Last Post - Review

Seems I've learned a bit from class this semester. Not exactly what I thought I'd learn, or what I was supposed to learn according to the syllabus, but somewhere in the middle. For one, I need to keep some kind of camera on me any time I think I'm going somewhere interesting. I might have had enough interview material for a final project if I'd done that. I also need to keep my eyes open. Since I moved, I've been able to hang out in the city proper more often and found a few interesting places. I'd concentrated on that moreso than just finding my feet in Tokyo at the beginning of the semester, I might have had a cool project about an idiosyncratic locale to post here, rather than this review.

So, while class didn't necessarily get me out into different areas of Tokyo, I did learn the value of doing so, albeit a bit late to use any of the experiences for class. Of course, I didn't branch out because I was reasonably assured about having a reliable source for two projects, something that ended up being false. Next time I'll stick with someone who I can contact on a regular basis, who can meet somewhere I'll actually be able to persuade an interpreter to go to. Which is two bad really, since I had an interesting subject this time around, I just couldn't figure out how to get a good interview worthy of a New Media style project, or rather, two projects.

The cellphone project, though. That turned out alright. Probably not enough to assure a passing grade in the class, but I like how that one ended up. Chaotic, looks like it was filmed by someone with a cellphone while still being not that bad to look at. Stills cut in with one of the videos might have made it more manageable. That, plus perhaps just a slow crawl across the crowd of people standing, although that's the sort of footage you only get if you know you'll be editing it together with something else later, which wasn't the case initially. Still, I'm happy about the way it turned out.

Next is the part where I discuss my strengths and weaknesses in the class, yeah?

Okay, so strengths - I can use Final Cut Pro decently well. I've been trained, and when I have footage I can edit it together in a way that doesn't look all that bad. Maybe even good. And if I set out to take photos, I can usually get some good ones. I guess it all boils down to me knowing my way around a camera and editing software decently. If I've got a good idea of what I'm doing, I can produce something fairly interesting.

My weaknesses are in figuring out what I'm doing. I find it difficult to actually get motivated regarding a project. It's tough to give myself direction, set up interviews that are going to generate some good discussion, and figure out what kind of footage I need in order to produce a decent project. In general, just hashing out a rough concept of what I want it to look like is a pain. During the project, people asked me what I wanted the end result to be and I honestly had no idea. That's why doing an artist statement was difficult. Well, that and not really having art to make a statement about. Next time I do a similar project, I need to figure out a decent way to get an idea of the end product while I'm still gathering material. I think that will be beneficial for future endeavors.

So, that's it. For projects, for class, and for this blog. Not much else to explain.

Aaaand...no interview

Tried to get another interview both with my host father and my backup interviewee over the three day weekend. Unfortunately, things ended up falling apart. Couldn't get in contact with my backup interviewee whatsoever. My housemate, who was going to interpret, apparently changed phones over the weekend. So none of my calls or emails to set an interview up got through to him until Tuesday at school, when the recording equipment was due back. So, no interview. It would have been interesting too, I think, despite having to go all the way out to Kashiwa. I think the biggest lesson I've learned from this class since moving out is to take a camera whenever someone interesting wants to go out and do something. That way it's not forced, and there's no feeling of, "wow that was so cool and I can't believe I didn't get any audio from it," the next morning. Because I will have brought a camera and I will have some audio.

So, with design festa setup on Friday I have all of one interview exercise and a few pictures to submit to a final project. Because of how the interview went, the interesting photos bear no relation. That was the kind of connection I was hoping to get in a subsequent interview - why my host father enjoys playing in a band dressed up like a dinosaur for Halloween. No interview though. I'm not sure I have anything on that worth submitting for a final project or UPI. No backup either, just the cellphone project with David, which I already linked to. So, I'll probably end up taking this class again. A better idea of what I'm getting into along with not having to literally move out of two projects mid semester will likely help me produce a more interesting project, or any project at all.

Interview?

Trying to get another interview for the UPI/Final project. Not sure how it's gonna work out. If I go do it, I have to go out to Kashiwa. Housemate offered to interpret, but I'm not sure what I'll get. Might be a waste of a trip if my host father doesn't have any specific stories or just general answers again. On the other hand, I need more material in order to have anything in the way of a decent product. Doing the interview at the house might hamper that, there's a lot more opportunity for good pictures and specific stories if we go out somewhere drinking or something, but I'm not sure that will be possible. At the same time, it's a bit late to change the focus of the project.

The cellphone project came out well though, I think. The style really captures the chaotic nature of both the festivals here and cellphone documentaries in general. Again, it would have been nice to put some stills in, either of people in the crowds or of key moments during the festival. The footage still looks good without them though, just a bit fast. The festival music fits well too. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUthdpVIB10

There's two pictures from the Halloween live show in Kashiwa, finally. Still keep forgetting to rotate them in photoshop, since they were taken with my phone. There's a lot more, but they're mostly of the same kind of thing. I'll probably end up using a lot of them if I do get to do this next interview. Doing artists statements in class today, I don't really have one ready though. Without a concrete concept of the final, I'm still not quite sure what I'll do.

UPI project problems

Having difficulties setting up an additional interview with my host father since I moved out. First finding an interpreter, now actually setting up an interview has been a pain. Might not have time to finish the project up anyway since it's already November. I guess I'll find out soon.

In more upbeat news, the keitai project ended up looking really good. The overlap of the festivals came out better than I'd thought. Especially when the overlapped frames were perpendicular. Sort of an intentional skewing, different from a normal cellphone video that's just skewed 'cause some person with a youtube page can't figure out how to hold a camera.

Going to contact a guitarist from the show I went to last week to see if he'd be interested in an interview for my final project. Hopefully they have another show before that's due. Changing at the last second is a pain, but I didn't really foresee having to move out of Kashiwa and lose reliable contact with my family.

Sidenote: I've been lazy about getting up the pictures from the show, expect them eventually, sometime this week at the latest.

Kashiwa Live Show

Went to a concert in Kashiwa on Saturday with my host father. It was a pretty hasty arrangement, so I didn't have anything to do an impromptu interview with. Much less a translator to turn the resulting exchange into something intelligible or project worthy. Would have been cool to interview the band members I did end up meeting, but without any way of getting a decent recording, I just talked about music instead. Played darts with the headliner, that was pretty cool. It's all a bit hazy truthfully.

But, I did manage to get pictures during my Host Father's band's set. And video, but the audio recording quality on my cellphone is so bad it's not even work having. The video will probably work well with the end project, if I can manage to get another interview. Hopefully setting that part up for this weekend. Finishing up with what I have...well, it'd suck a bit. Gotta find a place close enough to Tokyo that I can find an interpreter who'll go, and close enough to Kashiwa that my host father'll be able to make it. Damn though, the guy's a great conversationalist after a few beers. And my Japanese improves substantially too, just not enough to make for a good interview. Hence the interpreter. I'm repeating myself, I know. Anyway, I'll post some of the pictures I took as soon as I can get into Photoshop and rotate them.

First Interview finished

Just finished editing the interview exercise. Looks decent, nothing spectacular or incredibly original, but the audio sounds right and the pictures look decent. Ended up taking pictures on the way to the convenience store from home, rather than from home to the station. That route shows more of the neighborhood though. It shows how much space there is out in Kashiwa, compared to Tokyo, as well as what the city is like outside of the station.

I still need to get pictures from home to the station though. There's lots of small shops and interesting storefronts, many more than I found just walking to the convenience store. I'll probably end up shortening this interview and using it for the UPI project, along with bits of two more. It's two or three minutes right now, and since that's supposed to be the length of the total project, I'll probably A: have trouble slimming all the footage down to two or three minutes, especially with two more interviews left to go and B: be able to pick and choose responses that add to the whole presentation. The project seems to be shaping up alright, although there's only two or three weeks left to finish.

Interview Excercise/UPI project interview 1

The interview with my host father went fairly well. Some language difficulties, but that's to be expected. There's roughly ten minutes of material to slim down to about four. I'll be taking pictures on my way to school tomorrow morning for a visual element. This neighborhood, around Minami Kashiwa station, stuff like that. Should turn out decently.

Since it's already October, I need to set up more interviews, and think about what I want the project to end up looking like. So far just images and sound and text are all I can think of. I need to interview my host mother, and should probably interview other homestay students. It may be a good idea to interview the homestay coordinator as well. I'll see what I can do.

I'm baking potatoes Monday night, maybe taking a video of that wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Apparently my host father plays bass.

He's into punk rock too, I think. The song sounded punk, at any rate, and he likes NOFX and Rancid. I showed him the split where the two bands cover eachother's songs this weekend and he enjoyed it. The guy's pretty good at bass, I got to sit and watch for a bit. I still have no idea what his job is though, although I've come up with the following list of possibilities ranging from mundane to awesome, and might allow forearm tattoos.

-Salaryman
-Janitor
-Taxi Driver (not a Japanese Travis Bickle though. That'd be weird)
-Train Operator?
-Early morning bartender
-Loose cannon cop
-Crime Lord
-Crime Fighter

Somehow I don't think his job is any of the above things, but I'm sure it's interesting. Still, as long as I don't know for sure what my host father does, I'm allowed to believe he gets up really early to get a head start on crime fighting. I'm wondering if I should just ask him outright when he gets up and what his job is, or if I should just stay up sometime and hold an impromptu stakeout. I'll try and get an interview set up soon, I need batteries for my camera again, or an audio recorder of some kind.

Akasaka - Hie Shrine day 2/3

Among other things, I've found that the shrine is a place of many juxtapositions of old and modern Tokyo. While it's sort of a pocket of tranquility in the middle of a huge city, there's small reminders everywhere that I'm still in Tokyo, and it's still 2009, despite what the general atmosphere leads one to believe. The huge stone steps to one entrance have a parallel escalator. The wooden gate at the entrance to the center is fitted with electric lights and security cameras. Walking around, one notices cars parked up on the small hill. A person reaching the shrine by means of a smaller set of steps near the back, shaded by a multitude of banners and wooden gates, will be greeted by a vending machine at the end of the path. When I wen to wash my hands and mouth in a basin, I almost jumped back, surprised that the archaic device had been fitted with a motion sensor to refill the water supply whenever someone used it.

Sounds as well, are juxtaposed. Sitting on one of six benches, one hears the timeless sound of cicadas and the occasional ringing of bells by the offertory, along with the sound of hammers, cranes, large trucks, and all the other sounds of new buildings going up in Akasaka. Hie shrine is a bubble of old Tokyo, the space around it constantly modernizing.

People seem to come to the shrine for a variety of reasons, but it seems like most of them are on lunch breaks, either from school or a job at one of the huge corporate buildings located nearby. Some of them are tourists snapping pictures of the old structures, sculptures, and scenery, but most seem to be enjoying one of the few relatively quiet spots in afternoon Tokyo. In a way, it makes talking seem a bit unnatural. Even those who come here to share a meal neglect to share a conversation. Every time I opened my mouth, I felt the subtle sensation of breaking some unwritten rule.

That, of course, made talking to or interviewing someone fairly difficult. I might not have been able to complete that part of the exercise if I hadn't shown up late and thought or some reason shrines had a closing time, and that I was absolutely screwed if I didn't strike up a conversation/interview with the next person available. I brought my housemate along as a translator, since he knows more Japanese than I do, and I was unsure of the odds of anyone at this place knowing a substantial amount of English. We ended up speaking to a woman who was enjoying her first time to Hie shrine, as part of a work requirement or something similar. Getting specifics was difficult, myself and my housemate asking questions in broken Japanese mixed with English, her trying to decode our questions and provide and answer we were capable of understanding. The record of the interview is somewhat broken as well, since the camera I used limits audio notes to one minute, and went through batteries like a Bavarian Beer Garden goes through kegs of Augustina beer. The whole exchange came out better than I expected though, everyone was speaking quietly because we were in a shrine, and I was surprised that the audio came out with any clarity at all.

Next time I go somewhere to do an interview, I need to be more prepared. My camera is fairly decent at recording video, but I need to bring more batteries. Also, I need to buy a cord or card reader so I can actually edit the footage I get. It seems I left both back in the states, and the cord for my housemate's camera is too fancy to deign to cooperate with my own. Also, bringing another translator would probably produce better responses, rather than awkward attempts to phrase a suitable question in Japanese.

Overall, the experience of going to Hie was worth the effort. I may end up going back there periodically, just for a change of pace from the general atmosphere of Tokyo.

Akasaka - Hie Shrine 1

Sometime this afternoon, went down to the Hie shrine in Akasaka. No particular reason, going to Akasaka was a random decision and the shrine seemed like an interesting place to go when deciding how I was going to leave the station. The place is an interesting juxtaposition, a pocket of forest surrounded by several huge corporate buildings. It was easy to remember I was still in the city before I got to the shrine proper though. There's an escalator parallel to the main set of stairs, a small parking lot, and a vending machine - because worship is thirsty work. This causes me to wonder if getting a Coke from Hie shrine is like eating calzone blessed by the Pope. Perhaps that will make a good discussion topic for day 3.