abirdwhale's First Concert

There will be my first concert in a year. As a special feature of this event, the event involves a collaboration between musicians and a film director. The venue also differs from normal 'live houses'. While you are watching the show, you can sit back and relax in a Japanese-style atmosphere. Feel free to join this unique event. http://www.facebook.com/events/155765791197121/

A Short Film

This is a short film which won the Academic Vision Award and the Business Vision Award at Mita Film Competition on 10th of December. The song by me, called 'Five, Six, Seven', is used in the film. The title of the film is 'Popping out of the trash box'. Please enjoy it.

abirdwhale

abirdwhale is a musical (perhaps not only music) project by Kakinoki, Masato. Please stay tuned.

It's Masa

How have you been?
Something is going to change soon.
See you then.

About "Good Day, Good Night" (2/2 - Regarding the video)

*This post is a sequel to my former posts. If you want to read the former ones, you can read them using these links:

Good Day, Good Night (May 6, 2011)

About "Good Day, Good Night" (1/2 - Regarding the song) (May 23, 2011)


I had originally planned to upload the song to YouTube. YouTube is the easiest to access for everyone, rather than Myspace or SoundCloud.
When I had written up the song, I thought it should be shown with the lyrics because of its character and concept.
I didn't want to just show all the lyrics at the explanation area of the YouTube page. Personally, I don't like listening to songs while reading the lyrics. It makes me able to predict what's going to come next in the lyrics. That's a bit boring.

So I decided to show the lyrics directly in a video.

It's impossible to capture my writing or typing the lyrics in real-time, so I made up my mind to make a simple stop motion animation.



At first, I tried to take pictures with the digital camera which was in my house, but I failed at it. I attached the camera to a microphone stand as a tripod with gum tape, but every time I pushed the shutter button, it moved a bit. That was very irritating.

So I started to use the webcam which was in my house. Then I could start shooting by clicking the trackpad of my MacBook Pro, without touching the camera.

However the picture I took with the web camera was blurry, so I had to buy a new web camera.



In regards to the editing software,
I found a nice freeware called FrameByFrame.
I was excited to try this new software. It worked well, because it could export the movie file when I was testing it.
However, a problem suddenly appeared.
When I tried to save the file as I was finished with half of the work, it froze. I tried again and again, but it didn't work.
I still don't know why, but FrameByFrame can't save more than a minute movie, at least for my environment.

I needed to find another way. I tried to do it with iPhoto and iMovie. They are good default applications that with Mac. However they didn't satisfy my need.

I googled and found that I had to buy iStopMotion 2.
Making a movie is so expensive...!
I used the trial version and well, it worked perfectly. I bought it.
When you pay money for something, it gives you back more than when you get something without paying. That's what I learnt from it.



Finally I succeeded in making the video made up of 1552 pictures.
I can explain the more details of the progression, but it will be too long to read.
So I won't do that. If you would like to know, you are welcomed to ask anything.

This is the picture of the lyrics sheet. The numbers are the accurate time when each word appears in the song. I had to check them all to synchronize the vocals with the picture.
The Japanese characters you can see in the picture show my practices.








Here are all the items used to make the video:

A MacBook Pro
A webcam
iStopMotion 2

iMovie (to combine the movie and the music)
Sunlight (I couldn't work when it was cloudy, because it was too dark to take a picture with my web camera.)
A desk lamp
A green notebook
Several pens
Time and patience (Honestly, I can't strongly say I want to do the same thing again, and I really respect animation creators. They are tough!)

I've read two books by Kafka

I read "Transformation/Before the Law" and "The Trial" in Japanese.
It was my first contact with Franz Kafka. He's from Prague and wrote in German.

"The Metamorphosis/Before the Law" is a book of short stories which includes:

"Judgement"
"The Metamorphosis"
"A Report to an Academy"
"Before the Law"


"The Metamorphosis" is very well known but I've never read it before. I only knew how the story begins as everyone knows.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."

Before I read through the novel, I thought "The Metamorphosis" was a SF or fantasy novel, but it actually is a sad, realistic and symbolic novel. Even though it's sad, I like it.

I couldn't catch what "Judgement" really means. I should try reading it again at the proper opportunity.

"A Report to an Academy" is all made up of one character's monologue. He reports to the people in an academy about how he became a human from being a monkey. It's funny but also deep.

"Before the Law" is a really short story, which is four pages in Japanese. It may be less in English.
It's easy writing but difficult to understand the intent of the writer. What is the law after all?
This novel appears again in "The Trial". One character talks about this story. That scene can be a clue to understand.

"The Trial" is good novel and has a worldwide reputation, but I don't like it so much. There are several unfinished chapters, and this novel is depressing and full of a helpless feeling. That is why it didn't become my favorite.


Kafka's novel's are classic. They are also more pop and catchy than I expected.
I can recommend them to you.

Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It

*This post has been saved as a draft from 4 March 2011. I forgot to upload that time.

I've just read through "Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It" by Henriette Anne Klauser. I read it in Japanese.

It's a good book. I like it. There are many concrete ways to make dreams come true.
Write your dreams and goals down and you'll be careful about the things connected to your dreams. I agree with it.

What I like the best is this. Make a team. Meet up once a week. The each member officially announces two things. Their dreams and what they'll have done for the dreams by the next meeting.

Perhaps there are a bit too many. It's difficult to remember them all. I borrowed this book from the library, but it's good to have and read it back sometimes.

There are several spiritual and religious ways. They are hard to understand for Japanese. I didn't pick them up. Just use the ways which suit you. It's the best way to read this book.

Now I have a question. Do I have to write those things on the paper? Can I type them on PC? What do you think?