the subject, making them appear to be miniature figurines.

Using a Canon A540, "Evil Penguin" created a time-lapse video of Saigon applying a tilt-shift aspect -- the short reel was posted on You Tube..."

2 months of peace and music (and filmmaking)

Hi everyone!

So I've emailed some of you individually, but realized it's been a long time since I've done a post and given all that has happened in the last month I figured it's time to report. It turns out that the guy that I met at the end of June, Masa Mukasa, one of the rare breed of Japanese combo hippie-musician-activists, has become an incredible subject but more importantly, friend. From the beginning I got along very well with him (and his girlfriend, Nobue, more commonly Non-Chan, who is almost always with him), and despite the language barrier (his English is basic), we were able to mostly bond over shared music taste and a karaoke session that convinced him that I am a very talented rapper and singer (and a night out at a club that made him think I'm a very talented dancer haha). I've been going to the bookstore that he rents out on Mondays (largely to help out the owner, as the bookstore's regular business is not doing very well) as well as the home that his union opened up to provide cheap housing for disadvantaged youth. A few weeks ago I hit a bit of a wall, feeling that a lot of my footage was too similar (granted I I can't understand conversations, but a lot of it was in the same few rooms), and not knowing how to proceed in an interesting and productive way. Luckily the answer came quite easily as Masa started inviting me to more and more of his activities, and I ended up shooting a lot of stuff that is both visually interesting and has good content. Firstly, a protest/musical performance in Miyashta Park, which the government has sold to Nike so they can make it a pay to enter skate and theme park despite the fact that the park is home to about 30 otherwise homeless people and has a very important history as the center of protest and counterculture in Japan. I also filmed a few meetings regarding the future of the protesting there that Masa organized. One of Masa's bands recorded a few songs in a studio and then performed them in a club outside of Tokyo in Urawa, all of which I shot. He also performed with another group at Never Never Land, the owner of which is the head of the Save Shimokitazawa movement to protect the neighborhood from government redevelopment and gentrification (an organization of which Masa is a member). Masa invited me to rap during this performance (he told everyone I was a famous rapper from Cali), and his friend who is a video journalist shot me while I was on stage "performing"--Masa also has an MP3 of what he thinks is a beautiful performance and I think is a bit of a fiasco. My sister actually visited Tokyo for a week and helped me out a bit during the show. Her presence turned out to be very productive, not only because she helped to reinvigorate my perspective (I'm an outsider, but she REALLY was an outsider, and pointed out some things about Masa that she thought were really interesting that I had gotten used to), but also because Masa thought she was cool (she's dating a world-famous DJ and traveling a bunch) which helped add to my cred. Last weekend, I went to a hippie Music and art festival with Masa, Non-Chan and some of their friends I had met before for two days in a mountain town called Fujino, at which Masa performed (with Adachi and Ralph, two guys who I've filmed performing at the bookstore before). These two days were probably the highlight of my summer, since it was basically like living Monterey Pop. I'd been hanging out with Japanese alternative people for over a month and I still couldn't believe what I saw. Sitar players, tie-dye, fire dancing, live painting, overtone singing, pot smoking (albeit hidden in darkness), didgeridoo, flower dresses, crack of dawn dance parties, jam sessions, it really had it all, and I got a lot of really cool footage. Finally, I went on a beach trip this week with Masa and Non-Chan and some of the 'friends' of his union (called Indy Union PS) for three days, and got some beautiful sunset over the ocean stuff etc. This week I'm going to his home for the first time--apparently it's very small and messy--but he finally invited me to hang out for a bit on Tuesday.

Sorry that was so long, but I wanted to give you an idea of what I've been keeping myself busy with. I feel really really really lucky that I was able to access these people and culture so quickly and got such good access to what they do, not only based on the language barrier and time constraints, but also because of what I've heard of difficulties many people have had and do have making films in Japan and especially Tokyo. I've been spending so much time with them that it's going to be really weird coming back to the hippie-less land of Harvard, I'll really miss them.

I have about 10 days left in Tokyo, and in addition to the stuff at Masa's house, I plan on shooting interviews of Masa and Non-chan (not sure if I will use it, but I think it will be good to have in case), as well as some more establishing tripod stuff around Tokyo and Shibuya, again just to have in case I want something like it.

The only thing I would ask of you is if you have any suggestions of things I should do or try to shoot before I leave. In terms of my presence in the film, I do want to include something that acknowledges my foreign perspective just because it seems silly not to (especially since I did this whole thing with very little knowledge of Japanese language and culture). I also think it could be interesting to acknowledge the reasons why I was able to get such good and quick access. I've filmed some conversations I've had with Masa about music, as well as some of the introductions he's given of me to new people, but these things are pretty hard to do properly in a way that looks good. I also have my appearance ('rap') in one of his performances, which could say a lot haha. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing really well and good luck in wrapping things up if you haven't already. Excited to see you in a few weeks!!

--Lucas

PS Thanks to my internship at Yamagata Documentary Film Festival (which again, is a very, very low time commitment, chill deal), I just had dinner with Kidlat Tahimik (director of Perfumed Nightmare) and a group of Filipino tribespeople that he brought to Japan for an installation project in the rice fields of a small village about 5 hours from Tokyo.

Peace and Love!!

When It Rains, It Pours

I know I’ve only just written, and I’m sorry to take over your RSS feeds, but I humbly and last-minutely seek your advice… I’ll do my best to keep it concise this time.

Just when I thought things were beginning to wrap up, my subjects started dropping bombshells, Sumit in particular. Over the course of several days, I’ve been filming him repeatedly cheating on the weeklong exam they’ve been taking. (Many of the boys have cheated to some extent, but Sumit has been the only one who’s been open to me filming it.) Then, on Tuesday morning, he got into a fist fight with an older student over an allegedly stolen bag. I missed the fight—the whole thing went down in a split second—but he was unbelievably kind in letting me film his meeting with the principal. I’ve got all the footage I’d ever need if I wanted to paint him as your stereotypical teenage rebel, but here’s the problem: he’s so much more than that. I can see through the thick walls he’s built around himself; we’ve shared tender moments off camera, and I sometimes find him sitting in rooms by himself, staring out of windows and thinking. A two-dimensional portrayal would be an incredible disservice to him. Every time I try to film any indication of these inner workings, though, he’s quick to leave the frame and withdraws from me further, bumping up his “tough guy” image another notch. To echo Elisa’s thoughts, how much can you really ask someone to show a side of himself he wants to keep hidden?

My mantra this summer has been to let things play out on their own, to resist controlling and interfering, but time is running out. With Hindu holiday season is in full swing, I only have six days left to shoot, barring strikes and bus accidents (or another 6 AM solar eclipse… I still can’t believe the government declared a full-day public holiday for that). My search for a conclusion continues, and using the final scene to add something unexpected to the audience’s knowledge of his character could be very productive. I’ve got my big translation sesh with the interpreter tomorrow, which I hope will bear some fruit, and there’s always the hope that subtle moments will reveal themselves in the coming months. Blind hope in exiting footage aside, is there anything I can do in the coming days to bring out another side to Sumit? I’m afraid I already know the answer to this (and not an answer I like), but I’m still hoping your combined wisdom can provide me with some much-needed insight.

Calling for Back Up!

After a 40-min convo with an American prof with extensive research experience in VN, I am now sufficiently worried that my miniDVs might not make their way out of the country. He warned me about the hassles of Vietnamese censorship with the example that a previous collection of his audiotapes (10 hrs of recorded interviews) was totally rejected because a segment of his material included farmers going off on rants abt 'f'ing Americans' in the ol' war days and their effects on cropping methods. Anything tiptoe-ing towards the realm of the political would trigger alarm. He advised that I should make digital file copies of all my footage.

Basically I think he's right. When I leave VN, airport security/immigration will require that I have a certificate of permission fr a local official in order for me to depart with the tapes. I could cross my fingers and hope no one notices the tapes during the scanning. Or I could send off my tapes to be reviewed by the local Foreign Affairs Office to get the right paperwork, risking their disapproval if they deem anything 'sensitive.' I don't think I have anything that would raise eyebrows but who knows. My researcher contact thinks, "better safe than sorry." That means I should make backups but I'm not sure how to proceed. All I have is my camera pack and my MacBook (with no external hard drive, no blank DVDs, etc). I hear that I can take my tapes to a place that does wedding videos and just pay to have them convert the material to digital files and then I can mix the discs in with random entertainment CDs and DVDs, which no one is likely to notice. Will that work? If I somehow lose my original tapes, will I be able to work with the digital files upon return? How does that affect the image/sound quality? I'm basically clueless abt this technical talk.

The other option is to send the tapes back early with my bf, who leaves town in two days. Because he is a 'backpacking' Westerner the airport officials will probably pay less attention. The only problem with that is that I am not done recording (abt 5 more hours to go) and would like to have the footage to review in order to draft my script for the next week and a half left of work here. I'm not sure this is the best option.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation; if anyone has suggestions/clarifications, I'd appreciate it. Also, how come no one else seems to have encountered this bureaucratic mess? Surely I'm not the only one shooting under the watchful eye of a touchy political regime?

A Successful Failure

Given that I was supposed to be arriving at my hostel in Venice around now, this post seems like slightly bitter irony since I had planned not to check email for the remainder of the week. But no, I arrived at the Paris-Orly airport this evening only to be informed that the airline myair.com for all effective purposes, no longer existed (this from a representative of alyzia, as myair has no representative, or counter for that matter) No flights had arrived from Venice to Paris since last Wednesday.

I had decided to leave the camera behind, given a certain ambiguity about my accommodation at "Bangkok House" ( a mixed dorm, I think--They never answered my emails and from our phone conversation, seemed to speak minimal English-- I was worried for Baby's safety.). I was nonetheless stoked to focus my efforts on sound, bringing along my entire bag of goodies. I planned to be wearing headphones throughout my sojourn.

And so I'm online again, debating whether to take this as a sign to stay in Paris, consigning myself to the dungeon of the Mitterand bibliotheque (the "pine trees" in the inaccessible garden are actually chained) or as an opportunity to try yet again another budget airline and different accommodation for a visit in mid-August.

And should I bring Baby along this time round?

GAIN?

Quick question--what is the status on gain? If I am shooting in HD and am in low light and there is nothing I can do to raise it, will 3db or 6db of gain ruin the picture? I've experimented with it and can tell it is a bit grainier but I don't think it ruins it, but if it is on a big screen will it look awful? Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks! I will post more soon, everything is going well, just semi-concerned about the low light thing since I've been shooting some concerts in bars, etc.

Thanks!