PART ONE: PRODUCTION JOURNAL & DIRECTOR NOTES
The Project
Marukuyama Film Journal: It was 2012, my final year at Temple University, and I wanted to use the opportunity to finally push one of my dreams - making a thriller film in rural Japan. Even more important than a good story, is a proper tone/atmosphere. Most westerners making films in Japan tend to exoticize the plot and setting (Samurai, Ninjas, Yakuza, Neo-Tokyo, etc), but I aimed to stray away from these common themes, and rather sought to create an original atmosphere. I wanted to combine a rustic and traditional Japanese setting with a western 70's~80's sci-fi/horror element. The final product would up like a mix between Lecafido Hearn's collected Japanese folk tales "Kwaidan" and Western movies like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Being a zero-budget student film, our team faced numerous restrictions and problems, but through their hard work and endurance, we ultimately succeeded in creating something beyond my expectations for a typical college production.
The Synopsis
Goro, a single father living in a rural Japan begins to suspect danger when his daughter begins to show him drawings of a mysterious figure that has been following her. While still coping with the disappearance of his wife, Goro soon realizes a disturbing connection between his wife, daughter, and the mysterious figure. The faceless 'Nopperabo', an ancient creature from Japanese mythology is forcing its way back into the modern world, and it has its eyes set on one of the protagonists. (Similar to the modern "Slenderman" concept)
This suspense-thriller plays on the most primal of human natures: the fear of predators, and the protection of our young. The film presents a gripping, on-the-edge-of-your-seat uneasy feeling. This mood is synonymous to that intrinsic gut feeling before a conflict - that moment when predator and prey lock eyes, and there is an unnerving stillness in the air.
Being on a tight schedule and limited budget, the plan was to shoot the entire film in just one weekend. Another key point that helped save budget was to base the setting of the film in a place that was familiar and unique.
Location Scouting
A few months earlier, I was doing a project called "Travel Scenic Japan" for our Senior Seminar Class. For this, I went with several classmates to various parts of the Japanese countryside, including Hidaka City in Saitama and Narita-san in Chiba. But the one area in particular that stood out to me was Nokogiriyama and it's town Hama-Kanaya. This area features a giant Buddha statue, yet it was relatively unknown to foreign and even Japanese tourists, and so it was a much quieter and peaceful area than Kamakura. After exploring the mountain, we made our way to the nearby fishing town, and on the way we saw this strange cave and old shrine by the seaside. We realized it was possible to climb inside the cave, so we ventured inside. The access to this cave was by a small stone bridge, and we were fortunate to go at low tide. As we left the cave, the tide had started to come in, and soon after the bridge was completely submerged. Still, this area had such a unique setting, I thought it would create a great atmosphere for the short film I was still mapping out in my head.
The Night Before production
I arrived home fairly late at about 10:30pm, and realized to my horror that I had dropped my house key. Eventually I went to the police station nearby and they gave me a number for a locksmith, but he was requesting 20,000 yen, which as a broke student having just sunk all my money into this project, I simply couldn’t afford in that moment. I then remembered that I didn’t lock my balcony door, but unfortunately my neighbour wouldn’t answer his door. I finally decided to leap from the residence above me, and fortunately I didn’t die. I got into my room by about 1:30am, spent half an hour preparing my equipment, and then went to sleep.
Day One
I left my apartment at about 6:00am and with four full bags of equipment made my way on 3 trains to Ikebukuro. By 7:45 everyone had arrived and we were on our way to Chiba. We had a small pit-stop half way, and then continued along the Aqua Line (the highway that goes under Tokyo bay). We reached our location by exactly 9:30am, as planned. The shots at the train station were much easier then I had anticipated, mainly because the area was extremely rural they didn’t mind us shooting there. We did get some attention by a group of school kids who were excited and curious to see us filming.
Afterwards, we split into two teams. Jean, Nick, and Hikaru did some walking shots around the area. Meanwhile, Adora, Hiromitsu, and myself shot some “break scenes” from his character's work. We had a very close call when the tripod leg gave out while it was unattended. While it was attached with my 70-200mm prime lens, it hit the ground - my heart stopped for a moment - but somehow the lens didn't break. I was extremely relieved. Next, we went to the cave. The tide was already starting to rise, so we had to quick rushed to shoot the interior scenes. They shots quite challenging to get done in time, but somehow we managed before the water rose too much. Hikaru found it very amusing as Jean made his way over the flooded bridge to the cave trying not to get wet. In the end, we all got completely soaked on the way in and out, but at least we weren't dragged off to sea.
Adora did a great job taking care of Hikaru while we spent the hour filming inside the cave. At this point, our team was getting quite tired, but we had no choice to push through and finish the exterior cave shots. Finally, by 3:00pm we went to a local ramen shop for a quick bite to eat and give everyone some energy. Then, we went to the house that Jean rented for us. It was a little chaotic bringing in all the stuff as well as manage the next shot, as the sun was quickly setting. We finished just moments before the sun had set. We continued to film late until all the night scenes were done. This put a strain on the cast and crew, but it had to get put out of the way. There was also an incident in which a security camera prop went missing, so we improvised and made it a "security light" using one of the camera lights. We finished the day's shooting at 8:40pm, which was actually 20 minutes earlier then I predicted, although the whole team was wiped out. We all went out to café gusto where they relaxed and got some food. We returned back to the rental house, and had some ‘excitement’ in getting the car up the hill in the dark (Nick, Hiromitsu, and I ended up having to push the car upwards). Also the toilet got backed up... possibly my fault. Oops.
Everyone else got to relax inside until about midnight, meanwhile I was busy uploading the footage, clearing the memory cards, charging the batteries, and preparing for the next day. I emerged from the corner of the house to find Hiromitsu, Nick, and Jean in some sort of push-up competition. Overall, although things were stressful at points, we actually pulled off a successful first day's production. For a near impossible schedule, I was very glad to have a positive and diligent crew whom really gave it their all in making this first day's shoots go so smooth.
Day Two
While everyone was still asleep in the living room, I woke up at 4:30 in order to catch the sunrise over the bay as well as the fields outside the house. Despite being exhausted, the freezing cold temperature outside had me wide-awake. I tiptoed around inside the house and tried to capture a few other shots in the kitchen. I then uploaded the shots and went back to sleep for another hour. I woke Jean and Hiromitsu up at 7:30am to film the early morning sequence, followed by the breakfast scene at 8:30am with Hikaru (both scenes were pushed to today due to yesterday’s crammed schedule). I remember that Hikaru was a bit grumpy that morning, during filming she gave her dad this glare, and it played perfectly into her character's annoyed attitude during the breakfast scene.
Next, myself, along with Jean and Hiromitsu met Chieko and her 2 year old, as well as another student Yui who took care of the infant while the 4 of us filmed Hiromitsu’s chase scene of his wife. Meanwhile, Nick and Adora began to pack up our stuff at the house while watching over Hikaru. We quickly stopped off at the house and then got everyone together to film the final scene. I made two versions, the latter being just Hiromitsu walking (which I think will suit the film better). We then said goodbye to Chieko and met up with Taishi. At this point we found the security camera that was somehow placed inside a rubber boot during yesterday’s chaos… oh well. We shot the two sequences with Taishi and Hikaru. The team took a small break to arm wrestle and have some races on the docks while I set up for the final shot of the day, where we recorded the conversation between Hiromitsu and Taishi’s characters right before the sun had set. We again returned to the house to pay our fee and pick up all our extra materials. Then, the whole crew went out for sushi dinner and I was simply relieved to finally be able to sit down. Salmon sushi and a cold beer never tasted so rewarding. We then had a 3-hour long drive backa to Ikebukuro, and finally after another hour on the trains I was able to go home and crash. There was another scene that we shot about a week later in a shopping street, but the majority of the short was captured during those two long days of production.
PART 2: POST-PRODUCTION ESSAY
(From 2013, so some suggestions & technology might be a bit dated):
The final project for a film student is an enduring process that challenges all the knowledge, patience, and experience they have gained. Despite a numerous number of restraints, some of these projects actually manage to survive the post-production stage; yet, many production weary students instantly shelve these good student films, thereby wasting a long college investment. In many cases, the promotion and distribution process of a student film can be just as mentally and financially taxing as the production stage –but it doesn’t need to be. With proper preparation during the whole production process, online marketing and film festival submissions can be made much easier. The promotion and distribution process of a student film has changed significantly since even a decade ago, due to advancements in technology and websites such as youtube, facebook, vimeo, imdb, and withoutabox – familiarity with these websites is an absolute necessity for today’s aspiring film makers. Although online marketing has vastly improved the reach of a student film to general audiences, the acclaim from being accepted into a major film festival should still remain the ultimate goal. That being said, online promotion is now strongly linked to the film festival circuit, making this an interconnected process. The purpose of this essay is to shed some light and personal experience on how to qualify a student film for these festivals.
Preparation for promoting a student film begins in the pre-production stage. First, you have to consider if the film qualifies under a certain niche or genre. Being a student film already puts it in one niche category, although one can still qualify for others. Genre is also an important factor that will determine what type of festivals the film will be submitted to. If the aim is to make an avant-garde, dramatic, or surreal film to send to Cannes – I must warn these are really difficult on a student’s budget and without professional actors. There are plenty of established comedy or sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre festivals out there. For my film – The Abduction – I chose the horror-thriller genre, as it suits both my personal taste and practical budget.
One of the regrets I had during production was that I didn’t bring along a person to record a making-of video; this is excellent material for an Electronic Press Kit (EPK), which is used to further promote a film. However, on the plus side, I was still able to gather a variety of production photos from iPhone stills and other miscellaneous sources; rule of thumb – you can never take too many production photos and promotional skills if you have time. During the production stage, film promotion shouldn’t really be one of the top priorities, as the shoot is still the director’s number one priority. However, it is the only chance one can collect behind the scenes footage and other promotional material. Therefore, it is really wise to delegate this responsibility onto another crew. Although it wasn’t his main job, my lighting/sound crew member Nick really helped provide a lot of extra source photos and video clips during this stage, which really came in handy during the promotion stage.
Post-production can be a nightmare by itself, and is not something to be rushed. I highly recommend buying an external hard disk drive of at least 2TB to store all the material (including pictures, document, etc.) During this stage, even if a clip doesn’t seem relevant – don’t delete it! Post-production is usually the most mentally draining stage of a student film production, and due to tight deadlines and other restraints (such as work from other classes), the product may still have many flaws by the time it is submitted for grading. This is usually the stage where most students hereafter archive their film and move onto other work, discarding their work’s full potential. I too was exhausted from the hours spent on editing and couldn’t stand looking at the film anymore – so instead of permanently discarding it, I look a month’s break and returned to the editing stage with fresh eyes the following semester. This rest makes an unbelievably significant difference in the film’s quality. Thereafter, I was able to see all the tiny flaws that my instructor and peers mentioned and was able to fix them to my highest extent. Finally, when editing and subtitling was completed I rendered out several different quality versions of the film. Of course for the master file it is necessary to render the highest quality possible at the time (Apple ProRes 422 compressor). Finally, I had to make a DVD (MPEG) quality file. To accomplish this, I used a combination of Final Cut Pro 7, MPEG streamclip, and Apple Compressor. One additional step is to make an original trailer (a.k.a. without using copyrighted songs).
At the time, the go-to way of getting noticed for festivals was through "withoutabox.com" via IMDB, however, that service has been dead since 2018. I'll have to research again how the festival circuit is done for my future films. In this industry, blink once and all the technology you've worked with and all the methods for PR are already ancient relics.
Once the lengthy application form was filled out and the film promotion kit is completed, it is time to start browsing through festivals. There are hundreds of them, so it is really hard to narrow down the options into just a few. Hence, there are many things to take into consideration:
· Genres/Niches: Does your film suit this festival? If you are making a horror movie, make sure the festival suits your film.
· Prestige: Some festivals can be very prestigious, however, the more prestigious the festival is, the tougher the competition. Even a flawless and original student movie will still have a hard time going against A-film budget and Hollywood stars. However if this is an unknown festival, being accepted won’t give your film much more acclaim.
· Price: This one can be difficult to consider. Compare the price to the prestige of the festival. If the festival is well established and suits your genre, but is expensive, is it still worth paying? A general rule: no-name festivals charging over 20$ per entry are simply not worth it.
· Location: Is this a festival you might have a chance to attend in person? Think about
· Deadlines: Has the festival already passed? Are you submitting to the early bird or late deadline? – this strongly affects the price.
· Ethnicity restrictions: A white Canadian making a Japanese film hits a lot of ethnicity barriers. Festivals such as Japan’s Skip City D-International film festival would not consider a short film directed by a non-Japanese, even if the film is shot in Japan with Japanese actors and is spoken in Japanese, and so it would have to complete as a foreign film since the director is a foreigner. On the contrary, some "Canadian" festivals considered the film a Japanese film, and therefore it wasn't able to compete in the shorts there. What do you think about this?
The final choice of what festival should be based on a combination of these factors. Since money is usually an issue with students, I strongly recommend looking at suitable festivals with approaching early bird deadlines.
As technology is getting cheaper and more advanced, competition into these festivals is constantly getting tougher. In the unfortunate case the film is rejected, don’t become discouraged. With every failure though, I have modified and done my best to improve my skills. Learn every mistake and keep pushing onward! The film industry is something that is constantly evolving, and so are the methods of distribution and promotion. Although I hope that my experiences written here are taken into consideration, I recommend any student filmmaker to always look for new and innovative means to promote their project.
Result:
Asides from getting an A in Karl's class and being showed at our school's film festival, The Abduction was also received at the prestigious Independent Filmmakers Showcase festival in Hollywood in 2014. Although it didn't get any awards at the festival, description they gave for my movie was spot-on, which was a real boost of encouragement. Over the next two years, I created 3 more connecting short films and compiled them together into a feature length project - MIDNIGHT GHOST STORY, but by then I was too broke to properly send it off to many festivals. It was one of my biggest regrets to not be able to attend the IFS festival in person. I hope in the future, I will have more budget in my next project for promotion. This is partly why I am now working at a PR company, as promoting a film is just as important as making it.
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