|
Unter dem strengen Blick der regierenden Liberaldemokratischen Partei kandidiert der politisch unerfahrene Yamauchi Kazuhiko für einen Sitz im Parlament der Industriestadt Kawasaki. Sein Studienfreund, der Filmregisseur Soda Kazuhiro, hat den Wahlkampf mit der Kamera begleitet. (...) Nach der Methode des Direct cinema gedreht, argumentiert der Film nicht politisch, sondern lässt sich Zeit für Beobachtungen, auf der Straße, im Hotelzimmer, in Wahlkampfbüros, auf Autofahrten. [aus dem Forumprogramm]
INTERVIEW How would you describe the aesthetics of your film?
Observational documentary, or direct cinema. I did not use narration, talking heads, or music because I wanted the audience to experience what's happening on the screen as directly as possible. This style also asks the audience to think themselves because the filmmaker does not tell them how they are supposed to think or interpret the movie.
Why did you choose to shoot on a digital format (was it solely for financial reasons, or did aesthetics play a role)?
I did not do any research about the subject matter nor write a synopsis prior to the shoot because I wanted to shoot spontaneously without any preconceived ideas. So, I expected that I was going to roll the camera pretty much the whole time so that I do not miss the interesting moments that may or may not happen. Also, I wanted to shoot it by myself without any other staff members because I wanted to be really flexible and do not have to explain the camera or sound person why I'm rolling the camera for 60 minutes while the subjects are just chatting. In order to achieve all this, the only and obvious choice was to shoot it digitally by myself.
Which format exactly did you choose (MiniDV, DVCAM, HDV, HD...), and why?
I chose HDV because I had shot some footage using this formant for a TV job, and I really liked the result especially when projected to the large screen. It is also affordable and editable natively on my Final Cut Pro system. I thought transferring to 35mm would be a waste of money, so I pretty much decided that I would use digital projection when showing it in theaters. That's why I shot it on 1080i60 rather than a progressive format.
What was special about shooting digital (e.g. compared to 35mm, was it your first time with dv or are you used to it ..)?
I think it just revolutionized the documentary filmmaking. I did not even raise money to make CAMPAIGN (SENKYO), which was impossible prior to this technological achievement. I makes us free and spontaneous.
What was your shoot-edit ratio?
I shot only 12 days to make CAMPAIGN (SENKYO), and ended up having about 60 hours of footage. I edited it down to 120 minutes. So, it is 30:1. Wow, it's more economical than I thought (I've never calculated it before).
One good word about DV / HDV (or two):
Democratic. It's not a privilege of established filmmakers to make movies anymore.
One bad word about DV / HDV (or two):
Too easy. But it's a good thing as well.
|
ZU slashCAM | ZUR FORUMSEKTION | IMPRESSUM | QUICKTIME PLAYER