16-18-4
| Tokyo - Ebisu | 45 7 Broadway | Shibuya - Tokyo |
by Tomonari Nishikawa
Four short films in memory of Tomonari Nishikawa selected by Estefanía Díaz & Carlos Cruz, FISURA
16-18-4 | 2008, 2.5 min., 35mm, 1.37, silent, color, Japan
Tokyo - Ebisu | 2010, 5 min., 16mm, sound, color, Japan
45 7 Broadway | 2013, 5 min., 16mm, sound, color, USA
Shibuya - Tokyo | 2010, 10 min., 16mm, sound, color, Japan
It was shot through a toy camera with 16 lenses, which would take a series of 16 images consecutively within a few seconds in two rows, spreading on two regular 35mm frames for still photography – the mechanism is similar to a movie camera or a device that Eadweard Muybridge created to photograph a horse galloping. The film shows an event at Tokyo Racecourse when it was holding the 2008 Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun), the biggest event of the year, where the excitement of each race would last about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Tokyo - Ebisu
JR (Japan Railway Company) Yamanote Line is one of the Japan's busiest lines, consisting of 29 stations and running in a loop. The film shows the views from the platforms of 10 stations in Yamanote Line, from Tokyo Station to Ebisu Station clockwise. The in-camera visual effects and the layered soundtracks may exaggerate the sense of the actual location, while suggesting the equipment that was used for capturing the audio and visual.
45 7 Broadway
This is about Times Square, the noise and movements at this most well-known intersection. I used a color separation technique – it was originally shot on black and white film through color filters (red, green, and blue), then optically printed onto color film through these filters. The layered images of shots by the handheld camera would agitate the scenes, and the advertisements on the digital billboards try to pull ahead of others.
Shibuya - Tokyo
As a sequel to Tokyo - Ebisu, this film shows the views around the exits of 20 stations in JR Yamanote Line, from Shibuya Station to Tokyo Station clockwise.