www.47news.jp
林家三平、国分佐智子が挙式・披露宴 ビートたけしが毒舌祝辞も 落語家の林家三平と女優の国分佐智子の挙式、披露宴が２日、東京都内で行われ、共演が交際のきっかけとなった時代劇「水戸黄門」で黄門を演じる里
Monday, October 03, 2011
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Deep in Blue
www.youtube.com
Scene from Deep Blue Sea. Do me a favor and just look at his face when it zooms in, right before the kill. Just try to take that face seriously.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
A SAKI October
SAKI: A feature film of a Japanese woman exiled to America, finding herself teaching art to a unique group of students. But when her grandfather visits from Japan, hell comes with him and Saki finds strength in the demons of her artistic expression.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The DRIVE to make it happen
Nicolas Winding Refn, director of the film DRIVE. He usually shoots in
chronological order which allows him to improvise & not worry about
what he's already shot. No rehearsals, it's all in casting. He finds
storyboarding frustrating & tries to avoid it.
chronological order which allows him to improvise & not worry about
what he's already shot. No rehearsals, it's all in casting. He finds
storyboarding frustrating & tries to avoid it.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Where SAKI and fashion meet
Location: "5th&Sunset Studio" 12322 Exposition Blvd LA CA 90064
Time: 12:00PM Sunday, September 11th
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
SAKI
SAKI: A feature film of a Japanese woman exiled to America, finding herself teaching art to a unique group of students. But when her grandfather visits from Japan, hell comes with him and Saki finds strength in the demons of her artistic expression.
Monday, September 05, 2011
Busy 4th quarter
It's going to be a hell of a busy 4th quarter for me in 2011 - feature
film busy that is. It's the best kind of busy there is.
film busy that is. It's the best kind of busy there is.
Friday, September 02, 2011
ISMP, 5 years for the school & 3 years for me
A school is only as good as it's students, and I'm grateful to be able consider my students as my friends and even better, as my creative film collaborators (and sometimes as cheap labor). I originally came to ISMP for Junya Sakino (he's probably sick of me by now), I stayed at ISMP for my students (it's hard to choose who my favorite student is... it's definitely not Takeya Aso... ok, my favorite student is definitely not a guy), and now I look forward to what ISMP will become for myself (ISMP is my weird hobby). Here's to a 5th Anniversary of great students and many more years of fun (although rewriting student scripts can be such a pain in the ass - do your teacher a favor, KEEP STUDYING ENGLISH)! Cheers! おめでとうございます。 
www.laismp.com
ISMPはロサンゼルス発の映画をつくりたい人、映画業界に入りたい人、映画留学したい人など、映画業界志望者が日本語で本場ハリウッドの映画製作を学べる学校です。
Thursday, September 01, 2011
The Karaoke Stuntman
Lance Masa (the killer Kanekichi in the feature film SAKI) is at it again. This time the Karaoke Stuntman is doing some dam jumping in Switzerland.
お待たせしますたっ！！ やって☆みたシリーズ第３弾でっす。 免許シリーズから５０日後くらいでっす。 スキンヘッドから、この長さまで伸びますたｗｗ Thank you for waiting! Finally, I could upload. I actually took this video on April ...
SAKI: A feature film of a Japanese woman exiled to America, finding herself teaching art to a unique group of students. But when her grandfather visits from Japan, hell comes with him and Saki finds strength in the demons of her artistic expression.
Page: 266 people like this.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Killer Artwork
Wow, excited to see some package artwork (from photos I took) for the movie I wrote SAKI. Japanese sure know how to sell it visually!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sucker Punched to the Past
www.imdb.com
Directed by Zack Snyder. With Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone. A young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the mental facility.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Filmmaking and Beer Bellies
www.pronews.jp
©2011 TAKAMINE制作委員会 映画『TAKAMINE アメリカに桜を咲かせた男』 2009年外務省発表の統計では、アメリカに在留する日本人の数は約384,000人。ロサンゼルス（LA）には約67,000人の日本人がいる。その中には就労ビザを取得してハリウッドの映画業界で活躍する日本人も今では多く存在する。映像界にとってもアメリカとの関係は、今や切り離せない関係になっている。４月に公開される映画｢TAKAMINE アメリカに桜を咲かせた男｣の主人公、高峰譲吉は明治時代に化学者として功績を残し、また日米親善特使として日本とアメリカの架け橋となった人物だ。この作品は
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Celtx Script Writing Software
SAKI: A feature film of a Japanese woman exiled to America, finding herself teaching art to a unique group of students. But when her grandfather visits from Japan, hell comes with him and Saki finds strength in the demons of her artistic expression.
Page: 266 people like this.
Mythomania
"Love and work...work and love, that's all there is." --Sigmund Freud Andy Go is an amateur cartoonist dreaming of hitting it big -- and he just might get hi...
SAKI Soundtrack
It's a SAKI soundtrack extravaganza!
Original SAKI soundtrack by Daichi Yoshida - dark, moody, and then some cutting action. It's got all the ranges of emotion that drive the feature film SAKI!
Here is a title track from the feature film SAKI, produced by Atsuyuki Kono/Jazzminshroom with Vocal by David Hiestand and Sabine Esmaili!
soundcloud.com
Movie sound track of Saki Running to you Produced by Atsuyuki Kono/Jazzminshroom Vocal by David Hiestand and Sabine Esmaili
Another title track by Jazzminshroom featured in the film SAKI. Dig the the light fun theme - after all Saki goes from SoCal fun under the sun cutie to LA night thrill-kill.
soundcloud.com
See you again from the Album Livin' in Caleuphoria by Jazzminshroom This is the new mix for feature film SAKI
Another title track from SAKI, produced by Atsuyuki Kono/Jazzminshroom. Listen to the complete track!
soundcloud.com
Let it go from the album Livin' in Caleuphoria by Jazzminshroom special mix for the sound track of the feature film SAKI
Monday, August 15, 2011
SAKI Original Trailer
vimeo.com
WARNING ADULT CONTENT! SAKI: A feature film of a Japanese woman exiled to America, finding herself teaching art to a unique group of students. But when her grandfather visits from Japan, hell comes with him and Saki finds strength in the demons of her...
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Macbook Screen Rotation
Here's a cool trick to rotate your Macbook screen:
- Hold down the Command+Option keys and click on "Display."
- Look for 'Rotation' on the right side of the Display window and take your pick.
Obviously turning your Macbook on it's ear is not effective for typing but I find it useful for sorting my long vertical list of scenes when I outline for a feature script.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Anatomy of SAKI character design: Kanekichi
People seem to have an affinity for the character Kanekichi. Again a testament to the efforts of the cast and crew that brought the initial character design to life.
Anatomy of SAKI character design: Saki
From concept to completion, the SAKI cast and crew did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life.
Friday, August 05, 2011
Midnight Chill
So if you're up at midnight PST (4pm Japan time) looking for a nice diversion in Japanese, check out HanaHanaTV hosted by the director of TAKAMINE. Since midnight is my script writing time, I just kick back with chilled glass of umeshu (plum wine), tune into the stream and listen to the chatter as I write. 
www.ustream.tv
野毛HanaHanaTV @ USTREAM: 8月1～20日の毎日16時～17時30分、野毛の旧コロンビアから、Hana＊HanaTV～シドモアさんを探せ～、生放送を行います。 番組主旨 ワシントン市ポトマック川畔に桜が日本から贈られて、 来年(1912年・3月)で100年 を数えます。桜を介し、日本と米国...
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Scarlet Influence
Wow, you can watch the entire film of director Fritz Lang's SCARLET STREET on Youtube. This is the film that inspired the writer and the thematic connection between death and art in the film SAKI. And if you pay close attention to the ending 3rd act you'll get a glimpse of some of the themes that will emerge in SAKI 2! 
www.youtube.com
Middle-aged Chris Cross has a gold watch and little else. One rainy night, he rescues the delectable Kitty from her abusive boyfriend, Johnny. Chris is smitt...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
TK Carter knife fight that inspired SAKI movie knife fight
gdata.youtube.com
Punky catches a boy breaking into her room and stealing from her. Henry takes the boy to Fenster Hall where Mike Fulton, one of the workers there, tries to bond with him. Stars Soleil Moon Frye - Punky Brewster Cherie Johnson - Cherie Johnson George Gaynes - Henry Warnimont Betty Johnson - Sus
Punky beginnings
Trivia: When killer Kanekichi 1st attacks Saki's grandfather, Shin, the Old Man takes off his sweater and wraps it around his arm to fight against Kanekichi's tanto knife. This action sequence was originally conceived by the writer as a child many years ago while watching an episode of the American TV show "Punky Brewster" where Punky's teacher (played by T. K. Carter) saves her from a trouble maker named Blade by wrapping a handkerchief around his hand to prevent from getting cut.
Dreams that lie to me
In my dream, my friend Sean explained that a young electric ukulele musician named Walt would train mice to bite down on his cables in order to prevent them from getting tangled. The 1st mouse he trained was named Mickey and thus the legend of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse began. Oddly enough if he wasn't explaining this to me while being bored in a Japanese hostess club, I would've believed him.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Subtext of subtitles
I don't know how many writers get to do their own subtitles but for SAKI it's been a good lesson on how to keep dialog tight and efficient. Nobody wants to read a fricken novel on the screen. Keep It Simple Scriptwriters!
Monday, July 25, 2011
3D to come
3dradar.techradar.com
News and reviews for 3D TVs, games, movies, gadgets, tech and more.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Anime Toy Story
www.youtube.com
The return of Sephiroth, see how Cloud will do to fight back against Sephiroth, main skills is green screen, effects mainly practicing fire,twist fire, color...
Friday, July 08, 2011
SAKI Writer/DP Production Notebook
In prepping for my next script I came across the production binder for my feature SAKI. There's a lot of sweat & tears in these pages but it's all about collaborating with a great group of artists.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Dreams of War
Just woke up from a dream that was frightening - it wasn't the fact that it was terrifying but rather the relative scale of the destruction and the fact that it unfolded before my eyes and the consequences it meant for each moment after it occurred. I myself was a child in the dream, maybe about 12, but I was not in the house I grew up in. I was in a house more similar to the one I live in now with a view of the harbor. This view would normally be the welcome sight of swaying palm trees and rolling waves but this time there was a warship positioned a few miles out. I stood there marveling at the massive hulk of metal though from my view it appeared no larger than a toy - but that realism was the horror of the scene, the fact that this did not seem like a movie where the camera was right up close to action. I could hear the news on the TV blaring in the background, sounding off the play-by-play of the subtle event that started simply with a transport helicopter flying around the warship. In the next moment I could see smoke perforating through the helicopter in rapid succession followed by a black billowing cloud that trailed the helicopter as is tipped forward then twisted down to the water below. As the rotor blades hit the sparkling blue they crumple and thrash in the fraction of a second before the whole mass just belly flopped into one big splash. But before any question of consequence could wash over me I could see puffs of smoke silently pop from the warship followed the sound of distant thunder and then that was followed by an even louder boom and grumble that was certainly the exploding target of the warship's massive gunfire. I couldn't see what was being hit but from the sounds I could tell it wasn't far from where I was. I could hear the crazed yelling of the news reporter from the television down stairs. Then the screams of fighter jets above. But the next onslaught wasn't from these jets, it was from a projectile that seemed to have been launched from under the water. It was like a snake that struck just above the water then it smacked into the warship just above it's hull. What followed was a spectacular explosion that finally made be flinch as the whole center of the metal monster of a boat just burst backwards then crumbled into smaller pieces as if the ship was made of Legos. What was left of the front and rear just seemed to flatten and melt into the harbor, a mass of debris would be the only trace that a warship was ever there. And then that wash of consequence came over me as I ran out of the room - the world, the one I knew, was no longer movies and video games. As I raced down stairs, following the frantic reporting from the TV, I called for my parents and my sister. But when I got to the living room it was empty except for the television with the news replaying the very events that I had witnessed with my bare eyes. The dream didn't end there, I actually ran back up the stairs and would find my sister on the phone. But in that moment of standing in that empty living room I thought that some invisible force from the blast might have evaporated my family (remember in my dream I was only 12) and that I was the only person left on the planet. It was a chilling sadness that that sucked itself into a hole in my heart and I felt my knees weaken. In this case I was able to escape by waking up, but the fear is always that next time there will be no escape.
True to it's Grit
TRUE GRIT is great. When I polished the English dialogue for TAKAMINE I researched 1900's literature and found that they didn't use contractions back then (do not vs. didn't) but I found the dialog clunky & funny so I restrained myself & kept the dialog semi modern. But the Coen bro in TRUE GRIT really take that clunky & funny dialog & make it their own - very admirable writing as always.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
KS x RP
Have a new script I want to write - I even know who I want to cast. But I have two other scripts I have to write before I can get to this one!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Production Binder
Really digging the writing software Scrivener as my research and production binder. Jumping in with both feet using it to break the script into scenes and packaging scenes with translations (script is in Japanese), location photos, shooting floor plans, etc. I can add keywords/tags so that if I want only certain information I can do a search and then output a PDF with only the info I want or I can output the whole binder and push it to my iPad to reference on the road.
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html
Saturday, July 17, 2010
SAKI 2
The journey to writing the sequel to SAKI begins even though I'm crazy busy with post production on SAKI part one and busy with pre production on another film I'm DPing. Writing is what keeps me sane.
Scrivner
Debating on whether to use Scrivner software for my next feature script. I like the index card tools but ultimately it's a linear based organization of the cards like Celtx or Final Draft. I've adapted to Celtx and like it but at least Scrivner has some additional features like folders for index cards. Decisions, decisions!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Puppet Master
Had a dream where I was attending a casual social for our building where everyone was welcoming this new couple into our complex. This couple was annoyingly excited to visit the latest play from the ICT theater group in downtown, just a hop-skip-&-a-jump away from our building. So didn't want to go but the wife wanted to so I got dragged along. As the wife as getting tickets the venue was offering free food, so in the name of getting the most out of the excursion, I loaded up on food and just as I was about to dig in the curtain call sounds and I had to abandon my bounty. So the show was supposed to be this interactive theater experience where performers would show up on stage and play to video projections and massive mechanically animated sets. On top of the that the seats would move and according to the scene but since this was a dream, the chair movements were ridiculously roller coaster like where we'd be flying around the room as independently moving rows. So the subject of the show itself was some kind of murder mystery and throughout the course of the show, someone in the audience would get bumped off and instructed to move to a waiting area. So as I was watching the show, much more amused by the level of interactivity, I started to feel my seat rumble and realized that I was pegged to be killed within the context of the story. So then my seat goes flying in the air and at some point everyone gasps because I'm literally falling off my seat 100 feet up in the air. But the whole time I'm having a blast. Then finally it ends and I'm instructed to go to the "dead" people's waiting area. That's where the fun stopped because apparently the theater people hired prison inmates to chaperone that room and these guys would randomly pick-off people and beat their face. I wasn't immune to such treatment and when they harassed me I broke into a full on martial arts action sequence kicking and chopping my way to broken bones and shattered prides. By the end of the whole ordeal I was screaming and threatening the theater owners as I was walking home with the wife. Then I woke up.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Sam Bam's Top 15 Films of the Decade... and Why
Ok so I bit. Here are my top 15 films of the decade 2000-2009. Of course there are plenty of great films I haven't seen and I basically looked up films I rated 5 stars on my Netflix account. They're not in any particular order (somewhat alphabetical) and because I hate "top" lists (they're so arbitrary without any context from the author), I tried to one-up other lists by typing a short blurb about how each film affected me.
Brick (2005) - Modern day Hammett with a teen twist, the movie I've always wanted to write/direct. Screw you Rian Johnson.
Children of Men (2006) - I may have to re-watch this one to see if it holds up but I was sucked into the reality of all young people dying and what that meant and/or represented.
City of God (2002) - So foreign yet so familiar. Stylistically flashy but I always felt it was truthful and sincere in telling it's story.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) - The scene where Michelle Yeoh confesses her love right when Chow Yun Fat is dying, just makes me want to look up every girl that I ever secretly loved and then die in front of them in hopes that they'd confess their affections for me in the same way.
The Dark Knight (2008) - This is how action movies should be - epic, brooding, deep, unrelenting, kicking ass.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - I liked it as a funky love story with conceptually interesting metaphors for all the thralls of love and love lost.
Hero (2002) - Gorgeous. One of the few movies I've watched multiple times - studied.
Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - Such a unique world and way of expressing universal themes. Superb mixture of wonderment and affection.
Man on Fire (2004) - Denzel speaking Spanish like a bad-ass and killer graphical subtitles to remind you he's a bad-ass.
Mulholland Dr. (2001) - I hated this movie on 1st viewing. But the 2nd time around (admittedly to watch a blonde and a brunette get it on) I was enraptured by how black the blacks were - I'm not sure how else to describe it.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) - Another film I hated on 1st viewing but when I paid attention to the dialog and subtleties of the performances (not to mention appreciating the photography) the humor just came roaring through.
Spider-Man 2 (2004) - The only Spiderman movie we ever needed.
Spirited Away (2001) - One of the best coming of age stories I can recall. It really highlights how we appreciate things once our horizons expand, once we grow up a little.
Traffic (2000) - Just a solid effort. Truly gritty photography, performances fluid to the story, intriguing to the end.
Whale Rider (2003) - Like City of God it's a window into a culture that endures universal sufferings - sufferings we tend to forget. It gets a little dusty for me when I watch this film.
Memento (2000) - The current benchmark (for me) of Neo Noir / Modern Hardboiled Fiction.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - The scene where the hobbit sings for the king, cross cut with slow motion of the king's son charging into battle - I just hold my breath.
Oldboy (2003) - Being a big fan of Hardboiled Fiction, namely Hammett, I'm fascinated with the lineage of that tradition from Kurosawa samurai movies to Hong Kong shoot'em ups. Oldboy is another hallmark in that tradition: 1. A lone hero that must follow a code. 2. A harsh and violent city. 3. A dangerous woman. 4. Corrupt figures in power, figures of authority, and/or figures of affluence. 5. All is not what it seems.
The Prestige (2006) - At this point I'm just really kissing Nolan's ass, but the very process of misdirection to create the illusion of other worldly abilities is how I perceive the filmmaking process and this film encapsulates the thrill of that pursuit.
There Will Be Blood (2007) - I feel like this movie represents my American heritage, good and bad - as opposed to what I take from being part of the Japanese culture as well.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Testing Another Pipe
Seeing if Yahoo Pipes is properly aggregating my feeds. This one is from my Gnet-X blog.
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