tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9144898041543481232024-02-21T09:28:59.399+09:00Norman EnglandAn electronic pothole along the Internet highway where filmmaker, writer, journalist, photographer, musician, unpublished poet, coffee drinker and ex-New Yorker / Tokyo based Norman England writes whatever the hell he feels like writing. You have been warned.Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-57166263599506845912016-04-20T20:47:00.001+09:002017-04-25T12:12:00.080+09:002016 First 1/4 Stuff<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kH2c8FVkVkI/Vxcz4xmgwBI/AAAAAAAABj8/ercUxBDf0uETexVMdhZz3uAMALYFDlWIACLcB/s1600/_DSC9728_DS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kH2c8FVkVkI/Vxcz4xmgwBI/AAAAAAAABj8/ercUxBDf0uETexVMdhZz3uAMALYFDlWIACLcB/s320/_DSC9728_DS.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here it is, mostly done with April, and I haven’t done a
blog-thingy once this year! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*Shudder*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First off, yes – I live – which makes me happy. And, yes,
I’m still working, which makes my landlord and the Nakano Tax Office happy. Speaking
of which, I moved out of Shimokitazawa last year. To be honest, I was getting sick of Shimokita. I’d been in the
same room since 2001 (well, I moved to the room next door once because it was a
little bigger) and the neighborhood had turned into a real bore. Despite those
ridiculous websites that cite Shimokita as the coolest neighborhood on planet
Earth, it’s basically just a collection of junk, sneaker, and clothing shops. I
suppose Shimokita is cool enough, and it is certainly a better place to live than
my old neighborhood in Nishi-nari Osaka where I’d pull drunken
homeless guys passed out in the street to the safety of the sidewalk, and where
people would openly clip finger nails in cafes without a second thought as to
where their clippings were flying, and where the #1 newspaper of choice was the
track results. Still, as much as Shimokita has going for it, I’d reached my limit.
Besides, I’m living with my girlfriend now, and that’s what life’s about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I entered my fifth year writing for Eiga Hiho magazine this
month. My space in the mag remains a solid full page and I’m proud to say I’ve
never missed a deadline. Even if in the middle of a movie shoot and have to set
my computer on a rock, I’ve always managed to bash something out and get it to
Yoshiki in time for publishing. My past few columns have been fun to write. The
current issue has a piece about my favorite goof-ball show of the ‘80s: “Double
Trouble,” with a telling of my being at the MTV 1985 New Year’s Eve party where
I met star Liz Sagal after a performance by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The
upcoming issue (out this week) sees me go off on why I hate the vampire genre,
with the exception of a few titles, such as “Fright Night” and “The Night
Stalker.” Well, “hate” is a strong word. More like, how the vam<span id="goog_1327970748"></span><span id="goog_1327970749"></span>pire genre went
from cool (‘20s – ‘80s) to romance fodder for women wanting to get their bad
boy rocks off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Eiga Hiho also had its year-end round-up issue, and, as
usual, I had a tough time coming up with ten movies from 2015 that I actually
liked. For
Best I picked “Ash Vs Evil Dead.” I know it’s not a film, but man, I love the
show! I have a great time with it, something I find harder and harder to do (especially
with overblown crap like “Avengers 2” being what passes for genre cinema these days) as I lose touch with the (de) evolving
sensibility of “young people.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RIFKCAMErB0/Vxc9duohIUI/AAAAAAAABkU/1ydlmQA1dHg35GsVi-cmYZs85x0TR4rMgCLcB/s1600/Scanner%2BPress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RIFKCAMErB0/Vxc9duohIUI/AAAAAAAABkU/1ydlmQA1dHg35GsVi-cmYZs85x0TR4rMgCLcB/s320/Scanner%2BPress.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For Worst, maintaining my TV theme, I picked “Fear
The Walking Dead.” For christ’s sake, have you watched the show? I could hardly
make it through the first episode. These days, TV plays to the stupidity of the
audience. I don’t mean that they (“they” being the producers) dumb down shows,
I mean that they make sure the audience gets it before the characters do. Nowadays, TV shows are stocked with dimwitted characters who take forever to go
from point A to point B. TV characters today think about it (“it” being whatever crap is happening on the show), pontificate about it, overly worry about it and how it affects
their FAMILY, whine about it, go into a state of denial over it, and then FINAL do
something about it. Basically, it’s a story milking method. And seeing
how TV's one episode / one story style has been abandoned, milking things with
soap opera like cliff hangers once reserved only for a season finale has become
the norm for each and every episode of each and every TV show. Personally I
would rather watch “Dawn of the Dead” for the 279<sup>th</sup> time than watch
“Fear The Walking Dead” again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jY2vgHq5GHc/Vxc9gSMh1GI/AAAAAAAABkY/LhIsbE2e-mgtb_W52gvJar9mT_LcGq_lACLcB/s1600/Scanner%2BFake%2BLobby%2BCard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jY2vgHq5GHc/Vxc9gSMh1GI/AAAAAAAABkY/LhIsbE2e-mgtb_W52gvJar9mT_LcGq_lACLcB/s320/Scanner%2BFake%2BLobby%2BCard.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also this month in Eiga Hiho I have a set report for the
upcoming movie, “Scanner,” directed by Shusuke Kaneko. As I’m sure I wrote in
some previous blog, I shot stills on the film. The movie opens on April 29th in Japan.
I’m excited to see the theater booklet as Toei did a good job with the
press pamphlet. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The shot above i</span>s a peak inside the press pamphlet<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, and the one to the left is a fake lobby card I made for the hell of it. OK...some of the fonts are a little off...</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Director Kaneko is going around Japan now promoting the film
so we haven’t gotten together for beers in a couple of weeks. Also, I was
supposed to do stills on his next film, but that got pushed back and it looks
like I’ll be working on a TV drama next month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since the last time I blogged I’ve subtitled a few features:
Twisted Justice, Dokumushi: Toxic Insects, Mischievous Kiss: High School Days,
to name a few. All fun jobs and all full of neat linguistic challenges. I also
have some writing on kaiju cinema being published in something being released by the
Udine Film Festival out of Italy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b6YyDwE-S1Y/VxczzAYS4OI/AAAAAAAABj4/C54iQ62ndPg4eEyOdD6kdsFmvTjWLtQagCLcB/s1600/_DSC9787_Edit_DS.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b6YyDwE-S1Y/VxczzAYS4OI/AAAAAAAABj4/C54iQ62ndPg4eEyOdD6kdsFmvTjWLtQagCLcB/s320/_DSC9787_Edit_DS.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I did have a bit of excitement with my MacBook. It’s not a
year and a half old and already the HD died once. Then it was acting weird
for two months. Finally I dropped it off at the Ginza shop for a week but they
couldn’t find anything wrong with it. After I got it back it died an hour later. So, back I went to the Apple Store. Those dorkwads, even though it was just 4 months out of
warranty, they charged me 35,000 yen to replace the motherboard. I picked it up
once it was "repaired," went to a café to finish a subtitling job and it freaking </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">died </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">again. I took it back to learn that that motherboard was dead too. I think
that’s when I hit the roof, pulling my Surface out of my bag and saying, "Maybe I'll just do my work on my Microsoft Surface, which has never freakin' broken down!" They replaced the motherboard again and gave me my repair charge
back. Really, if it weren’t for Final Cut I’d buy a Dell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ugh, did I really share my Apple horror tale? Well, the interesting thing about this was that when Apple would call me they spoke in English. When I went to the shop they spoke in Japanese. I’m
not sure what that’s all about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfNjrwKpYFg/Vxcz_ppYpwI/AAAAAAAABkA/jAZL3X4KRXMWhKVM3QDWZJkWPHjePGf2ACLcB/s1600/Miyako.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gfNjrwKpYFg/Vxcz_ppYpwI/AAAAAAAABkA/jAZL3X4KRXMWhKVM3QDWZJkWPHjePGf2ACLcB/s320/Miyako.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As all work and no play makes for a grumpy Norman, I did a
day trip with my super good buddy Ed G and my super talented girlfriend Miyako. We went down to Kurihama to the large garden park they have there called Kurihama
Flower World. We mostly went because we wanted to check out their large Godzilla
statue / children’s slide. It was a considerable walk from the
station, but the day was nice and the Godzilla slide turned out to be better than expected. Ed and I must have shot about 1,000 photos of the aging thing.
I’m not sure why, but it probably has something to do with how there is no way
in hell we'll go there again, which is why we ended the trip with a walk over
to Perry Park, the spot where Commodore Perry landed in 1854 and forced Japan
to deal with the rest of the world. Doubt I'll ever see that place again.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The photo above of the flowers is<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> from the park and the one on the shore is Miyako doing her best </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Commodore Perry <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">imitation</span>. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Okay… That’s enough for now. I’m not writing anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until next time…</span></div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-17198592019588396242015-12-30T20:03:00.001+09:002015-12-31T13:07:40.792+09:00End of Year Goeth / New Year Cometh<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sEMgFGFCxzg/VoOzqMsnuWI/AAAAAAAABho/bEQjI218-ek/s1600/SWF_15_70_Small.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sEMgFGFCxzg/VoOzqMsnuWI/AAAAAAAABho/bEQjI218-ek/s640/SWF_15_70_Small.png" width="640" /></a></div>
It’s the end of the year and I suppose I should type
something out so anyone who has been reading my blog doesn’t think I’ve turned
into worm fodder…although by being in Japan, I guess that when I do pass on
I’ll be cremated, as per the law. So even if I do up and die, I won’t be in any
“the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out” situation. Just up in smoke, as
they say.</div>
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Hmm… Now that’s a rather odd way to start an end-of-the-year
blog entry.<br />
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In a lame attempt to make up for being so morose, I submit the top photo on this entry for public consumption. It's something I took at Wonderfest over the summer. It might well be my favorite of all the photos I've taken this year. </div>
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With that said, things have been going well work wise and
2015 has shaped up to be my biggest year since I set down the path of Japanese
cinema related work. In a nutshell, I did stills on two feature films and
subtitled around twenty full-length movies. Lot of other things too…none of
which are coming to mind now, but I’m grateful for all the work I’ve received
and already have a number of things lined up for 2016.</div>
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I took a trip to Kyoto earlier in the month and that was a
lot of fun. I visited many of my favorite temples and Kyoto spots. Even though
I was there right after the 2011 Earthquake, which was a sort of panic trip and did give some filmmaker thingy-event speech there during the shooting of the film
“Danger Dolls” in 2013, it was my first time to really visit the city
in almost sixteen years. Best of all, the weather was immaculate. I couldn’t
have asked for a more perfect two days. I even chowed down on some Yudofu,
which I hadn’t eaten since the ‘90s.</div>
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I added 30 or so photos I took to my photo website if anyone
wants to have a look (Click the photo, OK?):</div>
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<a href="http://normanengland.zenfolio.com/p1071379044" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8H18SBCuNo/VoOreUTRibI/AAAAAAAABhY/jd5wMm7RtQ8/s320/Kyoto%2BBambo.png" title="Kyoto Bambo" width="320" /></a></div>
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As it’s the New Year, one of the biggest holidays in Japan,
I went to a number of bonenkais. As always, the best one was given by director
Shusuke Kaneko. I go to his every year and for some reason this year’s was one
of the best. It was jam-packed with people, nearly all of whom I know, and
everyone was in super high spirits. I’ve got one more to go to tomorrow (more
like a private “countdown” than party) and after that I’ll take it easy and
just focus on work. </div>
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In any case, this nothing of a blog entry is simply here to wish everyone and no
one in particular a happy new year.<br />
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Oh, yeah, and to brag a bit, I managed to watch every single
Rankin / Bass Christmas special before Xmas hit. Even the idiotic Little
Drummer Boy! How’s that for dedication!</div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-53909668391471363532015-09-26T12:53:00.001+09:002015-09-27T12:58:57.937+09:002015: That Was The Summer That That Was.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J_l_71wUZQc/VgUBlJ8gg-I/AAAAAAAABfM/c64WAOAkN5k/s1600/_DSC9504.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J_l_71wUZQc/VgUBlJ8gg-I/AAAAAAAABfM/c64WAOAkN5k/s400/_DSC9504.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My summer of work has finally come to pass! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Well, even though it has, it’s not like things have slowed any, and several nifty gigs rest yonder on autumn's horizon. But, as far as the summer of 2015, is
concerned: The jobs are done, the bills are out, and all's ancient history!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">To recap, my main gig over the summer was shooting
stills at Toei Studios for a film called “Scanner.” Directed by Shusuke Kaneko,
“Scanner” stars Mansai Nomura, Hiroyuki Miyasako, and Hana Sugisaki, (and
others, of course). A big budget (by Japanese standards) film, it was an intense, almost two-month long shoot that was often fun, largely manic, and as is usual for film productions, always exhausting. But I’ll get to this one shortly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’ve been subbing like nuts since the last
entry. One cool movie I did is “Litchi Hikari Club,” which </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">for
argument's sake </span>can be described as “Lord Of The Flies” meets “Robocop.” It’s
based on a manga from the 2000s, which in turn is based on a stage play from the 1980s. Although somewhat low-budget (like everything coming out of Japan these days), it is skillfully shot, deftly directed, and very well acted. I highly appreciate its condemning take on fascism, especially given
how the government in Japan seems hell bent on going down that tired path one more time. We need all the films we can that expose fascism for what it is: A form of government that turns nations into a playground for egotistical nationalists. (Unfortunately enough, I believe that the garbage film "Attack On Titan" tried to do this same sort of thing, but failed miserably in its attempt.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here’s a subbed teaser trailer for the film:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swW7mISunU0" target="_blank">Litchi Hikari Club trailer</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Another film I subbed was Hideo Nakata’s
upcoming “Ghost Theater.” Nakata films are always enjoyable to work on because of
how basic they are. By "basic" I don’t mean “simple.” I mean something more along the lines of “visceral,” something more connected to one's basic responses than higher intellect. Subbing horror is much more difficult than one would think as the
slightest stupid word can snap the audience out of their frightened state. I feel that subtitles tend to make film slightly less scary too, so it’s important to thin
them out as much as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Anyway, here’s the trailer for "Ghost Theater," although
it doesn’t have subs yet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-mdbapdBiQ" target="_blank">Ghost Theater Trailer</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nIo-_k7PaXU/VgUN0GnkG-I/AAAAAAAABgI/zh_OtJ504U4/s1600/FANGO344COVERCONTENTSNEWS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nIo-_k7PaXU/VgUN0GnkG-I/AAAAAAAABgI/zh_OtJ504U4/s320/FANGO344COVERCONTENTSNEWS.jpg" width="235" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I subbed a couple of other films too: “Ju-on,
the Final Curse” (Dir: Masayuki Ochiai), “Nowhere Girl” (Dir: Mamoru Oshi),
“Love of Love” (Dir: Sion Sono), and some others I can’t recall just now. Nothing
much to say about them other than I highly enjoyed subbing them. I take each
gig seriously. <o:p></o:p></span>Even if it's a film I personally don't care for, I know that somewhere out there is someone who's going to love it. My sole responsibility is to help that non-Japanese speaking person get to the heart of the film. It's what I'm hired for. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My work at Eiga Hiho magazine goes well. Despite being
in the middle of the Toei shoot, I managed to not miss a deadline (two of them). In fact, after three years of writing for Hiho, I’ve never missed one column! But, really, when in the midst of a shoot this can
be rather tough. Sometimes I have to literally sit on a rock in the woods with the set in sight as I bang away on my laptop. Once a setup is ready to rehearse (most stills are shot during rehearsal), I drop my laptop and race over hoping I didn't miss a good photo op. My latest piece in the current issue is a tribute to director Wes
Craven...pretty upsetting to see him go so suddenly like that.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">And speaking of magazine work, I did my first print story for Fangoria in, like, a coon's age. It's a retelling of the work I did on Takashi Miike's "Yakuza Apocalypse." The cool thing about the article is that my editors let me do it in first person, which they are usually fully against. But because it is a story about working on a Miike film from a staff POV and not the usual "reporter dude goes to set and jots down what they've seen and heard" article, I got away with it. Awesome cover too. Who doesn't love Elvira? It's the current issue, in case anyone reading is interested.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-APwfaSy97Mc/VgUHnsoIBRI/AAAAAAAABfg/dbyoiOgHY5Q/s1600/blog%2B01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-APwfaSy97Mc/VgUHnsoIBRI/AAAAAAAABfg/dbyoiOgHY5Q/s320/blog%2B01.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Anyway, back to the Toei shoot... The job went
well, although the pressure was pretty much full-on the entire time. And despite what anyone might think to the contrary, it’s not all that easy being the only non-Japanese on a Japanese film crew (although there
was a PA of mixed blood, he seemed to have been born here, whereas I’m
still pretty much locked into my New York ways). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">First off, studio films
in Japan are run like military outfits. They are highly regulated and there is a kind of weird hierarchy that makes me think I've walked onto the set of "Full Metal Jacket." Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there is enough of this to make me pull my eyes in tight every now and then and think, "WTF?" The crew makes the most of
it, but they do so almost like privates making the most of boot camp. </span>But like anything, there is a good side and the Japanese set's good side being that it’s pretty predictable and run like clockwork, which on a long shoot like this is very much welcome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q9ooSA0bHjU/VgUHn7tVxXI/AAAAAAAABfk/G9-rXfu5a-I/s1600/blog%2B02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q9ooSA0bHjU/VgUHn7tVxXI/AAAAAAAABfk/G9-rXfu5a-I/s320/blog%2B02.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The shoot circled around three locations, one up in Yamanashi, one down in Chiba, and sets at Toei Studio. The Yamanashi location was pretty much a drag due to the humidity, but the set was well dressed and it was enjoyable getting photos in such an unlikely place. The Chiba location was fun, with a great view of Mt. Fuji. (The photo at the top of this blog entry was taken on that location.) Here, we exploded a house and did some other destructive things, which is always a good way to spend one's working hours. And of course Toei Studio is a lot of fun to work at. While not as big as Toho, it's a decent sized studio with access to lots of stores in the surrounding area. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Right in the middle of the shoot we had a "moral boosting" party in Studio 7 that was a lot of fun. Tons of food, and gallons of great beer. As I can't really run photos from the film, the two shots above are from the party (the one below is one I don't think the studio will mind since it's just AD Murakami, Kaneko at his monitor, cameraman Kugimiya in his Batman shirt and his assistant Yuka pulling focus). In one, Kaneko is giving us some sort of pep talk (in his ugly yellow shirt), and the other is one of the few shots I have with me in it. This one is with the awesome camera crew. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zm6RMpI-Tok/VgUHn1ivDTI/AAAAAAAABfc/bYJJu2Ect40/s1600/blog%2B03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zm6RMpI-Tok/VgUHn1ivDTI/AAAAAAAABfc/bYJJu2Ect40/s320/blog%2B03.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">But if I can complain for a moment, the really annoying thing about
Japanese sets is the food. Unless you like 80% of your intake being rice, you
are going to have a hard time filling up. Some days the food was better than
others (on good days we got nice, large portions of juicy salmon) and I could skip the rice and fill up on everything else. The worst times are when we were in the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t slip off to a
supermarket or convenience store for something to supplement the lack of what I consider real food. Also, the
coffee on Japanese sets is of the instant variety with no milk or sugar
to be had! WTH is that about? HOWEVER, this was made up for by the ice filled cooler brimming with premium beer at the end of each and every day! Even if I was dead tired, at the end of the long day I'd climb on the upper staff bus and pop one of those suckers open, take a few sips...and then fall fast asleep.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Japanese sets also get lots of “sashi-ire,”
which are food gifts brought by sponsors and visitors. The best was when the
star of the film, Nomura Mansai, hired a coffee van to come up to Yamanashi from
Tokyo and treat us to as many lattes as we could stand. That was a moral
booster for sure. Thanks, Mansai-san!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rxw7Ryh_fEk/VgUMguO2LWI/AAAAAAAABf8/F6dqi6j2YOc/s1600/NCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rxw7Ryh_fEk/VgUMguO2LWI/AAAAAAAABf8/F6dqi6j2YOc/s320/NCE.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">All in all, I'm super happy with the stills I took on set. With each job I do I see improvement in my work and a deeper understanding of the craft. However, it's still a very difficult job because of the limited space on the sets. Also, there are always those on the crew who simply look down on the still photographer. So, while it's a fun, challenging job, sometimes the challenges are more like hindrances. I mean, at least 1/5 of the time I am leaning sideways from the hip with my neck twisted up trying to keep a very heavy camera centered in a tiny space between the camera operator, his two assistants, an AD, and the boom operator. In fact, I had to go to the hospital one day near the end of the shoot having screwed up a back muscle. So, if anyone thinks this is an ideal situation for taking quality photos, then be my guest and give it a try. I'll send you a box of tissues following your mental breakdown one week into the production.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Anyway, I have another still gig coming up in November, a horror film with a US director. That's sure to be a freezing set, but I'll break out my heattech and I should be fine. Also, as it's an American director it should be a whole new experience for me, although it is still basically a Japanese crew. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Well... Until next time.</span></span></div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-28597362315149210112015-07-03T19:29:00.002+09:002015-07-04T12:24:18.364+09:00Summer of '15<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F59CsAfTkx0/VZZgQd5IiiI/AAAAAAAABd8/sX2Nk9StC_k/s1600/G%2Band%2BEd.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F59CsAfTkx0/VZZgQd5IiiI/AAAAAAAABd8/sX2Nk9StC_k/s320/G%2Band%2BEd.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Work has been coming my way fast and furious, preventing me
from updating ye old blog. In the time between now and the last update I’ve subbed lots of films and crafted their English PR text, something I find
a lot of fun to do. Well, not swimming and hanging out on a pristine beach with
a Piña colada buzz going kind of fun, but fun as in challenging, enjoyable, and
if everything goes well, highly satisfying.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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That Miike movie I worked on, “Yakuza Apocalypse,” opened some
two weeks back (6/20/2015), along with two other films I slaved away on: Ju-on:
The Final Curse, and Torakage. I celebrated the same-day opening of three films
I worked by not seeing any of them. Instead, I had a beer with Ed G, one of my best
friends in this whole crummy world, and my girlfriend Miyako, while looking out on the full-sized Godzilla head in
Shinjuku. It was a lot of fun to just gaze over a huge, decapitated Godzilla head thinking, "If it hadn't been for the success of the US Godzilla film, this cool as bunk bust wouldn't be here." I'll drink to that!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It doesn’t matter much about going to see films I worked on anyway since I find those opening day
events with actors and directors a bore. The people on stage always talk about the
same thing: How tough the set was. How cold or how hot the set was. What
ungodly hour of the day they had to wake up at. How hard everyone worked. What a genius the director is. Blah, blah, blah. Most of the time it's a pack of lies. So, I’d rather my
seat go to a fan who eats this sort of nonsense up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Yakuza Apocalypse” had its international premiere at Cannes
Film Festival recently, and I’m pleased by the reviews of the film. As a
subtitlest, it’s always a good sign when you find lines of dialogue quoted in
reviews, which pretty much means “mission accomplished” in my book. In fact, my
favorite review of the film comes from Indie Wire, in which the reviewer kindly
writes, “the subtitles are pretty hilarious throughout.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dC5zWXfKXpo/VZZgQGk9QuI/AAAAAAAABd4/v7W5S3lTgtw/s1600/Bigfoot%2Bshow.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dC5zWXfKXpo/VZZgQGk9QuI/AAAAAAAABd4/v7W5S3lTgtw/s320/Bigfoot%2Bshow.jpg" width="240" /></a>You can find that review here, if you like:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/cannes-review-takashi-miike-buys-license-for-next-five-duds-with-transcendently-batshit-yakuza-apocalypse-20150522" target="_blank">Indiewire: The Playlist</a><br />
<br />
And, in return,
the review is pretty hilarious throughout as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A fun thing I did recently was a Bigfoot show following a
screening of “Exists,” the Bigfoot movie directed by Eduardo Sánchez. Being a
semi-well known Bigfoot enthusiast in Japan, I was contacted by the releasing
company here and asked to put on a show, which I was happy to do. I gathered a
bunch of odd Bigfoot related photos to detail the history of Bigfoot in America
(and Canada). Best of all was getting to project the Patterson–Gimlin film onto
a large screen. One of the audience members thanked me for this afterward,
saying they never thought they’d ever get to see it projected that large. Yeah,
that was a fun show. Bigfoot rules.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
And, so, yeah...despite what I said above about after screening shows, I always do my best to make them visually interesting and truly informative. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Q0Dm43K22c/VZZgRHoNrZI/AAAAAAAABeE/AXsfTOwT_uI/s1600/Toei.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Q0Dm43K22c/VZZgRHoNrZI/AAAAAAAABeE/AXsfTOwT_uI/s320/Toei.jpg" width="284" /></a>I also did a short stint in the first episode of the
upcoming Ultraman TV show. Not like I’m any great fan of Ultraman, but it was
nice to help my friend Taguchi, the director of the episode. I think it’s going
to be broadcast this month in Japan. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take photos, not that I really would have anyway as it was all pretty standard fare
for me. But it was nice to be able to take Miyako over to Nikkatsu and show her
the studio and give her a taste of what I’ve been doing for the past 15 years
in Japan. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Well, subbing and all that aside, my big news is that I got
the still job on a major film out of Toei Studio. Shooting starts in the middle
of July and will gone on until early September. At the moment I’m busy
gathering shots that will be used as props in the film (ID badges,
photos on walls, family portraits, etc). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have to say, it’s entirely enjoyable to be working on a
real studio film with a fairly large (by Japanese standards) budget and not
those cheap quickies that have mind-numbingly short shoots that end just when
you're starting to get a feel for the whole thing. Also, by being a studio
film, it means I don’t have to deal with emotionally disturbed people, which is
the bane of almost all of the B-movies I’ve worked on in Japan. But I do so love B movies...</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-uyYo-quEw/VZZgQLWt-VI/AAAAAAAABeA/ovCEE_hvmj0/s1600/Mook%2BMiike.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-uyYo-quEw/VZZgQLWt-VI/AAAAAAAABeA/ovCEE_hvmj0/s200/Mook%2BMiike.jpg" width="195" /></a>Oh, and my Eiga Hiho writing has been going great (more news on this later). The publisher
even tapped me to write a set report on “Yakuza Apocalypse,” which is
currently on sale in bookstores in Japan in a mook called, <span style="font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">『別冊映画秘宝</span>
<span style="font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">世界鬼才映画監督列伝』, </span>which my friend Matt Alt deciphered as meaning, "Eiga
Hi-Ho Supplemental: Legends of World-Class Genius Directors." Yeah, his
Japanese puts mine to shame.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Anyway, that’s it for the time being.<br />
<br />
Oh, and yesterday I began my 23rd year of living in Japan. Let's see how things go from here... Have a great summer!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-6925171358117641982015-04-19T17:49:00.001+09:002015-06-02T12:28:09.772+09:00Final Ninja Comments<div class="MsoNormal">
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A couple of more shots from that ninja film have been
released by the production company. I think this is the last batch I’m going to
comment on since I’m kind of ninja'd-out now and I did finish working on the
film at least six months ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VgzgY2njy6A/VTNrIJtiX_I/AAAAAAAABcQ/SZz7UheEzE8/s1600/Torakage_24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VgzgY2njy6A/VTNrIJtiX_I/AAAAAAAABcQ/SZz7UheEzE8/s1600/Torakage_24.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anyway, this one is one of my favorites from the production.
It features actors Masanori Mimoto and Nana Seino. These two were probably my
favorite characters to photograph during the production since they were always
making interesting expressions, especially Mimoto, who always takes his roles
to heart.</div>
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This one was shot on the grounds of Iga Castle on one of the
bigger days of the production. There were about a hundred extras (maybe more,
maybe less, I didn’t count) and the art staff had built a long stretch of
traditional looking stands selling this and that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yONX-EnEOb4/VTNrIACvVnI/AAAAAAAABcM/z1dz95ULlC8/s1600/Torakage_35.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yONX-EnEOb4/VTNrIACvVnI/AAAAAAAABcM/z1dz95ULlC8/s1600/Torakage_35.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is another one of Mimoto and is one of my favorites
taken during the entire shoot (yes, I seem to have a lot of favorite shots).
For this scene, we were shooting in some strip-mining place (don’t ask me
where, I had to get up at 5am and just climbed into the bus, waking up when we
arrived, wherever that was in Iga prefecture).</div>
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Near the end of the day the shoot split into two groups,
with the action director dealing with Mimoto and Nana fighting a bunch of angry
ninja. The action director shot the scene as one long take so all
non-essentials had to hide behind rocks, but I got behind him and when I could,
snapped away, hoping to god I could take good photos and stay out of the film
camera’s way. I mean, he was spinning that thing this way and that! This one
caught my eye right away and when I showed it to Mimoto he literally hugged me.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9SEYR8_LfA/VTNrCG_MbsI/AAAAAAAABcE/E9RwRNgb9kA/s1600/Torakage_50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="379" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i9SEYR8_LfA/VTNrCG_MbsI/AAAAAAAABcE/E9RwRNgb9kA/s1600/Torakage_50.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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One actress I enjoy working with is Eihi Shiina. She’s
always got a smile ready and is pretty much just a calm, happy person. Torakage
marks the fifth time I’ve worked on-set with her. This photo was taken after
the production returned to Tokyo. It was taken in a small room at a wonderful
home tucked away in some woods above Tokyo. It was insanely hard to get because
there were so many of us packed behind the film camera. Although it was the
only useable shot from this scene, it’s a beauty (in my opinion). All it really
takes is one good shot per scene, you know.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Well, that's about if for me and Torakage. I did my work and got my pay. Hippity hip hooray!</div>
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In other news, I finished up two big jobs. One the Takashi
Miike film “Yakuza Apocalypse”. I had a bunch of English writing to polish off
for the studio so they could close their files relating to my work on the
production. I still have to write a set report for Eiga Hiho and Fangoria
magazines, which I’ll do that later this month. I'll mention the other one when I have the strength and when things are cleared by the studio. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve started work on a few other films too this month. More on
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Until then…</div>
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-45711633961057937402015-03-27T22:08:00.003+09:002015-04-19T17:42:06.691+09:00Another One...<span style="text-align: justify;">Here’s another “Torakage
Ninja” photo I shot that has finally made it through the intricate approval
process of Japanese actor management and distribution companies. Hoorah! </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VnuFZcZGs9M/VRVVhVCk0rI/AAAAAAAABbg/mTfxG5Yww80/s1600/Torakage_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VnuFZcZGs9M/VRVVhVCk0rI/AAAAAAAABbg/mTfxG5Yww80/s1600/Torakage_01.png" height="460" width="640" /></a>On the day this photo was shoot - the first day back to shooting after the 10 days in Iga - we went out
near Mt Fuji to work. The ground was a complete swamp of dry, yellowed grass
stalks and mud. Actor Takumi Saito had the no fun job of running back and forth while being
followed by the camera crew in a truck. As there wasn’t room in the truck for
me, I pretty much just stood on the sidelines hoping to get something usable
with my zoom lens. Didn’t though… But when we repositioned ourselves elsewhere
I was able to get this shoot, which I’m pretty happy with. A little less hair in his face would have been better but it's fine, I feel. Actually, I hate perfectly posed shots of actors...although Japanese production companies love those staged looked photos.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Oh, and the trailer for the film was just released. </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kjxblEUqSrE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kjxblEUqSrE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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In other "happy" news, I wrote a teaser article for director Miike's "Yakuza Apocalypse" that was upped to the Fangoria site about 2 weeks ago. I'm penning a longer piece now for Fangoria (and one for Eiga Hiho) but am unsure when and where it will appear (on-line or in the magazine). </div>
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Here's the link. </div>
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<a href="http://www.fangoria.com/new/exclusive-set-photos-poster-synopsis-takashi-miikes-yakuza-apocalypse/" target="_blank">[FANGORIA ARTICLE - YAKUZA APOCALYPSE]</a></div>
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Oh, and I'm not so thrilled with these Miike set photos. I've got better ones on their way. I had to get them approved ASAP. I guess they're OK... Fuck it.</div>
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I also just finished writing a screenplay that will be shooting in the Philippines from next week. Not my story, but I had to write all the English dialogue. I finalized the script with the director and producers yesterday in a grueling 7 hour script meeting. Actually, it was a lot of fun and it's nice to work with people who don't micro-manage you. That is, sometimes you work for people (i.e. piece of shit creeps) who need to put their dumb-ass fingerprints over everything simply because they want to say "I did that". </div>
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So, yeah, it's nice working with professionals who understand the nature of cooperative creation, which is what filmmaking is, and don't do juvie shit. Jesus, even director Miike let me do what I wanted on the set of his film when it was my turn up at bat (so to speak). </div>
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I digress...</div>
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Until next time.</div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-32021398407478014962015-03-15T14:09:00.000+09:002015-03-15T14:10:11.531+09:00On The Subject Of Set Photography...<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Small update to share three photos I took on
the "Torakage" set. These were put up by a film festival screening the movie so
I guess it’s OK for me to run them on my blog. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m pleased with how my photos turned out on the film and
hope the distribution company will place more on-line in the near future.</div>
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As for when the film will be given a wider release, I haven’t
the foggiest clue. My job was set stills and English subs. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jM2T_AjpTfo/VQUOjnPCjzI/AAAAAAAABbE/SfbpnazaCl8/s1600/T_Group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jM2T_AjpTfo/VQUOjnPCjzI/AAAAAAAABbE/SfbpnazaCl8/s1600/T_Group.jpg" height="385" width="640" /></a><br />
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This one was a lot of fun to shoot. I'm a big fan of "heroes assembling for the final showdown and walking calmly to meet the enemy" shots taken with a long lens. For this one I snapped my 200mm onto my D800 and set the depth of field as shallow as I could. Then I got as far back as I could without bumping into DP Shu G. Momose, as he was going for the same effect. After the shot was complete, the two of us got a kind of sappy, happy look going and we could tell we were both on the same wavelength over this one. Although actress Nana Seino is loads cute and I always want to show her face, I choose this shot because I felt it diversified the picture by showing her struggling to get over the ridge. It also shows off that cool ass weapon on her right hand.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L9uA3IVhmtg/VQUOj9pytWI/AAAAAAAABbI/Ipkzv5tPHkg/s1600/Torakage_03_blog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L9uA3IVhmtg/VQUOj9pytWI/AAAAAAAABbI/Ipkzv5tPHkg/s1600/Torakage_03_blog.png" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
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This was kind of a tough one to get and out of the hundred or so I took for this scene it's the only usable one. This is because all the actors were running at the film camera, making it hard to get the right focus, or else lead actress Eihi Shiina was blocking actress Miyuki Tori, or else the actresses had odd expressions on their faces as will happen when people are screaming like banshees and running wildly. After I sent this shot to Eihi for her collection, she wrote back to say she thinks this is the best photo of her ever taken and that I captured "the Shiina look". Yeah, I was happy to hear that.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qezoHhvBYFg/VQUOdBwBJMI/AAAAAAAABa8/vTHwh2Ob6NM/s1600/Torakage_25_resize%2Bcopy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qezoHhvBYFg/VQUOdBwBJMI/AAAAAAAABa8/vTHwh2Ob6NM/s1600/Torakage_25_resize%2Bcopy.png" height="385" width="640" /></a><br />
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This was an extremely difficult shot to get as the actress was standing on a platform, had a blanket wrapped around her waist to stay warm, and the crew was massed around her. Basically I had to hold my camera over my head and pray. I guess the gods headed my plea as it came out fantastic.</div>
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I guess it's obvious that I truly love taking set stills. Give me a mike and I'll talk till the end of time on the subject. </div>
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Until next time...</div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-9693824080571056152015-03-07T15:59:00.001+09:002015-03-07T16:08:17.641+09:00Long Time No Whatever<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PxQKO-BW7R0/VPqeJrlS1KI/AAAAAAAABaM/l6oxgycwLCI/s1600/YA_Imagica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PxQKO-BW7R0/VPqeJrlS1KI/AAAAAAAABaM/l6oxgycwLCI/s1600/YA_Imagica.jpg" height="320" width="291" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been months since I did any sort of an update on el
blog-o (bet you didn’t know I speak Spanish!). That last blog entry about Buck Rogers probably doesn't even count too. (Come to think of it, I should make that a separate blog/webpage.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thing is, I make a living
writing and a blog doesn’t generate the kind of monetary return that keeps my
landlord from kicking in my door and throwing me out onto the spit stained
streets of Shimokitazawa. However, as someone who suffers from chronic
something-always-on-the-brain, a blog is a good way to calm my nerves when
normal writing work offers no solace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like now… I did a script translation for a studio in Japan
over the New Year and thought that was that. They contacted me two weeks ago and
asked for a re-write because the Japanese script had been re-done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“When do you need it?” asks I.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This month,” says studio.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“March?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“No, this month, February.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“But it’s the 26</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;">th</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!”</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1hTWQwTEwrg/VPqOw_UgApI/AAAAAAAABY4/MhzO2TcBx1o/s1600/20150301_164620%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1hTWQwTEwrg/VPqOw_UgApI/AAAAAAAABY4/MhzO2TcBx1o/s1600/20150301_164620%2Bcopy.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Somehow I managed to make all the changes AND go to the
Setagaya Museum of Art with my friend Ed to catch their Toho exhibit. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a pretty comprehensive show detailing the history of the studio. Of course, given the vast amount of films Toho has made it would be impossible to cover everything, but I felt it did a good job showing the Herculean efforts the generations of Toho staffers have put in over the many decades. It was also interesting to see the various stylistic changes as they developed over the years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interesting too, however, is how Toho considers its two crowning achievements to be 7 Samurai and Godzilla ('54). Of course they are both great films, but they also happen to be the two films most embraced by the west. I wish Japanese could see the value in their own work and not be swayed by their desire to be accepted by the west. I know...I shouldn't wish for the impossible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, much of my time over the past several months has been
spent working on a selection of films. Mostly subtitling. I did a still
job on a low budget film that played at Yubari Film Fest last month, but that production
was nothing to write home about. OK, it wasn’t Tomomatsu disorganized, but…
Most of the staff and cast were people I’ve worked with on bigger productions and
that made the several days I put in on the shoot tolerable enough. However,
every single day I showed up to the location it was a “where the fuck is
everyone?” situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A call to an AD was always met with a, “Oh, we decided to
move to XXX location at the last minute.” The worst was dragging all my camera
gear to a location one early morning only to find no one there and calling to learn the shoot was
pushed back 5 hours. When I got to the set that afternoon, the first thing the cinematographer
said to me was, “So, did anyone bother to call you to tell you about the change?” Cue one eye roll from me and lots of hahahahas from the staff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honestly, after years of this, I’m thinking
it best to divorce myself from low-rent productions. I’ll work on professional
productions no problem. But I’m pulling down the fadeout lever on my
participation with so-called indie films. It's just not worth it.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CMheZ4ygr9g/VPqPDYWHxKI/AAAAAAAABZI/YcBTUgSI4go/s1600/20150211_225406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CMheZ4ygr9g/VPqPDYWHxKI/AAAAAAAABZI/YcBTUgSI4go/s1600/20150211_225406.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went to Ikebukuro to see a screening of the Shusuke Kaneko film “Danger Dolls”. They had a big display that featured the girls’ outfits and a large selection of my set photos. It was fun to watch people taking photos of my photos with their phones. Even Rina Takeda was taking photos of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Uh, Rina… I gave you copies of most of these.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I know, but I want to take photos of them on the wall!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, I wasn’t so happy with the selection. The shots used were ones that focused on the girls behind the scenes. You know, stuff to appeal to otaku fans. I would have preferred shots from within the world of the film, god knows I took enough good ones to fill a couple of photobooks. This is really up to the people promoting a film, so all I can do is provide them with various kind of set photos and let them use them in the way they feel is right. Still, it was fun to see my work so prominently displayed and right next to Tim Burton's "Big Eyes" display. (No behind the scenes of smiling actresses on that one, 'natch.)</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9_Fd9b1Cb0/VPqezNQ6GZI/AAAAAAAABaU/gLth9DRFMZs/s1600/Tei_san.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9_Fd9b1Cb0/VPqezNQ6GZI/AAAAAAAABaU/gLth9DRFMZs/s1600/Tei_san.jpg" height="320" width="281" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, I finally finished my work on the Takashi Miike directed
“Yakuza Apocalypse”. It took 3 passes to work the subtitles into a form I
liked. The movie has a lot of yakuza posturing and it was a real effort to make their very unique culture accessible to those in
the audience unfamiliar with the yakuza way. All of us who worked on the
film went the extra mile, so I’m indebted to the wonderful Nikkatsu staff. All in all, it was a highly
satisfying film to work on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And as a film, it’s probably the best movie
I’ve ever worked on. No matter how many times I watch it I find something new,
or I just enjoy its great performances and bizarre situations. It was also a
very good set, and I have a ton of wonderful memories associated with it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was over at Imagica the other day and finally got to see the film on a big screen. It looked even better. The movie has a film-ish quality to its look, giving it a kind of '70s sheen. I went with Tei, who plays one of the bad guys in the film. Tei's dialog was all in English (I wrote his lines and did on-set dialect coaching for him and Yayan). He was nervous before hand, but his lines came out great. All that relentless drilling during shooting really made the difference. Sure, he doesn't sound like he's from Brooklyn or anything, but he is understandable and the native nuances are there. All told, Tei was happy with his performance and it was satisfying for me to see him satisfied. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yakuza Apocalypse” is a fantastic film and I highly recommend it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve worked on a couple of other films too, but I don’t want
to talk about them as they mostly sucked. *sigh*</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpAHaKXPvP4/VPqcaGcDVoI/AAAAAAAABZ0/lDE1PGQH80E/s1600/_DSC7361.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpAHaKXPvP4/VPqcaGcDVoI/AAAAAAAABZ0/lDE1PGQH80E/s1600/_DSC7361.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went to Wonderfest too. What can I say about that? It’s
always the same thing. I think I’ll take a break next year unless any foreign
friends come out for the show. However, I did bump into a lot of Godzilla staffers and got to shoot the breeze with them. Most notably, Makoto Kamiya, who I don't think I've seen in 5 years or so. I really owe Kamiya a lot for putting up with me near daily on the GMK set. I think he's sick of hearing me thank him, actually.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out the weird ass English on that sign. When I see stuff like this I feel good knowing I'll always have a job in Japan.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ENmF2VhGeA/VPqdI3bMMOI/AAAAAAAABZ8/WbhftVWwr4U/s1600/Rocky%2BH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8ENmF2VhGeA/VPqdI3bMMOI/AAAAAAAABZ8/WbhftVWwr4U/s1600/Rocky%2BH.jpg" height="260" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One super fun thing I did was to see Rocky Horror Picture
Show for the first time in a theater since 1977. My buddy Yoshiki is a big guy
in Rocky Horror fandom here in Japan and even translated the film and its
lyrics for more recent stage performances. In fact, before the screening there was
a large band (at least 10 piece) and a live cast that performed about 8 pieces from the film. The sold-out screening was a blast, and Yoshiki and me were probably the
most vocal. I surprised myself with how much I recalled of the audience
participation stuff. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the screening, a bunch of us climbed on stage and joined in for a couple
of raucous numbers. It was actually a lot more fun than I thought it was going
to be.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BmlQ7rURfKA/VPqO3FJ-kAI/AAAAAAAABZA/7wixw3ZzbYQ/s1600/buddies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BmlQ7rURfKA/VPqO3FJ-kAI/AAAAAAAABZA/7wixw3ZzbYQ/s1600/buddies.jpg" height="208" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of Yoshiki, the night Leonard Nimoy died we went
out for dinner (with his genius artist partner Yuko a.k.a. Utomaru) to remember Trek and
just talk about how completely awesome Nimoy was. Our mantra for the night was,
“I don’t want to live in a world without Spock!” For the next issue of Eiga
Hiho I was planning to write about The Blob, but have since changed that to Leonard
Nimoy. It truly is saddening to think he’s just not in this world of ours. I
always admired his mind, his dedication to his craft, and his overall maturity.
He was truly a good and honest human being. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cBOiZ6YqE3I/VPqbqHe2v-I/AAAAAAAABZs/SQK531vClfA/s1600/rock%2Bjet%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cBOiZ6YqE3I/VPqbqHe2v-I/AAAAAAAABZs/SQK531vClfA/s1600/rock%2Bjet%2B.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was interviewed by the rock magazine Rock Jet about being a Kiss fan in the 70s. The article came out great. It's pretty long too, 7 pages in total. It was fun to recall all those years of taking hell for liking Kiss in the mid to late 70s. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, and a Greek website did an interview with me, in case anyone at this point hasn't had enough of my ceaseless chatter. It's in Greek at the top and English at the bottom.<br /><br /><a href="http://sin-kazama.blogspot.gr/2015/02/norman-england.html">http://sin-kazama.blogspot.gr/2015/02/norman-england.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well… until whenever I find the time to write something.</span></div>
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-15254453369533783642014-12-27T17:30:00.000+09:002014-12-27T17:32:48.406+09:00End of Year<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s almost the New Year and I haven’t touched ye’ old blog
in months. I’ve just been too busy with work and life in general. Besides,
writing here generates no income!!! <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span>
But I do enjoy the outlet, when I can find the time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This year, like any other, had its share of ups and downs.
I’m trying to focus on the ups. Such as finally getting to do a book on Dawn of
the Dead, finally working with Takashi Miike, doing stills on a Nishimura
feature, and being told by Tim Burton that my photography is fantastic. (That
last point really generates no income but it was nice to hear all the same.) <o:p></o:p></div>
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The downside of the year was a moronic sales tax increase in
Japan that a lot of companies used to raise prices further (raising the
previous price by 8%, which is what our tax was raised to from its previous 5%, so they
slipped in a 5% price increase thinking no one would notice. The bastards!)<o:p></o:p></div>
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One thing I’ve been experimenting with is getting a website
going to display my photography. I’m going to link to it here. Unfortunately,
due to copyright reasons, most of the film related stuff I have to keep
password locked. The site is just a way for me to pass along to
directors / producers who want to see what I’ve done and, if I’m lucky, will
give me work. But I did put up other, "artsy" shots...or at least my attempt to be artsy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For what it’s worth, here’s the link:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://normanengland.zenfolio.com/" target="_blank">My frickin' photography page!</a></div>
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Well, I have a few cool end of year parties coming up, and then I'll be hitting the ground running as soon as Japan gears up after the new year holidays.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Until 2015 rolls around... Wishing everyone all the best.</div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-20208769475875973262014-08-23T20:02:00.000+09:002015-06-02T12:26:58.888+09:00Ninja Film<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cnM917a8tws/U_htl2Ki7HI/AAAAAAAABQ0/qXuKWrOvDls/s1600/Studio%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cnM917a8tws/U_htl2Ki7HI/AAAAAAAABQ0/qXuKWrOvDls/s200/Studio%2B3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Went to Toho of that ninja film I worked on last year.</div>
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The real shocker was to learn that the
rating board in Japan has issued it “ a “G” rating. This
means viewers of all ages will be able see it. As for the fate of the film, it seems it will start
making the rounds early next year, but don’t quote me on that. But until I get
the subs done it’s not going anywhere… I’m working on it! I’m working on it!</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTuPmkOegLQ/U_hrruQsiII/AAAAAAAABQU/RwJBvu_PUR0/s1600/Shimizu_NCE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTuPmkOegLQ/U_hrruQsiII/AAAAAAAABQU/RwJBvu_PUR0/s200/Shimizu_NCE.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
In the audience for the screening was Ju-on director Takashi
Shimizu. Afterward I noticed he was walking around clutching a copy of my book
“Zombie Maniacs.” I asked what he thought of it and Shimizu was beside himself with
praise. Honestly, I was quite surprised. Shimizu always plays things cool, often
going so far as to hide behind silly observations and jokes.
Uncharacteristically, he was full of compliments and said he was grateful to
finally have this kind of information on Romero’s zombie films in Japanese. In
fact, I’d go so far as to say it was the first time in the 14 years I’ve know
him that he gave ME fannish eyes!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once the screening was done, I went to the studio next door
and crashed the “Attack on Titan” wrap party. Some of the ninja staff and
cast were also involved with it, and of course since it’s
basically a tokusatsu film I already know many of the staff. So, the first
thing I did was get several ice-cold beers, a couple of slices of pieces, and a
bunch of sushi down into my belly to start the night off right. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jRepKx8bS8U/U_htnMIP5pI/AAAAAAAABRI/-rWw8PpLycs/s1600/Titan%2BCake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jRepKx8bS8U/U_htnMIP5pI/AAAAAAAABRI/-rWw8PpLycs/s200/Titan%2BCake.jpg" width="200" /></a>“Norman, I bet you’re wondering why I didn’t use you in the
film,” director Higuchi said upon seeing me wandering around. “I mean, you are
the first foreigner in any of my films. In fact, you are the first actor in any of my films!” Honestly, I was just hoping for some kind of
post-production work. “It’s cool,” I said. “I don’t care about that. What I was
wondering was if…” Higuchi cut me off. “I knew it. You <i>are</i> curious why I didn’t
use you in the film, I mean, after all, you <i>were</i> the first…” etc etc. “No,” I
insisted. “What I am hoping is…” This went on back and forth until it was clear
we were both drunk and now was not the time to talk about anything serious. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, for various reasons, this year has seen me making the
most trips to Toho since the Godzilla film “Tokyo SOS.” This is, of course,
good. My years on the Godzilla set are an important part of my life and
I want to have a good relationship with Toho. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SeEs5HmYK_s/U_htmVl0lvI/AAAAAAAABRA/b4uiYNDoBWI/s1600/Godzilla%2BKai.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SeEs5HmYK_s/U_htmVl0lvI/AAAAAAAABRA/b4uiYNDoBWI/s200/Godzilla%2BKai.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
In this vein, and to wrap this blog entry up, I was invited
to an intimate Godzilla staffer get-together recently over in Ginza by one of my biggest
supporters over at Toho. Put on by long-time Godzilla producer Shogo Tomiyama, the
party had 3 Godzilla directors, a few assistant
directors, an art director, a suit maker, marketing staffer, and one of my
favorite scripters in the business, etc. Honestly, I was a bit embarrassed to be there. After all,
all I did was hang out on the Godzilla sets. (Well, this isn’t necessarily
true…) </div>
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Oh yeah, and after the "Attack on Titan" party I caught up with some of the ninja movie staffers who were drinking by Seijo Station. Both Shu G (camera) and Ota (lighting) worked on my last film "New Neighbor". Two pals who are great at what they do and an inspiration to watch when on set.<br />
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Well, until next entry...<br />
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-88679839878197156942014-08-13T19:10:00.001+09:002014-08-14T10:41:36.721+09:00I Will Never Stop Writing About Dawn of the Dead! A Personal Declaration by Norman England.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BniYyJ6OqKc/U-s2aJRSi_I/AAAAAAAABPs/IwKTm_D8Ewc/s1600/20140803_152440-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BniYyJ6OqKc/U-s2aJRSi_I/AAAAAAAABPs/IwKTm_D8Ewc/s1600/20140803_152440-1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What kind of an oddball title is that for a blog entry?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />Well, another "focused" update, meaning I have something to plug.<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This time around I have a new "mook" out in Japan on George Romero zombie movies. Released by Tokuma Shoten, a Japanese publishing firm, it hit the stands on 8/4/2014, a little under two weeks ago.<br /><br />Going by the somewhat idiotic sounding name of "Zombie Maniacs," the mook is a detailed look at all of the Romero directed zombie films (though a few of his others are mentioned too). Unlike the zombie mook I worked on last year that tried to appeal to non-zombie fans, this one makes no apologies and goes right for the jugular of Romero zombie fandom. This make-no-apologies approach seems to have paid off and the mook has been selling briskly and currently enjoys two 5 star reviews on Amazon Japan (the only two reviews up so far), and the comments on Twitter have been calling it a must buy. Oh, and cool too is that it has been fluctuating between the 1st and 3rd place in its category on Amazon Japan.<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The book features several writers prominent in the zombie field in Japan: Yoshikazu Itoh, Jun Edoki, Takeshi Uechi, myself, etc. Each of us picked a Romero zombie film and took reasonability for covering it. Of course I selected "Dawn of the Dead", which turned out to be the main feature of the mook. I mean, look at the cover (see above). It's only images from "Dawn of the Dead"! It also happens to be editor Shinya Jiromaru's favorite film. While I feel a bit guilty about this - screw it - I love it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My writing volume makes me the heaviest contributor to the book and as such I was generously given top billing. The truth is, this is something I wanted to make 18 years ago. At the time I put in a proposal to Gaga Communications (the company holding the Japanese rights to the film) and they expressed zero interest in the idea. So, this was a long time coming. Well, as they say, all's well that ends well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Another thing that made this a dream job was editor Jiromaru letting me do whatever the hell it was I wanted. He had a few requests (the production of DAWN, something on Goblin), but his approach was, "Let Norman do his thing." It comes with great relief then that it's been selling so well because if it hadn't I would have begun to doubt the validity of my sensibility. (Now if only Toho would let me do my thing with Godzilla and not interfere with their screwball demands that actually hurt the integrity of my work in that field.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What follows are my sections in the book:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Zombies by Romero</u> - A piece on why Romero zombies are the best zombies around. Utilizing photos, I chose my favorite zombies from his first 3 zombie films and went into detail as to why they rule.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>On Location</u> - A visit to locations used in the first three Romero zombie films.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Dawn of the Dead: The Only Movie That Matters</u> - A long essay on why DAWN is the be-all, end-all of filmmaking (to me, anyway). I had a blast with this one, and tried to convey what it was like growing up with zombies from the late 60s on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Goblin & De Wolfe: The Music of DOTD</u> - I wrote the section on Goblin and Christian Stavrakis wrote the section on DAWN's stock music. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>The Making of Dawn of the Dead</u> - An in-depth telling of how DAWN came to be and a look at the production of the film.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Monroeville and its Mall</u> - Here's where it gets weird. I was originally going to do a piece just on the history of the Monroeville Mall, but as I got into it I realized that to do this I needed to tell the entire story of the town of Monroeville. So, Japanese zombie fans have just received a history lesson on the steel and coal mines of 19th century Pennsylvania. Hahahaha. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>American Zombie Mania!</u> - This is a piece about zombie cons and how Americans mingle with the actors and staff that turn out to them across the US, which is entirely different from how the Japanese do similar things. As I have been in the Japan for the past 21 years, I turned the article over to Lee Karr, who has just written a book on the Making of Day of the Dead. Lee's written for me before and always comes through with something interesting to say. I wrote an intro to the piece and a couple of notes here and there to make it easier for Japanese to understand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>The Varied Versions of Dawn of the Dead </u>- A look into the various versions that exist of Dawn of the Dead. This one I handed over to Christian Stavrakis because I felt he was the best qualified to write on this subject, and I was tied up with the other sections.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Introduction</u> - For this, I asked Taso Stavrakis to write something as I wanted to have at least one person from the Romero zombie world connected. Taso, as you may know, is the sledgehammer biker in DAWN and was stunt director and a soldier in DAY.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In addition, I supplied hundreds of photos to the book, many of which I received from pals Matt Blazi, Lawrence DeVincentz, and 'Spooky' Daz Sargeant. As I don't write in Japanese, all my translations were handled by Yoshiki Takahashi and Michika Kojima.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p41XVIwiaTA/U-s3LogP8tI/AAAAAAAABP0/TXRCNiDx6lU/s1600/10483305_10152382593408800_4910091410305261273_o.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p41XVIwiaTA/U-s3LogP8tI/AAAAAAAABP0/TXRCNiDx6lU/s1600/10483305_10152382593408800_4910091410305261273_o.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And there you have it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All in all, I think it took me about two weeks to write. I spent my days sitting at a new Starbucks in Shimokitazawa listening to Goblin and typing on my (relatively new) Surface Two computer. Sure beats driving a cab (no offense intended towards cabbies). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(The photo on the left is something I took when in Kinokuniya last week of mags / mooks currently selling that contain my work.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For anyone who might be interested, here's the link to it on Amazon Japan. Even if you don't speak or read Japanese, the book is filled with hundreds of photos, both color and black and white and has been lovingly designed by the staff at Tokuma Shoten.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4197203950/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=">http://www.amazon.co_Zombie Maniacs</a></div>
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Actually, this is just a short update to link to an article I wrote for Fangoria about the Nishimura produced and co-directed film, "Zombie TV". <br />
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Here's the link:<br />
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<a href="http://www.fangoria.com/new/fantasia-2014-exclusive-photos-and-director-comments-on-zombie-tv/" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.fangoria.com/new/fantasia-2014-exclusive-photos-and-director-comments-on-zombie-tv/" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--eQC-tkK6Fs/U8pnBfTJqNI/AAAAAAAABOo/ZXQpbCaE69M/s1600/fangoria_logo_withoval.png" height="102" width="320" /> </a></div>
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I don't write for Fangoria nearly as much as I should. Honestly, I prefer writing for Japanese magazines these days and the audience here seems much more responsive to my work than readers back west. </div>
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"Zombie TV" was a whole lot of fun to work on, although the schedule was a bit insane. I think I wrote a blog entry on this last summer. I can't recall just now. </div>
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It's playing at Fantasia, some kind of film festival in Canada, I understand.</div>
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Oh yeah, and here's a trailer for Zombie TV. Don't blame me for the crummy English subs on it. </div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffIAW0UtR1E" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffIAW0UtR1E </a></div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-12926520741864719062014-07-12T15:38:00.002+09:002014-07-17T02:29:34.134+09:00Is It Really July Already?<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1erwdEy37os/U8DMTD3QRXI/AAAAAAAABM4/JgEMzfvkIyo/s1600/Toho.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1erwdEy37os/U8DMTD3QRXI/AAAAAAAABM4/JgEMzfvkIyo/s1600/Toho.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A few months between blogs…can I even recall enough to make a proper entire entry?<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I do recall sitting endlessly in the dentist’s chair recently. I mention this because dental visits are different from those in the US. Back home, dentists and doctors greet patients with personal inquiries: “So, how’s it goin’ these days?” or “How’r things with the family?” In Japan, such questions are impolite and a dental visit begins with a direct, “Hello, now open your mouth.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I’m fine with this because I don’t always feel like going through the motions and I doubt they even care about me that much, really. I’m sure in another twenty years I’ll have a change of heart and be like a great deal of over-70ers in Japan who try to stretch out their encounters at cash registers, information desks, or wherever it is they’ve got someone trapped, it sadly being their only human contact of the day.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uiysLQgxsGI/U8DMTC7gRdI/AAAAAAAABNA/4ItqLnOV0L4/s1600/Perfect+Collection.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uiysLQgxsGI/U8DMTC7gRdI/AAAAAAAABNA/4ItqLnOV0L4/s1600/Perfect+Collection.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I had to deal with one hell of a deadline from publisher Tokuma Shoten writing about DAWN OF THE DEAD for an upcoming book on the Romero zombie series. Though it took over most of my past month, I’ve no complaints. It was pretty much a dream job. I got to delve into all sorts of DAWN subjects: production, soundtrack (both Goblin and library tracks), locations, and a wacky piece about the history of Monroeville, the town where DAWN was shot. I also had a lot of fun with a section where I picked out favorite zombies from the original trilogy and used them as examples of the awesomeness of the Romero zombie. This book was a long time in the coming for me. I tried to do a similar thing 18 years ago with Gaga Communications and, although they held the DAWN rights at the time, they passed on my proposal. But it’s just as well. I don’t think I’d have been able to write it as well as I can today. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When I had the meeting with the Tokuma Shoten editor I think he came with everything I’ve ever written on DAWN. I mean this guy had stuff going all the way back to the 1995 pamphlet from the “Perfect Collection” laser disc set, which is still probably the coolest thing I’ve been involved with in my life. At least it felt so at the time and in retrospect it turned out to be the catalyst for my life today, it being the work that led to my being on the Romero directed set of the “Biohazard 2” commercial, which led to my hooking up with Fangoria, which led to… And here I sit in my tiny Tokyo apartment...</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8wfa5dCKV9Y/U8DTotpRpTI/AAAAAAAABNs/BNqiixu5SOU/s1600/zombies_again.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8wfa5dCKV9Y/U8DTotpRpTI/AAAAAAAABNs/BNqiixu5SOU/s1600/zombies_again.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All in all, much of June was given to many enjoyable days and nights of writing while sitting in cafes with my headphones on listening to Goblin or the De Wolfe music tracks used in the film. The book is due out the end of this month, that’s how fast the publishing turnaround is in Japan, although I suspect it will come out in August due to my writing having to be translated into Japanese. It would be great if I could write in Japanese, but I can’t. That's life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I went to see a short film I did subs on and was a zombie in called "Moratorium", directed by Takashi Hirose. It was nice to see Ayano, the lead in my film New Neighbor and some other people. It played here in Shimokitazawa so it didn't take any great effort on my part to walk to Tollywood, the theater it played in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In other work related things, I subbed a couple of interesting things recently. One was a 40min film called “Actor” that I quite enjoyed. The film, about an actor on the lower rung of the acting food chain, captures some of the nonsense, pretense and hardship of the Japanese film set. We have a screening this coming Monday at Imagica and then an “after-party”. Those things are always fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I finally went to see “Godzilla” at a screening in Tokyo a few weeks back. Going with writer-designer Yoshiki Takahashi, we met up with others from the Eiga Hiho clan to catch it at Toho’s Marion Theater in Ginza. It was the first proper theater screening of the film and as such a lot of Godzilla staffers came out, giving me a a chance to say “hey” to people I hadn’t seen in a while. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As for the film, it was kind of a mixed bag. It wasn’t “Man of Steel” bad, but contained much of what I don’t care for in cinema, especially Hollywood cinema. For example, that American insanity over “the family”. Why is almost every genre film these days centered around “family”? I guess by doing this the producers can say things like, “Don’t like the film? What’s the matter, you hate families?” Sort of like being accused of “hating freedom” if you spoke out against that War on Terror nonsense. (My reply to this was always, “yes, you’re right. I hate freedom.”) Making a film like “World War Z” about family or the horrid “Thor 2” a Harlequin Romance in disguise is simply studios sucking up to non-genre audiences and pretty much insulting to those of us who have loved and supported genre efforts all our lives. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpRa_BudLkc/U8DaCATbZrI/AAAAAAAABOE/AICIRx8JX_o/s1600/Yoshiki%27s+Bday.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZpRa_BudLkc/U8DaCATbZrI/AAAAAAAABOE/AICIRx8JX_o/s1600/Yoshiki's+Bday.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yoshiki pretty much hated the film and went so far as to say he preferred the Emmerich one because “at least that has some characters in it; everyone in this film is an idiot”. While I would never call the ’98 Godzilla a good film, I would agree that that film had characters with flare. The new Godzilla film suffers from that Lost / Game of Thrones syndrome where characters are so real you can’t put your finger on who they are. They are presented in such a full yet flat way you can’t see their motivations. The exception might have been the guy played by Bryan Cranston, but they killed him off almost right away. When that happened I was like, “oh great. The only character of interest was just surgically removed from the film.” Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it and I'm happy that Godzilla is suddenly relevant again. I gave it a decent write up in the next Eiga Hiho.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It was Yoshiki's birthday the other day too and we had a party at Loft Plus One in Shinjuku. That was kind of a fun night. Here's a photo from after the show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I also went to the the first Godzilla in the theater with my awesome girlfriend Miyako. She doesn't really know much about Kaiju, but she enjoyed the film a lot. I think it might have been my first time to see it in a theater. Looked great and being the sap I am, I cried about 4 times. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I finally made an unofficial set visit to the “Attack on Titan” set at Toho Studio yesterday. That was a lot of fun and I was VERY impressed with what I saw. I am in no way familiar with the manga (I have zero interest in manga) so I can’t be one of those purest otaku types and point out what was “right” and what was “wrong” with it. I can say that the things I saw looked interesting and brutal. Lots of weird imagery all of which were being attained in traditional “analog” ways. And it was a very happy set. Everyone was enjoying themselves and I got the sense that they felt they were working on something special. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-69XVsJyF_h4/U8DawSkpfZI/AAAAAAAABOU/adxw7-Vr--U/s1600/Miike_T.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-69XVsJyF_h4/U8DawSkpfZI/AAAAAAAABOU/adxw7-Vr--U/s1600/Miike_T.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It’s always fun to go to Toho, if only to see some of the Godzilla crew from a decade-plus past. Working on ATTACK is one of my favorite people in the Japanese film industry, art director Toshio Miike. Miike took great care of me on the Godzilla sets, making sure I was always welcome and able to fully experience the Godzilla SFX set. Like then, he’s in charge of miniature sets, their construction and execution. It’s always a joy to sit and talk with Miike and ask him a few technical questions. For this kind of work there is no one better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By coincidence, Takashi Miike was shooting at Toho. I hadn’t seen him since the wrap party for “Yakuza Apocalypse” so I was able to chat with him for a few minutes in the cafeteria. I even made Miike laugh, which is no small feat! No, seriously, Miike is a fun guy who laughs freely at things. I’m not friends with the guy or anything, but my image of him is not those tough guy looking photos you see around the web, but of a guy who is constantly smiling and enjoying his work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">One of the shocking things about going to Toho was seeing that where Studio 1 and 2 once stood, now runs a road. I had thought those stages were under renovation. Instead, they were sold off, torn down, and in their place lies a freshly paved road. Ugh... Those were Japan’s oldest film studios and dated back to the 1930s. Man…while I can see why Toho would sell off the land, it still makes me sad as many of my best Toho memories were in studio 1, 2, the lunch room and the PR office (which in the way past was the payroll office). </span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ahN-w6ftU4w/U8DaVt7eJsI/AAAAAAAABOM/0kVmOBRnVRU/s1600/rafters_resize.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ahN-w6ftU4w/U8DaVt7eJsI/AAAAAAAABOM/0kVmOBRnVRU/s1600/rafters_resize.png" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yes, much of Toho has changed, but that’s the nature of the beast. For example, when I was in S7 I looked up at the rafters. Where once they were made of rope and wood, now they are made of reinforced steel. As someone who has braved the legendary Toho rafters, I can tell you I’d rather work there now than go back to the old way. So, basically, while the fan in me is sad, the pro in me is happy. Here's a shot of the rafters as they used to be. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh, and I also got to say “hey” to Ken Watanabe. I guess with Godzilla finally opening in Japan he’s over at Toho participating in the PR machine. While this kind of thing is no biggie, it just makes the feeling of going to a studio and stepping into the “movie world” all the more fun. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, that’s enough blabbing for this entry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZp84aidCcA/U2243vsXRpI/AAAAAAAABKE/FzmzlSjckZk/s1600/_DSC0555a_resize.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZp84aidCcA/U2243vsXRpI/AAAAAAAABKE/FzmzlSjckZk/s1600/_DSC0555a_resize.png" height="193" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Well, that was intense too…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I just finished work on the set of “Yakuza Apocalypse,” a new film coming from director Takashi Miike. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Much of the movie is under wraps so far be it for me to be
the one who jumps the gun on its PR. This means, look elsewhere for hard
information. I keep a blog as a place where I can sum up the things I involve myself with. If information is found in my
writing then great, but that’s not my purpose here. I am, however, prepping a set report for Fangoria
that will have hard information on the movie. It should appear there after the next official press release and
I'll link to my Fango piece when it’s on-line. I did write the first press release that
was issued when the movie was announced a month ago. Here’s a Twitch piece based on that press release:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://twitchfilm.com/2014/04/miike-takashi-going-back-to-his-roots-with-new-film-yakuza-apocalypse.html">http://twitchfilm.com/2014/04/miike-takashi-going-back-to-his-roots-with-new-film-yakuza-apocalypse.html<o:p></o:p></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7duNOnhhuoI/U2255mkBNzI/AAAAAAAABKg/ivyh_mkoWp8/s1600/Studio+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7duNOnhhuoI/U2255mkBNzI/AAAAAAAABKg/ivyh_mkoWp8/s1600/Studio+6.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With that said, I will say that the “Yakuza Apocalypse” set
was quite the experience. For starters, it was meticulously run. Sure,
the schedule was kind of loose, but that’s to be expected. If the day before an
AD says “your scene is up for 11am tomorrow so be here at 9am” you can bet
that means 10pm and you won’t get out until 2am or later. This kind of thing happens because
filmmaking is not an exact science. I've no problem with that. Trust me, there's plenty to see and do during the wait.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is an exact science is setting up the
environment in which to make the film. This is where producers come into play (YA had two of the best producers in Japan) and it means staffers who know how to do their tasks and do it in a way that plays
well with others. Everyone was extremely focused and, with Miike leading the
way, we all had the best time working on what may be one of the most outrageous
storylines of all time. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And as you can see from this shot one of the actors took of me, I was working very, very hard. X-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kOwrjp6WnsU/U225J5b72YI/AAAAAAAABKM/cGH515kbpL0/s1600/Asleep+at+the+wheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kOwrjp6WnsU/U225J5b72YI/AAAAAAAABKM/cGH515kbpL0/s1600/Asleep+at+the+wheel.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I celebrated my 55<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> birthday on the "Yakuza Apocalypse" set.
When the clock struck midnight on April 24, adding another annoying digit to the ever
growing number of my life span, I was seated beside director Miike. Both of us
were focused on his playback monitor as an intense scene of violent weirdness was being
enacted just a studio balsawood wall away. I didn’t say anything to anyone about it. I sort of glanced at the clock and the crazy setting around me in Stage 6 at
Nikkatsu Studio, and thought to myself, “yeah, happy freakin’ birthday, me”. Of
course I also thought about my mom, who passed on a little over a year ago, but then I think about her everyday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As for Miike himself, I’m a little unsure if I should go there too deeply. For one thing, I came to sense that he’s a private
person in a high-profile job. I will say that I think he’s one of the best if not the best director I have ever seen in action. His
skill at crafting scenes was phenomenal and his focus never wavered. He threw himself into his work in a way I've never witnessed before. And through it all Miike-san looked like he was having the time of his life. Often I was struck with the feeling "if ever anyone was born to do something..."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next night I was off and my girlfriend Miyako gave me a
small party over at the Golden Gai bar Cambiare. Some of my best friends stopped by to help make it the awesome birthday it turned out to be. I drank
lots and ate lots. And, hey, my buddy Yoshiki even splurged on some champagne. But the next morning it was right back to the Miike set...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mkQ5Cv8hJls/U225duj5A0I/AAAAAAAABKU/QnfZrxvJNlc/s1600/Birthday+Boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mkQ5Cv8hJls/U225duj5A0I/AAAAAAAABKU/QnfZrxvJNlc/s1600/Birthday+Boy.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyway, "Yakuza Apocalypse" has wrapped and I’m back writing and
editing photos. Two movie sets in as many months is about all I can handle. Fortunately,
I have some subtitle gigs to occupy my time with and I just got a job working
on a book about Romero zombies, with the emphasis being “Dawn of the Dead.” I
had a meeting with the editor from the publishing house the other day and, damn,
this guy came by with copies of almost everything I’d ever written on zombies
in Japanese: DVD booklets, magazines articles, the recent DAWN blu-ray booklet and
even the old LD booklet from the "Perfect Collection" released in 1995, which was my first real writing job in Japan. More on
this book when it takes shape, but it's looking good to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was also interviewed recently by the website Asian Fest.org. They asked me a bunch of cool questions and it was enjoyable to speak my mind. The interview is presented in both English and Italian:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">English:<br /><a href="http://www.asianfeast.org/altro/norman-england-2/">http://www.asianfeast.org/altro/norman-england-2/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Italian:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.asianfeast.org/sticky/norman-england/">http://www.asianfeast.org/sticky/norman-england/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They also wrote a review of my movie "New Neighbor" that you can find here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.asianfeast.org/recensioni/new-neighbor-en/">http://www.asianfeast.org/recensioni/new-neighbor-en/</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I really need to get some more bookings for this... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oh, yeah, and here’s a poster for a film I recently subbed
and did PR writing. It’s called “High Kick Angels,” an action film featuring a
group of high school girls trying to make an action film in an abandoned school that
gets taken over by a gang looking for a bunch of money hidden somewhere
in said school. The movie is a bit goofy, but it’s charming as hell, and some of
the fight scenes are really amazing. I’m happy with how the poster came out and,
well, I think my catchphrase is pretty outrageous. Man, I love writing
movie poster taglines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jx-Yj1sGZgQ/U2y1QkpgUBI/AAAAAAAABJ0/nCX4hl7i1w4/s1600/Highkick_Angels-p1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jx-Yj1sGZgQ/U2y1QkpgUBI/AAAAAAAABJ0/nCX4hl7i1w4/s1600/Highkick_Angels-p1.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Until next entry...</span>Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-77151559955759870222014-04-19T01:49:00.002+09:002014-04-19T01:52:54.613+09:00Back on the Nishimura set.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_QiSozdi8Zs/U1FTMnR3myI/AAAAAAAABIA/ia0zzvh9ekg/s1600/_DSC9086.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_QiSozdi8Zs/U1FTMnR3myI/AAAAAAAABIA/ia0zzvh9ekg/s1600/_DSC9086.png" height="196" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, that was intense…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’m back from two weeks on the set of the latest Yoshihiro
Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver) film, and, boy, am I beat to hell… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Film sets are always tough, but director Nishimura seems to
take special delight in depriving his staff of shuteye. For more than a few
nights we were lucky if we got in 3 hours of sleep. The worst was when getting
back to our rooms at 3am, utterly wasted from the day’s shoot that began at 6am,
with the call for the next day just a scant 3 hours later, the buses leaving for
location at 6am on the dot, no exceptions. Faced with that, it’s pointless to
even get undressed. Just jump into bed, get up at 5:59, and get right back to
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Don’t take this as a complaint. A lack of sleep and a little
bit of physical discomfort is a small price to pay to be involved with a
director as exciting as Nishimura. Besides, it’s not like I didn’t know this
going in. I’ve worked with Nishimura before. I know what his sets are like. On
the “Sushi Typhoon: Tokyo Invasion” video I made for the US DVD/ Blu-ray release
of “Helldiver” he even states in it that his secret is “no sleep for the crew”.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P20OWDGMB3s/U1FIehzqfNI/AAAAAAAABGc/16V_eNkbZc4/s1600/_DSC9581.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P20OWDGMB3s/U1FIehzqfNI/AAAAAAAABGc/16V_eNkbZc4/s1600/_DSC9581.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The shoot went before the cameras at the end of March and the
day following the set “Oharai.” This is a ceremony in which a couple of Shinto priests
bless the production with incoherent chanting that is capped off with some
awesome tasting <i>sake</i>. Following this, the cast / staff climbed into location
buses for a grueling 8 hour road trip over to the city of Iga in Mie
prefecture (grueling because the seats are so small on Japanese location buses that they make the economy seats of an airplane seem like first class). Iga’s claim to fame is as the birthplace of ninja, or if not their
birthplace, then where ninja got their act together through training camps in
the area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While the cast got to stay at the most posh hotel in the
city, the crew roughed it in a building within a communal town run by people Nishimura
described to me as “the Amish of Japan”. Some kind of communal living
experiment, the town was a closed community populated by people who contributed
to it with skills they brought to town, carpentry, cooking, sewing, farming, etc. On the wall of the room I shared with 5
other staffers was a handwritten sign reading something like, “be kind to each
other and share the road of education”. In fact, one night on the way to the
local bathhouse, I passed one of the community centers and from within heard a
large group of town folk happily singing the song “Beautiful Sunday”. If you didn’t
know a Japanese version of this song exists then check it out:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K4bnBUdV50"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K4bnBUdV50</span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JX_cYYMMJIs/U1FM4AIGsmI/AAAAAAAABHc/zbXOY3HflwU/s1600/_DSC3493_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JX_cYYMMJIs/U1FM4AIGsmI/AAAAAAAABHc/zbXOY3HflwU/s1600/_DSC3493_2.png" height="193" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If I were to make a film about a cult, I don’t think I could
come up with a creepier tune than this to show the wacky kind of blissful
happiness cults seem bent on bringing out of the followers. Still, the people in
the town were cool and when we left 8 days later they gave us a huge barbecue
sendoff with some of the best vegetables I’ve ever had and tons of Iga beef and
pork. So, who am I to judge? I hope they enjoy the Kool-Aid to their
heart’s content.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Much of the shooting took place at Ueno castle in Iga. We
spent several long days working on the castle grounds. One particular morning saw
about 100 extras on hand from the crack of dawn. The area was blanketed in a
very thick, picturesque fog. Looking up at the castle peeking through the mist and all the
extras dressed in outfits from a hundred years back, I felt as if I had been
suddenly thrust into feudal Japan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W4K7jCKUsrY/U1FK2vRh9vI/AAAAAAAABHA/UPM2LKBwsWA/s1600/_DSC0569_resize.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W4K7jCKUsrY/U1FK2vRh9vI/AAAAAAAABHA/UPM2LKBwsWA/s1600/_DSC0569_resize.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the castle interiors we shot at the home of some long
dead aristocrat that had been turned into a museum. All its rooms were fit with
tatami mats and sliding wood doors that when opened overlooked wonderful
Japanese style gardens, pretty much standard stuff when it comes to Japan, but
nice all the same. I set up my camera gear in a room and had this awesome view
for a couple of days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p>Perhaps the hardest day was when we went to a strip mining facility.
It had been raining from before day break and the roads had turned to mud. I’d
gone prepared to the shoot with a proper rain cover for my Nikon D800, but this
doesn’t make it any easier. I still had to struggle to keep the rain off the camera lens, and changing
large, expensive lenses in a downpour with only two hands is quite challenging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lkfFjFZBV64/U1FO9pkP5MI/AAAAAAAABH4/UJmW46WmrNo/s1600/_DSC5727.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lkfFjFZBV64/U1FO9pkP5MI/AAAAAAAABH4/UJmW46WmrNo/s1600/_DSC5727.png" height="207" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This being a ninja film (not sure if I mentioned that), we
had dozens of ninja extras on this day. Everyone was outfit in traditional ninja
black, which the rain managed to make blacker. When shooting black on black, detail tends to
get lost in shadows. If I pumped up the aperture to where I was able to see it, then
I blew out the rest of the frame. I, of course, shoot in full manual mode, and between
the rain and trying to get the right exposure on a large group of men in black,
I found myself pushed to my mental limits. Complicating this, the shoot was split
into two groups so all the shooting could be completed on schedule, with one group
shooting on a ridge high above the main shoot. I had to shuffle up and down the
mountain side between the two. With that said, I got some terrific shots this day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite what was the toughest day of the shoot, by its end, when the night had set in and
the rain finally over, while the mad rush to pack up was on, I was slushing
through the mud between the trucks with the horde of ninja extras returning to
their tent, plastic baggies in my sneakers to keep my feet dry, and all I could
think was, “what a completely cool day!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Trying to describe a film set, in particular, a Japanese
film set is not easy. Japanese filmmakers deal with each other in a way that is
deeply entrenched in the culture. There are many things that irk me about
Japan, but there are also a great many things about Japan that don’t irk me.
One of the things I appreciate is that despite the difficulty of the shoot not once
did I see anyone lose their temper. I think this would be close to impossible
in the US. I mean, 50 people living together for two weeks moving from forest
to mountains on no sleep and not one person yelling? Not a chance in hell! In
fact, it seemed that the more exhausted people got, the more pleasant they got.
Go figure…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The closest to anyone getting upset would be Nishimura
himself, but most of that was just a director trying to get the shooting pace
moving quicker, as if it could get any quicker. I still have echoes of his “Are
we ready to shoot?” and his repetitive “Things set yet? Things set yet?”
ringing in my ears. When he got this way, us on the crew had to hold in our
snickering. Not out of disrespect but just because his delivery is so
funny, it’s like he’s just finished downing a pot of coffee and has no idea how
it’s affected him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Basically, Nishimura’s a very funny man with a dynamic way
of directing and working with people. Most directors deal with the actors and their performance only.
Nishimura is hands on when it comes to camera and lighting and how he wants it
shot, framed, and covered. He wants his films to have a particular look, the
Nishimura look. He also knows how to get everyone laughing, and every day we’d
have to halt the shoot because none of us could stop from busting up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Another thing worth mentioning about Nishimura is that he
never compromises. I mean, never once did I see him compromise the quality of
a shoot or the acting. Every director I have worked with has gotten to a point
where they have to take into consideration things outside the frame when
calling a take “OK”. Nishimura wouldn’t call a shot “OK” unless he felt it had
reached its maximum potential, even when we were running hours over schedule.
At those points, when I could hardly stand up anymore, my camera feeling like a
brick, and I just wanted to crawl into bed, all I wanted to hear from Nishimura
was “OK”. But, Nishimura stuck to his guns, which in hindsight, was the right
way. I have a lot of respect for him. And, moreover, I like the guy. He’s been
an important person in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I guess it’s kind of unusual to find crew guys like myself
who are not Japanese on Japanese sets. Almost all of the time non-Japanese are
actors (if that’s what you call them). But the short of it is, it’s neither
here nor there being a non-Japanese on a Nishimura set, which is as I want.
Like everyone on the crew, I’m there to do a job, a job I was given because I’m
good at it. This is a business and as such all that matters is the quality of
your work, followed by your on-set disposition. Also, I’ve worked for Nishimura
for years and years now and this counts for a lot. We both know each other,
which makes for zero surprises during shooting. I also know the main staff very
well, and from the first shot we are all in sync.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">However, Nishimura does like to yell out during the shoot,
“Hey, where’s that second-rate foreigner?” To which I’ll respond, “The superior
foreigner is over here!” So, yeah, although tough skin is necessary, the
Nishimura set is an awesome place to be and I’m grateful to have the chance to work
and experience Japan in such an unusual way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Unfortunately, during the shoot at Iga castle I managed to
fall out of a tree when trying to get a shot and hurt my foot. This was made
worse by the relentless schedule we were dealing with and the last few days of
shooting saw me limping pretty badly. Nishimura jokingly attributed it to my
age (I admit I am the oldest staffer on the set) but this is another example of
how he is. And, honestly, his chiding doesn’t get to me. The truth is, everyday
Nishimura checked on me out of a real concern for my physical condition. (After
getting back to Tokyo I went to the hospital and was told I’ll be limping
around for a month or so.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now that the long shoot is finally over, I am editing photos,
which is another huge undertaking. I’ve had to get a new monitor too, as the
one I had just wasn’t cutting it in the color correction department. So, that
should speed things up. Production photos should be on-line soon. I’m working on
the English PR release of the film now as well. I’ll link to that stuff once it's on-line somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In other news, I’ve finished subtitling Noboru Iguchi’s new
film “Live” (which is “live” as in “live broadcast”) and an action flick for
Nikkatsu called “High Kick Angles”. I’ve also been working on the newest
Takashi Miike film, “Yakuza Apocalypse”, which just started shooting a few days
ago. I’ll be on-set off and on until shooting is over. More on that in the
future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Well, I have to go soak my foot and get back to photo editing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Until next entry… Be cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-60366942878473030622014-01-26T17:30:00.000+09:002014-01-31T03:36:41.632+09:00New Year 2014: The pen scribes on, the lens sees all.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzkmFABoojE/UuTGUwfHIDI/AAAAAAAABFE/BAQwche1YYc/s1600/hiho+best+worst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzkmFABoojE/UuTGUwfHIDI/AAAAAAAABFE/BAQwche1YYc/s1600/hiho+best+worst.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a></div>
The new year has come and gone. Thank god. Other than it
being some agreed upon break from normal routine, I’m not the biggest holiday
fan. I don’t work a conventional job so it doesn’t affect my lifestyle too
much. Besides, I work based on deadlines, so holiday or not, the work has to
get done even if it is Christmas or New Year’s Eve. <br />
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Actually, my “holiday period” was one of great work
pressure. I had to wade through thousands of set photos for the Shusuke Kaneko
film “iDolls: Battle in the Parallel World” (which is what I’m calling it until
the company decides upon an official title), and I had two big articles to
write. One of which was the annual “best/worst” write up for Eiga Hiho magazine.</div>
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First, since director Kaneko put this shot up on his blog, I'm guessing it's OK for me to do the same. This is a shot I took during the shooting of “iDolls: Battle in the Parallel World”. Can't wait to write about that set. It was a lot of fun.</div>
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As for Eiga Hiho... Honestly, it’s always hard to find ten films from recent years that I like.
Not that they aren’t out there, just that I don’t watch movies in the volume I once did. And as an old fuddy-duddy, it’s much easier to come up with
“worst” than “best”. As un-luck would have it, the “best” list requires 10 titles
and the “worst” a measly 3. Oh, well. </div>
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My best list was topped by “Pacific Rim” and the worst by
“Man of Steel”. In fact, the overall polling by all the writers put “Pacific
Rim” at #1 in the best category, with “Man of Steel” as second worst. The worst
film of the year, according to the average tally, was “World War Z”. I would
have put that down too if I didn’t hate “Evil Dead” and “Star Trek Into
Darkness” more. As I said, I wish I had 10 worst to write about.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mmruKDTMDpU/UuS9YJZS9HI/AAAAAAAABDM/XQo-oC1cd0M/s1600/mook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mmruKDTMDpU/UuS9YJZS9HI/AAAAAAAABDM/XQo-oC1cd0M/s1600/mook.jpg" height="200" width="141" /></a>My favorite section to write for is one called "He Who Must Die". In this you pick one person in the movie business you would like to see "dead". My choice last year was Seth Rogen, who would be my choice again this year if people "died" more than once. So, I went with Zack Snyder. Not only for "Man of Steel" but for, well, everything he has ever made. In all fairness, I didn't hate "Watchmen" and quite liked its opening sequence and thought setting Doctor Manhattan's background story to music from "Koyaanisqatsi" quite brilliant. But as for the rest of his work... This section is kind of a joke, and I do not in any way shape or form want Seth or Zack to suffer from a lack of life. </div>
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The other piece I labored over during the holidays was for a mook on kaiju. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It was a fairly big piece and I didn't have as much time to do it in as I would have liked, which can probably be said about any writing job. Still, I got to say a lot of things I'd wanted to about how I perceive the state of kaiju fandom in Japan. Not all of what I wrote about Japanese fandom is very pretty. Hahahaha... Ugh, I hope I don't get lynched when I attend Wonderfest next month. Mostly the piece is about </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">what it was like as an American growing up on kaju films, both Japanese and American, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Here's the link to the mook on Amazon Japan:</span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/m2w7zo3" target="_blank"> http://tinyurl.com/m2w7zo3</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nk8zJ8TJjVk/UuTDEJYskJI/AAAAAAAABEQ/Clmwgzy5X3A/s1600/th_Nuiguruma_Norman_15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nk8zJ8TJjVk/UuTDEJYskJI/AAAAAAAABEQ/Clmwgzy5X3A/s1600/th_Nuiguruma_Norman_15.jpg" height="190" width="200" /></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I'm back to subtitling films and finished two features this month. One is Iguchi's upcoming film, which I don't think has been announced so I'm not going to do it here. I'll say this, as always, I enjoy Iguchi's movies and although they seem a bit silly on the surface, there is always a decent life-philosophy running under the surface. I'm now working on the subs for an upcoming action film and once that's done and if I can remember, I'll post something here about it in the near future.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Speaking of director Iguchi, his new movie "Nuiguruma Z" opened in Japan yesterday. For this one I did the subtitles, naturally. I also have a small part in it as a priest. I guess it's a priest. They dressed me up in some religious garb that I'm sure means something to those into the Christian religion. In my scene I'm supposed to oversee the marriage ceremony between the film's bad guy and heroine. Shooting was way back in March of last year. As with all Iguchi sets, everyone was having a great time and just letting their hair down.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vBSy6za7Gnk/UuTFEh0tW7I/AAAAAAAABEw/39i94ZN9A9s/s1600/blog02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vBSy6za7Gnk/UuTFEh0tW7I/AAAAAAAABEw/39i94ZN9A9s/s1600/blog02.jpg" height="124" width="200" /></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Best of all, I got to work with actress Rina Takeda again. We're even in a shot together! Rina is always fun to work with as she's totally down to Earth and a bundle of energy. In fact, she's one of the stars of Kaneko's </span>“iDolls: Battle in the Parallel World,” so I got to work with her twice in one year!</div>
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As for <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">"Nuiguruma Z", I made the set a couple of times and enjoyed taking photos and just hanging out, especially for the big zombie day. As a big chatter box, there are always lots of people to talk to, old friends and new ones. The latest issue of Eiga Hiho features a set report of mine on the film. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R11nOcN5RYc/UuTFE8dTTSI/AAAAAAAABE0/pzI2-lGY5cU/s1600/blog01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R11nOcN5RYc/UuTFE8dTTSI/AAAAAAAABE0/pzI2-lGY5cU/s1600/blog01.jpg" height="156" width="200" /></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Well, that's about it for this blog entry. I'm on my way to Akihabara tonight to see a friend I haven't seen in 15 years. Her daughter is singing at a club. I don't think I've ever seen anyone sing in Akihabara so this should be kind of interesting...</span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">And finally... Here's a nice shot I took of Rina when the two of us snuck off set for a couple of minutes. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">"Nuiguruma Z" is an awesomely fun film. I hope everyone will have a chance to see it in the near future. And don't give me a hard time about my acting!!!</span><br />
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-54670527487711333882013-12-18T01:01:00.002+09:002014-01-31T03:43:42.013+09:00Shusuke Kaneko's New Film, Zombie TV, Still Photography, Dawn of the Dead Blu-ray, Gunkanjima and Ikejima. Need I Say More?<br />
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<![endif]--><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsRnebiF3aA/Uq8eGk36vPI/AAAAAAAAA-c/TM4ch46eTAQ/s1600/id06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsRnebiF3aA/Uq8eGk36vPI/AAAAAAAAA-c/TM4ch46eTAQ/s320/id06.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a>Two months between updates seems par for the blog course these
days. Well, as I’m apt to say, social media should always take a backseat to real life. <o:p></o:p><br />
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In any case, here I am and here’s “the rundown”...<o:p></o:p></div>
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First off, after over a decade of friendship, visiting dozens
of his sets, and even appearing in several of his films, director Shusuke
Kaneko got me the gig of still cameraman on his newest film, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">『少女は異世界で戦った』or in romanized English, </span></span>“Shojyo wa Isekai
de Tatakatta”, which basically translates to “Young Girls Battle in the
Parallel World”. The film wrapped two Mondays ago (12/9) – and not a moment too soon – I was near the edge of my energy reserves!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9BKJahYGBZU/Uq8eEv6ltPI/AAAAAAAAA-A/nytt1uvYfEc/s1600/id01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9BKJahYGBZU/Uq8eEv6ltPI/AAAAAAAAA-A/nytt1uvYfEc/s200/id01.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>But I expected it to be tough. Due to budget limitations,
Japanese films pack their shooting schedules tight. Mornings start at 6 and
run until 10pm or later. Often, if it’s a two-week shoot like this one was,
you’ll get but a single day off. You're also standing all the time. When shooting, it’s considered bad manners to
sit unless you’re the director (or soundman). For this film, we spent half the shoot in
woods around Mt. Fuji. While it wasn’t subzero weather, it was cold
enough. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I wonder… Is it like this in the US film world too? I
wouldn’t know since I’ve only ever been involved with Japanese films. I do
remember that when visiting the set of “The Grudge” the non-Japanese staff and
cast had it easier than their Japanese counterparts because of US union rules. Unions pretty much don't exist in Japan, and when they do, they have no influence.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9E0wABqWiDI/Uq8eE3Qke2I/AAAAAAAAA-I/wZBz1fPfywc/s1600/id03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9E0wABqWiDI/Uq8eE3Qke2I/AAAAAAAAA-I/wZBz1fPfywc/s320/id03.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a>Set still photography remains the challenge. Setups move at
lightening pace, giving you mere seconds to get a money shot. In almost every
case, the film camera (naturally) takes up the best camera position, meaning you have to
find creative ways in which to fit your body into the gaps between the
various crews in order to get the shot. Maybe you see a good spot only to be yelled at
by the lighting director because your perfect view turns out to be between a
light and an actor. Or you’re all set to snap away when the boom mike goes
between the actor’s face and your lens.<br />
<br />
I try to take shots during rehearsals, but this being a winter shoot, the actors were bundled up in jackets
that they only took off during actual shooting, which meant I couldn't just shoot as the "click" of the shutter would be picked up by the boom mic, ruining the shot. Instead, it's the game of "shot just as the director calls "action" and then the moment he yells "cut". And of course, despite all the limitations, everyone is
expecting you to take tons of exciting, action packed photos that will draw the
audience into the theater. Ugh...<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R6KQfZb_jtc/Uq8eHoqjpFI/AAAAAAAAA-k/zIHqMxLguo4/s1600/id07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R6KQfZb_jtc/Uq8eHoqjpFI/AAAAAAAAA-k/zIHqMxLguo4/s320/id07.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
I feel like adding to this list of “challenges” that the
sets I work on are in Japan. Everything is in Japanese and everything is gone
about in accordance to Japanese culture. I can’t say I always agree with how
things get done but I do know that the last thing anyone enjoys hearing is an arrogant foreigner saying, “Well, in my country, we do it this way…” I hated hearing foreigners tell me what was wrong with my country when I lived in New York City, so I can only imagine it's the same with Japanese. Really, it’s up to me to
adapt, not the other way around. So yeah, given all that, working on film in
Japan isn't any kind of a picnic. But, it’s the work I want to do so when you boil it down I
have little to complain about. Actually, I kind of like being the stranger in a
strange land...<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6n0AmreEZEM/Uq8eIc1UBMI/AAAAAAAAA-w/OgDd75f9M-8/s1600/id04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6n0AmreEZEM/Uq8eIc1UBMI/AAAAAAAAA-w/OgDd75f9M-8/s200/id04.jpg" height="152" width="200" /></a>By the way, my photos came out great! I think it's the most pro work I've done to date. I can't wait for them to be made public!</div>
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For now I’m not allowed to disclose too much information about the film,
so I can’t upload any photos or write about the cast. I can say it’s a science fiction
action film that deals with parallel Earths and a wormhole setup between the
two. I can also say that it is directed by Shusuke Kaneko, who directed the '90s Gamera films and "Death Note" pt1 and pt 2, among many others. The film also stars four adorable young women, one of whom is my absolute
favorite actress in Japan. This marks our third time to work together and
I consider it one of my life joys to work with her and am entirely honored when she tells people that we're friends.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Oh, and since Kaneko put up a photo of the "iDolls" van, I guess it's OK for me too. Get a load of that thing. Right in the middle of the shoot I had to zip over to Kyoto to give a presentation before the Kyoto Film Commission and the next morning, upon arriving back to Gotemba, I was picked up in this thing by one of the assistant producers. That was a bit embarrassing. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5NNaYrRwTuw/Uq8eGZzNCoI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/WpxED1g-nKY/s1600/id05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5NNaYrRwTuw/Uq8eGZzNCoI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/WpxED1g-nKY/s320/id05.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span">We had the wrap party last week. That was a lot of fun.
Parties like this are always interesting because the permeating tension of the
shoot is suddenly gone and everyone looks as light as a feather. Serious faces are now replaced by smiling ones. And the strictness of the set is replaced by a strong sense of camaraderie.</span><span class="Apple-style-span"> It's also nice to finally be able to sit down and drink without worrying about the next day. During the shoot I would usually take a hot bath in my hotel room and down a beer after shooting, but then I'd pass out as soon as I could (after making sure I'd triple backed up my data for the day), as I had to get up at 5:30am. So, I wouldn't call that "drinking"...more like numbing myself so I can get to sleep.</span><br />
<br />
Well, all in all, the shoot on Kaneko's new film went 100% smooth. No accidents. No weather issues. At worst, little things here and there, but overall it was smooth sailing from first to last day of shooting. And for me as well. I only dropped my camera once, with the worst accident being a scratch on the protective lens for my 70-200mm Nikon lens. I had to buy a new one, which cost me $50! Crap!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this production
in the coming months so check in later if you’re interested. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-37mVeaJs9Sg/Uq8gItsyOdI/AAAAAAAAA_E/3PA1QOd_W44/s1600/ZTV01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-37mVeaJs9Sg/Uq8gItsyOdI/AAAAAAAAA_E/3PA1QOd_W44/s320/ZTV01.jpg" height="256" width="320" /></a>I’ve also been subtitling like mad. I just finished up the
Yoshihiro Nishimura produced and co-directed “Zombie TV”. I was set
photographer on this one as well. But as it was only a five-day shoot it was
tolerable enough. I enjoy working for Nishimura despite the fact he seems to
like nothing more than to tease the hell out of me. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
An episodic piece, "Zombie TV" features three directors: Yoshiro Nishimura, Maelie Makuno and Naoya Tashiro. This kept me busy because at some points there were two shoots going on at the same time and I'd have to rush between locations to get shots. One thing I was happy about was that I was finally able to photograph Luchino Fujisaki. OK... So, 1/2 her face was covered in stage blood, but I still got to work one on one with her, and that was a lot of fun. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mooxFq33mM0/Uq8gIsT4_lI/AAAAAAAAA_I/XQ6YviWekMg/s1600/ZTV02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mooxFq33mM0/Uq8gIsT4_lI/AAAAAAAAA_I/XQ6YviWekMg/s320/ZTV02.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a>When I was on the set, the esteemed Mark Schilling from The Japan Times came by and did an interview with me for a piece connected to the Japanese release of "Pacific Rim". While I'm 100% thrilled to be in the pages of The Japan Times - it meaning I've actually accomplished something newsworthy as a non-Japanese in Japan - it wasn't the best condition in which to do an interview. It seemed like every time Mark and I hit our stride Nishimura was yelling, "Norman, get your ass over to the set!" I was, after all, working, you know.</div>
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You can read the piece here:</div>
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<a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/08/15/films/monster-film-maker-tackles-other-big-menace/#.Uqrt6SjrZSU" target="_blank">Japan Times Interview</a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wgzu1uV-aaE/UrARv_fmEmI/AAAAAAAABAY/qbv0vMq-24Y/s1600/Zombie+TV+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wgzu1uV-aaE/UrARv_fmEmI/AAAAAAAABAY/qbv0vMq-24Y/s400/Zombie+TV+Cover.jpg" height="400" width="281" /></a></div>
Speaking of “Zombie TV”, it just had its world premiere
at Monster Fest in Australia and played with my film “New Neighbor”. I have
absolutely no idea how the screening went, although I did find one lukewarm
review of my film on the web somewhere. Hahahaha. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Here's the cover to the "Zombie TV" DVD / Blu-ray, which goes on sale Dec 18, 2013. After the image was put up on the web I called up Nishimura.<br />
<br />
Me: Nishimura! What the hell?<br />
Nishimura: What do you mean?<br />
Me: That cover... Bad taste all the way.<br />
Nishimura: You think so?<br />
Me: Yeah... It's great!<br />
Nishimura: Hahahaha.<br />
<br />
Actually, as a set photographer, I'm pretty happy with the cover as it's made up almost entirely of photos I took on set.<br />
<br />
"Zombie TV" is pretty out there. It's intentionally offensive (a zombie vs an African cannibal in a wrestling match) and silly (an old man zombie out for a walk who is unable to keep his dentures in). I enjoyed working on it and despite its low budget, really like how it came out. I was also happy that during shooting I could enjoy being in the center of a "Nishimura Blood Shower". I think this was my third or fourth time to get wrapped up in plastic and get into the thick of Nishimura's overt love of stage blood.</div>
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In the “my life as a zombie” department, I just worked on
two zombie projects. As a first generation Romero zombie aficionado, one who
spent a major part of his youth tracking down all things zombie, it’s a rather
nice spot to find myself in. I mean, getting paid to write about
“Dawn of the Dead”? What can be better than that?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vkeqVsRgCy0/Uqrd1HR8vgI/AAAAAAAAA9U/2D7v8-pRxhE/s1600/Zombie+Blu-ray_SM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vkeqVsRgCy0/Uqrd1HR8vgI/AAAAAAAAA9U/2D7v8-pRxhE/s320/Zombie+Blu-ray_SM.jpg" height="173" width="320" /></a></div>
The first is the upcoming Blu-ray release of “Dawn of the
Dead” in Japan. Basically, the releasing company gave me carte blanche to fill
16pgs of content for the program book. Looking to do something new for the
Japanese DAWN audience, I contacted several of the people involved with the
making of the film. I don’t mean director Romero and the four leads. While
their voices are important, I thought that would be too obvious. I wanted to
delve deeper into the film, to bring information heretofore unknown to the
Japanese audience. Basically, I wanted to get the Japanese audience something mind boggling unexpected and blow their friggin' socks off.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7KmHq9xsOfQ/UqrebFwewjI/AAAAAAAAA9c/cbTrs0Vvimk/s1600/Mook+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7KmHq9xsOfQ/UqrebFwewjI/AAAAAAAAA9c/cbTrs0Vvimk/s320/Mook+cover.jpg" height="320" width="246" /></a></div>
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To accomplish this, I contacted several of the people who
played memorable zombies in the film as well as DAWN’s cinematographer. Between these reports, which I’m
happy to report are delightful and insightful pieces detailing
their work on the movie, and a few others, the booklet came out fantastic. Gone are the typical Japanese "essayists" going on and on like essayists tend to do. Probably the most meaningless piece is the introductory piece that I wrote, since it has the least amount of solid information. I mean, I had NOTHING
at all to do with the DAWN production.<br />
<br />
I have no doubt that Japanese fans who buy the set will be having their asses handing to themselves it's that impressive an accomplishment - and I say this without a hint of pride! All the translations were handled by
Yoshiki Takahashi, who, as usual, did masterful work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I also worked on a zombie “mook” (a type of publication that
falls in between a magazine and a mook). While I didn’t write anything for it per se,
I did oversee a few of its articles and, as with the thinking for the DAWN Blu-ray, I got an actor from each of Romero’s first four zombie films to write a piece
about their association with the film. If I had been contacted a bit earlier by the publisher and if I had had more time I would have liked to have written something, but that's what it's like in the world of short deadlines.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hRuI5RhMwJU/Uq8iTQRDrUI/AAAAAAAAA_s/jKSpp33jbd0/s1600/nag03.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hRuI5RhMwJU/Uq8iTQRDrUI/AAAAAAAAA_s/jKSpp33jbd0/s200/nag03.png" height="133" width="200" /></a>While these past six months have been nothing but work
filled, I did manage to take a few days off and used the time to travel over to
Nagasaki for a trip to Hashima Island, popularly known as “Gunkanjima”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Cause I’m too lazy to write one myself, here’s how Wiki sums up Gunkanjima:<o:p></o:p></div>
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“The island was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining
facility. The island's most notable features are the abandoned and undisturbed
concrete apartment buildings and the surrounding sea wall. The island has been
administered as part of Nagasaki city since the merger of the former town of
Takashima in 2005.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3A71TBYaLlM/UrBprl5YRfI/AAAAAAAABAo/XJlKPCY5ATY/s1600/Gunkan01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3A71TBYaLlM/UrBprl5YRfI/AAAAAAAABAo/XJlKPCY5ATY/s320/Gunkan01.png" height="185" width="320" /></a>Getting on the island is easy enough to do, but because of
their frail state, getting into the buildings themselves is a different story.
I joined a group that was headed by the artist Yuji Kaida and his wife Aya. Long time friends I met on the "Gamera 3" set back in 1998, they had arranged permission with the Nagasaki government and
under its supervision we were able to enter into buildings, poke around abandoned
rooms, and even go up onto the roofs. Let me tell you, it was quite the experience.<br />
<br />
Maybe you're thinking, "what the hell, it's just a bunch of abandoned buildings." In a way, this isn't wrong. That is what Gunkanjima is. Everyone's been in an abandoned building at least once in their life. The thing is, it's the scale of Gunkanjima that boggles the mind. The entire island was from one end to the other under human supervision and then, one day, they were gone, leaving the whole place to ruin. It is like no place I have ever been to in my life.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V3_DxuZgiGI/Uq8iuiIHMvI/AAAAAAAABAA/cwlNfN9hTcc/s1600/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V3_DxuZgiGI/Uq8iuiIHMvI/AAAAAAAABAA/cwlNfN9hTcc/s320/01.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a>For starters, a very eerie
atmosphere permeates what was once a thriving, workingman’s community, but one
that stands today like a long forgotten tomb. Much of it looks as if everyone had just picked up and left at the same instant in time. TVs, phones, dishes, cups, shoes, toys…many items such as this are still in their rooms untouched for the past thirty plus years.
It was so overwhelming at the time that the impact of it didn’t really set in
until I was home going through my photos. And now, all I can think is, "How in the world do I get back on the island?!"</div>
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After this, I traveled by boat over to Ikeshima island, where I spent the night and then the next day touring an abandoned mine shaft and an abandoned apartment complex, one which used to house the hundreds of families that worked at the mine during its time.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yRjUwpyupuM/Uq8iTzfTSMI/AAAAAAAAA_o/9CFZ0pDGl3I/s1600/nag04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yRjUwpyupuM/Uq8iTzfTSMI/AAAAAAAAA_o/9CFZ0pDGl3I/s200/nag04.jpg" height="139" width="200" /></a>That, too, was a total blast,
and I got to wear a hardhat with a light on top, like the Quake character from
Quake cereal… You know, Quisp and Quake? No? Guess you have to be over 50 to
get the reference.<br />
<br />
I also got to use some big ass hand drill that set my cavities rattling. The coolest was this weird drill head (see picture of me with it) that made me recall a scene in the film "Total Recall".<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8qEIfDEC-k/Uq8i5RCm5gI/AAAAAAAABAI/pufrPyFb0EE/s1600/04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8qEIfDEC-k/Uq8i5RCm5gI/AAAAAAAABAI/pufrPyFb0EE/s320/04.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a>I have to add that I have now had my fill of boat riding. I rode
more boats in those three days than I think I have in the past 25 years put together! The
water was insanely rough too, causing the boat to go straight up at times and rock to
the sides to the point that my window was at sea level. When I asked someone in our
group where the life preservers were I was told, “Oh, you don’t need one.” I
asked someone working on the crew of one of the ships and was met with a, "uh, in the back...I think." All I can say is: welcome to Japan, land of zero disaster preparation. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I also spent a day (the first day) exploring around the site of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb blast, going to the peace museum and hanging around the ground zero point. As I did at the impact spot in Hiroshima when I visited it with my brother back in the mid-90s, I got myself some <i>sake </i>and shared a cup with Miyako, trying to imagine that 60 years prior the very spot I was chilling out at was as hot as the surface of the sun.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CvJwOaCLacY/Uq8iSnHOo2I/AAAAAAAAA_c/GUehWnS9edk/s1600/nag02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CvJwOaCLacY/Uq8iSnHOo2I/AAAAAAAAA_c/GUehWnS9edk/s200/nag02.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuTSJxdzXc/Uq8iSSg7vrI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/4LlMd2qWA-w/s1600/nag01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuTSJxdzXc/Uq8iSSg7vrI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/4LlMd2qWA-w/s200/nag01.jpg" height="134" width="200" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVGqnGKZjVs/Uq8iTUJyWjI/AAAAAAAAA_w/As_reQWp1mg/s1600/N_Nagasaki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVGqnGKZjVs/Uq8iTUJyWjI/AAAAAAAAA_w/As_reQWp1mg/s200/N_Nagasaki.jpg" height="200" width="170" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EuTSJxdzXc/Uq8iSSg7vrI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/4LlMd2qWA-w/s1600/nag01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CvJwOaCLacY/Uq8iSnHOo2I/AAAAAAAAA_c/GUehWnS9edk/s1600/nag02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
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All in all, between the two exploration days I must have
gazed upon several thousand tons of abandoned steel and concrete. Actually, I
played a little game in my mind. I imaged myself to be an alien explorer who
had come to Earth years and years after the demise of the human race trying to
figure out what these nut bag were all about.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Here’s a small selection of photos I took at Gunkanjima. I'm required to put up a notification about the trip and these photos as the tour was a special arrangement between the Nagasaki government and our group:<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span data-reactid=".r[115u].[1][3][1]{comment10151894775573800_10678401}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[0]" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 11.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">「長崎市の特別な許可を得て撮影しています」</span><br data-reactid=".r[115u].[1][3][1]{comment10151894775573800_10678401}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[1]" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 11.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span data-reactid=".r[115u].[1][3][1]{comment10151894775573800_10678401}.[0].{right}.[0].{left}.[0].[0].[0][3].[0].[2]" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 11.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Gunkanjima photo shoot by permission of the City of Nagasaki.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pwe1YWRe1aw/UrBqnjn55VI/AAAAAAAABAw/3PGnOf24kSQ/s1600/gunkan02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pwe1YWRe1aw/UrBqnjn55VI/AAAAAAAABAw/3PGnOf24kSQ/s320/gunkan02.png" height="212" width="320" /> </a></div>
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Man… I have to get my ass back there. It was that great.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think this is going to be my last blog update for the year. I have around 20,000 set photos to edit through, five magazine articles to write and a movie script to finish. So much for enjoying the holiday season...</div>
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I leave you with a photo from my awesome Halloween.<br />
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Until next time…<br />
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<!--EndFragment-->Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-66593914304040930492013-10-17T18:49:00.002+09:002013-10-18T10:33:13.069+09:00"New Neighbor" Does Uplink X<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7KVbnoAU84/Ul-wmcRz5yI/AAAAAAAAA7w/Z_1E-bsVfYE/s1600/21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x7KVbnoAU84/Ul-wmcRz5yI/AAAAAAAAA7w/Z_1E-bsVfYE/s320/21.jpg" width="240" /></a>Earlier this month, from 5 October to 11 October, my film
“New Neighbor” had a week run of screenings at Uplink X Cinema in Shibuya,
Tokyo.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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How’d it go?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In a word: fan-freakin’-tastic!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The film did good business, managing to get an average screening
of 80% capacity, with 3 nights at capacity / near capacity levels. Sure, Uplink
is not a huge place, but it is a legitimate theater that’s been around forever
and has a large following of serious film goers. The people at Uplink were
great too. They both liked and respected my film, giving it full support and
attention from start to finish.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Because “New Neighbor” is a 40min film, Uplink and I decided
early on that I should hold nightly “events” to expand the length of the show. It
seemed like a good idea at the time – and it was – but, man, did those things
wear me out!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here’s the week it was and some afterthought notes:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ew6bG8hP8Tc/Ul-wlYZbuNI/AAAAAAAAA7s/8EY29ZI92nA/s1600/04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ew6bG8hP8Tc/Ul-wlYZbuNI/AAAAAAAAA7s/8EY29ZI92nA/s320/04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 5: Opening Night</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Ayano, Asami, Takashi Nishina, Kentaro Kishi, Yohta
Kawase, Tomoko Hayakawa</i><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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This was more traditional in that we all stood, passed a
mike around, and said something about the film, its director, the shooting, and
thanking people for coming. In Japanese this is called <span lang="JA" style="font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">舞台挨拶</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: JA;"> (</span>butai-aisatsu), which means “stage greeting”.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of all the nights, this was the toughest for me
because I was completely exhausted from all the preparations that by the time I
got on stage I was ready to collapse. But it went well, especially since I had
my wonderful cast there helping me out. The audience enjoyed both the film and
the show and afterwards I got a lot of enthusiastic compliments. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3gZ9hYT3H0/Ul-wlQZdCGI/AAAAAAAAA78/8PoLQ6mvYP4/s1600/01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3gZ9hYT3H0/Ul-wlQZdCGI/AAAAAAAAA78/8PoLQ6mvYP4/s200/01.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 6: Actress Night</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Ayano</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The night was advertised as “Asami vs. Ayano” as we
planned a performance in which my two leads would reenact a scene from the
film. Unfortunately, it was Asami’s last day of shooting a new film and, try
though she did, she couldn’t make it. Instead, Ayano and I did Tuesday night’s
plan, which was her and me on stage. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Although I didn’t think it would go well, the night went
fantastically well. I guess I hadn’t really noticed before this, but the two of
us have a good rapport, having been friends for years now. We are different
kinds of people, but know each other well, strengths and weaknesses, and know how to play off the other. People in the audience were crying laughing as
the two of us covered how the film was made. In hindsight, this might have been
the best show of the week.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jOgaPAcf5bA/Ul-wmiLSAYI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/z4Nm0_nbPnU/s1600/Directors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="146" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jOgaPAcf5bA/Ul-wmiLSAYI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/z4Nm0_nbPnU/s320/Directors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 7: Directors Night</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Shusuke Kaneko, Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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I don’t know why, but I had the brilliant idea to invite three of my closest director friends to do a night. Director Iguchi has a
small part in “New Neighbor” and Nishimura helped out with some prop creation.
Kaneko didn’t have anything to do with the film, but the truth is, without
Kaneko’s help I wouldn’t be in Tokyo and involved with film to begin
with.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I knew it was going to be an “interesting” night when
Nishimura showed up drunk and in a somewhat abusive frame of mind. But I know
Nishimura like the back of my hand. This was as I expected, actually…as I
hoped. And as hoped, what went on on stage after the screening was one for the
record books. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3OreZkoqRe4/Ul-wl-cfrjI/AAAAAAAAA70/Lia6j2H8I8s/s1600/09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3OreZkoqRe4/Ul-wl-cfrjI/AAAAAAAAA70/Lia6j2H8I8s/s320/09.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Nishimura and Iguchi sat down and before I could introduce
Kaneko they were into their well-honed on-stage mode of talk. “Norman’s movie
was quite astonishing, don’t you think? Iguchi asked Nishimura. “I didn’t think
he had it in him,” responded Nishimura. The audience laughed not at this, but
at me as I was trying to get a word in edgewise so I could call Kaneko onto the
stage. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Settling in, all three directors told of how they met and
came to know and work with me. Nishimura went on about how in awe he was when we
first met on the set of "Machine Girl", yet over the years as he’s gotten to know me I’ve diminished in
stature in his eyes. As I figured, Nishimura was out to roast me, which is why
I brought Kaneko along. The always sophisticated Kaneko brought a balance to
the night. Like when Nishimura went, “Kaneko, tell me, what the hell do you see
in this guy?” Kaneko looked at him and said, “I think Norman’s a really great and
talented guy.”</div>
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At one point I tried to point out how fortunate I felt to have
such interesting friends as these three and that on reflection I’m both
grateful and happy for the life I lead in Japan. “Norman, it comes as great relief
to me and everyone in the audience to hear that your life is okay,” responded
Nishimura sarcastically. When the evening finally came to an end I was ready
for a nice tall beer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Being on stage with these three super talented film
directors there to support my work says a lot, and despite Nishimura’s chiding,
I <i>am</i> grateful to be doing what I am doing. As for the audience that evening, if
out and out laughter is an indication of enjoyment, then it’s safe to say they
had a blast.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NRYY2JyYI3Y/Ul-wmJxJQ3I/AAAAAAAAA8c/RhYlH0Dfox0/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NRYY2JyYI3Y/Ul-wmJxJQ3I/AAAAAAAAA8c/RhYlH0Dfox0/s320/10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 8: Asami X Ayano</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Asami, Ayano</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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This was the night I most looked forward to. I brought what
props I had left over from the film and made a few on my
time off. I’d had a prior meeting with Asami and Ayano and we worked out how to
recreate the final scene in “New Neighbor”. As I expected, Asami went wild on
stage. With Ayano hiding in the audience, Asami, dressed in a sexy black outfit,
went from chair to chair in search of her, often sitting in the laps of
audience members. “Have you seen my pink, vibrator?” “Would you happen to have
a dildo in your handbag?” She asked the various people there for the show.
Everyone was laughing and enjoying the insanity of it all. Finally, at a key
point I sprang on stage. “Cut! Cut! Enough, enough! This is the worst bit of
acting I have ever seen! We’re going to have to take it from the top, but this
time put some feeling into it!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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After this, the three of us sat down and talked about our
friendships<span style="mso-fareast-language: JA;"> both working and non-working</span>,
how they came to join the “New Neighbor” production, and we shared stories from
the set, especially from the film’s final scene, which was shot in a real SM studio in Shinjuku basement.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have to say, seeing Asami on stage reenacting the film’s
final scene, well, I was pretty happy. I mean, there’s Asami giving her all for
my film! It took years of labor on the film to reach this point, but in the end it
worked out even better than I’d hoped. The next day Asami wrote me to say,
“Team Norman is the best!!!” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktEKzzUqJLI/Ul-wley5yKI/AAAAAAAAA74/dXUFrA3LC-s/s1600/07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ktEKzzUqJLI/Ul-wley5yKI/AAAAAAAAA74/dXUFrA3LC-s/s200/07.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 9: Boys Night</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Kentaro Kishi, Yohta Kawase, Takashi Nishina</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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By this night I was ready for a vacation. But the guys in my
film came out and helped make this night another interesting one. Kawase is
very talkative on stage and has a nice, outgoing approach to everything he does. Nishina, who I’ve
know since Kaneko’s Godzilla film, is less “bright” than Kawase, but always has
something interesting to say and is an utter on-stage pro. And Kishi was his
usual kind self. Kishi mentioned during the talk that he had some concerns if I was going to really finish the film or not because there were six-months in-between his two days of shooting! Oh yeah...I guess there was a bit of a gap there...</div>
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The evening turned out to be quite lively, although I did miss having my actresses on stage with me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3DOwTNu75q4/Ul-wnE67BSI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/MCwg9Ljb44g/s1600/UPLINK_NCE_YT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3DOwTNu75q4/Ul-wnE67BSI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/MCwg9Ljb44g/s320/UPLINK_NCE_YT.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 10: Norman X Yoshiki</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Yoshiki Takahashi</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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This night featured an English subtitled print of “New
Neighbor”. Following the show I shared the stage with Yoshiki Takahashi, the
man who translated the “New Neighbor” script and who did the fantastic poster
for the film.</div>
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Yoshiki, despite being a super busy guy who works on a lot of big
films, took the time to work on my film. It’s pretty humbling. More than just
respecting Yoshiki, I like him a lot and he’s done much to make my life in
Tokyo better. So, I was pretty excited to sit down and talk with him in front
of an audience, especially since the two of us enjoy rather foulmouthed
conversations. I was also a bit drunk when I went on, which I also wanted. I
felt that it was my show and as such I can do whatever the hell it is I feel like doing,
which is pretty much how I run my life anyway. Yeah, it was a lot of fun and
Yoshiki and I really duked it out on stage!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkqEFnVH-is/Ul-wn1CwZSI/AAAAAAAAA8k/ZaSxECP_rP0/s1600/_DSC2455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rkqEFnVH-is/Ul-wn1CwZSI/AAAAAAAAA8k/ZaSxECP_rP0/s200/_DSC2455.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i><u>October 11: Sayonara Night</u><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Guests: Ayano, Asami, Demo Tanaka, Tomoko Hayakawa</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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The big joke following the show was that after a week Norman had
finally acclimated to it. Better late than never, I guess. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This night, the final night of screenings, went super well.
Again, Asami was 100% Asami, and that alone is worth the price of admission. Add to
this Demo Tanaka, who is always good for a few outrageous statements, and you
have one hell of a lineup. I should mention too that both Ayano and Tomoko, who
are both very sophisticated women, added immensely to the success of the evening. This night, as with all of them, I went out for drinks with everyone. Good times may they never end!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BVd1Jv-9J64/Ul-woN2IflI/AAAAAAAAA8o/j9FJSi8EeBg/s1600/_DSC2461.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BVd1Jv-9J64/Ul-woN2IflI/AAAAAAAAA8o/j9FJSi8EeBg/s200/_DSC2461.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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So, there you have it. The film I worked so hard on for the
past two years did a theater run in my adopted home
city of Tokyo. It was a fantastic, memorable time both on stage and being the scenes. I want to thank everyone
who helped out and thank all who came out to see "New Neighbor"!</div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Side note: This isn’t the end of the screening life of “New Neighbor” by any means. There is a show coming up in Australia next month and I’m talking to other people
now about more screenings. Such news will be added once I have things
confirmed and dates fixed. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-34273701106777285382013-09-28T18:28:00.000+09:002013-10-01T17:35:46.636+09:00Uplink Screening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HO5TmYD35XM/Ukaf6OOtkGI/AAAAAAAAA6g/IHrJvRloxlU/s1600/NN_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HO5TmYD35XM/Ukaf6OOtkGI/AAAAAAAAA6g/IHrJvRloxlU/s400/NN_Poster.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
I'm pleased to announce that my film "New Neighbor" will be enjoying a week of screenings at UPLINK, Shibuya's famous art house movie theater.<br />
<br />
The film runs from 10/5 ~ 10/11, which is cool because October is my favorite month of the year. (Not sure how relevant that really is...)<br />
<br />
The screenings start each night at 9pm. As it's only a 40mins opus I'll be holding events following each screening with different guests connected to the film or to my professional filmmaking life in Japan.<br />
<br />
Here's the schedule:<br />
<br />
10/5: Opening Night with the cast: Ayano, Asami, Kentaro Kishi, Takashi Nishina, Yohta Kawase, Tomoko Hayakawa.<br />
<br />
10/6: Special live performance by stars Ayano and Asami. Be sure to cover your virgin ears for this one.<br />
<br />
10/7: Directors Night: Shusuke Kaneko & Yoshihiro Nishimura. We'll be talking shop. Possible attendance by Noboru Iguchi too.<br />
<br />
10/8: The Odd Couple: Ayano and Norman. This should be weird...<br />
<br />
10/9: Boy's Night Out: Kentaro Kishi, Takashi Nishina, Yohta Kawase. If Demo Tanaka gets his act together he'll be here as well. I expect us to complain about Japanese women all night long.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10/10: Norman vs Yoshiki Takahashi. This night will be a screening with ENGLISH SUBTITLES! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">If there are enough non-Japanese in the audience I plan to run the "event" in English. If so, I also plan to curse a lot. Yoshiki will probably curse a lot too. It should be a fu*kin' blast!</span></span><br />
<br />
10/11: Sayonara night: Asami, Kentaro Kishi, Takashi Nishina, Yohta Kawase, Tomoko Hayakawa, Yoshiki Takahashi. Be sure to bring plenty of tissue as there won't be a dry eye in the theater!<br />
<br />
Tickets are 1,200 yen or 1,000 yen for UPLINK members and college students. Tickets will be sold on the day of the screening at the UPLINK boxoffice.<br />
<br />
Here's a link to the "how to get here" page at UPLINK's website:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.uplink.co.jp/info/map/">http://www.uplink.co.jp/info/map/</a><br />
<br />
One thing that really pleases me is to see "New Neighbor" listed on these websites:<br />
<br />
The first is Pia, which used to be a magazine but folded as so many magazines seem to be doing these days. But they are still going strong on-line as a source of entertainment information:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://cinema.pia.co.jp/title/163231/">http://cinema.pia.co.jp/title/163231/</a><br />
<br />
Also in this vein is "Eiga.com,"another source for what's playing in theaters in Japan.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://eiga.com/movie/79096/">http://eiga.com/movie/79096/</a><br />
<br />
Both these listings are kind of more than I expected and kind of make all the difficulties of making the film a little easier to bear.<br />
<br />
Like any director, I'm hoping for a decent turn-out and moreover, I'm hoping people enjoy the film and feel that they've seen something different from the normal run of self-produced films.Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-67236319492152024542013-07-15T19:10:00.001+09:002013-07-17T01:01:03.375+09:00Fantasia 2013<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pDH6VfaSGe4/UePJOtOGVAI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/D4lI6l6r040/s1600/Asami3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pDH6VfaSGe4/UePJOtOGVAI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/D4lI6l6r040/s320/Asami3.jpg" width="320" /></a>My newest film, "New Neighbor," is set to play at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal this month. People in the greater Canada
area<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will be able to catch it on
22 July and 25 July. </div>
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Here is the link to their site where information on
where to go, etc can be found. </div>
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<a href="http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2013/en/films-schedule/298/new-neighbor">http://www.fantasiafestival.com/2013/en/films-schedule/298/new-neighbor</a></div>
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Oddly, "New Neighbor" is paired with a romantic anime. First, I hate anime. Second, mine is an anti-romance film. In any case, be sure to mark your calendars. </div>
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I still haven't set up a Japanese screening yet, although I'm in talks with a well-known art theater in Tokyo that wishes to show it. I've almost given up on Japanese film festivals as I'm sick to death of their "we want to support new filmmakers" yet all they really want is to feel "prestigious" or something boring like that. ("Prestigious" is the word self-important film fests use to describe themselves, right?) And the list of "rules" and "requirements" for the material I find annoying. My priority is to make an interesting film. To hell with everything else. :-)</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xg_ju1hewUA/UePE51OPABI/AAAAAAAAA3I/PR4urJra-NQ/s1600/DSC_6429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xg_ju1hewUA/UePE51OPABI/AAAAAAAAA3I/PR4urJra-NQ/s320/DSC_6429.jpg" width="320" /></a>I had a screening for the staff and cast recently. That went well. Everyone seemed genuinely pleased with the film. This was a relief. Honestly, I was nervous as shit showing it to them. The funniest response I got was from lead actress Ayano. </div>
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"Norman...are you a woman?" She asked.</div>
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"Huh?" I responded surprised. "What do you mean?"</div>
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"The way you show the inner-workings of my character and the sympathy you give her seems to me to come from a female perspective."</div>
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"Can you hold on a second while I go get a shot of tequila?" </div>
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<br /></div>
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After this we all went out and had a freakin' good time.</div>
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In any case, Fantasia is coming up and that's a big deal as far as films like mine are concerned. Wish I could make the screenings but I have a film shoot coming up from the 25th.<br />
<br />
Oh, and I want to add that "Ain't It Cool News" can jump in a lake for leaving my movie off their "we have the entire lineup for the 2013 Fantasia Film Festival" list. They did manage to include the romance anime my film is playing with though. :-/<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aintitcool.com/node/63179">http://www.aintitcool.com/node/63179</a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qDQAyJkuT1c/UePEOrqj0NI/AAAAAAAAA3A/gOIQyhVs0Xw/s1600/shirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="166" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qDQAyJkuT1c/UePEOrqj0NI/AAAAAAAAA3A/gOIQyhVs0Xw/s320/shirt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span">In other awesome news, I gave a two hour talk following a screening of "Dawn of the Dead" at UPLINK theater in Shibuya last month. Covering the whole shebang, I treated my audience to a history of horror film movements, how Romero birthed the zombie genre, and what it was like growing up in the age of cinematic zombies. The theater was packed, which made it all the more fun. It was a very special night for me as "Dawn" is without a doubt my favorite thing. Ever. In this photo you can see me showing off my neat-o "Bach's Arco Pitcairn</span><span class="Apple-style-span">" t-shirt I picked up at the Theater N screenings in 2010 of "Dawn of the Dead," which I also hosted. </span></div>
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Until next update...</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-32355149754130644452013-06-08T11:01:00.001+09:002013-06-21T00:41:58.144+09:00Cambiare - The Suspiria Bar<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://monsterpictures.com.au/monster-mouth/2013/06/the-abcs-of-death/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-96Ujc0URPUw/UbHWvYe25zI/AAAAAAAAA0g/3QoAeKbCtO8/s320/Arisu.jpg" width="262" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been up to a lot of no good this week. On top of trying
to get screenings going for my film "New Neighbor", I put up a piece
on the production of the three episodes of "The ABCS of Death" I was
on set for in my blog over at Monster Pictures, a DVD / Blu-ray label down in
Australia.</div>
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<br /></div>
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If you want to check out that blog entry, click on this photo
of Arisa Nakamura I took on set as she attempts to "cut the cheese" for the camera on "F is
for Fart".</div>
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In more personal news, I went to the opening of "Cambiare",
AKA The Suspiria Bar, in the Golden Gai section of Shinjuku on 6 June 2013.</div>
</div>
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As I'm too lazy to write my own entry, I am copy-pasting the
Wiki entry on Golden Gai:</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7RN-rOU4EG4/UbKPSdhcCsI/AAAAAAAAA08/Nxl6PfuV218/s1600/DSC_6179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7RN-rOU4EG4/UbKPSdhcCsI/AAAAAAAAA08/Nxl6PfuV218/s200/DSC_6179.jpg" width="200" /></a>"Golden Gai is a small area of
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, famous both as an area of architectural interest and
for its nightlife. It is composed of a network of six narrow alleys, connected
by even narrower passageways which are just about wide enough for a single
person to pass through. Over 200 tiny shanty-style bars, clubs and eateries are
squeezed into this area."</div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b3O6itMTj84/UbKPSVXsRiI/AAAAAAAAA04/hJTag2jGqpI/s1600/DSC_6177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b3O6itMTj84/UbKPSVXsRiI/AAAAAAAAA04/hJTag2jGqpI/s200/DSC_6177.jpg" width="134" /></a>Well, unless you are some kind of a fat pig you can easily navigate the so-called "narrower passageways". Other than that, I guess this description is spot-on.</div>
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I've been going to Golden Gai off and on for a couple of
years now. One of the things I like about it is that it's quiet and in general, a good chill spot to meet up with friends. The things I don't like about it are that it
can be pricy and, as with most small bars in Japan, they have a table charge. (If you are
unsure if you are being charged to occupy chair space, you'll know for certain if the
bartender places some sort of food item in front of you. This can range from a
simple cup of peanuts to some sort of cooked item.) I guess if you drink like a fish a table charge is not a big deal, but I don't pound away the brew, and sometimes just want a single beer. I don't mean I milk a beer for hours on end, I mean, sometimes I have a beer and split. In that scenario a table charge is a huge pain in the ass.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9SpWaH8GyUw/UbKPSVlEtVI/AAAAAAAAA1E/381BhH-w2bg/s1600/DSC_6197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9SpWaH8GyUw/UbKPSVlEtVI/AAAAAAAAA1E/381BhH-w2bg/s200/DSC_6197.jpg" width="200" /></a>The other I thing don't like about the area - and this really is no fault of the area itself - are annoying foreigner types looking
to impress friends back home with their stupid tales of "wild Japan" who turn Golden Gai into some kind of virtual reality Blade Runner theme park. I'm not knocking the area, but as I said, it's a pretty quiet spot and, when you get down to it, is basically a friggin'
dump.</div>
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</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span">But, as a long time fan of Goblin, Argento and of course the film
"</span>Suspiria<span class="Apple-style-span">", there wasn't anyway I wasn't going to not spend the entire
20minutes it takes to get from my home to Golden Gai. I'd also
been invited to go by my friend Yoshiki Takahashi, who acted as an advisor on the
design of Cambiare. </span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yoshiki and I hit our favorite yakiniku restaurant beforehand
where we reaffirmed our commitment to the nonproliferation of vegetarianism.</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8-dvy486nf0/UbKQdnhBEhI/AAAAAAAAA14/gfF1zAgYbDU/s1600/DSC_6180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8-dvy486nf0/UbKQdnhBEhI/AAAAAAAAA14/gfF1zAgYbDU/s200/DSC_6180.jpg" width="200" /></a>The "Suspiria" bar is on the second floor of a building at the
end of one of the alleyways of Golden Gai. The sign out front and in the flyer said that for the opening
they had an all you can eat and drink price of 3,000 yen in effect. This
sounded reasonable to me, especially for Golden Gai.</div>
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We walked in to find the place jam packed, which is totally
what I expected. People were pressed together and chatting fiercely with beers held close to their faces since arms couldn't be lowered - all while the Goblin song "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJpplVqf8v8" target="_blank">Black Forest</a>"
played over head. </div>
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In no time friends turned up. They included artist Miyako Kojima, heavy metal enthusiast Mika Tatamama, model / translator Haruka Hazard, dancer Maico Tsubaki, actor Yuya Ishikawa, impossible to describe Roserose Moonwitch and writer Kiichiro Yanashita, to name a few. Yeah, good friggin' times.</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qOs_yfUUBiU/UbKPTI7-s3I/AAAAAAAAA1Y/WeEmNa5KzEU/s1600/DSC_6200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qOs_yfUUBiU/UbKPTI7-s3I/AAAAAAAAA1Y/WeEmNa5KzEU/s200/DSC_6200.jpg" width="200" /></a>The bar itself was cool and as advertised is based on imagery found in the Dario Argento film "Suspiria". The left wall has the same black / white (silver?) flower design as found in Olga's room while on the other side of the bar is a stained glass window like<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in the hallway of Suzy's school<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">,</span> at lea</span>st I guess that's where it's from, I'll have to re-watch the film to make sure. There was also some floor design stuff going on but this was impossible to admire since the place was so packed. Hanging from the ceiling was a red chandelier that I couldn't figure out where in "Suspiria" it comes from. (I guess I really do need to re-watch it!) Best of all, there was Goblin music going on all night. This is for me ultra-bliss. I should mention that I could sit in a Greyhound bus terminal all day and be happy as long as they had Goblin coming from the speakers. </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xxZLSKVftd0/UbKPTbojxkI/AAAAAAAAA1s/eQNP4K_Tfps/s1600/DSC_6202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xxZLSKVftd0/UbKPTbojxkI/AAAAAAAAA1s/eQNP4K_Tfps/s200/DSC_6202.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a wall given over to any Escher prints like in the film. There also weren't any Suspiria items, like posters or lobby cards. I guess you could say that the bar is more about the art direction and style of Suspiria than Suspiria the movie. If this is so, I think they could do a little more to up the ante in this department with a few more bits from the film. But what the hell? A bar based on the art direction of "Suspiria"? Yeah baby!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
On the way home I was thinking... "I should open a bar based on the art direction in Romero's zombie films! We can have the windows boarded up on one end, and on the other have a blow up photo of the second floor of the Monroeville Mall! Yeah, that's totally what I should do!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zj8Wow2_vvI/UbKPTy4uYcI/AAAAAAAAA1k/SKYRKBDK8To/s1600/DSC_6213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zj8Wow2_vvI/UbKPTy4uYcI/AAAAAAAAA1k/SKYRKBDK8To/s320/DSC_6213.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Until next time...<br />
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<!--EndFragment-->Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-9306163814054416622013-05-23T11:29:00.000+09:002013-05-24T11:21:55.805+09:00New Neighbor - The PosterThe poster for "New Neighbor" is complete!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gmYWJ-mNFKI/UZ1-sOJM1oI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/rK5BKaKv0_c/s1600/NN-Poster_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gmYWJ-mNFKI/UZ1-sOJM1oI/AAAAAAAAA0Q/rK5BKaKv0_c/s400/NN-Poster_sm.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Created by writer / designer Yoshiki Takahashi, it is pretty much everything I could have hoped for. Hats off to Yoshiki for another amazing contribution to the "New Neighbor" production.<br />
<br />
I'm also pleased to announce too that the film will have its premiere screening tomorrow night (Friday 24 May) at "Japan Filmfest Hamburg" in Hamburg, Germany.<br />
<br />
Here's a link to the film's entry...in German of course.<br />
<a href="http://www.jffh.de/2013/new-neighbor/">http://www.jffh.de/2013/new-neighbor/</a><br />
<br />
Until next entry...Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-45596019469270951712013-05-18T17:46:00.000+09:002013-05-18T17:58:26.557+09:00Trailer for New Neighbor<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm happy to report that after much back and forthing, my awesome editor Yasu Inoue and I have completed the trailer to my upcoming film, "New Neighbor".</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Actually, the film itself was completed this past week. It's hard to believe that two years has past since I first thought up the story and over a year since the bulk of the shooting was completed. But that's the way it goes for small productions. Not able to pay out a lot, I have to work around other people's schedules or figure out how to do things myself. This is not a complaint at all. I feel lucky that I can do the things I want and with people I like and respect. Everyone involved with "New Neighbor" has only been 100% supportive.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Next week I'll be announcing the first screening of "New Neighbor". I'm also working on more screenings.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here's the trailer... I hope you like it.</div>
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(Click photo to access trailer:)</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vimeopro.com/nomanengland/new-neighbor-trailer" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ODqn1XVrUcc/UZdApZx2XTI/AAAAAAAAAzw/alNJdd9FYy0/s400/NN_TRAILER_w-ENGsub2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-29126081806582785182013-05-03T11:37:00.004+09:002013-05-18T17:58:10.748+09:00And now The iDol does facebook!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Taking a cue from the page I made for my upcoming film, "New Neighbor", I decided to make a similar page for my first film, "The iDol".</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Click the banner to visit and perhaps bestow the page with one of those much sought after "likes":</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-iDol/178238558998863" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UtsaKGL4ovs/UYMgZfrJPGI/AAAAAAAAAzc/ODkzjBCbGZ4/s640/iDol+banner.png" title="The iDol" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Why now after all these years since finishing the film?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First off, I've never been happy with the outcome of the film and how it's never gotten a release. While I'm well connected to filmmakers, I'm not so when it comes to the business end. I did have a few meetings with DVD companies in Japan, but I felt their offers were self-serving and there was a general sense of laziness to the way they do business (a common problem in Japan). I wasn't looking to retire from the film, but I also wasn't looking to getting ripped off, or get with some company I have to bow to all the time while they do nothing (a common problem in Japan). So, I've basically sat on the film...</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, that's about to change.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A month or so ago, the on-line video service Vimeo introduced an "on demand" option. As such, I'll be offering "The iDol" on the site in a few weeks time. I have a few things to do on the film before it is available, however. Now that I'm a professional subtitler I'm giving the film a new set of subs I feel will make it more enjoyable for non-Japanese speakers. I also have to work out my account with Vimeo (figure out how this on demand thing works!) and get the film's splash page looking pretty. Thank god it's the holiday time in Japan (Golden Week) so I can sit at Starbucks all day long working on it while everyone else is out having fun... :-/</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the meantime, I've uploaded a trailer to "The iDol" that I made this week. It's more what we call in Japan an "image trailer" as it's a collection of random scenes from the film. My hope is that this will give viewers a taste of the variety of material found within the film.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Here's the trailer:</div>
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(Click photo for trailer:)</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vimeopro.com/nomanengland/the-idol-trailer" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pOhKXrFAHWo/UZdCDhjIXnI/AAAAAAAAA0A/zMvJFAdL7lg/s400/CM+idol+cover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'll update the blog again once the film is up and ready for eyeball consumption!Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-914489804154348123.post-27599678505220998202013-04-22T19:18:00.001+09:002013-05-18T17:58:40.723+09:00Monster Pictures & The Devil's Path<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've been doing a blog over at Monster Pictures, a DVD / Blu-ray company down in Australia that specializes in horror and strong content film. I met their head honcho Neil when he was in Japan about two years ago. He came by the Nikkatsu Studio office when I was interviewing Megumi Kagurazaka for the "Guilty of Romance" and Iguchi for "Tomie Unlimited" DVDs. Neil and I have been talking off and on about me writing for his website and last month I took the plunge.</div>
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I've done two entries so far. The first was just a "who the hell is this guy anyway?" kind of entry. The last was a detailed look at the Tokyo premiere of Lust of the Dead 2 and 3.</div>
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Here a link to the Lust of the Dead blog:</div>
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<a href="http://monsterpictures.com.au/monster-mouth/2013/04/lust-of-the-dead-2-3-tokyo-premiere/" target="_blank">Monster Picture's The Gemba Getaway</a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6QWb2uCgIxI/UXUOK83Da2I/AAAAAAAAAzI/_PBAqQqpT-0/s1600/Devil's+Path.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6QWb2uCgIxI/UXUOK83Da2I/AAAAAAAAAzI/_PBAqQqpT-0/s320/Devil's+Path.jpg" width="226" /></a><br />
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I don't know if it's the best title, but I call my blog there, "The Gemba Getaway."</div>
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Gemba being the Japanese word for set...as in movie set.</div>
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In other news, I've just finished subtitling the upcoming Nikkatsu film "The Devil's Path." The original title is "Kyoaku," but this didn't work so well in English. So, I changed it.</div>
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"The Devil's Path" is produced by my friend Yoshinori Chiba and directed by Kazuya Shiraishi. It is a fantastic film that is both well acted and deftly directed. I visited the set once and, man, was I scared out of my wits! The story, based on real events, is about a reporter following up on confessions of a death row inmate. This leads to the discovery of some rather vicious crimes. The scene I saw was one of the most brutal scenes in the film and one of the most intense I've ever seen filmed.</div>
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I finished subtitling "The Devil's Path" last week and am now polishing off the promotional writing.</div>
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This is the Japanese poster, or at least the chirashi... The international one is in production now.</div>
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Norman Englandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14469624127741838958noreply@blogger.com0