I started the week by reaching out to some of the informants that I have emailed with. I met the first informant the same (Monday) afternoon and we had drinks and early dinner at an Akihabara izakaya (Watami), followed by doujinshi browsing and shopping at Animate, Mandarake and Toranoana. We got a great connection and he didn’t mind me filming him.
On Tuesday I filmed at the Shibuya intersection and was greeted by other videographers: A Dutch film team and a young Japanese creator.
On Wednesday I had dinner with my old friend T at D’s place, with L as well.
Thursday I visited another old friend, D, after first meeting a second informant at a café in Ooizumigakuenchou.
On Friday I had dinner with my longtime Japanese friend Y and afterwards met my first informant again, this time in Ueno and equipped with the shotgun mic. We went to a karaoke establishment and recorded a proper interview, since we thought a karaoke booth would be sound proof – but it wasn’t really.
I also changed hotels on Friday, since the one for 3,300 yen (28 euro) per night was full when I wanted to extend. So now I live slightly more luxurious for 4,600 yen (37 euro) per night, still in Minamisenju, or “the Bronx” as T called it when he heard where I lived.
On Saturday I met a third informant, who declined to let me use his voice in my film, but who allowed me to record him for my own memory. At Edinburgh café in Shinjuku 3-choume. In the afternoon I attended a two hour guided tour of University of Tokyo. I liked the study places in the library.
Today I took a slow morning, doing laundry at the hotel.
I was not feeling great today. I think I was coming down from the high of shooting every day and meeting plenty of informants, as well as editing some short clips in the evening. Today when I arrived at Akihabara and set up the gimbal I got the feeling of repeating myself. I’ve got the cliché footage already – what’s the next step, cinematographically, and in terms of storytelling?
I started feeling better once my fourth informant confirmed that we will meet next week in Nagoya. Since a return ticket to Nagoya would cost 22,000 yen, I bought a Japan Rail Pass for only 33,000 yen which will let me travel as much as I want anywhere in Japan during one week. I’ve booked a room in Nagoya, but after that I don’t know – maybe I’ll just improvise a little vacation.
Started reading Paul Stoller’s book Sensuous Scholarship, which was recommended to us by our Theory and History lecturer.
Book
- Stoller, Paul. 1997. Sensuous Scholarship. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press:
- “Prologue: The Scholar’s Body”, ix–xviii
- (Part I: Embodied Practices)
- “Introduction: The Way of the Body”, 3
- Chapter 1: “The Sorcerer’s Body”, 4–23
Articles
- Wired/Steven Levy: Richard Stallman and the Fall of the Clueless Nerd
- Wired: Would the Internet Be Healthier Without ‘Like’ Counts?
- Wired: How Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Account Was Hacked
- Social Blade: Abbreviated Subscriber Counts on YouTube
Video
- Eddy Burback: The War on Bird Scooters
- Philip DeFranco/A Conversation With 8: Casey Neistat on Abandoning Social Media, Using Anger, & More
- The School of Life: Intimacy and Closeness
- Kaiman Wong: HOW TO CREATE BETTER CONTENT // The Kai W Guide
- Jeven Dovey: What Is B ROLL? Plus 3 Tips to Get CINEMATIC Footage
- NicksFort: FILM B-ROLL like a PRO CINEMATOGRAPHER
- Film Riot: Visual Storytelling 101
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt/TED: How craving attention makes you less creative 🤦♂️
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