2024年 09月 26日
Documentary-like expression of sound
In 2013, while he was a lecturer at an art university, Harada contributed an article to the university's official website. It was about the film "Keiko" (1979).
In it, he wrote the following:
"When I came to Tokyo at the age of 19 (1980), the exciting air of the 1970s was still lingering, and every day was a series of discoveries.
Avant-garde theater and film were active, conducting various experiments.
I was shocked when I saw "Keiko."
"When I came to Tokyo at the age of 19 (1980), the exciting air of the 1970s was still lingering, and every day was a series of discoveries.
Avant-garde theater and film were active, conducting various experiments.
I was shocked when I saw "Keiko."
When we talk in everyday life, we can't speak as beautifully as in films.
We stumble, we repeat ourselves, we worry, we remain silent, we repeat ourselves, and sometimes we speak words that are contrary to our intentions.
There have been attempts in previous films for actors to contact others in the film using words that they themselves have tried out, rather than following the script or lines.
However, "Keiko" was the first to experiment with this in the form of a commercial film.
We stumble, we repeat ourselves, we worry, we remain silent, we repeat ourselves, and sometimes we speak words that are contrary to our intentions.
There have been attempts in previous films for actors to contact others in the film using words that they themselves have tried out, rather than following the script or lines.
However, "Keiko" was the first to experiment with this in the form of a commercial film.
It's not just words. Humans stumble, get hurt, become manic-depressive, and are also tormented by their voice quality, appearance, birth, environment, isolation, discrimination, and so on."Keiko" is a softer practice than Slanislavski or method acting, but it showed me an option and a possibility."
Harada has always had doubts about the fixed use of language in film and theater.
For example, when women speak in films, they add "~WA(わ)", "~DESUNO", "~KASHIRA" and the like to the end of sentences, but in modern Japan, these words are rarely used.
The way words are used in films is different from the real world.
In Japanese films, in the 1960s and 1970s, film directors who started out in documentaries often used realistic dialogue phrasing.
Director Yoichi Higashi, who started out in documentaries and made films for Iwanami Productions and ATG, was inspired by "Keiko" and immediately adopted unscripted improvised acting and speaking in "Shiki Natsuko" (although the basic dialogue was prepared).
In "Horizon Blue," Harada implemented a completely documentary recording method.
Harada asked his actors to stumble, sniff, cough, and make mistakes.
For "Horizon Blue," the dialogue was recorded first, and the pictures were added later.
For "Horizon Blue," the images were intentionally degraded, and the same experiment was done with the sound.
Professional filmmakers commented that "the sound was not recorded clearly" and that it was hard to hear.
However, Harada really wanted to use this method.
Harada often argued to art school students:
"Even if everyone in the world disagrees, you should make what you want to make. That's what a work of art is."
Tadashi Imai, a veteran left-wing director and member of the Japanese Communist Party, reproduced the strong regional accents of Japan in his films (1960s-1970s).
As there were no subtitles, much of the speech was hard to hear, and many parts were incomprehensible, but Imai was determined to express the words of ordinary people in their actual form in his films.
However, in the 2000s, when Harada worked on the TV anime "Japanese Folk Tales," all the various Japanese dialects and accents were changed to standard Japanese (Tokyo dialect).
Having had the frustration of working for various companies to make a living, Harada keenly felt how free independent production can be.
For example, when women speak in films, they add "~WA(わ)", "~DESUNO", "~KASHIRA" and the like to the end of sentences, but in modern Japan, these words are rarely used.
The way words are used in films is different from the real world.
In Japanese films, in the 1960s and 1970s, film directors who started out in documentaries often used realistic dialogue phrasing.
Director Yoichi Higashi, who started out in documentaries and made films for Iwanami Productions and ATG, was inspired by "Keiko" and immediately adopted unscripted improvised acting and speaking in "Shiki Natsuko" (although the basic dialogue was prepared).
In "Horizon Blue," Harada implemented a completely documentary recording method.
Harada asked his actors to stumble, sniff, cough, and make mistakes.
For "Horizon Blue," the dialogue was recorded first, and the pictures were added later.
For "Horizon Blue," the images were intentionally degraded, and the same experiment was done with the sound.
Professional filmmakers commented that "the sound was not recorded clearly" and that it was hard to hear.
However, Harada really wanted to use this method.
Harada often argued to art school students:
"Even if everyone in the world disagrees, you should make what you want to make. That's what a work of art is."
Tadashi Imai, a veteran left-wing director and member of the Japanese Communist Party, reproduced the strong regional accents of Japan in his films (1960s-1970s).
As there were no subtitles, much of the speech was hard to hear, and many parts were incomprehensible, but Imai was determined to express the words of ordinary people in their actual form in his films.
However, in the 2000s, when Harada worked on the TV anime "Japanese Folk Tales," all the various Japanese dialects and accents were changed to standard Japanese (Tokyo dialect).
Having had the frustration of working for various companies to make a living, Harada keenly felt how free independent production can be.
Keiko was distributed by ATG. Higashi's "四季奈津子(Shiki Natsuko)" was a collaboration between Azuma's independent production company and Toei.Keiko's director, Claude Gagnon, said "This dialogue method was a one-time experiment," but when Harada went to see Gagnon's next film, "The Story of Saint Hyacinth," it seemed that he had used the same method.
Harada has retired from the art school, but the essays remain.
We have uploaded a part of Horizon Blue for reference.
”Documentary-like expression of sound”
”Keiko” credit: Yoshimura Gagnon production
”Shiki Natsuko” credit: Gentosha, Toei
Left: "Arega minato no hi da" (1961) credit: Toei
Right: "Echigo tsutsuishi oya shirazu" (1964) credit: Toei
Just because it is "difficult to hear" or "incomprehensible," companies should not arbitrarily change the language of ordinary people living in various places.
by kiyubaru2020
| 2024-09-26 17:04
| 表現手法 Expression meth
