Shooting Can Be Fun

In reading the July issue of American Cinematographer it was nice to read about the shooting of The Dark Knight, probably my favorite film of the year and one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. Though some of you may disagree with me, I connected with the style and look of the film. To me it mixed a lot of experimental and classical elements of filmmaking together into what is a visually assaulting piece of storytelling. The Dark Knight was shot on 35mm film with some sequences shot in IMAX (a Canadian invention, thank you very much), which is something that has never been done before.
For those of you who know me, know that I am a big fan of trying new things and its nice to see a studio like Warner Bros. taking a chance with such a costly experiment. Those who have seen the film in IMAX (if you haven’t you should) will attest to the sheer beauty of the scenes. I love what the movie’s cinematographer, Wally Pfister, said about shooting in IMAX: “We just needed to shoot and learn…There’s a whole booklet about how to film in Imax, but our inclination was to break all those rules. In the end, we incorporated some of the ideas to a degree, but for the most part, we did what felt right to us and addressed composition shot-by-shot.” Which, to me, is refreshing and it’s a great learning point for me and any aspiring filmmaker out there. Anybody can take a film class, anybody can read American Cinematographer or any book on how to shoot a movie—and odds are if you learn that way, you will be able to shoot a movie—a rather generic looking movie, but a movie nonetheless. In all my films I teach myself how to shoot all over again. I often try to keep my film education as far away as possible when I approach shooting a movie. I want the approach for everything I do to be completely different and unique. Ashita was probably my effort at learning to shoot. First, I was shooting in PAL for the first time (more on PAL some other time) and I was shooting entirely at night, which are both two things I’ve never done before. I watched a lot of film noir along with a lot of films that inspire me, but I wanted to craft my own look for the film. A look of loneliness in the big city. Andy, Ashita’s editor, once commented that I really enjoy solitary people in big spaces—and for Ashita I do—it’s a look that I wanted.
Actually I never intended on shooting the film myself, I had originally hired a cinematographer and after the first two days of shooting, we let him go—it was both a combination of lack of visual style and paying too much of the wrong type of my attention to my all female, all Japanese cast members. When I came to the painful realization that I had to do my own camera work as well as work with actors in a language I don’t speak, I got rather ill. To overcome those very obstacles I had to preplan even more than I normally do. Some people story board, some people don’t story board (for The Meatball Story I didn’t story board, for Truant Café I did) in the case of Ashita, I decided to do a detailed shot list and literally cross off the shots right after I did them. What was almost unconscious about my shooting of Ashita was the beauty of some of the shots. My office is located downtown Toronto, so I often spend an hour or more a day walking through the streets of downtown—which is pretty much how I did my location scouting for Ashita. Most of the exteriors for the film are shot using existing light from the locations, which turned out surprisingly well. Before I shot I went to each location at night with my camera and looked through the viewfinder to get an idea of what my shot would look like. Some of the shots in Ashita are truly majestic. What’s funny in reading the American Cinematographer article on The Dark Knight, was how Wally Pfister and director Chris Nolan first tested the IMAX camera in Nolan’s backyard and then to test the night shots they put it in the back of a pick up truck and drove down Sunset Blvd. It must be nice to be able to test a $3 000,000 camera in your back yard and then put in your flatbed and drive around with it!

An Interesting Conversation

Recently, I was interviewed by Chris Magee, the creator and Japanese film guru of The Toronto Japanese Film Appreciation Pow-Wow, a group of Japanese film aficionados of over 500 people. Chris met with Andy and I one day while were cutting Ashita (you can read Chris’ article on Ashita here: http://jfilmpowwow.blogspot.com/2008/06/mj-di-rocco-takes-on-challenge-with.html --in fact if your at all interested in Japanese movies, which you may be, if you’re interested in my film, you should check this site out) To me, the ultimate sign that I am not losing my mind making these films I make is when people whom I’ve never met take an interest in what I am doing. Which is, case in point, the result of Mr. Magee’s article on Ashita. A young gentleman by the name of Ben Dower contacted me through Chris with his own dreams of making a Japanese movie in Toronto—bringing the total of gaijin nut jobs who want to make Japanese language movies to 2! Still, though, the boat is a little less lonely now that Ben came aboard.

Ben and I have exchanged a few emails in which he’s asked me a few questions and my advice on making a Japanese movie in Toronto. Honestly, like Andy and I discussed with Chris, I’ve never really met anybody who’s done what we’re doing with Ashita, so we kind of invented the rules and processes as went along.

Below are some of the interesting points of our email conversation:


BEN: What interested me with you and Ashita is that you managed to make a film entirely in Japanese and about Japanese people in Toronto (which is something I'd very much like to do).

MJ: Thank you, I take that as a high compliment.

BEN: I just graduated from Confederation College's film production program. I am now trying to figure out where (and how) to to take the next step from here.

MJ: I can appreciate your situation. Throughout film school , not once do they really teach marketing, financing, management or any of the business skills you would need in order survive in the real world trying to make a film. Any sensible person knows (or quickly learns) that when you graduate film school nobody will hire you as director. More than likely, you are working as a 3rd AD wrangling extras or some other fun stuff.

BEN: It is true that very little film business is taught in film school. I had one course in the last semester on film business but I could tell the teacher just did not have enough time in this course to cover the information properly.

MJ: I can see not much has changed in films schools over years.

BEN: I am just out of film school and the only experience I have is on student films. I want to know what the best way is, in Toronto, to go from this point in my life to making the films I want to make...films that I write and direct.

MJ: Again, I can appreciate your situation. I have been there too. The best advice I can give you here is that if you really, really want to make your own films--if you want to make your stories, your way--well you need to do it on your own. Get yourself a half decent camera, join LIFT find a good cast and crew and just shoot it. When I say find a good crew I mean find a crew that wants to be crew and not directors (you've been to film school I am sure you understand what I mean in that statement). Find a DP that just wants to shoot and do pretty lighting. Find a sound guy that eats and breathes sound. And more importantly find a good editor who loves to cut and build stories through cutting (editors should never be 'yes' men that agree with everything you say, trust me on this one. You want an editor who is a free thinker and will surprise you.) But most importantly, you need patience. If you make a film for next to no money or no money at all, you will have to accept and understand that it is a longer process than if you had millions to throw at your crew. And if you work in a language you don't speak fluently, it will take you even longer--but if you believe in what your doing and you respect the integrity of the filmmaking process, then it will be a good final product.

(What I didn't mention to Ben, but I will mention here--when you work independently, what really counts are the people you work with. Find some good people, people who are passionate and excited about making a movie, like I did with Ashita, and that is a good first step in the right direction.)

BEN: I want to know how you were able to get such a project to be made. How did you get to the point in filmmaking where you could actually do that? I know many studios wouldn't fund this sort of experimental project because it probably be considered a large risk for the studio. Are you doing it independently, out of your own pocket, did you manage to secure funding, or did you get a government grant?

MJ: I am doing it independently. I've done enough work over the years to get all my own equipment. I did a TV pilot for LIFE Network a few years ago and managed to gather my equipment from that. Studios rarely give money to anybody and usually whatever budget you give them will be cut in half or even more by the time its green lit. Government grants are always fun to try and figure out, you have a lot of forms to fill out and it takes several months before they respond to you.

BEN: Did you shoot on film, HD, or tape?

MJ: We shot the film on PAL DV tapes--I love the colors on PAL and it looks much nicer than any 24fps (PAL is 25fps) camera out there. HD is nice, but the pro-sumer technology is not quite there yet. True HD cameras cost upwards of $15 000 and give a bitch of a time on hard drive memory on any editing system. By the way in case you're curious we're editing on AVID.

BEN: My current plan is to get a job at some place , make some money, buy some gear, and then shoot some films on my own.

MJ: Good plan. Honestly, I think you will appreciate what goes into making a film if you have to work elsewhere to pay for your film. It will make you a better, more appreciative filmmaker and producer.

BEN: I really like the DVX100 since Sion Sono used it for "Noriko's Dinner Table" and I love the way that movie looked. I know they aren't insanely expensive so I am going to start there I think (if you know any equally good/better cameras that are equally/lesser priced please let me know).

MJ: I don't know of any other cameras, I think JVC does a nice 24p HD camera for a pretty cost effective price. Let me level with you, I see far too many film grads spend money on equipment and then they shoot utter crap. A good camera does not make a good film. It may help it to look pretty but it will not help with the substance and the story, nor will it teach you to shoot. Buy what you can afford--your real focus should be on the story and the acting because nothing is worse than bad acting in super high definition. I have never seen Noriko's Dinner Table, I will take your appreciation of it as a recommendation and I will check it out.

BEN: My current plan is to get a job at some place , make some money, buy some gear, and then shoot some films on my own.

MJ: Good plan. Honestly, I think you will appreciate what goes into making a film if you have to work elsewhere to pay for your film. It will make you a better, more appreciative filmmaker and producer.

BEN: I also see you have "Battle Royale" and "Gojira" on your list of movies that inspire you. Those two movies are huge movies to me and changed my life a lot. Godzilla brought me into Asian film and my dream is to make a kaiju movie one day (short or feature...as long as it's a guy in a monster suit I'll be happy).

MJ: Dude if you make a kaiju movie, count me in as free help. I would adore the thought of working on a giant monster movie. On my next trip to Japan I plan on sneaking into TOHO and trying on the Godzilla suit. Battle Royale is one of those pivotal movies that gets most people hooked on Japanese cinema, still stands as a modern day classic in my mind, not so much because of the violence, but because the movie is really about the society of children. If you haven't studied Ozu's films, you should.

BEN: Thanks for all your help!

MJ: Always a pleasure.


Well there you go, I wish Ben all the best in his adventures in filmmaking. I compliment him for wanting to try new things and for wanting to try it all on his own. I hope that his experiences good or bad will be rewarding for him in the long run.

If you have an questions or comments about me, Ashita or making movies in general, I invite you to email me at mj@ashitamovie.com and I will do my best to reply in a timely manner.

The Aging Filmmaker

The great Martin Scorsese once said: “…On the one hand, you're the same person, but as you get older, you change somewhat, and you never know how it's going to affect your work.” He is as wise a man as he is brilliant a filmmaker. I am constantly reminded of his statement as a monumental occasion approaches less than 30 days from when I write this. My 30th birthday. I know, I know, this may not be a big deal to a lot of you. Its just a number, just another year people say. Well that may very well be true, but to me it feels big and I feel old. Had you asked me 5 years ago or 15 years ago when I got into this insane filmmaking thing to describe myself at 30, I would have quickly answered that I would have been somewhere in Hollywood making some large budget film. I was aiming to be the first director to make both a James Bond and Star Trek (laugh all you want, I love Star Trek) film. Of course, like most people I’ve learned a lot through many hard knocks.

Though I am not famous, not even close to rich and I never saw myself where I am today, I must admit that life has been good to me. I am married to a wonderful, supportive and understanding woman. I have a beautiful son who makes the sun rise with his smile. And I still get to do what I love to do: Tell stories. And I am not telling the stories I used to tell. My approach to making movies has changed. I am far less aggressive with the content—in film school it all had to be blood and gore, but that may have just been a phase or it may have been that I now tell stories in context to where my life has taken me. My films are the expressions of my life. At the time I made The Meatball Story I was angry, very angry and a lot of my anger was focused through the dark humor in the film and the sarcastic nature of the Dario character. When I wrote Truant Café I was hurt, confused and I wanted to settle a score. And since I could not settle in the real world, I would settle it through a film. Ashita explores themes of humanity, solitude and relationships. I think that being married and having experienced the rollercoaster rides of making my two previous films as well as CinemaFix a TV pilot—making the pilot was a truly awful experience, it really demonized me as a director and as a person. CinemaFix was the first time that I truly did not like the person I had become. After making that pilot I realized the monster I had become while making the show and I became very introverted and reflective. The truth is that I suffered a major depression while in post production of Truant Café and I was scared to relapse after CinemaFix, thus I started thinking long and hard about where I wanted to go with my life. I was dangerously close to quitting outright and not wanting to work on another project again. But, like any other artist my soul is embedded in my art. I couldn’t walk away, it would be like asking me to stop breathing. I love telling stories and making movies. Instead of quitting I began some deep introspection and with that the stories of Ashita were born as was my new perspective on my art. With the help of my wife making Ashita helped me discover my humanity.

Being a father brings me to new levels of humanity so who knows what stories and films the 30 years will bring me. Either way when I grow up I want to make movies.

Film Noir et Blanc

On October 17, 2007 I wrote an entry called “This Movie Has Been Modified from Its Original Version” where I discussed pan & scan and the colorizing process. I also mentioned in my last entry that during my last crazy couple of months I’ve bombarded myself with projects, one of those was a Japanese short titled Yuki Star. In this entry I will follow up on October 17, because I’ve decided that Yuki Star will be in black and white.

It’s no secret that I love black and white movies, I love watching them and I love making them. My first feature The Meatball Story was shot in black and white. Yuki Star, I actually shot in color and only when watching the footage did it strike me that this movie belonged in black and white. As a filmmaker, with every project I do, I try to have fun by experimenting and doing something I’ve never done before. Like I said, The Meatball Story was shot in black and white, while in preproduction and development, my vision of the movie was for it to be in black and white, when I thought about the characters and the nature of the story, I could not picture it in color. So when we got on set, we shot it in black and white. With Yuki Star, while I was writing it and developing it everything was in color. In fact I wanted to give it the rich 70’s style color saturation. However, the day after we shot, I watched the footage and though there was nothing wrong with it, something felt off, it didn’t feel right somehow. I threw the first part of footage into Final Cut Pro and decided to cut a quick opening to the film—again it felt off in color. So I converted into black and white, I didn’t just dump a black and white filter on it, I really tinkered with it to get to look like I shot and lit it for black and white. After watching the same scene in black and white I smiled… this story wanted to be told in black and white.

If you were to throw a rock, you’d be more than likely to hit a black and white nay sayer. More often than not, when I talk to people about black and white they just scoff at me and ask me what year it is. Talk to people like that makes me wish the controlled public usage of nunchuks was allowed. Black and white photography is a form of expression, color is as well (just look at Wong Kar-wai’s use of color in his films). If you take the time to sit down and watch classic or modern films made in a black white medium, then try and imagine them in color, I am ready to bet it will not work (though Ted Turner, may fleas of a thousand camels infest his toupee, tried it and was almost smacked silly by so many people). I don’t know how to explain it better, but movies often times tell the filmmaker how they want to be told. When I watched the footage for Yuki Star, that’s what happened, the story, the acting, the camera work all screamed black and white to me. There are few movies out there that were shot in color and later converted to black and white. The Coen brother’s “The Man Who Wasn’t There” was shot in color, but was presented and released in black and white (ironically, except for Japan where it was released in color). Frank Darabont’s vision for his film “The Mist” was in black and white, but the studio got antsy and so it was shot in color and released in color—however, the 2 disc special edition DVD has both the color and black and white version of the movie, I’ve watched both and the black and white version is far more frightening than the color. It’s the exact same film, not added scenes nothing—one is in color the other in black and white. The color one looked hokey and cheesy, yet the black and white version sent shivers down my spine and the ending, to me, had a much stronger impact in black and white. That being said, black and white should be respected as its own form of expression and like color it is tool used to help tell a story, express a point or convey emotions.

Long live black and white cinema.

My Son, Ashita and lots of stuff

Okay well…. It’s been a while. If any of you readers are still out there please note that I am still alive! It’s been a crazy time for me, Izumi and I expanded our family. Our first child—our son, Dante Yamaguchi Di Rocco was born on March 3rd. We are thrilled and needless to say it kind of stops all other things in life for a while.

Well, Ashita is still truckin’. Andy has been working hard cutting my 40 hours or so of raw footage into something sensible has finished one and half of the film’s six stories. We’re getting there. On another front, I have used the off time to develop a few more projects. I am working with my old friend Maya Bastian in developing a Bollywood movie—which began as fun conversation between Maya and has now taken on the seriousness of being written as a screenplay, with Maya set to direct and me to have a small part (this project is a fun one, Maya and both wanted each other to direct… in all honesty I wanted a break and I wanted to have fun which I can do as a writer and actor). As well, I was contracted by Toronto cotemporary artist tomolennon to shoot and edit a music video for New York’s Toru Dodo Jazz Trio. That was a lot of fun to shoot and I am vigilantly getting back into editing. Speaking of music videos, I still owe Dr. Draw two videos, I need to sit down with them and get the details hammered out. The Zoobombs will probably be back in Toronto over the summer and they will want to talk music video with me as well. YEESH! I also shot a short film with what I call my “All Star” cast. My mother in-law Kyoko was in Toronto to help us with the baby, and she is a professional actor in Japan, so I figured since she was here I’d put her in a movie, so I wrote a short called Yuki Star and it stars Kyoko, Leona (from Ashita) and Anthony (from The Meatball Story and Truant Café). We shot it in 6 hours… and it’s in the pile of things to edit. Speaking of Anthony, I also shot (and surprise, surprise, need to edit) a talk show he’s producing. Oh yeah, and I am also trying to finish writing a play for Kyoko that she will stage in Japan. I don’t even want to mention the comic book I was developing on the side, you know for fun—like I said I won’t mention that because its way, way, way on the back burner.

My one constant anchor in the chaos is my family. My son Dante is barely a month old now and coming home at the end of the day to hold him is the highlight of my life. Sure, for now, he mostly poos, sleeps, cries and eats, but unless you’ve experienced fatherhood, it’s hard to really describe how wonderful the feeling is of holding your child… somehow when I hold him and looking into his big brown eyes, the whole world seems to make sense. Having a child, changes your world for the better. I can assure its not easy, there a whack load of new levels to the game of life when you have a child, but you know what, they are truly unique and in my honest opinion they make everything else in life a lot better.

Music

If there is one industry more grueling that the movie industry it is the music industry. I have a great respect for musicians as they have a talent and skill I will never master. I took guitar lessons when I 13 and after a year and half and I could acomplish was “Old McDonald Had a Farm”—besides, I have terrible stage fright so when it came to playing the children’s song in front of a group of people it was a disaster.

Music is an important aspect of movie making. Not many people notice when they watch a movie, but music is used through roughly 75% of the film. And that’s one of the true joys of working as a filmmaker, you get to work with so many different artistic mediums and meld them into one larger project. In my experiences, I’ve had the opportunity to use both a composer to do an original score for me as well as use licesed songs from bands and musicians. With Ashita we’re using some brilliant music from some brilliant bands. We have some great rock songs from The Zoobombs and Super Girl Juice and some wonderful mood music from Dr. Draw.

I have enormous respect for all three bands. My first rule when looking for music for a project is respect. I must respect the band or the musician. I have to feel like a connection with their work, which is normal, because a connection with their work means that their music will also connect with my work. They way I know that they connect is simple. I usually go for a walk and listen to their music on my iPod and if while I’m walking I picture scenes from my movie to the music, it means we’ve connected. I am a filmmaker that likes to use music as part of the scene, I believe that music can help tell your story.

So good, now I’ve connected to the music. It works for my movie, what next? The what next is the complex legal part. You need permission and liceneses and lots of wonderful signatures in order to use a 3 minute masterpiece in your movie. If you new to filmmaking, get used to this fast. Because I respect musicians, I know that their life is difficult sometimes and they starve for their art more than any filmmaker or actor that I’ve ever met.

To be honest, whith you, when you’re a chubby Canadian-Italian making a movie in Japanese you attract more than one skeptic stare. With Ashita I’ve been blessed with musicians who understand what I am trying to do. Actually the two Japanese bands, Super Girl Juice and The Zoobombs did not skoff or laugh at my idea of making a film in Japanese, infact both bands embraced the idea and particpated whole heartedly. Dr. Draw a Canadian band whose comptemporary violin sounds give the movie the added mood the movie needs, is growing in popularity with a number of TV appearances from Breakfast Television to Canada AM—they were fabulous with the idea of Ashita as well.

I have also had the good fortune to get to know all of these bands on a personal level. DON Matsuo, the front man for The Zoobombs, and I share a great interest in books an literature and we’ve had long conversations about life as an artist, we are both excited to work together again soon. Sayaka, the lead singer from Super Girl Juice is a touching woman. She is humbled by the idea of her music being used in a movie to the point that she cried when I showed her some test scenes with her music in it. Eugene Draw, the front man (and vert a talented violinst) from Dr. Draw digs Japanese movies and was super enthusiastic about participating in this movie, I’ve been talking a lot to their manager Murray who, even though busy with booking Dr. Draw in shows all over the world, shows me respect and has put a lot of faith into project.

In fact all the bands have put a lot of faith in Ashita. I won’t disappoint them.

-MJ

This Movie Has Been Modified From its Original Version

I was asked the oddest question the other day, when discussing my work as a filmmaker; someone actually asked me if I were to remake a film, which one would it be.

I was speechless; I really had no clue what to say. Because it’s not really something I had ever given thought to. Subsequently, it prompted me to give thought to the question. The answer: I don’t think I’d ever do a remake. In fact, "remake" is an old term; the word of the week in Hollywood is now "reinterpretation". This is what studios seem to be doing all over the place; from Superman Returns to the JJ Abrams Star Trek prequel/re-imaging of the franchise. Now don’t get me wrong, in some cases these reinterpretations/re-imaginings/remakes actually work. In the case of Batman Begins it gave new life to a franchise of films that spiraled into sheer lunacy. Tim Burton had made two excellent films with Batman and Batman Returns, then Joel Shumacher took over and things went downhill very quickly. And after the awful Batman & Robin the franchise was put to rest. With Batman Begins, they decided to just start everything all over again and go a very different path, which worked. Hey, what can I say? Sometimes movies studios get things right. The same thing went for Casino Royale many 007 fans were very, very jaded about the direction the films were going. The last few Pierce Brosnan films felt like giant commercials with action scenes intercut between all the product placement. You could almost picture Barbara Broccoli sending hundreds of emails out to every large corporation in the world selling product placement for the new Bond movie, then trying to talk a screenwriter into scripting a story around all the commercials. It was so painful for a lot of fans to watch scene upon scene upon scene of logos, brands etc. What I love about the Brosnan era Bond was that the man himself, Pierce Brosnan was actually complaining about the lack of quality story wise. I guess somebody listened, because Casino Royale did everything right, it had a great story, classic elements of filmmaking, good action, no abundance of psychotic gadgets (no invisible car—thank you movie gods) or product placement. And to boot, they re-started the franchise from scratch.

It’s a trend that can make money and give new credit to a franchise that has taken advantage of fans. When it’s a franchise that will spew many sequels (hopefully of good quality) you can get away with the re-imaginings and re-inventions and starting over from scratch.

What is slightly more frightening is the one off remakes, the most sacrilegious of which would be the 1998 remake of Psycho by Gus Van Sant. This one really didn’t sit well with me, I can accept remakes of popular older movies, but a Hitchcock masterpiece… um, no. Hitchcock’s Psycho is a film that changed the way we see movies—don’t touch it. What was really ridiculous about Van Sant’s remake was that he chose to remake it shot for shot from Hitchcock’s. I am not a hardcore cinema purist, but most people will agree there is line that should not be crossed. True classics are one of them. Another upsetting remake was Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In 1974 Francois Truffaut was invited by Warner Bros. to remake Casablanca, he outright refused and stated: “You want to remake Casablanca? Why not hire someone to puts arms on Venus De Milo.”

The Hollywood recently reporter announced that a remake of yet another Hitchcock classic, The Birds is planned to be released in 2009 (rumored to be in charge of this is the one, the only--gasp--Michael Bay--god help us all).

As a filmmaker (who is far from making classic cinema) I would be upset if someone remade something I did, or retold I story I’ve already told. If I like a movie very much, I wouldn’t pay homage to it by remaking it, I would promote it and discuss why its valuable to the cinema world. Hitchcock made one remake in his life: The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956 which was a remake of his own movie of the same tile from 1934. The sad truth is that somebody will always think remaking classic films is a good idea, especially in this new era of the big studios, much like in the 1980s when studios took it upon themselves to colorize black and white classics, that was a real mess—that got a strong push from Ted Turner who felt people of the 1980s had no patience to watch movies in black and white (he was also responsible for Pan & Scan videos) so they went and colorized a number of classics including: The Most Dangerous Game, It’s a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Psycho (which Hitchcock chose to make in black and white), but all that ended when American Film Technologies (funded by Ted Turner) announced they had plans to colorize Citizen Kane of which the rights were in dispute after Orson Welles died (he owned all exclusive rights to the film until his death), but there was a huge outcry with plans to colorize the classic film, because on his death bed Welles told his friends: “Don’t let Ted touch my movie with his little crayons.”