More
11. Saijo Matsuri 2009 西条祭り
30 days ago
Saijo Matsuri is a festival held every year in October in Saijo, Japan. It is truly one of the most exciting, energetic experiences I have ever witnessed. I have been to the festival about 5 times and have always wanted to capture the energy and mood of the event. But I never had a way of getting "in" it the way I wanted and to have the quality that I was seeking that could showcase it in a way that comes close to actually being there.
This year was different. For the first time, with the 5D Mark II, it was possible to get right up close and personal to the event and have it be amazingly crisp 1080p quality. I do not think a film like this would have been possible anytime before with any other camera. Especially considering that it was done solo. One person, with one camera. This is one of the many reasons that I am so hooked on the 5D Mark II right now. The ability to get into tight places, amazing low light capabilities and great HD quality.
A little background about the festival:
Saijo Matsuri is a three day event celebrating the fall harvest. They carry 135 of these 700kg(1500lbs) Danjiri all over town and parade them in a very enthusiastic fashion. And when I say "all over town" I mean ALL OVER TOWN. They will all be in one spot for 4-5 hours and then carry it to the next 10-20km away to the next spot and continue the fun. And they do this, almost non-stop, day and night for three days.
They lift these Danjiri up over their heads and present them to the Kami(God). Sometimes when they get a good bounce going the Danjiri will actually lift away from their grip several centimeters in the air and hopefully they catch them again. And then there are 7 larger Mikoshi that come from a neighboring town, Niihama, to join in the festivities. These larger ones weigh a tremendous 2.5 tons.
This film focuses on the second day, Oct. 17th. It starts at 1am, goes to three locations and ends around 8pm.
I suggest watching with good speakers or headphones to get the full effect of being immersed into this amazing event. Enjoy!
This year was different. For the first time, with the 5D Mark II, it was possible to get right up close and personal to the event and have it be amazingly crisp 1080p quality. I do not think a film like this would have been possible anytime before with any other camera. Especially considering that it was done solo. One person, with one camera. This is one of the many reasons that I am so hooked on the 5D Mark II right now. The ability to get into tight places, amazing low light capabilities and great HD quality.
A little background about the festival:
Saijo Matsuri is a three day event celebrating the fall harvest. They carry 135 of these 700kg(1500lbs) Danjiri all over town and parade them in a very enthusiastic fashion. And when I say "all over town" I mean ALL OVER TOWN. They will all be in one spot for 4-5 hours and then carry it to the next 10-20km away to the next spot and continue the fun. And they do this, almost non-stop, day and night for three days.
They lift these Danjiri up over their heads and present them to the Kami(God). Sometimes when they get a good bounce going the Danjiri will actually lift away from their grip several centimeters in the air and hopefully they catch them again. And then there are 7 larger Mikoshi that come from a neighboring town, Niihama, to join in the festivities. These larger ones weigh a tremendous 2.5 tons.
This film focuses on the second day, Oct. 17th. It starts at 1am, goes to three locations and ends around 8pm.
I suggest watching with good speakers or headphones to get the full effect of being immersed into this amazing event. Enjoy!
-
Brad KremerDirecter, Camera and Edit
-
Spencer Black4 hours ago -
Jeremy Mayer4 days ago -
Stef Cameraman7 days ago -
Rebel 98 days ago -
yurezzz19 days ago -
Antonio Stickel19 days ago -
-
Alex Finn20 days ago -
tomhide21 days ago -
-
See all 37 likes
This conversation is missing your voice. Take five seconds to join Vimeo or log in.
Hey, there are 2 more comments in
1 group
-
playslikescomments
-
Total
3,610 
37 
38 -
Dec 5th 2
0 
0 -
Dec 4th 41 1 0
-
Dec 3rd 25 0 0
-
Dec 2nd 21 0 0
-
Dec 1st 18 0 0
-
Nov 30th 29 1 0
-
Nov 29th 46 0 1
-
Nov 28th 51 0 0
Previous Week
Please join Vimeo or log in to download the original file. It only takes a few seconds.
-
Vimeo: About / Blog / Developers / Jobs / Community Guidelines / Community Forums / Help Center / Site Map / Merchandise
/ Get Vimeo
-
All of the audio is directly from the 5D. Except for the background music that I added of course.
What lens did you use ? Must have been quite fast glas ;-))) Also really good work with focus and DOF ... and I like the mix of original sounds and background music.
This film was really an inspiration !!!
Cheers from Tokyo
I used that same tech of holding my tripod up high. It's a beefy tripod so maybe that helped. Definitely a lot of bumping going on out there.
For glass I used:
16-35mm 2.8
90mm TS 2.8
You had the great time in Japan!!
Really Nice work! you made it!
Looks Matsuri made them one.
I really want to go there and see by myself!
So much energy exploded at there.
Thanks Brad.
You let me know something different kind of Japanese culture that I haven't seen.
Your words are expressed beautifully. I appreciated the kind words!
Interesting content, never seen anything like this. Beautiful cinematography. Way too long for my taste. American's have a short attention span and the internet crowd's is even shorter. But what I think would have helped this is a wonderful off-camera narration with a great narrator with a Japanese accent (if the video is to play in english speaking countries). Done in a sound booth, very close mic'd, to explain to us what you did in your description. Then maybe the video could have been this long if it were a mini documentary. The Sound great, music great. Tell us the story behind it and I'd love to see it again.
I understand your point and appreciate the advice. But I didn't make this for Americans or for the internet crowd. I made this film first and foremost for the Japanese audience. And I hope that people from other cultures, such as America, will get something out of it as well.
That being said, I could definitely see it have a different edit with narration. But that would be a totally different project for a totally different reason. Although to me that would take some of the beauty away from it make it more of an informative doc.
Thanks again Steve!
It seems that somebody is asking some english narration "with japanese accent".
Well, it could be good for some american viewers, but I am sure that I would hate that.
Yes, it is long, yet I saw this till the end without getting bored at all.
If it came with some english narration "with japanese accent", I would not be able to stand it for five seconds.
I guess you are fairly familiar to our culture.
A typical american would chose some music which he may find "japanese" but probably would sound quite odd to our ears.
You chose a music which fits just fine to the scene.
By the way, it is "Kami", not "Kame".
"Kame" means "turtle".
"Kami" does not exactly refer to "God", but explaining the difference between "Kami" and "God" would be a long story....
I should not forget to say to you, awesome video!
Sorry for the "Kame" typo. Fixed it. I am happy you enjoyed the film! As I said above, I made this film for the Japanese. And I hope that others will get the "Japanese" experience out of it as well. When I am in Japan I try to live as a Nihonjin. Not as an American in Japan. And that is how I wanted this video to come across as well.
go on with your nice work.