#feff18

"Bakuman" director, Hitoshi One, recently attended the 18th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy where he received the MyMovies Award for "Bakuman". He had a round table discussion with the press where he talked about the special effects used in "Bakuman", the projection mapping and why it does not have a happy or sad ending...

FEFF 18 - Press conference and round table discussion with Hitoshi One, the director of "Bakuman" written by Marlen Vazzoler May 2, 2016 translated by Pechumori

Hitoshi One talks about the special effects used in "Bakuman", the projection mapping and why it does not have a happy or sad ending...

Japanese directors, Hitoshi One (Bakuman), Yuki Tanada (Round Trip Heart) and the South Korean director, Jung Ji Woo (Fourth Place) were the protagonists of the second press conference which was held last Monday, April 25 at the 18th Far East Film Festival, moderated by Mark Schilling and Darcy Paquet.

We have followed mostly the Bakuman director, Hitoshi One who won the prize of MyMovies Award. Hitoshi One debuted on television in 2001 as a director of the "Saotome Typhoon" TV series. This was followed with the direction of "Vampire Host" (2004), "Akihabara@Deep" (2006), "Shukan Maki Yoko" (2008), "Yukemuri Sniper" (2009), "Moteki" (2010) from which he derived his first feature film "Love Strikes!" (2011), "Mahoro Eki Mae Bangaichi" (2013) based on the novel by Shion Miura and later the film "Tada's Do-It-All House" (Mahoro Ekimae Tada Benriken) and finally "Rivers Edge Okawabata Detective Agency" (2014).

In the cinematographic field, aside from "Bakuman" and "Love Strikes!" which he wrote and directed, we find the 2013 film, "Be My Baby" and his last work which will be released this October in Japan, "Scoop!" about which he briefly talks about during the conference.

His participation begins approximately from point 7:34 and then it resumes to point 30:24 (Please watch the video at the link posted at the end of the article)

He had no intention of making a film that reflected the competitive society of Japan, but chose the theme of Bakuman because unfortunately, Japan is not represented culturally by movies or music, but by manga. A very interesting point of view is the distinction between the American comics, where most of its protagonists are always super heroes, while in Japanese anime, they use all possible subjects. Perhaps you know that the Italian public is represented by Captain Tsubasa (Holly and Benji) and Dragon Ball. I thought that these subjects can only be understood in Japan, but despite that, these subjects are spread all over the world, including Italy. Little is known about what happens behind the scenes in the creation of an anime and manga. Although the road ends with the realization of the manga, there is always a struggle, a constant fight that is also common for filmmakers.

In the film I wanted to insert my message "What is interesting, what I want to do, can not always be of interest to the public. And 'it is the public that decides if a movie is good and fun.'

As it has been said, I worked both on television and in films, now I work mainly in films. Obviously I like both, but the film has something special that television can not present, for example, experimentation and then life. This experience can be shared with the audience of cinema.

Another important element that is missing in television is an international festival such as this edition. When I started shooting Bakuman I had the ambition for the movie to be shown around the world, though the film is rightly addressed to the Japanese public, the base is always Japanese. But thanks to the invitation from the Udine Festival, many people, many viewers have applauded my film, and this has made me very proud.

The protagonist in the next project I'm working on will be a paparazzi, a term which I think is the Dolce Vita (I think he's referring to the Fellini's movie ndr.) For us it is the best known Italian word, I think you'll have a lot of fun with this project.

This was followed by a round table discussion with the press:

I grew up reading manga, my personality was formed by reading manga. I always wanted to do a film about manga. I wanted to convey the difficulty of working in this field.

We asked the director to talk about the special effects of the film, especially the four scenes (the one in the studios, where the pages are all over the walls, the one with the blackboard, and the scene at the end of the movie, where we can see the future manga of the mangakas in the movie, ed.). Here is what he said in reply:

"Considering the traditional world of cinematography, the use of computer graphics and digital special effects is essential. From a technological point of view. of course Hollywood is in the first place, they are at the forefront.

Compared to the wealth of Hollywood, the Japanese movie world lacks a little 'budget' but with some creative ideas, I think we can overcome this Hollywood world. And so I made the final scene in the film. [The author refers to the film's closing credits, ed.].

I would add that this technique of the closing credits, is not exploited to the maximum in the film world but I love movies, I wanted the audience to have fun until the end. Most of the public does not understand what they are watching in the end credits, because it is a list of names of unknown people.

So I tried to kill two birds with one stone, express respect for the staff that is not known, and at the same time entertain the audience until the end. For this, all my films end with that special effect."

In the scenes where the frames designed by Obata came alive, how did you make it?

"That scene seems to have been made with computer graphics but actually the technique that was used is called projection mapping, it is considered a rather analogue technique. It looks like a special effect, however in reality we see the actors move during the projection mapping."

-Shonen Jump has never officially stated its motto.

-the genre that I like the most is the one that deals with the lives of young people and I want the audience of these films to be the youth. I never think about the message that I want to convey but if I could say something to the young people it is that they should 'work, work'.

-I consider the best length of a manga that can be adaped to film is 3/4 manga volumes, not something with 20 volumes. From the beginning, I knew that not everything from Bakuman can be transposed. Given the presence of many film adaptations of mangas, for me it made no sense to make a product that reflected the whole manga.

-Shonen Jump has been very cooperative, the only time that we could not see their creative process was when they have to choose the works that will be in the magazine.

-At the beginning of the film, the writing is similar to that of the manga, from the middle of the movie, you may have noticed the language change, that is when I started to put mine.

-The soundtrack occupies the main position, first I had to decide who to entrust the soundtrack with. I chose the Sakanaction group, fighting between commercial music and the one that appeals to them. This fight is something they have in common with the protagonists of Bakuman.

We asked for some differences from the manga, having decided to turn the second part of the film about the competition for the top spot in Shonnen Jump, the character of Sometani and the ending.

"The film about youth drama should not end up with either a happy or with a sad ending, it must be open. The public between ages 18 and 20 are not adults yet, they are people who are just at the beginning of their lives. Obviously, the author of the manga has achieved something great, because at such a young age, he had a resounding success, however, he is also at the beginning of his life. So, I did not want to end with something concrete for the film.

As you have seen, Azuki left the protagonist, but if you remembered the expression of Azuki as she moves away, you would understand that she would wait for his arrival."

-I who grew up reading manga, will continue to read it until the end of my life.

-Anyone who has read the original manga knows that the parents of the protagonist exists. I imagine that Saito has a very sad family relationship [in the film]. The only positive adult image, was his uncle and the manga too. As for the sacrifice, I think if a man has found something he wants to do, he is ready to sacrifice his life in order to fulfill his wish. The world of the geniuses is so cruel that we must fight with all possible weapons.

credit: http://blog.screenweek.it/2016/05/feff18-conferenza-stampa-e-roundtable-con-one-hitoshi-il-regista-di-bakuman-511197.php