Can't get to Japan for your shoot? Tips for remote video production in Japan.
As of the end of May 2020, the corona pandemic state of emergency that was restricting filming and movement throughout Japan has been lifted and, in theory, we are free to shoot around Japan. Things could well change in a month or two - I wouldn't be surprised if infections rose in the larger cities and restrictions were bought back in to those places only for example - and of course this doesn't mean that the corona virus has magically disappeared, just that Japan thinks we can hold it to manageable levels.
So, while crews resident in Japan are now going to be able to get out shooting to some extent, keeping in mind the risk of infection, if you are based overseas and wanting to shoot in Japan then your only option is going to be a remote video production, or a wait until you can travel here.
It could be a long wait, so here are some options and hints for directing or supervising your Japan video shoot remotely that we have picked up from experience.
The basic but surprisingly effective way
The simplist way that we have found to be able to direct your shoot remotely from outside of Japan is for the Japan-based crew to just use WhatsApp or similar messaging app for on demand updates by text, photo and video.
The visuals of a remote shoot that a director not on location would be concerned about can be divided into the following, and messaging apps have worked well for us for both.
visuals of the overall scene/location
Visuals of what the camera is seeing.
Shoots often involve ongoing discussion and negotiation with Japan location partners so it can be impractial to be on a continuous video chat with the overseas director showing the overall scene, but a combination of text messages, photos and short video clips explaining the situation as necessary has worked well for us in the past.
Similarily, simply photos of the back of the camera monitor before the shot and videos of the filmed clip being played back in the camera have worked well for us in keeping any surprises from the director in the edit, ensuring they have a good idea of what the camera is seeing.
Issues to do with sound on a remote shoot are mainly concerned with interviews. Once again, simply having the director listen in on the interview via WhatsApp or similar that we conduct, or having the remote director ask questions to the interviewee directly has worked well for us. One tip is for the remote director to turn their mic off while listening to the answer, to stop any unwanted noise from their speaker getting into the recorded sound.
The smarter but more complicated way
Simply recording the back of that camera monitor with an iPhone and sending it to the overseas director feels a bit low-fi and it can be hard to convey the scene, especially if the screen is hard to see in sunlight. The smarter way is to broadcast the feed directly coming from the HDMI or SDI port of the camera, or the feed from the wireless monitor, so that the remote director can see what the camera is seeing.
This method is going to generally need an encoder somewhere along the pipeline, or a laptop computer at least, and although this is going to work well with a multiple camera setup, is only really going to be realistic in a studio based shoot, or at least a location shoot that is reasonably compact and allows for enough space and time to setup the equipment.
However, with director looking at the feed coming out of the camera, even though doing this remotely, it really is not that much different from actually being here - apart sharing a meal of local ramen with all the crew at the end of the day. Although we could probably do a zoom call, with both sides in a ramen shop, to get that experience!
The virus pandemic is ongoing with, I would imagine, a rolling series of restrictions and relaxations put in place as we deal with it. Additionally, even if we are able to shoot, locations may have restrictions on film crews coming in or on numbers of crew. With many people now working from home, either full or part-time, it has also been hard to schedule interviews in their office.
So with these things in mind the filming situation in Japan is changing week by week. Feel free to get in contact with us and we can let you know what the situation is here on the ground and offer some solutions to get your Japan-based shoot happening, even if you are not based in Japan.
