Another Day of Interviews, shows, and thoughts....

Another week of shooting! And this week still has a lot to go!

Well, I was supposed to film Lilii Kaona's MV the other morning, but a typhoon hit Japan pretty hard and stopped most of the trains from running in the part of Tokyo that I live. Not only that, but I also didn't want to go outside with thousands of dollars of camera equipment while gusts of wind piledrived rain right in my face. So yeah... had to cancel. 

But today, I had scheduled Rei, Hima, and Kaki for interviews. I was only able to get Kaki and Hima due to Rei having a solo show later in the night and other scheduling things, but still.... the interviews were great. I mean, about what I expected from both Hima and Kaki, considering I know them as well as I do. I think I got what I needed from them but I have to think about their answers to my questions some more. Hima, in particular... her answers were revealing but also something that I wonder if I can go deeper in conversation with her about? 

The issue is that Hima and Kaki are both idols thru and thru... which means there is a certain level of guard they have up and when I try to be invasive with my questions, they are good at navigating that surgical intent away from anything vital. I am not saying either were not being really bare about their feelings and what we talked about, but... I wanted to delve even deeper with them, considering how much I know them and how much I've been thru with them? But maybe that will come later. For now, I got quiiiiiite a bit from both that is really going to be eye opening for anyone who thought they knew these two girls... you're about to know them on a whole other level.

Later, after both interviews were done, I filmed Rei's solo show at Milky Way. Well, she was on a huge idol taiban, but I mean she performed by herself and not with Necroma. I got some absolutely amazing footage of her backstage, practicing, and right before she took the stage... she was basked in a deep blue light from the stage... the screenshots I have from it are just beautiful.  And of course, Rei did great with her performance. I got a lot of good side stage shots and then from in front of the stage, as I ran off the stage and joined the fans on the floor to get another camera angle (the things I have to do because I don't have a camera guy to help me out other than me loool. Thank God for editing!). When I was running off the stage, I didn't see the idol group waiting to go on after Rei, and I nearly ploughed into one of the poor girls. I felt bad, but then I looked at her... and she was wearing a giant GIRAFFE HEAD! I had to laugh... It was the idol group my friend Ethan kept telling me about (sorry, can't remember their name!), the one with the giraffe girl who thinks she's from outerspace! My friend Ethan has taken quite a few chekis with her, and each time, he tells me she gets more and more bizarre with their conversations during cheki time. 

I love it. Only in idol can you find such amazing nonsense and feel it's absolutely in place and in alignment with the world looool. 

After Rei was done, I approached one of her top fans, Nabe san, and asked if he would mind if I filmed him taking a cheki with Rei. He agreed. So did Rei. I caught some nice footage of them both. It was pretty touching to me.

Side note: one of the Necroma fans had Rei pose like the new... thing or creature that is on the new cheki tickets we have and then he asked her to draw all the symbols and other assorted weird, witchraftian shit that is on the new cheki tickets. I thought that was seriously one of the more creative chekis I've seen in a long, long time. And it was by one of her long time oshis too... you can't beat that. 

So, for me, the challenge is still getting things to stay in focus, though this time, thanks to many of your suggestions, it was much easier. I just shot more wider and less on the f stop and it worked and when I had to use lower f stops to get a nice bokeh, I did what Paul said and punched into the zoom more and then zoomed out and it seemed to work a little more than before. I also have been really just working on the manual ring a lot more now... getting used to the sweet spot on my Sigma lens. It's like... I want to try the 50MM, I really do, but daaaamn do I love the shots I get with the Sigma!  So we'll see where this all takes me. I am still working on what to do next in terms of shots..... and that is my next challenge... how to create interesting backgrounds and get tons of b-roll footage for transitions.

One good thing is that I think I'm doing somewhat okay on the live concerts... that is where this Rode Mic Pro is crushing it. I've added the Zoom h1n for double tracking on the interviews, just to have backup and also because I think for mixing and editing, it might be better to have? So that is something else I'm working on too... making everything flow super smoothly. 

Again, not to beat a welfare bum off the street he's sleeping on, but I'm spending a ridiculous amount of money doing all of this. Just to give you an example... today, I met with a producer of another group I want to shoot and also get on Idol Underworld. That meeting cost me about 35 dollars in food and drinks, since I had my translator there and I don't want to be a cheapskate and tell her to watch me eat while she slaves away for me. Also, when Himari and Kaki and Ricky showed up, I bought everybody waters and myself a water... not that much, but it was like 600 yen, all in. And then the room rental was about 100 USD. The translator fees... about 200 dollars today. 

So... one day of interviews equals about 341 dollars. And tomorrow is going to be even more since it will be 10 hours of paying a translator, train fees (I didn't even count that in the example above), lunch breaks, and on and on. I mean... help, anyone? Like, really? I am doing something incredible here... I feel it in my heart. I'm capturing what it means to see this idol world as it really is on a day to day basis... but it's costing me dearly. In about a month if I keep this up... I literally will not have any money. 

But I never let money be the reason I don't get something done creatively. I don't eat much anymore, so please don't think I'm spending anything on myself. I'm not. I wear rags and my beanie hat to hide my shitty hair because I can't afford to go get a haircut. And I can't afford new clothes... or rather, I can, but that would mean less money to capture this amazing idol world I love so much. That's the trade I guess. As long as I have money to trade, then it's all good.

Just to give you an idea of what's ahead for me in this regard... I have about fifteen more interviews with more idols, fans, experts in the idol industry, producers, and promoters. I would like to do exit interviews with everybody too, but not sure if that is going to happen since that would cost even more. Additionally, I need to film HOURS AND HOURS of B-roll footage, but that won't cost me anything since I can do that all on my own time. I would like to hire a second camera person to help me with that though... somebody who can do sweet slo-mo shots or Time speed shots. Things I can't do now because I haven't spent time learning them. Also, I need a second camera man to film the live concerts. I wanted a few camera man but I'll settle for one lol. I need a video editor too and somebody who can really really color grade all this flat V-log footage. There are little expenses I have to get, like more memory cards (about 120 a card), another panasonic battery (about 30? I think?), and of course, I need to pay for all these interviews. I need to take a trip to Shizuoka for an idol's backstory, and also pay to take some idols out to places to capture more different footage so I don't just have a documentary full of interviews. The interviews are really just the backbone... the meat I haven't even begun to really put on top of those interviews.

Oh, and did I mention all these interviews and anything in Japanese in the movie needs to be subtitled as soon as possible? 

Not bitching to all of you. I seriously promise. I am taking on whatever jobs I can find here in Tokyo on top of this just to pay for all of this as much as I can myself. But I am asking you guys... help me with these interviews at least so I can not worry about those? Or drop me something to get a camera battery, or more memory cards which I need. Or a food budget for an interview. Anything... just hit me up in a PM so we can discuss this more. Or do it here. Whatever works for you. And if you can't do it, that's okay too. I always am just happy to see you here. 

For now, enjoy some of these screenshots! I hope you will continue to support this crazy little big dream I have of bringing idols to the world in the way I know and care about. Love you all!