Its 6 weeks into work here at Freedom Committee and I continue to be astounded by the animation giants that surround me. ( I am composing this post in a rare studio moment where work stands still for a second while waiting for lighting jobs to come in. ) For starters, my effects chief Yamaura-san, a nice lady who offered us delicious croissants last week, worked on Morimoto's Noiseman Sound Insect, as well as Glay's Survival 2D, a piece very personal to me because I first saw it as an animation student 8 years ago and which had a very big influence on my final year animation project. Then there's Abe-san, the colour designer, who addresses me as kou-chan, worked on Jinroh The Wolf Brigade and Watabe-san, the background artist and mecha designer, whose credits include Ghost in the Shell 1 & 2, Patlabor 2, Nausicaa, and of course, Akira. The list continues. I'm pretty microscopic around here, a tiny microbe stuck on a speck of dust.

Ok, back to work...

Working 12 hour days is becoming the norm as the deadline for Freedom 2 draws closer, and with the animators finishing up their scenes work is piling up as they get passed on to us for lighting and rendering. Just last friday we had first look at the 30 second spot for Freedom 2 that will be up on Japan TV soon, and it feels great to be involved in a project that is always on air, at least for the better part of the next 2 years until Freedom Project concludes with episode 7. Crunch time has barely started.



I've not had any decent chance to watch films the past few months, but with me settling down pretty comfortably at work now I really want to make up for lost time. Its time to get back to the source.

Steamboy Studios in Ogikubo, Tokyo. Previously the workplace for Otomo Katsuhiro's Steamboy crew, its now home to the Freedom Committee team.

Today the entire Freedom Committee team bugged out of the office earlier for our ( 3 newcomers, including myself ) welcome party. Certainly its but a good excuse for everyone to get sloshed but the Japanese do take their drinking very seriously !
The lowermost photograph just above this text shows ( from L to R ), Matsui-san, my lighting, rendering and compositing chief, next Morita-san, director of Freedom Project, and Sajiki-san, whom together with Morita-san were the genius minds behind Kakurenbo, the award winning short animation film.

With Freedom 1 releasing on the 24th this month and its preorders hitting the number one spot ( beating Stand Alone Complex, yeah ! ) on many Japanese websites I suppose there's reason for some celebration afterall. Next stop, Freedom 2.

Get yours today.

Some cool stuff that comes along with work on Freedom Project : 1) My email address is myname@steamboy.net, which I am more than ok with; 2) Otomo ( yes, the dude who created that somewhat famous animation Akira ) came by the studio yesterday, tying up some loose ends on a new animation film soon to be released. His work desk by the way, is really untidy...ha.



Here at Sunrise Studios Ogikubo work has commenced on episode 2 of Freedom, with epsiode 1 scheduled for dvd release later this month. Today as the entire Freedom team sat down with the director to run through the storyboard it dawned on me that I was the only foreigner working on Freedom. I wonder if I should feel hououred or alienated, perhaps a bit of both. Its no mistake however that my companions are some of the most talented animators here in Japan, many of whom have worked on Otomo's Steamboy; my animation "supervisor" is a kid 21 years old.

So...back to work.

Browsing through a dvd shop in Shinjuku this evening I was pleasantly surprised to see Freedom Previsited soldout only a day after its release; I suspect the same to happen for Series one , slated for a late November release. Order yours today from Amazon Japan ! Haha. I was thinking wishfully that perhaps I might be entitled to a free copy when I start work but I ordered one anyway to boost Freedom Committee's sales. What's left to do is just the anxious wait for Otomo to pop by the studio...

Blue Skies.

The year was 1989. I was on a usual weekend family visit to my grandparents place. It was totally mundane and largely routine; we would always arrive in the mid afternoon, have dinner prepared by my grandmother, and then head home around 9 or 10 o'clock. But something that would transpire that evening made it an unforgettable day etched forever in my memory. My youngest uncle, whom me and my brother liked immensely because of his huge collection of Japanese comics and cartoons, was once again poised to impress us with his latest acquisitions. Popping the laserdisc ( I still remember vividly those huge and cumbersome laserdiscs, awkward by today's standards but state of the art then ) into the player as the film started, the television screen was filled by the image of a huge and hulking crater, as a bold red title appeared.

The film was Akira. Neither me nor my brother had ever seen anything as devastatingly powerful and at once shocking; indeed, few animation films past and present can challenge the sheer awe and depth of this groundbreaking animation masterpiece. I was immediately hooked; I must have lived and breathed Akira for years to come, watching the film countless times and poring over the comics, its imaginative and detail artwork the stuff I wish I could one day, if even just a tiny percentage of that beauty, recreate.

Fast forward 17 years into the future, I am now 27 and on a film scholarship here in Tokyo, Japan. Its a cold October evening and I'm rushing around like a madman in Ogikubo, searching frantically for the studio where I was supposed to attend an interview for a job that should have started 30 minutes ago.

"Where the hell have you been ? Get the f**k outta here, we do not entertain late comers." These nightmarish images, soon to become reality I thought, flashed over and over again in my mind.

* * *

One hour later. I emerged from the studio, bowing profusely. The director said he liked the work he saw on my website, hopes for me to begin work with them soon.

The name of the studio, stuck nonchalantly on the door, read Steamboy Committee; the name of the assignment that I am soon to embark on : Project Freedom; character designer; Katsuhiro Otomo.

I'm greatly honoured to join the Project Freedom committee, standing on the shoulder of giants. To me, the chance of working on a Otomo Katsuhiro film is nothing short of a dream come true. I live a blessed life, I think.

Here are the 300kbs, 500kbs, and 1Mbs previews of Freedom.

In an era when most folks are eagerly abandoning those mouldy film cameras for their sparkling, high tech digital counterparts I seem to be taking a journey in the opposite direction, shooting on my 2nd hand Mamiya 645 medium format camera. Been an absolute sucker for rich, intense tones and that inexplicable warmth of celluloid my Mamiya delivers, and then some. Certainly, digital is here to stay and I adore my Nikon D70s, but for that classy age old look that is film, I'll still put my trust in those spiffy silver halides. Big thanks to Takeshi for scanning the negs.

A seemingly perpetual drizzle that lasted 3 days washed away the arid summer heat and with it came numbing, piercing gails, the sure harbinger of autumn, rattling the flimsy wooden window panels of my old house. Interestingly, this transitional change in the seasons, though happening a thousand miles away from home, brings back very vivid memories of Singapore, rainy days where the temperature drops and huge storm clouds would loom in the sky, casting a bluish, melancholic mood over everything and one could almost feel the rain before the first drops have even started to fall.

Am I homesick ? Perhaps. Or maybe its just because it rains so seldom here in Tokyo (comparatively) that I relish those quiet moments of lucidity, that few precious seconds when everything seems to stand still, transporting me, albeit fleetingly, back home.

Some screengrabs off my recently completed graduation film project "Umi no Namida", where I tripled as cameraman/cinematography, storyboard artist, as well as editor. For any filmmaker there's always the indescribable rush of excitment and pleasure as one watches the film take shape slowly during the editing stage, so I guess those all-nighters hadn't gone to waste.

Kyoto/Osaka/Nara trip - Quite simply in two words; beauty and tranquilty. Think breathtaking shrines and temples, and then some.

Some production photos from the locations of my final year film project. More updates coming soon.

A recent 16mm film shoot filling up 2 weekends have had me appreciate the value of sleep in a way I had not since the army days; let's hope at least the rushes turn out decent. As we wrap up things on this shoot preproduction starts for my final year project, in between a serious and earnest lookout for a job opening here in Tokyo. Amidst these hustling events just as I am about to lose sense of all time and purpose an appropriately timed present from my Korean sharemate ushers me back to one of my most cherished creative inspiration; a book procured from a 2nd hand book store; a Iwai Shunji's Love Letter photobook, for less than 1.50 singapore dollars. To me, its true worth can hardly ever be calculated.

On planet Tokyo, people travel to work in elevators. I mean lifts. No I mean cars damn it. But cars are elevators. So are lifts cars too ? Or are elevators lifts ? I'm confused !!!!

I could have just died of esctacy right there in Shinkiba's club Ageha on Friday when Paul Van Dyk finished up his dizzying 3 hour set with the mind blowing tunes from his magnum opus track "For An Angel". PVD me anytime, anywhere.

The annual retreat back into wilderness and the embrace of everything natural continues this year with a 5 day travel itinerary to Takasaki in the Gunma Perfecture, hometown of my very good friend Takeshi. Here ample thanks and gratitude must be appropriated to my hosts Takeshi+Kojima whom without them this trip would never have been possible. We travelled far and wide for hours to distant mountains and waterfalls, cabbage farms so huge and wide it was like standing in the middle of the world; quiet, undiscovered villages that could only have appeared in quaint old Japanese films. One night a miraculously timed, passing glance into the starry skies had us catching a beautiful, long tailed shooting star. What are the odds.



Takeshi's father is a farmer so every trip back to Takasaki is like a dietary detox session; an astonishing variety of homegrown vegetables are eaten and meat consumption drops to a virtual zero.



Kojima attempts a Kodak moment.



The Ito residence.





No, I didn't digitally enhanced the colours on these flowers; they were of the very same intensity I saw with my own eyes, but Takeshi quickly informs : "Erm..these are actually the flowers of...weeds." Killjoy.

Takeshi+Kojima+loadsa'cactus.

Bloody crazies Vol II. Pizzacato5ive art directs a soon to be released print ad for the Takashimaya NAC scholarship. Too radical perhaps for MITA, but stylish nontheless. Photography by Kenneth.



Bloody crazies these blokes. Image courtesy of Pizzacato5ive.

Babes galore, rush hour in Shibuya station. This is but only half of the entire ad spread.

I don't ever remember seeing a Macdonald's print ad as hip as this one in our ( Singapore ) Mac's. Not even remotely close. Simple and clean, yet screaming coolness, its interesting how a mere Macdonald's tray sheet can tell you about a country's culture and fashion sense ( or lack thereof ).

My second trip to Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum. I must have been too excited during my first visit to have missed thess 3 blokes perched on the top of the entrance signboard. Charming folks.

Revisits to familiar tourists' spots like the Meiji Jingu and Shibuya's 109 junction as I accompanied my 2 friends Gabriel and Waimeng from Singapore had me tuning my accustomed eyes to little hidden nooks and corners, delightful sights I never knew existed; indeed, god is in the details.

I would like to take some comfort in believing that the jetlag suffered from the flight back to Tokyo after my annual Singapore holiday is the genuine cause of my recent bumming and inactivity in all matters big and small ( school doesn't start till the 2nd week of April. I think. ), but a full week would be pushing it. even for someone particularly susceptible to disruptions in their circadian rhythm. Its astonishing how a mere 3 weeks of indulgence in convenient Singlish ( there's virtually zero chance of communicating in english here in Tokyo, much less singlish for that matter ) and the all too familiar, snug comfort zone can do to one's hitherto half-f**ked Japanese; it was as if my inner brain functions have been all this while waiting for the opportune moment to steal back, realign their native, singlish languaged neurons from the spots where the Japanese *once* occupied.



I was a tourist by the time I touched down in Narita; already I could foresee nightmarish days when school starts, awkward lost in translation moments, but we'll deal with that as it comes along. Before crunch time sets in I think I'll just catch up on a few more dvds, yes please.

As far as I can remember I've always had bad things happen to my everytime I board a flight, bizzare as it seems. Take for example my first momentous trip out of Singapore to LA for the Siggraph convention in 1999. As our plane was descending to LAX I started making out ( it was a window seat ) pinpricks of red, flashing lights all over the runways and no, they weren't guidelights but the entire LA fire department waiting to douse out our plane which incidentally had a leak on its wing and was just waiting to explode into tiny little bits, myself a part of that. Great.



The 2nd time was on a photography job to Brunei with my boss in 2004, 10 minutes after the plane took off my ears started hurting really badly and I was fully expecting blood to come pouing out any second, genuinely fearing for my life. I later found out the excruciating episode was due to the plane ascending too quickly ( due to the short flight time the plane ascends faster than long flights ) and the change in air pressure wrecking havoc on my ears. Now the return flight wasn't too comfy either.

Finally, during my first trip back to Singapore from Japan last year, I yes, lost my wallet at customs 10 minutes before last call. I was tripping, almost turned into a raving madman just waiting to get arrested by airport security and had to settle for home minus my wallet, with all my important documents inside. Just minutes before take off this angelic, beautiful Japanese airport attendent raced down the aisle and handed me my precious. Darn. Should've gotten her number.

So, what's going to happen on today's flight back to Singapore ?

*UPDATED 24TH FEBUARY* Either the gods or someone must have cursed me to suffer a life time of inescapable, horrible fates everytime I board flights because it has happened again : I missed a perfectly good opportunity to meet this beautiful japanese lady Kiyomi ( now living in LA but was in Tokyo to stay with my ex-sharemates Takeshi and Kojima ), heck, she probably even arrived at their house right about the time I was boarding my plane back to Singapore. See here for a photo of Kiyomi ( the girl applying makeup for Kojima ): http://www.lionbus.undo.jp/

They always say if something's not broken, don't fix it, but heck, I really felt like a change. (picture for blog header). To usher in the new year, a breath of fresh air, the works. I just hope it still runs in parallel to the "halcyon realms" theme. Tell me what you guys think. Shot on a beautiful evening near the train tracks near my house.

Watching Reality Bites (1994) for the first time in its entirety brings back very fond memories of my early secondary days where the nostalgic soundtrack featuring Lisa Loeb's "Stay" was one of the first CD's I ever owned, and this was still way back in the early 1990's where the now mesozoic cassette tapes were been slowly but surely supplanted by CDs, a fate they themselves seemed doomed to reiterate in the wake of digital music.



That aside, Reality Bites is an extremely important film in recent cinematic history not only because its serves as an irreplacable memory bookmark in an early chapter of my life ( the transition from bespectacled, nerdy primary school kid to bespectacled, nerdy secondary school kid ), but more importantly because its the emblematic teen-angsty, quasi-intelligent, 90s era defining film, just as what the Matrix Trilogy had done for the new millenium years. This once again demonstrates the power of the cinema and its ability to change worlds and shape lives, deliberate or not. Now the debate of whether Bites was a good or bad film requires another article altogether, but undisputedly, it had one heck of a bloody good soundtrack, bar Sharona or none.

The gods must be lazy this year as they clumped Tokyo's annual worth of snowfall into one single serving, those huge flakes of white crystals transforming a once familiar landscape into an almost unrecognizable winter wonderland; I woke up finding snowflake shadows cascading past my frosted glass windows; 10 minutes later I was out of the house, stepping into fresh snow, my d70 clasped readily in my hands.

On location in Minami-Sunamachi. Principle photography has wrapped and editing is in the works for a short film about 2 ladies who start a cat fight over a cheesecake. As the cameraman for the shoot I also got a humble cameo ( actually almost everyone else in the team did a cameo )as an english teacher ( in a TV advertisement within the film )who tries unsuccesfully to instruct proper pronounciation for the word Cheesecake ( read as chee-su-ke-ki in Japanese ). Now that was great fun.

Article on an online Japanese newspaper, quote : "Japan says its research whaling is in accordance with international rules" International rules my ass. I've never heard of any research that kills its subjects with harpoons and whose meat eventually turns up on someone's menu in a Japanese restaurant. Leave those whales alone you fucking bastards.

Ok, the person in the bottom photo's not me, but its going to be one day, I promise you that. (You just wait Jason. Ha. *green with envy*) Still not getting the picture ? Watch Iwai Shunji's Love Letter.

I wonder if the collective filmmakers ( I would like to think at least half of them had to be sane when the film was shot ) who took part in Chen Kaige's latest film The Promise knew how *beep* ridiculous the notion of a man capable of running faster than the speed of light is. ( trivia; not even our fastest, most advanced fighter plane today can reach even a mere 1% of light speed, which if possible, would already be at an astonishing 30000km/sec. Yes, that's just 1 measly percent. )Sure, you say, its a movie, but this is way more than pushing the audience's ability to suspend their disbelief; its downright insulting. Contestant No.1 for this year's worst film watched. AVOID AVOID AVOID.

So beautiful and realistic is Weta's rendition of King Kong ( with the chompy chirpy Rexes coming in a close 2nd, though I still feel the Rexes from Jurassic Park are the most realistic ever ) that barely five minutes past his first appearance in the film I have lost the ability to visualize him as a CG character generated from mere pixels and texture maps but instead saw him more as a real performer with an emormous, overwhelming presence. King Kong is an oversized silverback with a soft spot for beautiful blondes such as Naomi Watts, and I wonder how Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey would feel if they ever sat through this film, admiration or distaste. There can be no ambivalence however, that King Kong is going to be one of the best effects films released this year.

Films Retrospect 2005

Total tally for films watched in 2005 stands at 28 in theatres and 150 on dvds, making that 178 in all ( Click here to see the entire list ), averaging out to about 1 film every 2 days for the entire year. Here are my top 10 favourite films viewed in 2005, in no particular merit.

1)The Machinist (Brad Anderson)
2)Not One Less (Zhang Yimou)
3)Tony Takitani (Ichikawa Jun)
4)Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)
5)Cha No Aji (Ishii Katsuhito)
6)Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass)
7)Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
8)Life Of Mammals (Documentary, David Attenborough)
9)Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
X)Majo No Takkyubin (Miyazaki Hayao)

Certainly it was tough trying to sift just 10 films out of 178, there were many other entertaining capers like Constantine and Starwars EP3, as well as films that had very outstanding visuals ie Lemony Snicket's, also others worth mentioning like Hotel Rwanda and Daremoshiranai. Due to the exorbitant price of tickets here in Tokyo, exacerbated by its cretaceous release dates the abililty to view the latest films plunged dramatically, but the silver lining was that rental stores here stock many old titles that I was able to catch up on.

With that, here's to another bountiful year ahead for movie viewing ! :]

Having tried out the great Meiji Jingu Jam ( Check out this entry; )in Harajuku during last year's New Year's Eve I figured I'll go see something else this year; the great Ameyoko Jam, a very popular shopping street in Ueno, think a Japanese version of Chinatown on Lunar New Year's Eve. Mingling into the crowd I was literally carried around involuntarily by the human traffic and I soon decided to just go with the flow, snapping whatever interesting that came into view. After that it was a laidback, quiet New Year's dinner with some friends ( most others had gone back to their hometowns to celebrate New Year ); and yes, still secretly yearning for that intoxicated, sloshed out PVD party.