Japan Festival 2017

Last week I started my first paid freelance job. I worked as a videographer for the Japan Festival in Lincoln. This involved going along to all of the events and getting footage to create a video that can be used for promotional purposes. The event started on the 11^th February and ran until the 18^th. I filmed on the Canon C100 and used the Canon EF-S 18-135mm lens along with the Samyang 10mm lens.

Monday 13^th February

I was unable to film over the weekend so I started on Monday and filmed a Martial Arts workshop. As I had only used the C100 once before, this was a great opportunity for me to get used to the camera as well as both of the lenses that I had. This was also the day where we had our Speed Dating fundraiser for our trip to Peru. The fundraiser was really successful and we raised over £150.

Ikebana Workshop

 

Tuesday 14^th February

During the day, I filmed an Ikebana workshop which is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. I was able to use both lenses as the Samyang lens has a fantastic depth of field yet the Canon lens allows me to use the zoom. In the evening, I was able to film a live music performance where Ayako Hotta-Lister played the Koto which is a tradition Japnese stringed instrument. I had never filmed a live musical performance before so this was a new experience for me. I recorded sound using a Zoom microphone in addition to the camera microphone.  This event was really fun to attend as there was sushi and matcha cake to enjoy in the interval.

Ayako Hotta-Lister playing the Koto

 

Wednesday 15^th February

Today was a family fun day at The Collection in Lincoln. A local company taught children how to play the Taiko which is a range of Japanese drums. This was a really fun event and the children definitely seemed to enjoy it a lot. I couldn’t stay for the whole event as I had a masterclass where I learnt how to use DaVinci Resolve (an online colour grading software) and I actually really enjoyed it because I’m a bit of a loser when it comes to editing. It’s such a simple piece of software and it’s free to download so I’d recommend downloading it if you’re into that kind of thing.

Thursday 16^th February

During the day, I filmed an origami workshop. Again, I was able to use both lenses to get a nice depth of field. I really wanted to take part in this as it looked really fun. In the evening, an event called Pecha Kucha was held at St Swithins Church. In Japanese, Pecha Kucha means chit-chat and the event has been held in over 900 cities worldwide. The event allows speakers to create a presentation of 20 slides and each slide is shown for 20 seconds. I had never heard of Pecha Kucha before so it was a very fun experience. I stuck with the Canon lens for this as it made it a lot easier to film the speakers as well as the audience.

 

Pecha Kucha

 

Friday 17^th February

During the day, Ruichi hosted a workshop where he taught movement and dance. He taught how to do Michael Jacksons’ infamous “moonwalk” which was fun to witness. In the evening, he did a dance performance to portray the tale of the ancient lights. This performance was incredible to watch and I loved the use of lights. However, this was more difficult to film due to the low lighting but nevertheless, it was fun to watch.

Saturday 18^th February

The last workshop of the whole festival was a Japanese calligraphy workshop. I was so tired at this point, I’d hate to think how exhausted the organisers felt. Dave and Mikaela did a great job organising Japan Festival and it was very successful.

 

Japanese Calligraphy Workshop

 

After a great week of filming, I will edit on Adobe Premiere Pro and colour grade on DaVinci Resolve, hopefully it turns out well. How has your week been?