Tokyoland: January 09

By Megumi Simpson | Saturday, Dec 27, 2008

THREE DIMENSIONAL PAINTING

Last month, painter Joshua Galliano of the Inventreation Art Group / Movement / Revolution presented to Tokyo his first three-dimensional painting – The Most Beautiful Sunset Ever. As you can see, due to the nature of a perfect three-dimensional painting, it becomes impossible to view anything but the backs and frames of the canvasses. To remove one of the cubes canvases and take a peek is not an option. "By that action, the painting would cease to be perfectly three-dimensional," says painter Joshua Galliano. However, if you look at the edges, you can kind of see some of the paint, which kind of gives you fuel for dreaming about what the painting might look like. 

The Most Beautiful Sunset Ever is priced to sell at ¥60,000 and can be purchased by contacting Joshua at inventreation@gmail.com.

TYPHOON UMBRELLA’S

If you’re in Business,

If you’re in Tokyo,

If it’s the Typhoon Season,

And you don’t want anything to slow you down as you climb the golden bean stock,

Then you need Typhonzo.

‘Typhonzo’, equipped with the Adjustable Dakine Surf Leash, will get you from A to B – and maybe straight to C.

Design: Thundere

50%

From the Thundere Typhoon Umbrella Series

If you’re in Business,

If you’re in Tokyo,

If it’s the Typhoon Season,

Then you have to make choices.

Either you have your umbrella torn to pieces, 

Or you use 50%.

‘50%’, provides up to fifty percent protection in any conditions.

Tied Down

From the Thundere Typhoon Umbrella Series

It should be no surprise that legendary motion model Hans Hellstrom would choose Thundere for his wind tunnel shoot. With winds gusting beyond 120 kilometers an hour, Tied Down and its inside-out safety rope technology looks just as heavyweight as Hans himself.

I don’t know what to say about the designers at Thundere – other than free time is the girlfriend of all mischief. Anyway, their collection (60 typhoon umbrellas and growing) will be on sale at the next Design Festa (www.designfesta.com).*

* All umbrellas are priced at ¥10,000 each (with a cap of one umbrella per customer). Photo ID required for purchasing. For more info, write to thundere@rocketmail.com

FILM CHESS MONTHLY SHORT FILM NIGHT, BEN’S CAFÉ (January 7)

The Producer’s Cut of Human Cocktail.

At last month's Film Chess short film night, the audience was treated to the producer’s cut of the low budget feature film Human Cocktail. We’ve all heard of the director’s cut (usually a longer, slower version of the original), strictly a marketing gimmick to get us all to see the film again. But the producer’s cut? This was a first for me. Before the showing, the actual producer came out on stage to talk a bit about the film; stating that it was shot on all seven continents, with 250 days of principal photography, and that its original running time was 107 minutes. 

The producer then left the stage, and the producer’s cut began to roll. It started off music video-ish, with semi good cinematography – jumping from country to country – the plot line not letting itself yet be known. 5 minutes later: the end titles rolled. Followed by a deathly silence from the audience. Followed by intense fear from the event organizers. I looked around. The audience looked hungry. Five minutes wouldn’t do. The cover was five hundred yen. That’s a hundred yen a minute.   Someone had to pay - in blood. 

The organizers, sensing violence, went to the producer to confirm that the film was in fact finished. The producer said it was. The audience, on hearing this, did some out of synch clapping. Then more silence. Finally, one of the organizers grabbed the microphone and said, ‘We’ll listen to some music.’ A brainchild idea. And so we listened to some music. And when it felt like we’d listened to the music twice, the organizers got organized, pulled out their backlog of short films, and the night went on.  

Personally, I liked the producer’s cut of Human Cocktail.  I’d never seen a producer’s cut before. I’d never have guessed such shortness. What happened to this film? Did they run out of cash? Did the plot line stay in hiding? Did the director sleep with the producer’s wife? Who knows? Anyway, for this kind of entertainment, there’s the monthly Film Chess night (filmchess@gmail.com).

WINTER FILM BROTHEL 101 (February 20 – 22, 40,000 yen)

What is a film brothel? The idea is very simple: a small group of friends head off into the countryside to make short films. Usually there’s no script; everything being improv style; everyone more concerned with the creative process than the final product. Editing in the camera. Shooting one take. Letting the tape roll. The writer writes as the director directs as the actor acts as the editor edits. A combination that bares both fruit and disaster. The movement first appeared in the late 90’s in Tokyo – only to spread to the world and die at home. But now it’s back! Kind of. The guys at Film Chess have taken the concept and made it for tourists. Basically, for an extra buck, some industry professionals are willing to make films with weekend warriors. Part-time creative prostitution to avoid full-time salary manification.

After reviewing their Winter Film Brothel 101 brochure, I was pretty convinced it’s just a ski trip in disguise. But they insist that it’s a legitimate film brothel / film lecture series, their plan being: Go to Shigakogen, Nagano; ski in the morning; film brothel in the afternoon; film lectures at night.

The lectures include:

    - Hollywood Script writing 101

- Shooting in Mini DV 101

     - Editing in iMovie 101

- Sound Editing in Garage Band 101

Now, if you know anything about filmmaking, then you know these editing software lectures are for kids, and not for you. But, if you’re a beginner, it’s wise to start with these user-friendly programs, before graduating to Final Cut Pro, Logic, etc.. And for the knowing filmmaker, there may come a day when you, too, can actually learn something. Film Chess is planning to run the Film Brothels quarterly until finally they arrive at the Summer Film Brothel PHD.

The PHD Film Brothel lectures include:

    - Final Draft Story Boarding 601

- Steady Cam Operating 401

- After Effects Green Screen 601

- Logic Orchestra Composing 501

This seems a bit like Dreamers Ville to me, but let’s wait and see. The basic concept of film brothel, cramped by two days of skiing, for the price of ¥40,000, is reasonable bang for your buck.

To join the Winter Film Brothel call 090-6482-5040 or write to filmchess@gmail.com.

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