With over 17 billion global streams and collaborations with artists such as RAYE, JP Cooper, and Why We Don’t We, Jonas Blue is undoubtedly no hack in the music sphere. With 2022 finishing up, Jonas Blue is finishing the year with a mood-lifting euphonious piece, Always Be There, featuring the winner of the twelfth series of X-Factor Louisa Johnson.
To talk about the song and his plans for 2023, Jonas Blue joined us for a quick interview.
Firstly, how are you, and how is the music world treating you?
I’m good thanks – currently had a welcome couple of weeks at home after a substantial time on the road, so it’s been good to catch up with friends and family and be in the studio working on new music
You’ve recently released your song Always Be There with Louisa Johnson. How did the collab come about, and how did the idea for the song come to light?
Louisa has such a great voice I’ve always wanted to work with her, we recorded something a few years ago that didn’t come together and this time it was a no brainer as the song needed that big voice for the chorus and she was just perfect for it, the song was something I did a while ago with one of my long time collaborators Sam Romans.
As the year approaches to conclusion, how would you sum up 2022 from your point of view and what were your most memorable highlights that marked your year?
2022 has been great, highlights have been returning to play in ibiza after a couple of years with no clubs open, returning to Japan to play Fuji Rock festival and continuing my Vegas residency which has always been a dream of mine.
With 2023 on the way, are there any sneak peeks you can give us into your projects for the new year?
I don’t want to give away too much but I am going to start the year with a big new single! So watch this space!
If you could collaborate with any vocalist or music producer on a song in 2023, who would it be and why?
Shawn Mendes has always been a dream collaboration, his voice and energy just feels like it would match my music so well.
Finally, what advice would you give up-and-coming music producers looking to thrive in the music industry?
Study the craft, put the hours in, watch lots of YouTube tutorials and master class videos, a commitment to learning true production skills will give you the tools you need to deliver in the studio.
Brandie Carlile was the musical guest on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by Steve Martin and Martin Short. The singer-songwriter performed the title track from her sophomore album, The Story, as well as the In These Silent Days track ‘You and Me On The Rock’ with Lucius. Watch it below.
Carlile last appeared on SNL following the release of In These Silent Days in October 2021, playing the songs ‘Broken Horses’ and ‘Right on Time’. In These Silent Days is nominated for Album of the Year at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
A LinkedIn presence is essential for your business’s success, and that means having plenty of followers. Indeed, you should consider your company page as your digital business card. If you can get more LinkedIn followers, you’ll extend your individual and business networks, developing deep and lasting relationships.
The more you have, the greater exposure your profile will have and the more credibility people will give you. Remember, each of your followers could have an extensive following themselves, extending your reach and influence exponentially.
Ten Tactics to Grow Your LinkedIn Following
Here are ten to help you get more followers to extend your audience and grow your network.
1) Complete Your Profile
Your profile page is the first impression of you or your company that potential customers will get. As such, you should ensure it is professional, concise, and impressive.
An excellent profile will entice those who view it, encouraging them to become followers and want to discover more about your brand.
To attract the right followers, include an appealing headline, an attractive headshot photo, and searchable phrases and tags. Potential followers will then have sufficient information to decide whether to follow you.
2) Optimize Your LinkedIn Page for Search
If you optimize your LinkedIn page for searches, you will likely increase your views, consequently getting more followers. Therefore, include relevant keywords in your profile description and articles to get your page a higher search result.
3) Post Quality Content
You must give a reason for people to do so. You can achieve this by posting unique, interesting, and relevant content regularly.
If you post frequently, your audience will get used to receiving your content, and the higher it will appear in their feeds. Therefore, give people an incentive to follow you by posting regular and quality content.
4) Post Consistently at the Right Time
LinkedIn is a platform for businesses and professionals. As such, the most active hours are when people are at work, with the best time to post between 6 AM and 5 PM.
Of course, your audience might be less focused on LinkedIn at the art and end of the working day. Therefore, to find when you get the most engagement, post frequently at various times until you find your optimal posting schedule.
5) Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups provide an excellent opportunity to connect with people and build relationships with professionals within your niche or who share similar interests. Being able to contribute to these audiences and demonstrate your knowledge and skills will give you wider exposure resulting in more followers.
6) Collaborate with Influencers
If you want to generate a large following on LinkedIn, you should get a helping hand from Influencers. Collaborating with influencers in your niche can expose your brand to the significant audiences these people have.
Getting an endorsement or positive comment from an influencer will not be missed by their followers. Indeed, you could find many of them following your profile as a result.
7) Engage With Your Followers
You should not just view followers as a numbers game. It is pointless doing the hard work to get followers to have them leave shortly afterward because you’ve neglected them.
Indeed, it is crucial to engage with your followers and make them feel valued. Respond when they ask questions and reply to comments from your followers. Doing so will build a better rapport and connection with your existing followers. Subsequently, they’ll be more likely to recommend you to their network, persuading even more people to follow you and your brand.
8) Build a Network
LinkedIn is a business networking platform, so building a network is a reasonable goal. However, don’t restrict yourself to companies or professionals within your niche.
Connect with friends, family, colleagues, and former schoolmates to extend your network. It is easy to do this via a contact-importing feature on LinkedIn. If you meet someone at a conference who still needs to become one of your contacts, send them an invitation to your profile page.
You can build your network quickly, and doing so will exponentially increase your potential to attract new followers.
9) Buy LinkedIn Followers
Purchasing followers for your LinkedIn profile is the quickest way to boost your LinkedIn profile and grow your audience. Of course, you must ensure they are from genuine LinkedIn accounts, or your profile could suffer.
If you buy LinkedIn followers from Media Mister, you get the real thing. Every follower they provide comes from an active account and is as genuine as any organic follower. Also, you will get followers immediately, meaning your profile will receive instant credibility, increased exposure, and extended reach.
You’ll also benefit from Media Mister’s extensive experience and knowledge of social media services.
10) Run an Ad Campaign
LinkedIn has its own advertising campaigns you can use to expand your audience and acquire more followers. With more than 200 marketing capabilities, you are not short of options to reach your target audience and persuade them to take notice of your brand. Indeed, according to LinkedIn statistics, you can boost your chances of converting someone to a customer or follower by up to 33%.
Conclusion
LinkedIn offers you considerable benefits to grow your professional network and market your brand. Getting more followers will increase your credibility and expose you to a vastly larger audience.
These ten tactics should have given you the knowledge you need to grow your following on LinkedIn. Now, it is time to use some or all of these tips to devise an appropriate strategy for your brand and implement it as soon as possible.
Earlier this week, Little Simz announced that she has a new album called NO THANK YOU on the way. Now, the London artist has revealed the tracklist and cover artwork (shot by Karolina Wielocha) for the LP,which was produced by Inflo and will be out on Monday, December 12. Check out her post below.
NO THANK YOU is the follow-up to 2021’s Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, which won the 2022 Mercury Prize.
Phoebe Bridgers made her debut as Sally in a concert adaption of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, which took place at London’s OVO Arena Wembley last night. Danny Elfman, who voiced Jack Skellington and composed the music and lyrics for the 1993 film, reprised his role alongside Ken Page as Oogie Boogie, with backing from the BBC Concert Orchestra. Watch fan-captured footage of the show below.
A second performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas Live in Concert will be held tonight (December 10). Last year, Billie Eilish played Sally as part of the live concert at LA’s Banc of California Stadium.
Bridgers recently released a rendition of The Handsome Family’s ‘So Much Wine’, with proceeds going to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. She also joined Storefront Church for a cover of Low’s ‘Words’.
Every change in the weather and temperature causes changes in the skin that need adjusting in your beauty routine, which is something you shouldn’t overlook.
We have bad news for you if you believe you have found the ideal beauty rituals and products for your skin after years and years of experimentation and you intend to never change them again.
Yes, because the skin constantly changes and because, in addition to internal elements like hormones, nutrition, and more, the weather and temperatures also have an impact on how the skin looks.
Because of this, a beauty routine must account for the changing of the seasons and adjust as necessary in order to be healthy throughout the whole year.
How the Skin Changes As the Cold Weather Arrives
The rituals for face care must be chosen according to the type of skin, but even after determining your skin type, it is crucial to comprehend how your skin changes with the seasons.
Therefore, all skin types tend to dehydrate more quickly in winter and subsequently become drier because of the wind and the dry weather.
In addition, the cold and winter wind tend to mildly lessen muscular tone and somewhat dull the color of the complexion.
Fortunately, the loss of hydration and color is not something that cannot be treated; rather, they can even be prevented by enhancing one’s skincare routine by incorporating hydrating skincare products from amazing brands like Misumi Skincare and with a few straightforward actions.
Why Do You Need To Use Different Products During Winter?
Winter can put your skin to the test because the seasons with the highest and lowest temperatures are the skin’s worst enemies. But don’t worry, if you make a few minor but significant tweaks to your cosmetic routine, you can survive this season unscathed.
Skin becomes dry in cold, windy, rainy, and humid conditions. Use a heavy moisturizer and make frequent masks with oils that nourish and soften your skin to combat the problem. It is best to use argan, coconut, or olive oils.
Keep in mind to cover your lips with a thick layer of cocoa butter at all times.
If you wear makeup, avoid very drying products and choose formulas that, once applied, guarantee an immediate feeling of comfort.
How To Switch to a New Skincare Routine?
When the cold weather hits, it’s time to switch to a deeper, more nourishing skincare regimen. Here’s how to accomplish it without drastically altering your routine.
There is no ideal beauty routine, especially one that would function effectively throughout the year.
The skin of the face is continually changing and adapts to a variety of pressures, including hormonal and external ones like the weather.
For this reason, when the cold weather approaches and the skin exhibits new needs, skincare routines that may have been dealt with in the summer are no longer sufficient. You need to make changes that will adapt to the new conditions.
To properly care for it, you must pay attention to how it changes.
What Advantages Come From Changing Your Skincare Routine for the Winter?
In the winter, switching up your skincare routine might help your skin’s oils appear lighter. Skin damage brought on by wind can be avoided by using creams that hydrate the skin.
Your skin’s sensitivity to the wind and cold is decreased when you switch out your light cosmetics for products that nourish your skin.
In the winter, avoid using a lot of exfoliating cleansers and lighter moisturizers, as your skin needs more care and more hydration.
What To Look For in a Comprehensive Skincare Routine
For the best skincare routine, be sure to cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize with the best serum for your skin type, and use quality moisturizers. In comparison to summer, when it can become oily and burned, the skin gets dry and needs different products to keep it healthy.
When the weather changes from winter to spring and summer, the skin gets oilier and more moisturized. The skin does seem to behave more tolerably in hot weather than it does in cold weather. Compared to winter, during summer we experience fewer skin conditions. So, make sure to take proper care of your skin during the winter and protect it from external influences.
Running a successful law firm is no easy feat. It requires focus, dedication, and an understanding of the legal system. While there are no hard and fast rules to running a successful law firm, some tips can help you on your journey. In this blog post, we will be discussing essential tips for running a successful law firm.
Manage Your Finances Carefully
The first step to running a successful law firm is to ensure that your finances are in order. This means keeping accurate records of all income and expenses and ensuring that you have enough funds available to cover any unexpected costs or emergencies that might arise. Additionally, it’s essential to set aside money for marketing, advertising your services, and setting aside funds for business development activities such as networking and attending conferences.
Develop Relationships
Another critical element of running a successful law firm is developing relationships with other professionals in the industry. This could include other attorneys, judges, court clerks, paralegals, accountants etc., who can help refer clients to you or provide valuable insight into the legal system. In addition, building relationships with other businesses in the same field (accountants, financial advisors) is essential since they can provide referrals or resources to help your business grow.
Utilize Technology
It’s also essential to stay up-to-date on technology when running a law firm. Investing in systems such as cloud computing can allow you to store client data securely while minimizing paper waste and office clutter. Furthermore, using online tools such as e-filing and software management programs can help streamline processes related to filing documents with the court system or other government bodies. Finally, social media platforms such as Twitter or LinkedIn can help you reach potential clients who may not yet be aware of your services.
Provide Quality Service
Providing quality service is another must for running a successful law firm. You want potential clients to feel confident knowing they will receive excellent service when they hire your firm. So always ensure that you offer quality advice tailored specifically for each case or situation they present you with. Additionally, providing services such as free consultations or case reviews can help set your business apart from others in the industry and encourage potential clients to choose your services over competitors.
Make Good First Impressions
First impressions can make or break a potential client’s decision to hire your firm. This means that it’s essential to ensure that the initial contact with potential clients is professional and polite. This could include sending an email or letter introducing your services, responding promptly to phone calls and emails from prospective clients, and making sure to dress professionally when meeting with them in person. Additionally, creating a website for your law firm can be an effective way of demonstrating professionalism, as well as providing more detailed information about the services you offer.
Encourage Employee Growth
Creating an environment that encourages growth and development among your employees is essential. This could include providing them with training and educational opportunities and having a clear career path in place for those who wish to move up in the firm. Additionally, providing your team with Felony Sentencing Chart information can help everyone stay up-to-date on relevant legal guidelines while ensuring they know how to properly represent their clients in court.
Follow Strong Marketing Strategies
A solid marketing strategy is essential for running a successful law firm. This could include traditional tactics such as print and radio ads, a more modern strategy like social media campaigns, or developing an SEO-optimized website. Additionally, networking with other professionals or attending conferences can effectively get your business name out there.
Make Sure You Have A Strong Accounting Team
A strong accounting team is essential for any successful law firm. Not only will they be able to keep track of financial matters, such as billing and taxes, but they can also help manage your budget and ensure that you’re making the most of your money. Additionally, having a good accounting team in place can help you stay compliant with government regulations and avoid potential legal issues or fines down the line.
Use A Reputable Bank
Having an established relationship with a reputable bank can benefit any law firm. Not only will this give your business credibility, but it can also help you access credit when needed and provide a safe place to store client funds. Additionally, having a good relationship with a bank can make it easier to manage finances and pay taxes promptly.
Outsource Certain Tasks
Outsourcing specific tasks can benefit any law firm, allowing them to focus on the more critical aspects of their business. This could include outsourcing clerical work such as filing documents or transcribing notes and hiring outside services to handle marketing or website design. Additionally, outsourcing IT services can help ensure that your network is secure and protected from potential cyber-attacks and hackers, keeping confidential files safe.
Collect And Analyze Data
Data collection and analysis is an essential part of running a law firm. This could include gathering data on client needs, such as their legal issues or the type of services they’re looking for. Additionally, analyzing data can help you identify trends in your industry that you may not have previously noticed, which can be beneficial when making decisions about your business.
Organize Schedules & Priorities
Organizing schedules and setting priorities are vital components when running a law firm. This could include ensuring that all staff members understand their roles and responsibilities within the business, creating an actionable schedule or plan for each case or client, and setting deadlines for tasks to be completed on time.
Follow Up With Clients
Making sure to keep in contact with your clients is essential for any successful law firm. This could include scheduling follow-up calls or emails, providing updates on cases and progress, and answering any questions they may have. Additionally, staying in touch with your clients helps build trust and demonstrates that you value their business.
Have A Plan For Dealing With Unsatisfied Clients
No matter how hard you try, there will always be some customers who are not satisfied with the services provided by a law firm. Therefore, it’s essential to have a plan in place for dealing with such situations, which could include offering an apology or compensation if necessary. Additionally, having clear policies in place can help reduce the chances of similar issues occurring in the future.
Develop An Online Presence
Having an online presence is essential for any successful law firm. This could include having a website that provides an overview of your services and regularly updating social media pages with relevant content or legal news. Additionally, using SEO tactics to optimize your website can help increase visibility and attract potential customers.
Be An Expert In Your Field
It’s essential to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in your field and make sure that you are an expert in the law. This could include attending seminars, conferences, or other events related to your practice area and staying informed on any new laws or regulations that may affect clients who hire your services. Additionally, continuously reading articles or books related to the legal industry can help ensure that you remain a trusted resource for clients.
Stay Up-to-Date on Legal Changes
You must stay up-to-date on changes in the legal world if you want your law firm to be successful. Researching legal trends in your practice allows you to anticipate changes before they happen, giving you an edge over competitors who need to keep up with current events related to their practice areas. Additionally, attending seminars related to specific practice areas or staying abreast of new laws via newsletters are great ways to stay informed about what’s happening in the legal world at any given time!
Encourage Team Building
Create an environment of team building. This means encouraging collaboration among your staff and allowing for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. Doing so will help build rapport between co-workers and lead to creative solutions that may benefit your business in the long run. Additionally, ensuring everyone is on the same page and knows their roles within the firm is another way to promote team building and ensure a successful law firm.
Find A Reputable Partner
Partnering with another reputable law firm can be a great way to expand your services and increase profits. However, if you decide to partner with another firm, ensure that you investigate the other firm’s background thoroughly so there are no surprises down the line. Additionally, it’s essential to have clear objectives for any joint venture or partnership — this will help keep everyone on the same page and ensure success for both parties involved!
The success of any law firm depends on its ability to provide quality services and meet customer needs. Therefore, developing a plan to follow and implement best practices is essential for running a successful law firm. From creating an online presence to being an expert in your field, staying up-to-date with legal changes, encouraging team building, and finding reputable partners – many steps need to be taken to remain competitive in the legal industry. By following these tips, firms can stay ahead of their competition while continuing to provide excellent service for current and prospective customers.
Arca has released new compilation called Kick, which includes fan favourites from the musician’s KICK series along with three new tracks: ‘Alto Voltaje’, ‘Ritual’, and ‘Sentient Savior’. It also features ‘Cayó’ and ‘El Alma Que Te Trajo’, two previously released tracks that were part of the original recording sessions but didn’t appear on any of her KICK albums. Take a listen below.
In a 1960 issue of Film Quarterly magazine, the eminent film historian Donald Richie recalled a conversation with a Shochiku producer with whom he attempted (unsuccessfully) to negotiate broader international exposure for director Yasujiro Ozu. “But, Mr. Richie,” the producer insisted, “he is so Japanese—no one would understand [his films].” Richie retaliated: “That is simply not true — I understand them.” The producer then smiled at the American expat and cited his many years in Japan as an explanation. “But, of course, you have been living here so long now that your reactions are, well, are not typical.”1 Richie eventually arranged an Ozu retrospective at the Berlin Film Festival, where he showed five pictures in the summer of 1963.2 At that time, the director was checking out of the hospital, having undergone treatment for a painful growth in his neck. By October, he was in urgent care again—the growth turning out to be cancer that had metastasized3 and later, on December 12 (his sixtieth birthday), it killed him.
During his lifetime, Ozu seemed ambivalent as to whether or not his films would appeal to audiences outside Japan. “Someday, I’m sure, foreigners will understand my films,” he once told cinematographer Yuharu Atsuta before sheepishly adding: “Then again, no. They will say […] that my films aren’t much of anything.”4 Ozu’s chosen subject was ordinary Japanese life, which he filmed in a consistently simple style and without the usual narrative methods of achieving drama. (His movies about families pushing daughters to marry, for example, tend not to show the actual ceremony; the drama centers on the family the bride is leaving, not the one she’s joining, the story often concluding with a parent sitting at home in loneliness.) On the surface, his movies seemed too culturally specific for non-Japanese; and yet, when they were fleetingly shown abroad in the 1950s and early ‘60s, the response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Following a 1956 screening at the University of California of Tokyo Story (1953) — a picture Shochiku declined to submit to the Cannes Film Festival for fear it couldn’t be understood5 — English instructor Earl Roy Miner wrote in the school’s journal: “Deaths — especially of mothers, girls in love, and young poets — ought to be banned by law from Japanese films [but] Mr. Ozu’s sequence is an exception. He succeeds because he handles it in the same realistic way as everything else: the children are tearful only till they begin to recall their own affairs and divide up their mother’s belongings.”6
When informed by Richie of rave London reviews for Tokyo Story, Ozu seemed more appreciative than enthusiastic.7 In any event, he never lived to see the true acclaim his work would garner overseas. Occasional screenings and retrospectives persisted in museums and festivals throughout the mid-’60s, and in 1972 several pictures played in New York. Roger Greenspun of the New York Times labeled the “virtually unknown” Ozu a director “whose name should be familiar to all film lovers,”8 and that same year Paul Schrader dedicated an entire chapter of his acclaimed book Transcendental Style in Film to the artist under discussion. “Ozu’s films have not proved to be as lucrative at the box office abroad as they were at home,” wrote film historian Audie Bock in 1984, “but there is no doubt that viewers everywhere in the world have understood his message of acceptance just as well as they have understood [Kenji] Mizoguchi’s mystical adoration of women and [Akira] Kurosawa’s samurai humanism.”9
Despite the unorthodox storytelling and continued emphasis on ordinary Japanese life, audiences had no trouble deciphering Ozu’s characters — as they expressed emotions and desires felt by people worldwide (love, sadness, envy, etc.). Film critic and professor Stanley Kauffmann once asked students to write what they knew about Charles Chaplin: “One of them began: ‘I don’t know how much I know about Chaplin, but he certainly knows a lot about me.’ That seems to me one excellent definition of superior art, and it applies to Ozu.”10 When Donald Richie published his book Ozu: His Life and Films in 1977, time had proved him right: international audiences adored the filmmaker whose countrymen deemed the most Japanese of directors.
Reviews continue to latch on to this label, primarily because of Ozu’s chosen subject matter and the manner in which he presented it: i.e., with a static camera situated low — and perfectly level — to the ground. This technique has often been cited as evidence of his “Japanese” filmmaking approach, the logic behind it reputedly to simulate the point of view of someone seated on a tatami mat.
Less discussed are behind-the-scenes factoids rendering much of the above distorted if not completely untrue. To begin with, Ozu was, from a young age, a fervent admirer of American and European cinema, dismissing the Japanese movies of his youth as “without emotional depth.” His directorial heroes included Charles Chaplin, Ernst Lubitsch, and Rex Ingram, with Thomas H. Ince’s Civilization (1915) inspiring him to become a filmmaker.11 His early movies featured mobile camerawork and situations imitative of Hollywood — to the extent that Japanese critics characterized them as “reeking of butter” (slang for excessive western influence).12 But even the aesthetic he developed later on took cues from the Occident: the subdued acting tone drew inspiration from scenes of Bette Davis in William Wyler’s The Little Foxes (1941) and Henry Fonda in John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946);13 he once asked his editor to obtain a print of Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon (1952) and count the frames in shots he deemed ideally cut.14 (On set, Ozu timed scenes using a stopwatch that simultaneously measured seconds and frames.)15 And contrary to what’s been repeated for decades, his reason for placing the camera low and level wasn’t to achieve a human perspective.
To the best of my knowledge, the “point of view” thesis began with Wim Wenders’s 1985 documentary Tokyo-ga, wherein the German filmmaker interviewed Ozu’s long-time cameraman, Yuharu Atsuta. Per the English language narration, the camera was “always set at the eye level of someone seated on the floor.” To give Wenders benefit of the doubt, part of me suspects this statement derived from mistranslation, but the claim itself is disproven by his own film. In Tokyo-ga’s last — and best — sequence, Atsuta recreates the signature Ozu setup, using the same Mitchell camera from the duo’s last few movies; when finished, the lens remains somewhat lower than the eyeline of a seated person, the cinematographer still dependent on crouching to look through the viewfinder. (This is consistent with information in Audie Bock’s 1978 book Japanese Film Directors: Ozu stationed his camera a mere 40cm — less than a foot and a half — off the floor when shooting mediums and close-ups.)16
Yuharu Atsuta setting up a shot in “Tokyo-ga” (1985).
However, Wenders correctly cites the reason behind Ozu’s insistence on keeping the camera perfectly level (to avoid image distortion), which itself ties into his actual logic behind the low position. As film critic Roger Ebert noted in his audio commentary for 1959’s Floating Weeds: “Ozu, more than most directors, placed composition above everything else.”17
Yasujiro Ozu’s fascination with low camera placement materialized early in his career. When shooting interiors on his sixth motion picture — the lost silent Body Beautiful(1928) — he found himself inconvenienced by electric cables strewn across the floor. The cables powered equipment but needed to be constantly moved so as not to be visible in the frame. “Since it would take time and energy to tidy them up before shooting another shot,” the director told Tokyo Shinbun in 1952, “I turned my camera upward in order not to show the floor. I liked the composition and was able to save time as well. Since then, it has become a habit, and my camera has become positioned lower and lower.”18
Fellow director Daisuke Ito claimed Ozu refined his setup after a night of drinking at the former’s home. An alcohol fan since adolescence — his favorites included sake, scotch, and cheap whiskey19 — Ozu inevitably became tipsy and stumbled into Ito’s garden. There he placed a sake bottle atop a rock and then crouched to study it. “This low position is great!” he cried out. “The sake bottle is precisely the position of the lens and the position one meter behind it is mine. […] I’d never let anyone sit in this position, the positive I’ve created.” In the 1930s, he began reducing cinematic movement and kept the camera close to the ground — which, per director Masahiro Shinoda, formerly an assistant to Ozu, was actually implemented “to prevent it from having a human viewpoint.”20 (As evident in the films themselves: sometimes compositions are formed so that the heads of actors in the foreground disappear beyond the top of the frame.) But what the low setup — and the perfectly level camera angle — did achieve was integral to Ozu’s sensibilities: pictorial balance.
Since most Ozu pictures primarily took place in interiors (he resented location shooting’s drawing the attention of passersby and being subject to changes in weather and lighting),21 the director found himself contending with problematic design. “[T]he Japanese room has a lot of sliding doors,” he explained, “[so] when you look down from too high a position, the horizon is lowered. If you frame a scene that way, the top part of the frame seems light and the balance looks wrong.”22 Also irksome were the tatami mats making up the floor—namely their straight edges and how they stopped abruptly upon reaching the wall.23 Conversing with cinematographer Atsuta, Ozu described his solution: “[I]t’s a real pain trying to make a good composition of a Japanese room—especially the corners. The best way to deal with this is to use a low camera position. This makes everything easier.”24 Ozu’s shooting technique was designed simply to obtain an ideal shot. For this same reason, he chose to keep most of his compositions level; showing more of the ceiling or the floor threw off the balance he continually sought.
As Masahiro Shinoda’s testimony further details, compositional perfection didn’t end with camera placement. On the set of Tokyo Twilight(1957), the assistant asked his senior why a cushion had been placed in a part of the room where nobody sits. Ozu instructed him to peer through the camera’s viewfinder, whereupon Shinoda realized the cushion improved the shot by obscuring tatami mat borders.25 As his assistant directorship continued into the ‘60s, Shinoda also came to realize violating continuity was occasionally necessary. Once during the making of Late Autumn (1960), he watched Ozu meticulously organize beer bottles, dishes, and ashtrays on a table—only to rearrange them when composing the next shot. “I was so shocked that I said that if he did that he would create a bad break in continuity, that everyone would notice that the beer bottles were now on the right and the ashtray on the left. He stopped, looked at me, and said: ‘Continuity? Oh, that. No, you’re wrong. People never notice things like that — and this way, it makes a much better composition.’ And he was right, of course. People don’t. When I saw the rushes I didn’t notice anything wrong with those scenes.”26
Ozu likewise enjoyed breaking the time-tested 180-degree rule as he composed shots. “When we shoot a conversation between actors A and B in close-ups,” he said in describing the rule to Geijutsu Shincho, “the camera must not cross a line connecting A and B. First we shoot a close-up of A a little bit away from the line between the two. A looks to the left of the screen. Then we should move the camera to the opposite position, on the same side of the line between A and B, and shoot a close-up of B. Thus, B looks to the right of the screen. In this way, their gazes cross above the viewers’ seats, and they appear to be talking to each other.” Since he understood the rule and why it existed, he also knew how to break it. “I don’t care about crossing the line to shoot close-ups of A and B. Thus, both A and B look to the left. Their gazes never cross. Nevertheless, they appear to be talking to each other.”27 In many Ozu pictures, actors in conversation are filmed gazing toward the same edge of the screen in separate close-ups—whereas other directors would have them face opposite sides of the frame. And when editor Yoshiyaku Hamamura suggested Ozu test a scene by shooting one version in compliance with the 180-degree rule and the other via his usual methods, the director’s reaction upon comparing the results was famously: “No difference!”28
Other members of the staff — and occasionally personnel in the front office — were perplexed by his visual methods. When making 1933’s Dragnet Girl, first-time assistant cameraman Keisuke Kinoshita stood astonished as Ozu continually moved a wall-mounted picture between takes. “I thought, ‘Won’t it look strange if this picture keeps moving around?’ Ozu would say, ‘Just a little bit more.’ He kept looking through the viewfinder. Really, he just kept moving it by fractions of an inch, up and down, side to side.”29 Upon transitioning to color photography in the late 1950s, Ozu dictated the shades of tatami bindings and even the material from which costumes were made.30 He refused Shochiku’s request to tint his black-and-white films — as he feared color would flatten the images.31 And he remained stubbornly appalled by widescreen photography. “Given the short time I have left on this Earth […] I don’t want to shoot a film as though I were peering out from a mailbox slot.”32
As demonstrated, Ozu’s technique — and indeed his entire approach to moviemaking — often went against the instincts of his countrymen; and per some minds this actually negated his famous moniker as the most “Japanese” movie director. “Here is a man who adamantly refuses to change his approach,” wrote critic Shimba Iida. “His adherence to his own original method will permit no outside advice.”33 Masahiro Shinoda bluntly opined: “Following a single principle to its extreme in this way is something I don’t believe is a very Japanese trait. So for me, Ozu is in a certain sense a very un-Japanese director.”34 And while the filmmaker under discussion often compared himself to a craftsman specializing in a certain trade, other statements indicate a rather individualist outlook on his own art. “I follow the general fashion in ordinary manners and moral laws in serious matters, but in art I follow myself,” Ozu told Kinema Junpo in 1958. “Even if something is unnatural and I like it, I’ll do it. […] From this comes my individuality—and this is most important to me.”35
Bibliography:
Richie, Donald. “A Personal Record.” Film Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 1. (Autumn 1960)
Sharp, Jasper. “Donald Richie obituary.” The Guardian, 21 February 2013
Richie, Donald. Ozu: His Life and Films. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977, p. 251
Aloff, Mindy. “FILM VIEW; How American Intellectuals Learned to Love Ozu.” The New York Times, 3 April 1994
Bordwell, David. Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988, p. 75
Bock, Audie. Japanese Film Directors. New York: Kodansha International, Ltd., 1978, p. 83
Ebert, Roger. Floating Weeds (Criterion DVD), recorded in 2003
Yoshida, Kiju. Translated by Daisuke Miyao and Kyoko Hirano. Ozu’s Anti-Cinema. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2003, p. 71
Richie, Ozu: His Life and Films, p. 27
Bordwell, pp. 78-9
Tokyo-ga. Wim Wenders Productions, 1985; Ozu’s Films from Behind the Scenes. Shochiku Co., Ltd., 2004
Taylor Swift is set to make her feature directorial debut for Searchlight Pictures, from an original script she wrote herself. “Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller,” Searchlight presidents David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said in a statement. “It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey.” The title and all further details have yet to be confirmed.
Last year, Swift wrote and directed a short film to accompany the 15-minute version of her song ‘All Too Well’. The video, which is an Oscar contender, won the 2022 VMA for Best Direction, making her the first artist to be honored as best director twice at the VMAs. Following the release of her latest album, Midnights, in October, she shared a self-directed video for ‘Bejeweled’ featuring Laura Dern, HAIM, Jack Antonoff, and more.
