Some Relief from %$£& Films

I had a meeting with S. and J. from %$£& Films yesterday. They are really keen to help post-produce the film. They can help me find an editor and get the thing finished. They can also help me to raise the rest of the money. I like those guys. They are just the right combination of laid backness and the business.

As for editors? I would like David Charap (My Summer of Love), Justine Wright (Touching the Void), Richard Hankin (Capturing the Friedmans) or Doug Abel (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster and The Fog of War). Sylvia says "It doesn't hurt to ask." So, if any of you out there knows one of these fine, fine editors, could you please put me in touch?

Endless

The footage is absolutely endless...a sea of it. I watch it every night...every day. I don't watch TV anymore...I just watch "the footage." Faces fast forwarded, lists of sequences, transcripts of interviews. It just keeps on going. And once I've been through it all, I go back again. When will my savior of an editor find me? When will I find them?

Frustrated

Getting so damned frustrated with this whole thing. The paper edit is endless. The footage is endless, and I feel as if I am out here on my own. An editor and a producer would be good. Sometimes I feel like it was really stupid to do this whole thing independently. You have to motivate yourself constantly, and sometimes I really don't feel like it.

I'm tired...can't seem to get enough sleep...EVER. And, I go back and forth...is this good? Is this shit?

Snow

Stole away to Sweden for a few days to try to get some perspective. I didn't write anything while I was there, which is pretty unusual. When a thought came into my head about the project, I didn't write it down. Instead, I tried to sleep as much as possible, read some Wm. Gibson and sleep some more.

It snowed. It was beautiful. Now back in London, I feel like I'm swimming under a really heavy ocean. My head is achey and heavy. I'm praying for some kind of help, but I'm not sure what kind.

Referring Sites

http://pgaijin.blogspot.com
http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/
http://www.japan-101.com/information/links.htm
http://www.funayado-mikawaya.com/mika_nori.htm
http://homepage3.nifty.com/massigla/diary/2004/200404.html
http://discosada.jugem.jp/?cid=1

Int'l Box Office: Fahrenheit 9/11 passes $100m

Int'l Box Office: Fahrenheit 9/11 passes $100m
Robert Mitchell in London 27 October 2004


Albeit off  the chart, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 became the first documentary to achieve $100m from international markets during last week. The film added $392,745 over the weekend with Japan and recent launch territory Hong Kong currently providing the highest numbers. The film has taken $100.8m and may get some boost still from next week’s US Presidential election.

Japan's Gaga bought by Usen Corp.

Courtesy of one of the investors:

Japan's Gaga bought by Usen Corp.
Mark Schilling in Tokyo 28 October 2004 04:00


Japan’s Usen Corp. has announced the purchase of Gaga Communications, a leading independent film distributor.

Usen, a major supplier of broadband services in Japan, plans to acquire a 57.6% stake, amounting to $94.3m (Y10 billion) and operate Gaga as a subsidiary. It will invest the funds in two share issues that Gaga is planning for the latter part of December 2004 and the first part of January 2005.

Also, Tatsumi Yoda, the honorary chairman of Avex Group Holdings will invest $28.3m (Y3 billion) in new Gaga shares, taking a 17.3% stake and becoming the company’s second-largest shareholder. Gaga will thus gain a total of $122.6m (Y13 billion) in new investment, while issuing a total of 15,330,000 new shares.

For the fiscal year ending September 2004 Gaga recorded a loss of $141.5m (Y15 billion) on its consolidated earnings, compared with a loss of $74m (Y7.9 billion) for the previous period. Among the causes for the poor results were rising acquisition and P&A costs as well as declining TV sales.

Founded in 1964, Usen boasts the largest share of the Japanese cable broadcasting market. In 2001 it became the first in the world to offer a commercial Internet access service via optical fibre cable. It has capital and business ties with Sony Communications Network Corporation, supplying the cable infrastructure for Sony’s So-net Internet provider service, and SKY Perfect Communications, a cable and satellite broadcaster.

Founded in 1986 by entrepreneur Tetsu Fujimura, Gaga has since became a major film distributor, handling everything from Asian art films to Hollywood A product, including Chicago, Kill Bill, Hannibal, End Of Days and The Green Mile.

Wheatgrass

Mark Saft tells me to eat more wheatgrass. "It gives you the energy," he says. I tell him that I am no longer a member of the consumer class. Not being so, I am classless. I don't exist. I don't buy, therefore I am not.

Films to Research

http://www.outfoxed.org/

tarnation

Notes about Music

Flaming Lips
Radiohead
the cure
god speed!
Mogwai
Neil Young
Brian Eno
the eagles

Notes about Sound

THX-1138, early cyber-punk, analog roots, organic,

Picture by Michael McClure

JAPANDSTREET FLOP.jpg
Originally uploaded by daneeta.

I really could use a "Fear and Loathing" weekend.

I can't update my website at the moment as my modem broke for my PC. But, I've put your picture on my blog (www.tokyocowboys.blogspot.com).

And, speaking of pictures, do you remember those naked ones you did of me in Japan? Did you give those to Mark? I really would like to get ahold of them just in case I do become famous. I'd rather make the money from them Paris Hilton-style than someone else.

Hugs

Insomnia

Have had insomnia for over a week now, and it's really messing with my head. We're completely out of money again, so it's been difficult to work on the paper edit. Note for next film: have all of the money in place before going forward.

Tokyo Cowboys September Announcement

Dear Tokyo Cowboys Supporters,

Here's your monthly update from the Tokyo Cowboys team.

IN THIS MAIL
1) Sponsorship
2) New Investors
3) New Trailer
4) Early Diaries Now Online
5) Editing Update1)

1) SPONSORSHIP

Several of you have asked about sponsoring the film with small donations. You can now donate funds with your credit or bank cards and in several different currencies easily and securely directly from the website on the following page: www.tokyocowboys.com/sponsorship.html

ALL SPONSORS WILL BE CREDITED IN THE FILM, so if you want to see your name on the big screen, check it out.

2) NEW INVESTORS

Tokyo Cowboys welcomes three new investors. Thank you for your generous support. Our aim is to complete the budget by the middle of October. There are only 25 shares left at 500 pounds per share so get them before they are all gone.

3) NEW TRAILER

If you've been debating about whether to invest some of your hard earned cash into Tokyo Cowboys, debate no longer! We've just finished the final trailer, which will blow your socks off. If you are interested in investing and want to see some of what you're investing in, email daneeta@tokyocowboys.com for a copy of the new Tokyo Cowboys trailer.

4) EARLY DIARIES NOW ONLINE

For those of you who have been begging (you cheeky voyeurs, the early Tokyo Diaries are Online! There are literally hundreds of pages of these diaries, so it will be slow going to get them all up. I'll be uploading a few entries a day. For now, you can see the first few at the following address:http://tokyocowboys.blogspot.com

5) EDITING UPDATE

Paper Editing and Logging continue. Not being good at Maths, I didn't realize that logging 450 hours of footage takes longer than...well...450 hours. That's...let's see...450 divided by 8 hours in a day...oh forget it. Let's just say, it's going well.If you're in Covent Garden, drop by the office to see us. As you know, we serve Starbucks coffee...Fair Trade, naturally.

Keep in touch and

Hugs,

Daneeta

The Fog of War

Patrick and I saw "The Fog of War" on DVD last night. It was an amazing documentary. So much more controlled, skilled and, dare I say, European than "Farenheit 911." Obviously, this film is extremely one-sided and biased towards McNamera. But, the interesting thing is that McNamera, who tells his story in vivid and lucid detail, is not biased toward himself at all. He admits and takes responsibility for making mistakes which caused thousands of deaths. What I find interesting with the film is that it is about a man who "knows a thing or two" about war. His single message is "human beings have got to stop killing each other." And, if we truly want that kind of peace, we must study and learn from our past mistakes.

Sad, sad, sad

Today I am very sad.

Who knows the color of truth?

Hey Cassie,

I wish I were driving around LA with you in your big SUV.

I'm still logging and working on the paper edit. Still trying to get money together and working on the website.

I was watching Sans Soliel again last night, and thought about something. There's a scene where a couple are praying at a shrine. There's statues of cats everywhere. The voice over tells a story about a couple who go to this shrine in Tokyo to pray for their cat who had run away. When I first saw this film, something about the scene felt strange, but I couldn't put my finger on it. This time, I realized that it was not a cat shrine at all. It was sort of a good fortune shrine. The couple were there to pray for good fortune, and the voice over story had nothing to do with the image really.

It got me to thinking about Tokyo Cowboys. About how I can do anything I want because for me, there is no objectivity in documentary. I can construct the images and voice over however I want. I know some people might have a problem with this. They may say, "but that's not documentary." The thing is that I never really set out to make a documentary. I set out to make a film that revealed some kind of truth about the Tokyo experience. Hmmmm. I have to think about this some more.

Objective Story Telling

I don't believe in objective story-telling. We're constantly editing, revising, re-telling. When I compare stories from childhood with my mother and sister, they never match up. It always ends in argument. My version, her version, your version. I think about how this relates to documentary story-telling...to Tokyo Cowboys. Am I telling the capital-T Truth? Does it really matter? Do I have a responsibility? I really don't think I do as long as I'm up front about it. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a faithful post-modernist. We don't believe in capital-T Truth. At least I don't. I think that if you tell a story that isn't exactly the way it happened, but it holds within it some sort of truth, then I am being truthful.

But, what does this mean for the film? I might mix it up a bit. Move back and forth in time...create drama from nothing...blur the border between fact and fiction (in fact, there is not border). And if this bothers people, so be it. I'm nothing but a story-teller. And I always have been.

It's my Birthday

Today is my birthday, so I'm going to take the day off. I remember writing on my birthday 2 years ago. I'm 39 today, and I have yet to make my first feature. I think that is how my agent would market me.

Thinking about the voice over. Sans Soliel style. San Soliel is a visual collage set to the poetry of the filmmaker's journey. American Movie is the journey of the subject. So, in my film, the filmmaker's journey is tied to the journey of the subject. We are on the same path. The process of filmmaking facilitates both journeys. The camera changes things. And, hopefully, we all learn something. It's a journey that none of us would have taken had it not been for the camera. This is all the intellectualization of things. But how do I make all of this concrete. I need the voice over. "It's the early 21st century. And I'm back in Tokyo." It has to be compact. That's the danger...to write too much. It just has to be compact.

The difficult thing is to know where to begin. Maybe not thinking about the beginning and the end...maybe focus more on the bits and how they fit together.

"And I'm back in Tokyo...only it's the early 21st century. I'm here looking for cowboys." But what do I mean by that? What is a cowboy? Someone who is free. Someone who takes risks. So freedom...that was the big thing. That was my assumption when I went there. they have all of this freedom, and it's the money that gives them this freedom. But, then I discovered that the job and the money was sort of taking freedom away from them. Or the lifestyle. They had this outrageous lifestyle. And in order to maintain it, they needed to make all of this money. So that wasn't freedom. Something about that New Order song..."I don't want to be like other people are...don't want to own a key...don't want to wash my car." (I'd love to use that song in the film.)

They went there to have freedom. You could go there and make a lot of money. Maybe it's a series of questions...maybe that's how to structure it...or maybe by the trips. Feeling overwhelmed. Time to rest.

Watched Takeshi Miike's Visitor Q and Nanni Maretti's Dear Diary today. A very strange combination.

Etsuko called from Japan. It was three in the morning her time, and she was drunk. She kept telling me not to compromise. She's right.

I went back to Tokyo in search of something. The new frontier? Maybe. I hated it when I left...couldn't wait to get out. But everyone around me, they seemed to love it. The said they felt free. I never felt that freedom. Or maybe I did and just didn't know what to call it. Maybe the question shouldn't be "does money buy freedom," but, it should be "does freedom buy happiness." Bauman says that "freedom is likely to bring more misery than joy."

Born Again Cowgirl

I'm back in Tokyo again. Only it's the 21st Century. I want to tell you the story of the Cowboys...the Tokyo Cowboys. Of how they reinvented themselves on the post modern urban frontier. It starts here...no, it starts here...no...I guess it doesn't matter where it starts or where it ends. We are constructing a kind of truth.

I realize that my reality in Tokyo...when I was living in Tokyo is totally different from my Tokyo reality now. It's as if they have constructed a new reality for me. By seeing it through their eyes, I was a born again Cowgirl.

Something between Sans Soliel and American Movie. Something that captures a time and a place and these people...documenting Tokyo, early 21st century. the last bastian of innocence. There is no darkness in Tokyo. That is reserved for the countryside.

There are all of these pieces. I feel as if I'm sitting in front of a massive puzzle, and I'm trying to fit all of the pieces together. God help me. And keep thinking about Suzuki--it is impossible to arrange the dots out of order.

Marginalization. the "other"

Went to the bookstore and read some Bauman. I think I'm intellectualizing too much. I was so organic in shooting this, and now I'm being too...non-organic. trying to impose a structure on this thing just doesn't seem right. but you can't have an hour and a half collage of voices, sounds, images. people would get bored. there has to be a story, and how to integrate that story into the collage? that's the question. now i'm tired.

cliched images of japan...gozilla, samurai, geisha. then the bomb, paper cranes, economic prosperity, etc., etc. i used to watch gozilla movies on sundays when i was a kid. they came on after the cartoons.

Japan has always been in my consciousness. it's part of american history even if you don't study it.

Been looking at endless hours of Ken footage. He's always talking, I'm always talking. It's not until the later footage that I felt comfortable with just letting him be in front of the camera. We both learned how to be with the camera.