FAMICASE 2013

May 5, 2013


MY FAMICASE EXHIBITION.

Once a year Sakagami Satoshi organizes a little exhibition called MY FAMICASE EXHIBITION. Designers, videogame lovers and 80′s nostalgics worldwide are invited to submit their own 8 bit Famicom game. Sakagami prints all entries and pastes them on physical famicom cartridges. To participate you are required to design the label, write up a short description about your game and even submit a faux game company logo. During the month of May he turns his shop into a little gallery and exhibits all submissions on the walls of his small boutique in Kichijouji.

The guys over at LARGETOSTI and myself joined the fun again this year and submitted two games to the exhibition, you can check all entries right here. If you are in the Tokyo area during May please make sure to visit Meteor in Kichijouji!

FINAL ROUND 16 – PROMOTION VIDEOS

April 9, 2013

FIGHT EVERYONE!

After satisfying my cravings for WAFFLE HOUSE, I met up again with TEAM JAPAN in Atlanta, Georgia to attend the sixteenth edition of FINALROUND.  I was there again this year to produce a series of promotional videos together with my friend Nasir Ansari.

FINAL ROUND started back in 1997 and grew out to become the biggest gaming tournament of the South East. For more information go to www.finalround.org or check out Facebook for the upcoming eastcoast event The Fall Classic.

FINAL ROUND 16 – FIGHT EVERYONE from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

FINAL ROUND 16 – SHIN BLANKA from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

FINAL ROUND 16 – TEAM SPOOKY from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

FINAL ROUND 16 – SIGNING OFF from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

END OF INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN

March 6, 2013

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING US YOU ARE SUPER AWESOME!

That is what we would like to say to all the people who have supported us in the past couple of weeks. With more than 30 contributors, several features on vinyl toy and design blogs and a surprising amount of emails with encouraging words in regards to the production of TOKYO X CREATIVES, we are proud to announce that we have started post-production on TOKYO X CREATIVES EPISODE 01 – UAMOU.

Thanks to your support we have the time to dedicate the coming weeks on completing this video and we look forward to be able to release it for the world to enjoy!

 

TxC CAMPAIGN FINAL WEEK

February 19, 2013

FINAL STRETCH.

Last year I have worked on a series of documentaries about Japanese creatives.
The first episode is about UAMOU. I have shot over 5 hours of footage for this episode,
giving an unprecedented look into the studio and life of one of the world’s leading
vinyl toy designers Takagi Ayako. However the work needs editing, sound mixing,
colour correction and english translation to become a roughly 20 minute
documentary.

In order to release this material in the best form it could be, we have
started a humble indiegogo campaign asking for support for post
production.

We are currently in the final week of our campaign and I would like to ask the support
of anyone interested in seeing this documentary come to completion. There has been
great coverage on various soft vinyl blogs and design websites. Takagi Ayako has
created a limited edition UAMOU for the campaign and Valentijn Kortekaas (EvanOdd)
has agreed to producing the soundtrack for the documentary. Everybody’s support and
feedback has been incredibly positive and we are glad to tell you that the first episode
of TOKYO x CREATIVES will become a much better documentary thanks to your
combined efforts.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would share our campaign with your friends and network. If you are interested in donating we have great perks, HD digital download prior to official release for just 10 euro’s (about 13 bucks) or even a limited edition TxC – UAMOU made by Takagi Ayako for only 75 euro’s
If the campaign turns out to be successful it would allow me time to release this documentary to enthusiasts around the world, with more episodes to come!

TOKYO X CREATIVES – INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN

February 4, 2013

Hello internet! I have been back in Holland for a couple of months and today I’m here to tell you that I’m still alive! To celebrate the occasion that I am in fact still breathing, it is my greatest pleasure to share with you that I have launched a campaign on indiegogo to ask for your support in the releasing of TOKYO X CREATIVES 01 -UAMOU.

I have had many positive responses on the TOKYO X CREATIVES trailers that I have released last year and even more messages about when the series would be completed. Unfortunately the task of properly finishing the series in my spare time proved too big a project to carry to completion. Therefore I ask you, the fans to help me get the monkeys of my back so that I can completely focus on fishing the documentary that I have made about Takagi Ayako and give it the polish it so much deserves.

All help is appreciated and in the coming three weeks I need as many of you kind people as possible to help me spread the word about the UAMOU campaign. My deepest gratitude goes out to Miss Takagi and her family for their kind support and for allowing me into their workplace and their home. Also I would like to thank my eternal partners in crime Sjef van Gaalen en Mink Couteaux of the infamous LARGETOSTI studio for their support in the form of throwing instant ramen at the back of my head.

AVANCE-COSME

September 5, 2012

AVANCE COSMETICS

I worked with Hideki Kowase and Miyuki Fukuo on a new pamphlet for Avance Cosmetics promoting the new Eyezone Beauty line. The pamphlet is in stores now. Go git yours!

This is not the first time I worked with photographer Miyuki Fukuo, we joined forces before on a little side project called AROMATICO, a testcase for a series of videos revolving around the preparation of food.

RHYTHM CONTROL 2 RELEASED

September 3, 2012

MARU IS BACK

For the last 8 months I was involved in the development of Rhythm Control 2 for iOS. The game finally got approved by Apple and is available in the App Store Now. Go get yours!

Rhythm Control 2 is the sequel to the addictive music game that topped the charts in Japan and Sweden. Touch the markers in rhythm with the music and try to get a high score! Featuring music from both Japanese and western bands and musicians, including Bit Shifter, YMCK, Boeoes Kaelstigen and Slagsmålsklubben.

For more info check the store or hit up DAIKONSOFT.

Con+DeCon #6 TSUTAYA BOOKS

September 3, 2012

TSUTAYA BOOKSTORE 01 from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

TSUTAYA BOOK STORE 02 from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

TSUTAYA BOOK STORE 03 from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

TSUTAYA BOOKS, DAIKANYAMA.

In recent years digital content has been on the rise and especially on-demand services such as iTunes and Netflix have become the norm instead of the alternative. Bookstore and video-rental are on decline with several household brands filing for bankruptcy. Not so much in Japan though.

One could argue that the Japanese have yet to embrace the full possibilities of the net and instead stick to their trusted Japanese telephone networks. Whatever the case may be, it is interesting to see that, where in America and Canada stores like BLOCKBUSTER have disappeared from the streets, the Japanese equivalent TSUTAYA is still renting videos and music in over 3500 stores nationwide. This does not mean that TSUTAYA is not concerned with the future of their business.

Their latest bookstore in Daikanyama is much more than a store, it is a celebration of physical media. It seems that with digital distribution on the rise, TSUTAYA is trying to approach the issue by creating a flagship bookstore with a relaxing atmosphere fit for browsing and socializing. The complex consists out of three buildings and the first floor of each building is dedicated to the printed media. Aside from books and magazines you will also find a stationary section with a selection of hundreds of hand made pens and beautifully curated expositions.

On the second floor of the outside buildings you will find a dedicated music and video store. At the time of my video production, the music store featured an exposition about the Rolling Stones whilst the video store had a little gallery dedicated to Marylin Monroe’s film career.

The heart of the store is located on the second floor of the center building which houses a spacious lounge area with very well stocked bars and people who know how to run an espresso machine. Instead of nice books on the coffee tables the lounge is covered wall to wall with huge bookshelves and glass cabinets exposing Tsutaya’s impressive private collection. Complete editions of classic magazines such as HEIBON PUNCH and IDEA are there for the visitor to be enjoyed, merely overshadowed by a vast collection of equally interesting books and antique paraphernalia. The line between shopping and recreation has been intentionally faded and the lay out of each area was designed to accommodate that philosophy. Tsutaya believes that consumers don’t always know what they are looking for and the TSUTAYA BOOK STORE offers a a space where the consumer is free to wonder and explore a vast catalogue of human knowledge and entertainment.

The complex was designed by KLEIN DYTHAM ARCHITECTURE and stands beautifully on the Daikanyama T-site near Shibuya.

ARAKAWA MON AMOUR

August 29, 2012

 

ARAKAWA MON AMOUR

I had about a week to organize a final Tokyo shoot before heading back to Europe and I decided to shoot a video clip under the Arakawa bridge, one of my favourite locations on the East side of the city. Music producer extraordinaire Vincent-Paolo asked me to arrange images to one of his upcoming tracks and it was the perfect excuse to finally shoot that project near the Arakawa river.

The video is in post over at Largetosti who are kind enough to have me over while I am trying to reorient myself in the city of Amsterdam.

REEL SUMMER 2012

August 3, 2012

Reel Summer 2012 from studiodonbe on Vimeo.

The economy sucks and everybody has to deal with it. This is the motion reel that I used for my job hunting campaign in Tokyo. I had some pretty nice interviews, some horrible ones and I even had a company asking me if they could contact me for future assignments. Unfortunately none of them were able to hire me. The combination of being flat broke and having a visa that will expire by the end of August leaves me with nothing but taking my loss and head home.

It has been a hell of a ride and even though I don’t have a penny left to my name I feel richer than I have ever been. Goodbye Japan, when you decide to hire me I would be glad to be your guest again. Until that time the world is telling me that I am needed elsewhere.