Inspired by Director Naoko Yamada, I bought a SONY FX30 and directed the music video for "Speaker ga 2-dai ari Megamix" by my friend Gassyoh from Maltine Records

"Speaker ga 2-dai ari" Gassyoh Megamix (Music Video)

In this note, I talk about the various aspects of producing this video, so please take a look first.

Introduction

At the end of my previous note - A record of producing the "Mitaka Sound - ACID ACID" MV with a SONY FX30, inspired by Director Naoko Yamada's film "Your Colors", I wrote that I wanted to try shooting a work with a human subject, and this is the continuation of that. This is the second installment in a series inspired by "Love Your Neighbor," which was depicted in the background of the live scene in Your Colors.

Planning - Why a Gassyoh MV?

After producing an MV in my own way once and watching other works, I realized that while a music video is a work of art, it is also a medium that serves as promotion and advertising for the music artist.

First, there is the "music," and you could say the director is like a cheering squad carrying the portable shrine. In that sense, I feel the role of an MV director is close to that of Kensuke Ushio or a promotional producer in a Naoko Yamada film. Of course, there are exceptions like Naoko Yamada's "Garden of Remembrance," which is a musical work where the visuals and music stand side-by-side.

With that in mind, when I decided I wanted to try shooting a human subject, I considered the criteria for requesting a music artist.

• People in the Maltine Records circle who are acquaintances and relatively easy to approach among music artists

• Artists who have almost no MVs and for whom producing an MV might support or leverage their activities in some way

• People who seem likely to continue their activities in the future

• A relationship where they would forgive a loose production style where the overall picture of the work only becomes visible after starting shooting and editing, rather than having everything drawn out at the planning and storyboard stage

• People who seem willing to show their faces

With these points in mind, I gathered with Takahashi-san from Anthem World at Renoir to discuss it, and the name of the DJ/trackmaker I respect, Gassyoh, came up. We approached him together, and he readily agreed.

What kind of MV project? Megamix!

At first, I proposed that it would be good to make an MV for "Dance Music (feat. mochilon)," where the lyrics "Speaker ga 2-dai ari..." have become a bit of an internet club music meme.

During the meeting, the conversation shifted to showing not just Gassyoh as a trackmaker, but also his side as a DJ. We concluded that patching together a large number of new and old tracks into a single Megamix format would be more beneficial for his future activities.

Personally, the fact that DJ Funk, who entertained us with his Megamixes, had passed away just before the meeting might have influenced my subconscious. I have always felt a certain overlap between the initial impulse of sampling and vocals in ghetto house DJ Funk and internet music artist Gassyoh.

And Gassyoh's club tracks were always what I played when I DJed in the past. Since I prided myself on having played his songs more than anyone else in Japan, the production of this Megamix (music) was a dream come true! I brought out my Cobalt Bomb αΩ moniker for the first time in a while, carefully selected and edited from a massive number of tracks, and with precise advice from Gassyoh, I managed to complete a mix under 7 minutes. I think it was created in an ideal form.

I made a video storyboard.

Next is the footage. Once the music, which can be considered the script for an MV, was finished, I needed to consider what kind of footage to shoot and look into locations. Gassyoh lives in Osaka, while we live in Tokyo, and on top of that, accommodation in Osaka was becoming expensive due to the Expo, making it a difficult situation. We scheduled two days, a Saturday and Sunday, to squeeze in the shoot before the Expo, so we had to make effective use of our limited time.

This time, unlike the Asakusa time where we just shot random footage and tried to make it work in editing, it seemed difficult to do that, so I started working on a video storyboard to anticipate the shooting locations and shot breakdown to some extent. I pasted the music into Adobe Premiere and built it up by making full use of existing videos, photos, and generative AI images.

After sharing the video storyboard and seeing if the image was conveyed, Gassyoh, having listened to the Megamix, proposed the title "Speaker ga 2-dai ari" (There are two speakers). The main plot of the MV began to emerge: carrying two speaker units around to famous Osaka spots that serve as the source material for the track, and finally performing at a real club. (I had originally planned to have him carry real monitor speakers, but gave up due to the weight.)

That said, rather than telling a solid story like in a movie or anime, I treated the music as the protagonist. I thought it would be enough if it conveyed that Gassyoh composing and dancing based on dialogues with various societies and environments and familiar motifs is the essence of sampling music so I ultimately focused the composition on the atmosphere and vibe. Now I think that is what club music is all about.

Since I'm not good at drawing pictures myself, being able to rely on generative AI when making the video storyboard was incredibly helpful. Thanks to that, I was able to share a concrete image with Gassyoh and Mr. Takahashi from Mitaka, so I think the advance preparation and scheduling went relatively smoothly. With one exception, I basically didn't include any AI material in the finished product.

Color Grading (a slightly technical topic)

The most difficult part of shooting and editing was color grading. It's hard. The colors wouldn't match, or the way colors looked would change depending on my physical condition or the device... Through trial and error, I managed to create my own workflow, so I'll write down the key points.

• Color correction of Log-shot footage to Rec.709 -> Like normalization in music

• Color matching to align the color tone between cuts on Rec.709 -> Like EQ in music

• Color grading such as color shifts to match the atmosphere and direction of the scene -> Like insert effects in music

• Applying effects like film grain or blur -> Like master effects in music

I thought this approach was (for now) the most comfortable methodology.

To be honest, I don't think it's perfect... but if you do infinite trial and error, you run out of time (for example, if you spend 3 minutes adjusting 1 cut in a 200-cut video, 10 hours disappear. Repeating this adjustment N times while changing things here and there was so crazy that I felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown), so I did my best to aim for best effort rather than the best.

As with the previous time, I applied heavy film effects to pull the footage together. As a result, I think it fit well with the logo and the Japanese-film-like acting quality that both Gassyoh and mochilon possess, but I would like someone to teach me color grading.

About the people who cooperated

To everyone who helped carry the Gassyoh portable shrine with me, thank you so much! I apologize for not being able to list everyone by name, but please allow me to introduce a few as an excerpt. Gassyoh is my accomplice, so I won't write about him here, but I poured my feelings into the music video.

Technoscape Mitaka Takahashi (Mitaka Sound)

Mitaka Takahashi, also known as the master of strolling. He is the same Takahashi from Mitaka Sound for whom I made a music video last time.

He helped me loosely form a video planning team called Anthem World. I am always indebted to him, especially for our brainstorming sessions at the Akihabara Renoir and our meetings to discuss the works of director Naoko Yamada.

This time, he made the most of his Osaka roots, playing an active role in a wide range of tasks, including location scouting, schedule planning, and filming the technoscape shots.

In his solo work, he produces video pieces featuring distinctly techno-like landscapes. If you are interested, please check out the Technoscape label as well.

Special appearance by mochilon (Mikeneko Homeless)

When selecting tracks for Gassyoh's music, I couldn't leave out Mr. mochilon. From the dance music and 'Sushi Than My' that use his voice samples, to the Gassyoh remix of Mikeneko Homeless's big hit 'KANEKURE,' I really wanted to use them in the Megamix. I explained the project's intent to Gassyoh, and he kindly agreed to appear! Thank you...

I didn't give him any acting direction, but he showed off perfect smiles and dance moves, making me realize that true artists are on a different level. Please take a look at him shining in this sacred place.

Title design by Shimada Midori / dollly

I had Shimada Midori / dollly do the title design. I was blown away by her ability to grasp my intentions, translate them into graphics, and then articulate them in words. The combination of Showa-era cinematic flair and the Roman alphabet is just too cool.

The event flyer for the Gassyoh project is also amazing. If you have any great work for Shimada Midori / dollly, please introduce her.

Bar Fader / Mr. 5364 / NEO GEO

Initially, I only envisioned footage of Mr. Gassyoh walking around the streets of Osaka, but since he had an event appearance, we made last-minute adjustments, and with their kind permission, I was able to film Mr. Gassyoh's performance.

I don't think the video would have felt complete, both visually and contextually, without the final DJ scene at Fader. Thank you very much to Mr. 5364 for organizing the NEO GEO event.

Equipment Review Corner

SONY FX30

Following the previous project, this is my main gear! I'm a fan of Log shooting, Cine EI Quick, and 4K120p. Having used it extensively, I haven't felt any issues with it being APS-C, but after using it at an event, I realized its only real weakness is low-light performance. I can clearly see why the FX3 with its Base ISO 12800 is so popular among video creators.

Tamron 17-70mm F/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD (Model B070)

This is a convenient zoom lens that covers everything except for low-light situations like nighttime, provided you're using an E-mount APS-C camera for video. The fact that it has in-body image stabilization is also a huge plus for video. I used it for almost every scene except for the Fader-san scenes. (The Mitaka Takahashi-san part was, of course, separate.)

However, if you're using it during the day, even F2.8 is too bright, so an ND filter is essential if you want to capture footage with bokeh. Even for the May shoot, I had to reduce the light, so I hurriedly used the Nisi Variable ND True Color ND Vario.

Voigtlander Nokton 50mm F1 Aspherical

Since I had no idea how bright the lighting would be for the scenes with Fader-san, and I understood that the FX30 has poor low-light performance, I prepared the brightest F1 lens I could find that is commonly sold in Japan.

When I used it at night, I realized it was an insane lens because it could capture images brighter than the human eye can see. However, because the depth of field is extremely shallow and it's manual focus, I think it's difficult to shoot video unless either you or the subject is standing still.

This time, Gassyoh was moving intensely while I was able to stay still, so I managed to pull it off, barely, like a live performance shoot.

Although it's manual focus, it has E-mount electronic contacts, so I'm grateful that I can use gyro stabilization (Catalyst Browse) in post-processing.

Even with such a bright lens, the ISO still had to go up to 10000 on the FX30, resulting in quite a bit of sensor noise, so I think the FX3 would be 100% better for low-light shooting (though I've never used it).

Was I able to incorporate elements of director Naoko Yamada's work?

Close-ups of feet

For the opening scene crossing the pedestrian crossing, I thought it would be boring if it was just similar shots, so I tried shooting from the feet, but what do you think?

While close-ups of only a part of the body might have the advantage of not needing to draw a face in animation, I feel that in live-action, it's a useful technique for increasing the variety of cuts and, in terms of direction, acts like a blank space that lets the viewer imagine the person's expressions or the movement of their entire body.

I don't know if director Naoko Yamada invented this in animation or if it's just a case of a technique originally used in the context of film returning to its roots, but I thought it was a technique that works well in live-action too.

Live shooting with manual focus

In the final performance scene of The Colors Within, the shot of Totsuko from stage right is easy to understand, but the focus on Totsuko's face drifts and goes out of focus slightly. The atmosphere of shooting with manual focus... it was good to have the experience of actually filming a DJ set. I liked that the focus being off = hard to see, actually felt like part of the direction that stirs up desire in the viewer and creates a sense of live performance where the camera operator is also a participant in the excitement.

I realized that in video, being out of focus does not necessarily mean it's unusable.

Other

I love director Naoko Yamada's works, but I didn't think that imitating her direction was the "correct answer" for making a Gassyoh music video, so I didn't try to copy it too aggressively. That said, almost all the video I've watched in recent years has been either Naoko Yamada's work or Kyoto Animation's, so I might be influenced by them somewhere. By the way, the telop (on-screen text) is influenced by Blu-rays.

Rather, I feel I am most influenced by the idea of "carrying the portable shrine"—meaning not losing sight of the essence of Mr. Gassyoh in terms of dedicating one's heart to the theme and the subject.

Is the teacher of stage right/stage left direction theory actually Yoshiyuki Tomino?

In terms of learning the methodology of video direction, the only book I have is "Principles of Video" by Yoshiyuki Tomino. When I bought it a long time ago, I gave up because the text was too difficult. I read it bit by bit while editing this time.

As an aside, when I watch Turn A Gundam, I get the impression that there are many sequences where the Gundam first appears from the right, moves to the left, then looks back and advances to the right, and I'm left wondering why it doesn't come from the left at the start. In Naoko Yamada's works, there is often an image of a safe home on the far left, and the characters depart from there and go to the right. It's the opposite if the protagonist's battleship is on the right. I thought that different directors and works probably have different habits.

Come to think of it, the "Anne Shirley OP" directed by Naoko Yamada clearly has the movement directed toward the right, and then she looks back to the left at the end. Even though I didn't fully understand it, I made sure that in this video, movement was basically to the right and actions were directed toward the left.

Respect to Anne Shirley

At the very end of the video, there is a scene inserted that recalls past scenes like a lantern slide, and this 4:3 footage was ripped off from the Anne Shirley OP. I saw it just as it was released while I was editing and thought, "This is it!"

I want Naoko Yamada to release a "Principles of Video"!

Summary and Future Challenges

So, I've written various things about the "Speaker ga 2-dai ari" Gassyoh Megamix (Music Video). I hope Gassyoh's activities expand! Personally, I hope he appears at WIRE and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Takkyu Ishino and KEN ISHII.

Personally, since I've gotten a vague picture of the overall process of MV production, I think it might be interesting to try shooting something that is intentionally and heavily respectful of director Naoko Yamada next time.

Once things settle down with the baby, I'd like to do something again someday.

Announcement

The Gassyoh 'Two Speakers Megamix' Release Party, inspired by this music video, will be held in two locations: Tokyo and Osaka! I will also be participating as a VJ for the Tokyo event. I'm looking forward to it, as the lineup has an old-school Maltine Records/internet music vibe. Let's meet up there! I'm so happy they're hosting an event based on my video!

Please check Gassyoh's X for details↓