Japan in January

[Samurai_Jerk]

Japan in January

A video a tourist made of his trip to Japan.

[Coligny]

Wife and I went to Japan in January, it's a beautiful place and a beautiful culture.

fukushima-explosion-2.jpg

So true... so true...

[Yokohammer]

Scott has some nice moviemaking skills. A bit slow-paced for my liking, but that's just me. And assuming he did all the camera work, editing, and grading himself he's done a really good job.

For people who know the territory it's ... Scott went to the Tsukiji fish market, sumo, an onsen, a tea ceremony, the Sky Tree, and then he went to Fushimi Inari and Nijo-jo in Kyoto. Standard tourist stuff, but of course that's the stuff that really makes an impression on the first timer. So it's kinda touristy and superficial (which was probably the intention anyway ... it's a vacation movie), but there's no denying that it's beautifully done.

Thumbs up for technique and artistry.

[Coligny]

Scott has some nice moviemaking skills. A bit slow-paced for my liking, but that's just me.

Come on, remove the slow mo and the bullshit zen music and you are left with a condensed sirup of vomit inducing cliches. Sure the guy is good at milking his field trips... But it's like Koyaanisqatsy without the essence.

[Yokohammer]

Scott has some nice moviemaking skills. A bit slow-paced for my liking, but that's just me.

Come on, remove the slow mo and the bullshit zen music and you are left with a condensed sirup of vomit inducing cliches. Sure the guy is good at milking his field trips... But it's like Koyaanisqatsy without the essence.

It's a home movie, Coligny. The guy made a movie of his vacation with his wife. He's clearly very "into" cinematography, and the focus in this piece is more on the moviemaking than the content. At least that's the way it looks to me.

Taken in the spirit in which it was intended, it's a very nice piece of work.

Credit where credit is due, eh?

[Russell]

It may be hard to convince Coligny, because he has a film crew...

[Coligny]

It may be hard to convince Coligny, because he has a film crew...

Nope, just that with these now in the market:

image.jpg

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product ... nemacamera

We might start being flooded by pseudo artsy fartsy cliche cramming bull of this level... It's style over substance, and that might have been fine for some when the style was technically tricky to obtain. But now it's becoming a pushbutton trick...

It's like if the guy went with a check list of all the most rewarmed tourist traps and vomit them back in slow mo'
Good that he can make a ministry of tourism propaganda movie without the porkbarelling... But that's about it.

Next step will be to add a TopGear-like gray filter darkening the top and bottom of the screen...

[Yokohammer]

It may be hard to convince Coligny, because he has a film crew...

Nope, just that with these now in the market:

image.jpg

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product ... nemacamera

We might start being flooded by pseudo artsy fartsy cliche cramming bull of this level... It's style over substance, and that might have been fine for some when the style was technically tricky to obtain. But now it's becoming a pushbutton trick...

It's like if the guy went with a check list of all the most rewarmed tourist traps and vomit them back in slow mo'
Good that he can make a ministry of tourism propaganda movie without the porkbarelling... But that's about it.

Next step will be to add a TopGear-like gray filter darkening the top and bottom of the screen...

Are you being serious?

I'm a little confused because I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that with all your "film crew" comments you would have some experience. Apparently not. Your "style over substance" comment is at least partly true, but you should know that there is no one-button trick that will magically do this kind of camerawork and editing. The person who made this little movie put a lot of time and effort into it, and has spent quite a bit of time honing his camera chops too.

And about that Blackmagic camera ... have you seen the output from those things? You can get excellent results, but not by using footage straight out of the camera. You'd better have some serious post processing skills or you'll be screwed.

Nobody is claiming any deep spiritual significance. Give the guy a break. It's a vacation movie fer chrissake.

[Wage Slave]

Are you being serious?

I'm starting to think that a remaindered batch of Beaujolais Nouveau might have been snapped up cheaply in the big T and it is currently working its way through the system.

[Coligny]

Are you being serious?

I'm starting to think that a remaindered batch of Beaujolais Nouveau might have been snapped up cheaply in the big T and it is currently working its way through the system.

(leftover B.N in March are only good for animal testing or prisoner interrogation methink... the stuff have a theorical lifespan of barely 6 month)


I'd say too much of the "people are wonderful" serie on YouTube where the same edit tricks as in this video are used over and over again that can make any "oh My Balls" IPhone shorts into a pseudo artsy bull. Sure at least it's not a raw dump of his camera memory card. But like Kay's Power Goo did to clueless photoshopping...

Slow motion, dissolve transition, emptiness... (and unfortunately GoPros)

Without pro Yamato propaganda...

What makes me switch from "yay propganda" to WTF "sugar coated propaganda" was this

A bit slow-paced for my liking,

on a video that is:
1/3rd for the footage -> thanks to the device (the shots on the floor of the train of the train ticket girl could not be made in a day to day setup without the cam doing 99 percent of the work at least, rest 1% of skill to avoid putting it upside down aiming the wrong way)
1/3rd for the edit -> where everything is just slowed down
1/3rd of slow music from some iTunes guy

Basically, it's a piece of state propaganda hidden behind a pretentious, uninspired, vacation movie.

I'm pretty sure there was a video of Kyoto of the same kind posted not long ago... out of bazillions of these kind of "make it slow it will look artsy deep" school of smoke and mirrors...


Philip Glass was pivotal to the depth of Koyanisquatsi, but the whole movie was re edited after he made the track for a first edit become totally symbiotic between music and picture. (and at least they knew to fast forward as well as slow mo' too)

[Wage Slave]

(leftover B.N in March are only good for animal testing or prisoner interrogation methink... the stuff have a theorical lifespan of barely 6 month)

Well that's true

Basically, it's a piece of state propaganda hidden behind a pretentious, uninspired, vacation movie.

You know it often happens that the simple explanation is the correct one. It's some guy who put a lot of effort and some skill into making a holiday video. And that's it.

It is far far better than anything similar I have ever made. It isn't any great work of art (see above) but is entirely worthy none the less. Well done him.

[Coligny]

Yes that's an extremely carefully packaged "Newbie discover Japan"...

[legion]

You have to give the guy credit that he has managed to make the place not look like the unattractive mess it really is. Try to shoot anything anywhere in Japan and you will be pressed not to have some helpful piece of signage in your shot.

However I have to agree with Col to an extent, this craze started a while back with "Hayaku" on Vimeo as far as I am aware, which was an impressive effort. Since then you occasionally see random gaijin camped out at Shibuya etc with their DSLR on a tripod, and I guess we will also get used to seeing Blackmagic cameras too, with a variety of lenses, or guys with Gopros on their heads.

Personally I find these type of videos too dull to watch, there is no story to engage me, I don't come away from it feeling I've learnt anything new.

[kurogane]

Personally I find these type of videos too dull to watch, there is no story to engage me, I don't come away from it feeling I've learnt anything new.

I agree with that sentiment so much I didn't even watch it, but while I get Coligny's exasperation, I think Yokohammer and WS have a nicer approach. So yeah, well done, hope you had a great holiday.

BTW, just to niggle: there is something we can all learn from videos like this, even if it's not new. Nice white people (or Western Tourists) really like Japan to look, feel and sound the way they really want it to look, feel and sound, not the way it really does. And most Japanese really like that and are happy to further the myth. An old Palestinian-American scholar might have wittily referred to it as the Said and the UnSaid.

And that is allowing for the fact that I consider Kyoto to have an ineffable beauty as a modern city, even if you have to look pretty hard and focus pretty narrow to think that. But if you don't think Manshuin and Nanzenji are truly impressive and remarkable, you might want to shake your head.

[Yokohammer]

One of the reasons that Kyoto holds up so well even as it is being ruthlessly concreted over is that the Japanese city aesthetic has always been to create little pockets of nature/pretty as respites from the general disarray. The whole "tsuboniwa" （坪庭）thing. It works well in a country where "city planning" is a concept that's so new you won't be seeing any for decades or even centuries ... Minato Mirai in Yokohama is nice though.

And that, as Legion says, makes shooting pretty video in any major Japanese city a real chore. It's also why there are flocks of photographers scrambling around Minato Mirai all the time. Easy pickings.

Kurogane, I agree that there seem to be as many nice white tourists (can we call them NWTs?) determined to promulgate the myth of Japan as a beautiful, mysterious land as there are Japanese with the same blinkered mindset. The sushi chef communing with the spirit of the fish as he slices the crap out of it, and all that. But that's OK, and there are elements of truth in some of it, as atrophied as they may be. The tourist industry thanks them, and the interest it generates does help to keep the country in the loop internationally. Unfortunately so do myths like "the comfort women and the Nanjing massacre never happened," just not in a good way. There are still a few glitches to be ironed out.

[matsuki]

Nice white people (or Western Tourists) really like Japan to look, feel and sound the way they really want it to look, feel and sound, not the way it really does. And most Japanese really like that and are happy to further the myth.

Yeah...but you're forgetting the used panty vending machines, naked lemur sushi, and all the other things they so desperately want to be true.

[Coligny]

Nice white people (or Western Tourists) really like Japan to look, feel and sound the way they really want it to look, feel and sound, not the way it really does. And most Japanese really like that and are happy to further the myth.

Yeah...but you're forgetting the used panty vending machines, naked lemur sushi, and all the other things they so desperately want to be true.

It's the version to show his mom...

[GomiGirl]

Scott has some nice moviemaking skills. A bit slow-paced for my liking, but that's just me. And assuming he did all the camera work, editing, and grading himself he's done a really good job.

For people who know the territory it's ... Scott went to the Tsukiji fish market, sumo, an onsen, a tea ceremony, the Sky Tree, and then he went to Fushimi Inari and Nijo-jo in Kyoto. Standard tourist stuff, but of course that's the stuff that really makes an impression on the first timer. So it's kinda touristy and superficial (which was probably the intention anyway ... it's a vacation movie), but there's no denying that it's beautifully done.

Thumbs up for technique and artistry.

Agree with you on all points.
No need to pick the eyes out of it. It was a vacation movie. sheesh.

[Coligny]

Agree with you on all points.
No need to pick the eyes out of it. It was a vacation movie. sheesh.

The witch of the north have talked, you peons are not allowed to have an opinion on that topic...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Scott has some nice moviemaking skills. A bit slow-paced for my liking, but that's just me. And assuming he did all the camera work, editing, and grading himself he's done a really good job.

For people who know the territory it's ... Scott went to the Tsukiji fish market, sumo, an onsen, a tea ceremony, the Sky Tree, and then he went to Fushimi Inari and Nijo-jo in Kyoto. Standard tourist stuff, but of course that's the stuff that really makes an impression on the first timer. So it's kinda touristy and superficial (which was probably the intention anyway ... it's a vacation movie), but there's no denying that it's beautifully done.

Thumbs up for technique and artistry.

Agree with you on all points.
No need to pick the eyes out of it. It was a vacation movie. sheesh.

Seriously, what do people expect a guy film while he's on vacation in Japan? The only complaint I have about the video was he didn't show his wife's tits in the onsen scene.

[GomiGirl]

Agree with you on all points.
No need to pick the eyes out of it. It was a vacation movie. sheesh.

The witch of the north have talked, you peons are not allowed to have an opinion on that topic...

Fuck off.

[Coligny]

Agree with you on all points.
No need to pick the eyes out of it. It was a vacation movie. sheesh.

The witch of the north have talked, you peons are not allowed to have an opinion on that topic...

Fuck off.

[Russell]

For sure, I like the movie about Mr. Bean's holiday more...

[GomiGirl]

Agree with you on all points.
No need to pick the eyes out of it. It was a vacation movie. sheesh.

The witch of the north have talked, you peons are not allowed to have an opinion on that topic...

Fuck off.

You are a twat - we are all giving opinions about a video and you turn it person if I dare to reply. Miserable little man.

[Coligny]

You are a twat - we are all giving opinions about a video and you turn it person if I dare to reply. Miserable little man.

Well well well...

We were actually debating aboot the video for sure... Until you come to debate on people debating aboot the video... Or their level of affective involvement against the content of the video... seasonned with a dose of AOL "me too..."

So, a twat I am for sure, but this topic might not be the best material to make proof of it....


/enjoy...

[Russell]

Fornicate, just a simple vacation video leading to such hotly debated deep philosophical issues.

It's time someone posted his Patpong videos...

[Coligny]

Fornicate, just a simple vacation video leading to such hotly debated deep philosophical issues.

It's time someone posted his Patpong videos...

had to google dat'...

Iz where your father works ?

he damn sexy in camo hotpantz...

patpong-bangkok-1393183065812.jpg

[nikoneko]

It may be hard to convince Coligny, because he has a film crew...

Nope, just that with these now in the market:

image.jpg

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product ... nemacamera

We might start being flooded by pseudo artsy fartsy cliche cramming bull of this level... It's style over substance, and that might have been fine for some when the style was technically tricky to obtain. But now it's becoming a pushbutton trick...

It's like if the guy went with a check list of all the most rewarmed tourist traps and vomit them back in slow mo'
Good that he can make a ministry of tourism propaganda movie without the porkbarelling... But that's about it.

Next step will be to add a TopGear-like gray filter darkening the top and bottom of the screen...

That is some of the biggest hipster marketing BS I have seen in a bit and that is saying something. My newer Micro 4/3rds Lumix with that exact same 14mm pancake lens is smaller than that and does most of that in video and more in the photo dept. and the older one I have does too. You'd be hard pressed to find a Micro 4/3rds that does not. It may be missing some of the video stuff exactly (I'd have to look it up) but puts out 1080p AVCHD which is more than good enough for me and my newest cost about $230 with a 2 lens kit not $1000 with no lens. They are marketing SD memory card compatibility as a major feature are you shitting me? LOL. Best overhyped body of all time.

As far as the actual video goes, meh, not my tastes as Ive seen it all. I'd probably rather be smoking outside in half of it at this point but good on him it was a decently done snapshots of Japan style video.

Coligny you are full of it as usual with yet another opinion on something you have no idea about. Do you have a youtube channel? Let's see a video of yours.

[Coligny]

It may be hard to convince Coligny, because he has a film crew...

Nope, just that with these now in the market:

image.jpg

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/product ... nemacamera

We might start being flooded by pseudo artsy fartsy cliche cramming bull of this level... It's style over substance, and that might have been fine for some when the style was technically tricky to obtain. But now it's becoming a pushbutton trick...

It's like if the guy went with a check list of all the most rewarmed tourist traps and vomit them back in slow mo'
Good that he can make a ministry of tourism propaganda movie without the porkbarelling... But that's about it.

Next step will be to add a TopGear-like gray filter darkening the top and bottom of the screen...

That is some of the biggest hipster marketing BS I have seen in a bit and that is saying something. My newer Micro 4/3rds Lumix with that exact same 14mm pancake lens is smaller than that and does most of that in video and more in the photo dept. and the older one I have does too. You'd be hard pressed to find a Micro 4/3rds that does not. It may be missing some of the video stuff exactly (I'd have to look it up) but puts out 1080p AVCHD which is more than good enough for me and my newest cost about $230 with a 2 lens kit not $1000 with no lens. They are marketing SD memory card compatibility as a major feature are you shitting me? LOL. Best overhyped body of all time.

As far as the actual video goes, meh, not my tastes as Ive seen it all. I'd probably rather be smoking outside in half of it at this point but good on him it was a decently done snapshots of Japan style video.

Coligny you are full of it as usual with yet another opinion on something you have no idea about. Do you have a youtube channel? Let's see a video of yours.

where you trying to make a point ? or just shit on the carpet while having skipped the whole thread ?

up until few post ago it was all aboot the video, but I'm glad that it reached down enough to flinging shit level so you could join us...

[Russell]

So much shit flying around.

Now I want to join too...