We Can't Go Home Again R: Fujiwara Toshi Land: Japan 2006 Drehformat: MiniDV Format: 35mm, Farbe Länge: 111 Minuten Sprache: Japanisch mehr Informationen TRAILER / QuickTime / 1:15 / 6,8 MB

Fünf junge Menschen, auf der Suche nach dem Sinn des Lebens. "Dieser Film entstand als 'kollektive Improvisation' von Laiendarstellern. Die meisten Szenen wurden sorgfältig als ungeschnittene Sequenzen komponiert. Ich wollte die gesamte Atmosphäre einfangen, als Bruchstück oder Fragment unserer heutigen urbanen Realität, und beobachten, wie wir mit ihr zurechtkommen." Fujiwara Toshi [aus dem Forumprogramm]

How would you describe the aesthetics of your film?
"The immediate sense of observation" is what comes quickly in my mind... which is not what I originally said but what Atom Egoyan described the peculiar style of this film, and I think he's right. It is true that the film is extensively observative.
Frequent use of very very long takes, the longest being 10 minutes. I am not certain if this is a digital aesthetics, since it was shot with a 35 mm blow up in mind at the first place, and this style is not impossible in 35 mm or 16 mm shooting either. But digital made it easier, both technically and economically.

Why did you choose to shoot on a digital format (was it solely for financial reasons, or did aesthetics play a role)?
In this case, economical is the biggest reason; the way it was shot is very experimental, I often say it was a huge gamble that nobody sane enough would make a bet, therefore no possibility for panavision cameras and such.

But also, perhaps more importantly for the aesthetic as well as the overall concept for the film is that it was intentionally shot as guerilla filmmaking, on the streets and public places without permissions, blocking the streets, etc. The background of the actions are totally real, including the many "extras" who of course were not extras that we hired, but real people just happen to be passing by. To capture the chaotic energy of the huge urbanity of Tokyo was very important, and that was possible probably only with a relatively small DV cameras.

As for the aesthetic, 3 tip PAL-DV cameras are quite good even blown up on 35 mm, and doesn't really require additional and artificial lighting, which is one of those many things we had to avoid. Every environment in which our character have their story must be real.

What was special about shooting digital (e.g. compared to 35mm, was it your first time with dv or are you used to it ..)?
The small camera, and that it doesn't require complex technical procedures. You push the button and that's it. One can be far more spontanious. Also, as for all the actors in this film (and the 5 main characters will also be coming to the Berlinale, you can ask their experiences) it was the first time they acted in their lives, I think the easy-going shooting style that digital cameras allow was important. 35 mm film shoot can be very intimidating.

I've made some documentaries and shot films before, and all those was shot in digital as well.

Which format exactly did you choose (MiniDV, DVCAM, HDV, HD...), and why?
The camera was Sony DSR-VX2100E. MiniDV PAL, shot in 16X9. It's just that I happen to own that camera. Japan is an NTSC country and basically one cannot buy DVCAM cameras in PAL. Otherwise I would have shot with PD150 or PD170 in DVCAM; more stable (and better sound).

What was your shoot-edit ratio?
I don't recall exactly. I think we have in total about 40 tapes or less. The film is 111 minutes long, so about 20 to 1, I guess. I don't want to have too many tapes. It's so cheap to shoot in digital, one tends to shoot a lot, even 120 hours or so, but I think that would lack the concentration needed for a good film, and I won't have enough energy or time to study the footage. I tend to shoot very small amount of footage.

One good word about dv (or two):
Accessible, and flexible. Also have very specific aesthetics that I didn't explore too much on this show except for one scene that uses a lot of reflections, but I certainly would in the future.

One bad word about dv (or two):
The different formats (PAL and NTSC) is a headache. NTSC should be abolished. The next film, a documentary that I am editing now is NTSC, and it looks awful.