The Exhibition

Well, although a week ago I would have thought this to be impossible, the exhibition finally happened. After a weekend of crazy editing for my own project and then having more than a few problems getting the composite of all the projects together, one of the three ways I tried it worked. We eventually got the DVD to play on the screen as well as the extra computer, so that worked out quite well, no HD for the actual exhibition though. The HD file finally finished rendering the night after at about 11:30 pm it seems. so in other words, it rendered all night.

As for the other projects, they all seemed to work well, the installation also seemed to work for the most part. I believe Becky was unable to use her extra audio and such, but still turned out okay. As you can see in the video up top, Danielle was more or less framing that morning, but it also turned out looking quite nice. Aaron and Kim's projects were also both photo based and so looked quite nice with a wall all to their own.










So, although there were some problems and whatnot, overall, I think the exhibition went very well. The videos were all very interesting and the photos turned out quite good as well. I wasn't able to stay all day as I had a JP final at noon, it was very neat to see it all being put up and then seeing what a semester of work can yield. I'm definately thinking of taking Tokyo Stories II next semester. :)

Yasuko-san

Well, I finally finished my second interview, suffice to say it's getting down to the wire now. I have exactly one week now that I've taken this until the exhibition begins, and I have a trip to Osaka in between so it's gonna be really close, and I'm beginning to wonder if I can throw everything together.
But the interview itself went pretty well. Kind of reminded me of listening to stories my grandmother would tell me sometimes, but that's exactly the look I was looking for. I should have asked her to do the interview in Japanese though as there were a few times where it seemed like she wanted to say more or something would have probably flowed from what she was saying, but since she said it in English, didn't quite come out as smoothly. However, I think I can definately get enough to combine with the Museum interview to make a pretty interesting documentary. I guess, we'll see in a week.

Tahara-san

Well, the first interview is finally out of the way. I managed to get Arlen to go with me and help with the Camera. Looking at the footage afterward, glad he was there as my head popped into the camera a few times.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the interview, I wasn't able to film in the museum which was unforunate, as you can see from the picture, the background wasn't the best. In fact, it doesn't really look any different from a classroom at TUJ.
However, the interview itself turned out rather well, he presented the information in a very understandable order and such, so with any luck, shoudl work with the Yasuko interview... we'll see I guess. I should probably from here go and get some cut-away shots for his interview. I also managed to grab another book from the Museum, so I can hopefully use some pictures from that. One down, one to go.

Interview Opponent Accomplished!

As I am planning on doing my final project about Shibuya, and it's history. I managed to find this building to the left, the Shibuya-ku History Museum. After mailing them about 4 times, and then going by and asking twice and then also running by before work a time or so, they finally agreed to interview with me. I'll be meeting with someone with next Friday the 9th, so I need to get all my questions and such worked out before then.
I'm hoping to intermesh this interview with the one from Yasuko-san that Irene said she was going to introduce me to. That way, I should be able to get the history of Shibuya from a personal and an academic background, and should be interesting to see the contrast. Well, I still have about a week before the first one, so we'll see.

Global Lives

When you see a project like global lives, spanning 10 countries and involving hundreds of people and thousands of pieces of equipment, you would think that the person who came up with the idea and is coordinating would be a video major or perhaps aspiring filmmaker. However, after talking on Skype, I was rather interested to find that instead David Harris is sociology major.
What makes this so interesting for me is that it simply shows how video can be a medium for almost anything. If someone is studying history, there are very few other things that they can use their history knowledge for other than directly history related pursuits. Video however, is different. It can show a history program, the news, a documentary, a story, stock information, or anything people wish to use it for. Kind of made thing about no matter what field I may enter in the future, I can still always use video for whatever it may be.

Photographs and Lives

I think the one thing I really realized from the discussion about photojournalism is the completely different methods of documentaries. There is of course the detached approach, where one heads into an area, and remains separate from it, and does everything objectively. This is definitely the History Channel style where one talks to experts, sees the subject from an overall view, and simply receives information. I think of it as the educational videos we saw in school, on steroids.
The other method, which is how the photo essays were conducted, is to get into the subject's life. He took it a step further and actually integrated himself into their lives. This is shown in part by his South America Photo Essay, where he managed to get a whole echelon of drug-affected lives to open up and be photographed by him. Hearing his stories makes me definately realize how much perseverance is needed for documentaries. I saw this even more on his self-mutilation photos. Hearing how he'd have subjects call him at 3 in the morning, really drives home the point of just how integrated he had to become to get those photos.
As to how to relate it to my project, I can definitely say that I doubt I be able to become as integrated as he was in the short time that I have, however, helps me when thinking of any future projects, in that it's never too early to start making connections.

3 Days in Shimbashi

I pass through Shimbashi(acctually I pass through Shiodome, but same thing) every day going to school. Up until last Friday, I also worked there, so I was going all the time. However, with this project, it was definately the first time I had ever stopped and just observed the area around the station. I actually worked in Ginza, so it was a different, but Shimbashi has more or less the same type of people.
First, I should probably started by saying Shimbashi has quite the history as a station. In fact, it has THE longest history of any train station in Japan, as the first train on Japan's Shimbashi - Yokohama line departed from there in 1872. Although it was destroyed in 1929 during the great Kantou Earthquake, it was then soon rebuild and took its place as one of the hubs of Tokyo Transit.
In 1972, they even placed a C11 Steam Locomotive near the station for its 100th anniversary. It now sits right outside the gates and serves as a meeting place and is in the middle of the 「SL広場」 or SL Plaza, which is so named for the Steam Locomotive in the middle of it.
Seeing as how Shimbashi station has been a staple of Tokyo Trains for over a hundred years, I figured I would go and see for myself what people thought of the area, and whether it's changed since they have been visiting it.



Before I explain my problems, One of my questions was "What do you think of when you think of Shimbashi?"

Younger Non-Salaryman


"It has a kind of 'Old Man's Town' image"



Mid 30's Salaryman

"Eh? A Salaryman's Town?"

As you can see from their answers, everyone thinks of it as an "Old Man's Town" and that is where I ran into problems. Most Old Japanese Businessmen willl not stop for an interview. Observing and writing about them on the first two days, it didn't seem like a problem at all, tons of people waiting in front of that train, tons of traffic, I figured with that many people, it'd be no problem to find enough people to talk to. However, after spending two hours asking people, I ended up only getting two people, both of which were rather on the young side. I had a multitude of excuses ranging from "I'm waiting for something" to the strangest being "I'm a security guard for over there" by a guy in short and drinking a beer. I'm gonna walk out on a limb and say that he may have been lying just a squidge, but who knows, plain clothes guards may be allowed to drink on the job, I doubt it, but then again, this is Japan.
What I really learned from this exercise is just sitting and observing and writing about someplace is a completely different thing that trying to actually get in and figure out what those people you are watching think. I ran into another group with a Camera and Mic trying to interview and such as well, they seemed to be having a bit more luck, probably because they both looked more professional and were Japanese. So, I think when I do my full project, I will definately do at least some of it with another person to try and make it look a bit more professional.


The Original plan was to also ask the interviewed about how Shimbashi station had changed since they the first time they had come to it. This was also planned with the thought of how many older Salarymen there were, as I could ask them how it was 20 or 30 years ago. This also failed as they kept ignoring me, or simply refusing/walking away/lying..etc etc. I also hit the wall of Japanese Tatemae( giving stock answers and whatnot) when I asked "How has Shimbashi Station and the Area around it changed since the first time you came?"


Younger Non-Salaryman



"It's only been a year since I first came here, so I'm not really sure what's changed"


30's Salaryman

"It's gotten a bit cleaner." "Trash and Such?" "Ya...like that"


This too kinda turned into a learning experience, so I definately need to figure out a new interviewing strategy and such before I do my main project.