May 2014 Archives

Filming "Stars" on Niijima

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Here is the latest video with the Frolicaholics. We filmed it on Niijima during Guru-Guru Camp and it was such fun that I want to share the behind the scenes bits. 

The Recording
We sat in our campsite early in morning - there were no other campers in residence yet - and tried perhaps ten takes, adjusting our position relative to the Xoom recorder. Tod's toy xylophone is a lot louder than my voice and ukulele, so he had to sit back on the bench while I cozied up to the table. We'd brought lots of recording gear, including an extra mic and a stick-on pickup for the uke; we even considered going into town to record in the karaoke room, but...too much trouble. The sun was warm and we didn't want to move.

Rob also filmed the recording session, so there are some clips from it in the video. Look for the ones where my lips sync up perfectly. We'd planned to play back the recording through my amp and sing along to it, but that was just too much work. I am pretty sure we never sang the song at the same tempo twice as we continued filming. The fact that my lips sync at all is Rob's editing magic.

The birds singing in the background at the beginning are the real birds at camp. Our dawn chorus.

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The Filming
Rob wanted to make this video to play with some new gear he's gotten since last year's camp - a very long lens and a star tracker. He'd planned to capture some of us hoopers in front of the moon, but the moon was only a crescent while we were there. So we switched to sunrise and sunset shots. 

Rob & I became adept at waking up before dawn to walk over to the beach. My favorite camp memory is waking at 4 and climbing up to the top the stone monument on the hill between camp and the shore. It was windy up there and a long way down. The koga stone is very grippy, fortunately, as the top of the monument is slanted like a roof. Rob got the shots he wanted of me hooping with the sun rising behind.  First I sat and did poses, then when the sun was up far enough, I stood up to hoop. That waist hooping, which you'll see in the video, is rather wonky and tenuous thanks to the gusty wind and my fear of falling. I didn't topple but it seemed so likely. Pushing my boundaries was a very good experience - and it happened before morning coffee.

Most of the shots of me and Tod playing our instruments were filmed at camp or in the "stone animal zoo" next door. We filmed for two days while camp was relatively empty, and then again as the flood of campers left on the last day. I think I sang Stars about 60 times. 

The kissing bits were taken on the other side of the island at the port ferry terminal - we sneaked up onto the balcony after the building closed to catch the sunset. So naughty. That same afternoon we also filmed on the beach and rocks near the ferry to the general entertainment of passersby.

Actually, I was not feeling well that day and napped in the tent while Tod & Rob went location scouting. They called me two hours before sunset and asked me to come because they had a plan. I put on my costume, shoved our instruments, Tod's costume, and everything else we'd need into my bike basket and pedalled out of camp to a chorus of "Yabai!" from the next camp over. Hmph.

The LED hooping happened on the hill in Habushiura Park one night after dinner. I love the shot of the hoops coming at the camera. Rob was great at directing motions that seemed strange at the time, then look so amazing on screen. Tod, Alice and Harusa did the trippy stuff, Sareh executed a lovely solo even though she was falling asleep, and we all did the impromptu group choreo.

One evening we had a sunset hoop jam on the beach near Yu no Hama Onsen. After some freestyle hooping, we lined up for group movements and Rob got us to frame the sun, then pull our hoops away. The shot is reversed in the video so that it looks like we move into perfect alignment with the sun. Yay for editing.

For Camper
The mysterious dedication, "This video is for camper" is a Niijima in-joke. Our friend, Takashi Miyagawa, spends his free time making tables, benches, and other things from scrap lumber. He's even made barbecues from old gas canisters he saw sin half by hand. He brings them to camp labelled キャンプ用 FOR CAMPER. There is a huge collection of Takashi's practical furniture and we are always grateful for him and his creativity. So this video is for camper.


Me, the Sea, and the Sunrise

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One of the quiet delights of camping on Niijima is a morning walk to the beach. This year, I saw several sunrises emerging blood red from the ocean. For some of them I was busy hooping while Rob filmed me for our video project.

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Sunrise. I am sitting atop a 4 meter high koga stone monument. Rob is about 100 meters away with his long lens.


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