If you've looked at my links in the sidebar and read my October 2006 post you know I'm a fan of the most excellent Tokyo Art Beat (TAB). Since I last wrote about their site they've launched Kansai Art Beat, with plans for a New York City version in the cards.
After two and a half years, today sees the relaunch of TAB, with a completely overhauled design. It was always lovely to look at and use, and now it's even cleaner, and wider.
The relaunch also includes an enhanced version of TABlog, where contributors submit reviews, interviews and videos.
As I mentioned in my May 27 entry, I was working on a short piece on famed architect Kurokawa Kisho (黒川紀章). Part 1, which focuses on the The National Art Center, Tokyo (国立新美術館) is now available to watch on TAB. Please see its dedicated page here (日本語版はこちら).
Part 2, focusing on the Nakagin Capsule Tower, will be completed soon.
I worked quite hard at getting the Youtube version as clear as possible, but it's still a little choppier than I prefer (edit: if you watch it on its original Youtube page it seems fine), so if you're interested you can watch a clearer, QuickTime version I'm hosting on my webspace. You may prefer to right-click/ctrl-click to d/l the file to your local hard drive, which will allow you to resize it etc.
Kurokawa Kisho on Building the National Art Center - QuickTime, 7m26s, 97.21Mb, English Subtitles.
Related Links:
Kurokawa Kisho, official site.
Kurokawa Kisho Wikipedia entry.
By the way, Kurokawa is married to famous and beautiful actress Wakao Ayako (若尾文子). By chance, right after we interviewed him someone on the subway was reading one of the sports rags with a jumbo headline and picture of Kurokawa splashed across the page, announcing their marital strife.
4 comments:
You can tell Kurokawa takes a lot of pride in his work and for good reason, the structure is amazing. Also, kudos on the camera work Jason. Too often you see these interviews shot on a tripod that follow the master/close-up philosophy which is just boring. Going handheld really opened things up and keeps the viewer engaged. Like focusing on Kurokawa's hand gestures and using at least one dissolve through motion were very astute choices. I wish the colors popped more but I'm sure that's a result of the video compression.
An interesting subject shot in an interesting way. Nice work on the short!
Thanks, Imran.
Actually it wasn't handheld, it was on sticks, emulating handheld. The challenge of interviews is you don't know what kind of body language someone is going to have when they sit down (and you can't really ask them beforehand). I noticed his hands were expressive so I went with that.
There's a frosted glass wall behind him, but the depth I would've liked isn't there. Bouncing a light against it from the other side and more of a key on his face would've been better, but the budget of the whole film was about $50.
I fully admit to not being a great videographer (I like editing), but I was happy with most of the gallery footage.
Cheers,
J
Looks like the big sport had car accident and sent to the police.
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070704-00000015-san-soci
Aceface
Oy vey. I hope the taxi driver is okay (even though I'm no fan of their prices).
That's right near Kurokawa's offices in Ark Hills, where we visited. His campaign posters are up in his own lobby.
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