Part 2 - 1

Getting up at five in the morning, we started shooting in front of the Asakusa Kaminari-mon. It was a fine day. The god of cinema seems to have smiled upon us.

I looked at the familiar big, red “Kaminari-mon” lantern – today, I found a carving of a dragon at the bottom of it. “Dragon” happens to be my lucky item!

The shooting started smoothly. To start things off, we only took one cut. We wrapped things up by 8:30, and we moved on to Akihabara. That is the only way we can get permission to shoot there. Therefore, we shot a montage picture at a different place. This will be used for the scene Soo Hyun goes sightseeing on his bicycle.

With an iPod shuffle in my ear, I am listening to the music that will be used in this scene which just arrived yesterday. I need to come up for an image for the live session scene which we will be shooting on the 22nd. The music is good, but I still don’t have any of the lyrics nor the score. Okay, how should I arrange the cuts for the shooting? I’m at loss....

My own outfit for today is a green battle surcoat. It is one of my favorites, made with material for a kimono. I thought of wearing it today to get fired up. All I need is a fan then I could be a feudal warlord! (laughs)

Some of the staff told me wryly, “Maybe you’re just a bit overzealous”, but they seem to like it okay.

A bit after noon, Marky, who is going to play the part of Yuri appeared at the sight. Her shooting is scheduled only for the evening, but the chief assistant director was going to tend to her rehearsal. We’ll see how far she gets tomorrow. I wonder how things will turn out.

When I trained her personally a few days ago, she shed tears from frustration, but all talented rookies go through this phase. There isn’t an obstacle that can’t be overcome. But the problem is, there is just too little time for rehearsal. I am worried whether she will be able to keep up with us.

When we went back to the Nakamise shopping street in Asakusa, the area was full of sightseers from all over the world, even though it was a weekday. I asked Tae Sung for his personal opinion as a Korean, to think about what Soo Hyun would have thought at the souvenir shop. His preference of souvenirs was a bit different from what the Japanese staff imagined. That’s the interesting part.

As usual, we were disturbed by traffic congestion, and traffic lights going on and off at the wrong time, but we were able to finish shooting the bicycle riding scene as scheduled. The picture is pretty good – a refreshing scene full of speed. It should go well with the music.

The only thing left for today was the first cut with Marky. We travel across Tokyo for Shibuya. In this scene, she is working as a part-timer. This will be her first experience in movies – how will it turn out? The audience can check for themselves in the theater.

That was day one. I’m not sure if I will have the time to blog from now on. But I want to leave a record of this project somehow. The shooting has just begun!

(originally posted in Japanese on June 21, 2006)