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Yasujiro Ozu - Hitokomakura

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Yasujiro Ozu - Hitokomakura --- 2007-06-00

© 2007 The Artists. ℗ 2007 and/OAR. Made in Canada. Released in Digipak. The two discs contain a cross-platform compatible PDF booklet containing so-called "Pillow Shots" (courtesy of Criterion Collection) and liner notes. [b]1-1[/b] Field recordings made at a shrine in Kyoto, and inside the Buddha statue at Kamakura, which I have visited many times... [b]1-2[/b] Recorded at Mooste, Reading, Nyon, and Kaseda in 2005 and 2006. Thanks to Yukiko, Rachel, Djamileh, Evelyn and John. [b]1-3[/b] Recorded in Seto-shi, Japan. [b]1-4[/b] Table 2 shows the harmony of the community and the home. [b]1-5[/b] Kohayagawa-ke no Aki (aka The End of Summer) tells the story of Mambei, a man in the twilight of his life who has reverted to a child-like state. He avoids his business and family obligations in order to spend time reminicsing with a former mistress and it is there he passes away much to his family’s consternation. We wanted to create a mini-epic of this man’s life keeping in mind the belief that in the moment before death our life flashes before our eyes. This was Mambei’s moment. [b]1-8[/b] Recorded April 15 and 16, 2006 at Marcias’ Garage, Seattle, Washington. Produced and edited at Joy Street Studios, Seattle. From Samma no Aji (aka An Autumn Afternoon) in which Shuhei Hirayama, an aging widower, finds himself facing life without his daughter Michiko who has left home after marrying at his insistence. [b]1-9[/b] All materials were recorded with a binaural microphone. [b]1-10[/b] Recorded on the roof of my house in Zürich using a piezo microphone with brass wires soldered onto it. The microphone was placed on a metal table, which acted as resonator to the brass wires. This scene, shot over some rooftops with flags waving in the wind, made me think of doing a recording on my roof. I specifically chose the type of modified piezo microphone used in this recording for two reasons: first, it is especially sensitive to even light winds (which is what we have on this recording, though it does sound more turbulent at times). The sound of the wind seemed to correlate for me with the image of the flags flapping in the sky; it also made me think of rooftops in general because wind is one of the things one generally hears after climbing up on a roof. Secondly, this type of microphone gives a very indirect and approximate image of the recorded audio events. I thought this especially appropriate for Ozu and the pillow shots, as I understand them: not serving as 1:1 narrative devices, but more as interludes lending a shade of atmosphere between different scenes. The ambiguity of this way of recording seemed to match the general intent of a pillow shot. [b]1-11[/b] L : electromagnetic wave of cathode-ray tube R : solid vibration of videotape [b]1-12[/b] The sounds used in the composition “Seen” are based and processed out of the field recordings used in “Waldsee” (on CD 2). Many thanks to Jason Kahn. [b]1-13[/b] Here we have a function that can render “x” variables to be “y.” To say mathematically, y = f(x). If “y” is “music related with a photo” and “x” is my recording, we have the following function: f(x) = y. Personally, I didn’t care about how I could make a recording that would be related to the thema; and in fact there were many functions because the thema is vague. How can we listen to the music with the conviction that it is surely related with a certain thema? If any music has to remind one of a certain thema, there is a rigid context set up in which listeners have to relate the music to the thema. I am not interested in this kind of process. [b]1-14[/b] The minimalistic perfection of Ozu’s film prevents me from making the representation of a pillow shot with sound. The cinematic world is complete within itself and doesn’t need me. At the same time, for me, “Tokyo Monogatari” is the lost nostalgia of Tokyo which I have never experienced in my real life - the time before I was born. What I can do as the most sincere way for me, is live in the remaining old-goodness atmosphere of Tokyo in 2006 both as a person who grew up with the culture and as an alien. Then record it. Or act it. The soba place in Kichijozi has the atmosphere of “the old goodness” of Tokyo for me, who was born in 1978. 2 old couples were there, but were not talking. The quietness creates tension like a winter morning, and the baseball broadcasting from the radio filled the air in a modest way. The Tokyo accent of the madame of the soba-ya gives the resonating accent in the sonic wave space. Under the same sky, such scene was played in Tokyo over and over from 1953 or before until now. Nothing special is there. The perfection of usual life is everywhere, and at the same time, so difficult to find. The title tooi soba (= “far near” or “the soba restaurant is far away” ) represents the relationship of me in NYC and Tokyo, or me and the era of Tokyo Monogatari: It is near and in the everyday life, and at the same time, it is far from here. Well, this is the end of my mumbling and my story. Live your “Tokyo Monogatari” in the real life. Or in the dream. [b]1-15[/b] Birds were recorded in Seattle, Washington. [b]2-2[/b] I made a couple of nice recordings with a contact microphone connected to the pole of a koi windsock. The movement of the windsock, taken from the contact mic recording and a recording taken from a video I made of the windsock, were used to trigger the resulting sounds. I read a lot about the Japanese tradition of flying a windsock for all the boys in the family... In spring they have what is called “boy’s day,” celebrated by these colorful koi flying in the wind. It was sort of fitting that when I was doing the recording, we had a number of days of near-spring weather (up near 70 degress). [b]2-3[/b] “Waldsee” is structured from untreated field recordings made in the woods and along the lake of Zürich in Switzerland. Many thanks to Jason Kahn. [b]2-4[/b] Physical vibration with sine waves. Sadly, the Japanese traditional life of which Ozu draws upon in his films has already been lost... as well as the landscape. [b]2-6[/b] Table 1 shows memories of desire. [b]2-7[/b] In the film, Higanbana (Equinox Flower), a restaurant where father and friends meet to confide after attending wedding. Sound of lament, the street, human pursuits, instruments. Recorded and produced in Seattle. [b]2-8[/b] Recorded in Gifu-shi, Japan. [b]2-10[/b] Original sound recordings made mostly in Japan. [b]2-13[/b] During Ukigusa (Floating Weeds), a country inn room, secluded lovers contemplate returning home to face boys’ parents; the train sounds’ urgency. Recorded/produced in Seattle. [b]2-15[/b] From Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story). Recorded and produced in Seattle.