Yoooooooi....Stato!

The heading of this article is pronounced "yo-ee" then "stato", in which the "a" sound is pronounced the same way as you would in the word "what." It's significant because this is what I heard a countless number of times on the commercial shoot that I was recently able to take part in. This phrase came from the director and would signal the start of a shot. This meant that everyone had to be quiet while the shot was taken. The reason why this phrase stuck with me was not the frequency of hearing it but the way in which it was stated. Imagine the "yooooi" as a near warcry in delivery as well as volume. Followed by "stato" as if he was uttering it to a lovable sleeping babe. It was not just quiet; he said it with love. This excellent phrase was just the awesome things I'd experience on the shoot.
The commercial itself was for a women's energy drink and, in typical Japanese fashion, contained schoolgirls and men dressed in giggle-inducing alien costumes. The main plot of the commercial was that the main girl comes into school and finds that her classmates are so tired that they turn into monsters with very little physical practicality in their biological structures. She then drinks the drink and wages an epic battle with all the monsters that are now filling her school. Here is an example of one such terror. Many times this creature, and others, had to be lugged in and out of the classroom that we were shooting in. I think that seeing his arms waving limply while, like a sack of beans, he was hauled in and out of small doorways, took away from his look of alien ferocity. It was awesome to be able to be a part of such an inherently Japanese commercial, and by "be a part of" I mean oggle the aliens while trying not to get in the way of the crew. I managed to do this quite successfully and had an awesome time watching the shoot unfold.
All the film productions I've ever been a part of have pretty much been me and one other person filming with a handheld camera. This was not the case at the shoot. The organization of every shot was what fascinated me the most. Everyone had a list of the shots that needed to be taken, and as soon as the director would announce which was next, everyone would get to their particular jobs. This meant that the director could ponder over the next shot while the lighting people got to work and the camera crew set up tracks and positions. One part that I thought was particularly cool was that there was a girl in the crew whose sole job was to stand in the place where the female star of the commercial eventually would while they set up the shot. This allowed for the lead to not get too tired from all the standing and let the shot be set up with perfect accuracy. Oh and here's me with another terrible being.
The reason why I was actually able to go on this particular shoot was because my co-workers were cast as extras in the commercial. Their role was that of "tired school-girls that turn into monsters." A pretty standard role I'd say. So they did their job and I got to watch the magic unfold. Here is a picture of all of us with the other two monsters. In the end this proved to be a very interesting and unique experience. I also have another shoot coming up that will be shot all over Tokyo, so that will be an amazing time. I'd say all in all, being able to take part in this internship has been an awesome opportunity.

Weekend Tokyostravaganza

Actually, I only spent Saturday exploring Tokyo, but I did enough stuff to take up an entire weekend. I started traveling into Tokyo at around 1:00 Saturday afternoon. Before I got into Tokyo though, I needed to stop by an ATM in Yokohama to pick up some cash. But, once I left the station, the building I needed to get to was across a large street with no crosswalks. So I looked around and saw what looked like stairs to an underpass for the road. When I walked down the stairs I wasn't greeted with a tunnel under the road, but an entire underground mall spanning at least two blocks. It was full of shops and restaurants and I got a nice meal by myself at a little ramen place. The interesting part of this restaurant was that you order your food at a little vending machine by the door and you are given a ticket for your purchase. You then hand this to a waitress, they give you a seat and your food gets delivered to you incredibly quickly. After that nice lunch I proceded to get back on the train and go to Ebisu.
In Ebisu I went to the Ebisu Beer Museum. This is a picture of some giant tube they brew beer in (I forgot the name) that was pretty much the centerpiece of the museum.
The most interesting part of the museum was the bar, though. The next picture is the little sample I got of four different kinds of Ebisu Beer. They were all great and I got to talk to a nice Japanese businessman while I sampled them. He spoke pretty good english and I complimented him on it, but he explained to me that "I only speak english when (points to his drink.)" So, because of the relaxed setting, I tried out some of my Japanese on him and had a great time. I actually learned a couple interesting differences between Japanese and Chinese. Apparently the word for "wife" in Chinese means "Mistress" in Japanese. That could lead to some sticky situations.
My next stop was a Photograph museum also in Ebisu. I went into two exhibits: Warfare from Vietnam until the present and Award winning photos of pretty much anything. There were pictures of natural disasters, animals, sports, you name it. It was also very interesting because most of the images I saw I had never seen before because they had been pretty much censored out of American Media. They had a couple photographs from Hurricane Katrina that really drove home how big a natural disaster it was. So that was definitely a different experience from the beer museum but it was really fun as well.
My next stop was Shibuya, which is one of the most lively sections of Tokyo. I actually got a picture of the most frequented Starbucks in the world. There is constantly a crowd in it, from the dusk 'til dawn. For most of my time in Shibuya, though, I wandered through a couple malls that were conveniently placed right next to Shibuya Station. I walked through a Japanese book store in one and got a Japanese comic (Manga) to read on the train. I also got to stop off in a Japanese arcade and test my skills. If you didn't already know, beating a Japanese person at video games is like capturing a live giant squid. You know that it's possible, but you just never seem lucky enough to do it. Needless to say, I left the arcade giant squidless.
For dinner I found a Curry-Rice restaurant, which, surprisingly, specializes in serving various mixtures of curry with rice. I got some medium hot pork tonkatsu curry rice(breaded and deep fried pork) and ate it happily.
After my delicious, and cheap, dinner I made my way back to the station and made the long trip home. Needless to say it was a great weekend and a very cool experience in Tokyo. I'm definitely gonna take more excursions into Tokyo whether it is by myself or with company, so you'll be sure to hear more about this fascinating city. Alright then, thanks for all the interest and I'll post again later this week.