All posts tagged nagasaki

More auditions and more greenscreen…

Last Monday was a busy day – what with holding auditions for the role of Kayano (Dr. Nagai’s daughter and the young Takashi) and the filming of key scenes from the opening sequences!

It was a great day though, well worth every minute and we’ll be announcing our casting decisions very soon. In the meantime, a big thank you to all the parents who brought their children to the auditions.

Also another thank you to our wonderful costume assistant/adviser Kikuko Wall whose help was invaluable, and to Bill Evans, who went the extra mile for us, quite literally!

Actress Theresa Nguyen and hair stylist Jenny Gillings

Japanese actress Kyoko Morita plays Tsune Nagai, the mother of Takashi.

Actress Kyoko Morita kindly postponed a trip to Japan for a week so she would be available for our shoot. Not only did she look great in the part – she gave a wonderful performance as Tsune Nagai, the mother of Takashi.

Check out Kyoko’s website here.

Actress Ava Lyn Koh with Kyoko Morita preparing for a scene

The next big shoot will be the “Cathedral scene” on 10^th November, which will be filmed at a location in Birmingham. “We’ve found the perfect place for the scene,” explains Ian, “a beautiful church that really has the grand look of a cathedral inside and looks simply stunning on camera”. “We just need to fill it out with as many people as we can”, adds Dominic.

So, once again, we’re looking for members of the Japanese community to appear as extras. All ages are welcome, both male and female. If you’re interested in doing something a little different on Saturday 10^th November, why not come along – it’ll be a fun day for sure! For further details please contact Nigel at daveyfilms@aol.com.

Here’s a video showing some before and after shots from the greenscreen scenes we’ve filmed so far.

Below are a few more stills too showing how the footage we’ve shot so far is shaping up…

Still 1

Still 2

Still 3

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by Major Oak Entertainment on October 29, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on October 29, 2012

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Greenscreen shoot – Week 1

The first phase of the filming is now complete, and many key scenes from the first half of the script are now in the bag.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s a good time to look back and see just how far we’ve come with this project.

It’s been two years of hard, hard slog- research, research and more research, endless script rewrites, an outpour of storyboards and production artwork, countless hours spent fund raising… Long days and sleepless nights, but we’ve been driven by a passion to make this happen.

Most of the filming is now taking place in a location in Birmingham. We were lucky to find a perfect location for our shoot. Everything we need is literally on one site, studio space for our greensceen set-up, catering facilities, a coffee and tea area for cast and crew to relax and even a hotel to put up the cast members who were sleeping over. And with the beautiful Lickey Hills on our doorstep, what more could we ask for?

For most of the cast this is their first real experience of working with greenscreen, which brings new challenges for them and an exciting vibe to the set.

Getting ready for a take

We’d like to give special thanks here to, Tomasina Scott, Kikuko Wall and Sheila and Bill Evans.

Sheila and Bill have been amazing to us during our shoot, when they haven’t been preparing wonderful food for the cast and crew, they’ve been coming to rescue in the props department!

On the last day of this part of the shoot, our cast and crew had the choice of enjoying authentic Japanese cuisine, courtesy of a local Japanese lady, Tomasina Scott. Interestingly we learnt that Tomasina grew up in Hiroshima and that her mother was there the day the first bomb was dropped. A big thank you to Tomasina for spending the day with us and for preparing all that delicious food!

Once again we have to thank, Kikuko, a very special lady, who came all the way from Telford to bring us a suitcase full of beautiful Kimono’s for us to use on set.

From left to right – Kikuko, Sheila, Yuna, Meg and Tomasina

The second phase of filming, which will concentrate mainly on scenes after the bombing, will take place in late October/early November.

In the meantime though, there’s plenty of work to do with the footage we’ve now got, as most of it has been shot in a greenscreen studio, meaning the sets and locations have to be added, and then there is the “grading” process – the part where we give the film its unique look. We’ve added a few stills of shots we’ve worked on below, to illustrate the work that goes into creating the final images you’ll see on screen.

Below are some stills from our first week’s shoot, enjoy! All behind the scenes photos by Phil Pugh.

Nicholas Lu-Fong plays Makoto Nagai

Nicholas gets into the part with a new haircut

Leo (Takashi), Nicholas (Makoto), and Yuna (Midori)

Wardrobe department

Actress Yuriri Naka undergoes a two hour make-up session to play an atom bomb scared victim

Actress Meg Kubota and lead actor Leo Ashizawa enjoy a coffee and a chat

Dinner, East meets West. A local Japanese lady brought a Japanese banquet to the set. Special thanks also to Sheila and Bill Evans for the splendid food they made for us on the day

Ian and Leo discuss Character

Nicholas is proving to be a natural in front and behind the camera

Dominic painting with Light

Directors Ian & Dominic show cast and crew some of the shots they’ve been working on

Two crew members stand in for our cast as we set up a shot

Cast and crew

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by Major Oak Entertainment on September 23, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on September 23, 2012

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Meet the cast

With the first few days of filming now complete, we thought it was time to introduce you to some of the main cast.

Leo Ashizawa is Dr. Takashi Nagai

Leo Ashizawa is Dr. Takashi Nagai. Leo is an actor with great screen presence and charisma. Two qualities that help make him so well suited to the role of Takashi.

Check out Leo’s personal website here.

Yuna Shin is Midori Nagai

Yuna Shin is Midori Nagai. From her first audition, Yuna seemed to be the perfect choice for the role of Takahi’s faithful wife, Midori. Yuna brings a great emotional depth to the role.

Check out Yuna’s website here.

Meg Kubota is Tsumo Moriyama

Meg Kubota is Tsumo Moriyama. Meg is a very experienced actress who brings a great a presence to her role as Midori’s watchful mother. She is an actress who is capable of producing beautiful subtle performances.

Dai Tabuchi is Sadakichi Moriyama

Dai Tabuchi is Sadakichi Moriyama. From the moment we first saw Dai perform at the audition, we knew he would be perfect for the role of Midori’s father, a man who exudes warmth, compassion and sensitivity.

Junichi Kajioka is prof. Suetsugu

Junichi Kajioka is Professor Suetsugu. Junichi is an actor with lots of experience under his belt, having starred in the recent Chinese blockbusters City of Life and Death and Flowers of War, with Christian Bale (check out directors Ian and Dominic Higgins’ review of City of Life and Death here). With his tireless enthusiasm, he was not only great fun to have on set; he also created a very memorable professor Suetsugu on camera.

We were also very lucky to be able to have the chance to work with up coming actor Tanroh Ishida who, having not long finished work on a new Keanu Reeves movie and a Cameron Diaz/Collin Firth vehicle, is just about to head off to Hollywood yet again, to test for another major new feature film.

There are many more great actors involved in this production, of course, and we’ll be introducing those in a future blog – so be sure to stay tuned!

With a filming schedule that will run into November, there’s a lot of work ahead, but directors Ian & Dominic Higgins are very excited with how things are shaping up. “We’ve captured some great performances so far and we’re looking forward to sitting down and watching back over it all, while we prepare the next shoot”, explains Dominic.

“We now know for sure we have the right cast for the parts, and look forward to the rest of the filming”, adds Ian.

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by Major Oak Entertainment on September 14, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on September 14, 2012

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Camera’s roll…

Production Room

In the week that marked the 67^th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we officially began production on the live action drama scenes, for “All That Remains” (working title).

Hair, Wardrobe and Make-Up department, courtesy of F.A.T.T.S (Film, Television and Transport Services).

Newest member of the team, Nigel found himself thrown right into the deep end with helping us to organize what is without question, the largest film shoot- in terms of scope and logistics, we’ve ever attempted, Nigel’s risen to the challenge. We are indeed lucky to have him on the team.

Nigel on set “Sorted!”

Weeks of preparation went into organizing the ‘atomic bomb shoot’, which is the first of the drama scenes to be filmed. A derelict industrial site in Birmingham (UK) was turned into a set piece depicting atom bombed Nagasaki. It was a perfect location, a football pitch sized land full of rubble and debris.

The site manager and owner were incredibly generous in allowing us free run of the property for the two days. They handed us the keys to the gates and basically said, “It’s all yours!”

A corner of Oldbury Birmingham UK was turned into atom bombed Nagasaki

It was a great shoot thanks to a great crew; everyone was willing to get their hands dirty- just the sort of crew we like to work with! They all did an outstanding job!

It’s a dirty Job at times

Lilian, the youngest assistant camera operator in the history of film

We had a great Special Make-Up FX team who worked from artwork created by directors Ian & Dominic Higgins and archive photos to re-create the “Walking Ghosts” – the victims. We do not intend to make this film in anyway gratuitous, but want our audience to glimpse the horror of that day, the snapshots that are seared into the memories of the survivors.

We also have to give a special mention to the wonderful supporting cast drafted in from the Local Japanese community. They were patient with us and threw themselves into their parts like true professionals. We captured some beautiful performances that at times were very emotional. One of the cast, a lady named, Kikuko Wall, grew up in Hiroshima just after the war and explained that while she was holding the hand of a girl who was playing a ‘dying victim’, she was connecting with the past. Tears filled her eyes as our cameras rolled.

Preparing for a take

During a short coffee break, Kikuko presented us with a piece of paper that had the lyrics to a song about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and then gave an impromptu performance for the entire cast and crew. It’s a beautiful song and she sung it beautifully, you can see Kikuko‘s performance in the video below .

“No more Hiroshima No More Nagasaki”

Below are some photos from the two day shoot. All of the photos on this page were taken by local filmmaker Phil Pugh- he took some great shots, enjoy!

Kikuko talks about growing up in Hiroshima after the war

Ian gets an actor ready for a shot

Ian & Dominic and Joel plus assistant on set.

Wardrobe wiz Monica turned out to be very handy with a pair of scissors

Two of the supporting cast- they were still smiling at the end of two very long days.

Bad Hair day? Another supporting cast member takes it all in her stride.

One of the Make-up team at work. They did an excellent job for us.

Filming with a supporting cast member

Hair stylist Nikki sets to work on a cast member’s hair

Ian and Joel on set

Joel and Dominic persevering in the rain

The youngest cast member at just 6 months old

Joel on camera, while Ian gets ready to shout “action!” on the first of the drama scenes to be filmed…

Three supporting cast members wait patiently for us to set up a shot

Ian and Nigel discuss a shot

Nigel, Dominic and Ian share a joke with cast

Some of the cast and crew

Photo credits Phil Pugh (c) Major Oak Entertainment Ltd

The shoot attracted the interest of the local press, so it was a great opportunity to generate some free publicity and good timing as we are about to launch a new crowd funding campaign.

You can read the local story here http://www.stourbridgenews.co.uk

Now it’s back to the storyboard… as we prepare for the greenscreen and studio based shoot in London, which will take place during the first two weeks of September!

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by Major Oak Entertainment on August 19, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on August 19, 2012

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Recreating “that day” 67 years on…

Nagasaki, August 9, 1945

Today is the 67^th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. So it’s fitting that in just two days’ time, our cameras will roll on filming the harrowing events of that morning in 1945.

Logistically these sequences will be the most complicated as they will involve working with lots of extras and a team of special make-up effect artists in an area the size of a small football field, covered in rubble and timber, and of course, all at the mercy of the English weather.

Using archive photos and storyboards created by the directors Ian and Dominic Higgins, authenticity is the number one concern.

Pre-visual artwork for the A-bomb aftermath sequence

Previsual reference art for the aftermath sequence

The newest member of the production team, Nigel Davey has been responsible for finding the extras and the location – and he’s done an amazing job!

“When Nigel called us to tell us that he’d found a location that might be ideal, we had no idea just how ideal it would be!” explains Dominic.

“By the time you see these shots in the film, you’ll never believe it was filmed right in the heart of England,” adds Ian.

A big thank you to both the land owner and his very accommodating site manager Alistair for their incredible generosity in allowing our crew such open access and the freedom to do what we need to, in order to best re-create “that day”.

Dominic, Joel, Ian and Nigel on location – August 9, 2012

The Japanese community in Birmingham have also been amazing in their response to our call for extras, far exceeding our expectations.

We’ll be posting some stills here on this blog, so keep watching this space!

Meanwhile, with the latest draft of the script now completed and the cast selected, we’ve decided to upload a few clips from a selection of the auditions we’ve held over the last few weeks to the “Production Hub” section. For those of you who have access to this area, you can check those out right now!

“We’ve had such a high calibre of performance during these auditions, we’re really looking forward to working with this cast!” says Ian.

“It’s taken a long time, but we now have a cast who will give us exactly what we were looking for, characters you will believe in, characters you will care about.” concludes Dominic.

Filming for the main drama scenes will take place in the first two weeks of September.

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by Major Oak Entertainment on August 9, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on August 9, 2012

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A Song for Nagasaki… and Hiroshima.

One of the things we hope to achieve with All That Remains, is to bring the story of the atomic bombings more into popular culture, so more people are made aware of these events.

With that in mind, we thought we’d post a blog about how the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima have been remembered in popular music through the decades…

THE BELLS OF NAGASAKI (Nagasaki No Kane) was written by poet, Hachiro Sato for the 1950 movie of the same name. It became one of the most enduring hits of the decade in Japan and was even played daily on the speakers at the train station in Nagasaki.

Wishful Thinking’s HIROSHIMA album was first released in the UK on the B&C label in 1971.

Initially the album made little impact however, in 1978, the album was re-released by Global Records and sold well in excess of 1,000,000 copies in Germany, where it remained in the charts for 41 weeks. It has since gone on to become the 17^th bestselling single in Germany since charts began.

In 1990 it provided German singer Sandra with one of her biggest hits, when she released the song on her fourth studio album Paintings in Yellow.

ENOLA GAY is a song by British synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). It was written by front man Andy McCluskey and was released as a 7″ single on 26 September 1980. ENOLA GAY reached number 8 in the UK charts and topped the charts in Portugal and other European countries. An early version with a slightly different arrangement appears on the group’s Peel Sessions 1979–1983 album.

English punk rock band, Crass released the single NAGASAKI NIGHTMARE on their own label, back in 1981.

In 2002 Bryan Ferry released his album Frantic which included the track, HIROSHIMA, written by Bryan Ferry and Eurthmics Dave Stewart and inspired by the 1959 movie, Hiroshima mon amour. It features Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead on guitar.

HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI RUSSIAN ROULETTE was original written and performed by American folk singer, Jim Page. It was later covered by Irish folk singer Christy Moore who in 2007 was named as Ireland’s greatest living musician in RTÉ’s People of the Year Awards.

More recently…

A THOUSAND PAPER CRANES is a track from the album, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined by Japanese experimental rock band Mono, released in 2004. The album comes with origami paper and instructions on how to fold a paper crane.

The song is inspired by the true story of 12 year old Sadako Sasaki, who after being diagnosed with “atomic bomb disease” (leukemia), turns to her native Japanese beliefs and makes one thousand paper cranes so the gods will grant her wish to be well.

A Thousand Suns by American rock band Linkin Park was released on September 10, 2010, under Warner Bros. Records. The album’s title comes from the Hindu Sanskrit scripture, the Bhagavad Gita:

“If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one,”

A quote made famous by J. Robert Oppenheimer in reference to the atomic bomb, which references the numerous apocalyptic themes of the album.

THE REQUIEM/THE RADIANCE/BURNING IN THE SKIES

THE RADIANCE (ZWIER.Z. REMIX) OFFICIAL HD MUSIC VIDEO

LOST IN AUGUST is a song that deals with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, from Japanese Electro / Hip Hop / Rock band, 5th Blood.

Contains language that some people may find offensive.

If you know of any other songs about the atomic bombings then let us know…

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by Major Oak Entertainment on July 1, 2012 • Permalink

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Tagged all that remains, atom, atomic bomb, bomb, Bryan Ferry, catholic, christian, Christy Moore, Crass, Electro, enola, faith, feature, folk music, gay, Hip, Hiroshima, Holocaust, holy man, Hop, japan, japanese, Jim Page, Jonny Greenwood, Linkin Park, major oak entertainment, mono, music, nagasaki, nuclear, OMD, paper cranes, pixel revolution films, pop, punk, Radiohead, rock, Sandra, Thinking, thousand, thousand suns, war, Wishful, world war 2

Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on July 1, 2012

http://allthatremainsthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/a-song-for-nagasaki-and-hiroshima/

London calling – The casting gets underway.

Our first auditions were held in London last Monday and already we are excited about what some of these potential actors will be able to bring to this film.

For directors Ian and Dominic Higgins this is one of the hardest parts of the filmmaking phase- getting the right cast. “We are visual filmmakers so when we cast, we are thinking, how will that face fit into the design of our film? “, explains Ian. “We are also casting for iconic roles here, so these faces need to be memorable, but performance is also paramount”.

”Absolutely, even though the visual style of the film will have a very animated look, with its strong painterly wash, we didn’t want to use CG actors because of course, an actor is much more than a physical prop”, adds Dominic. “A great actor has the ability to make you laugh or cry, because they allow you to see, in their performance, something that is honest. CG actors are actors without a soul, and this film is about a man who discovers he has one!”

The auditions will continue over the next few weeks, and will also include online submissions – where actors will be invited to submit videos of themselves reading specific lines via sites such as Youtube.

“We’re really looking forward to the call back stage, where we put shortlisted actors together to see what kind of “chemistry” they have together, which is absolutely vital if we are to convincingly portray what is, at its heart, an epic love story,” explains Dominic.

“It’s all about the chemistry on screen”, says Ian. “It’s the magic ingredient that connects an audience to our characters in an emotional way and makes us truly care about them”.

Stay tuned here for updates on the casting! We’ll also be uploading some of the successful auditions to the Production Hub section soon.

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by Major Oak Entertainment on June 16, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on June 16, 2012

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The Birmingham connection

Memorandum on the properties of a radioactive “super-bomb”

While researching the screenplay for All That Remains, director’s Ian and Dominic Higgins discovered a strange connection with their home city of Birmingham in the UK, and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

In 1937, German born professor Rudolf Peierls took up a position as Head of Applied Mathematics at Birmingham University. Two years later he was joined by Otto Robert Frisch, and the two of them began work on atomic research.

In early 1940, while taking a walk through the blacked out city streets, the pair realised how the theoretical possibility of an atomic bomb could be a practical reality.

In March, they typed up the Frisch-Peierls Memorandum in the Nuffield building of the university. The three page report was the first to set out how one could construct an atomic bomb or, as they called it, “a super bomb”, from a small amount of fissionable uranium-235 and calculated that it would be enough to create a temperature equivalent to that of the interior of the sun.

The memorandum opens with:

Strictly Confidential

Memorandum on the properties of a radioactive “super-bomb”

The attached detailed report concerns the possibility of constructing a “super-bomb” which utilizes the energy stored in atomic nuclei as a source of energy. The energy liberated in the explosion of such a super-bomb is about the same as that produced by the explosion of 1000 tons of dynamite. This energy is liberated in a small volume, in which it will, for an instant, produce a temperature comparable to that in the interior of the sun. The blast from such an explosion would destroy life in a wide area. The size of this area is difficult to estimate, but it will probably cover the centre of a big city.

In addition, some part of the energy set free by the bomb goes to produce radioactive substances, and these will emit very powerful and dangerous radiations. The effect of these radiations is greatest immediately after the explosion, but it decays only gradually and even for days after the explosion any person entering the affected area will be killed.

Some of this radioactivity will be carried along with the wind and will spread the contamination; several miles downwind this may kill people.

The findings presented in the paper, became an important trigger in the establishment of the Manhattan Project in the United States, and the subsequent development of the atomic bombs dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“When working on a project, we always look for any connections we may have with the story, as it helps make it feel more personal”, said Dominic.

“This one was a real surprise though,” adds Ian. “To think, in a way, the story of the atomic bombing really began in Birmingham”.

The directors have decided the film will now contain a short scene depicting this connection.

Peierls at work

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by Major Oak Entertainment on June 2, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on June 2, 2012

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Digital Make Over

Further blurring the line between what is real and what is digital...

As we mentioned in our previous blog, we’re now working out how to best maximise the budget and resources that we have, in order to be able to convey the original vision of the movie without sacrificing on quality.

An example of one area where we’ve had to think outside the box is the special make-up effects required for some of the key scenes in the movie, namely the post atomic bomb sequences.

While traditional make-up and prosthetics will be used in these scenes, the extent to which they will be utilised will obviously been restricted by the limited budget we have to work with, but determined to do the sequences justice, directors Ian and Dominic Higgins have decided that several of the special make-up effects will also be created digitally – that is, added to the actors in post-production.

Using sophisticated “tracking” software, the “digital prosthetics”, which will be created using a combination of digital painting techniques and 3D modelling, will be mapped to the faces of the actors after they have been filmed.

An actress with "digital make-up" applied. The face is kept shadowy, but we see enough to grasp the horrors and devastation inflicted by "Fat Man".

Although we don’t, in any way, intend to be gratuitous with what we show, we are adamant about conveying the events we are depicting as authentically as possible, in order for audiences to greater appreciate what Dr. Nagai and all the other survivors of the atomic bombings went through. Only by doing so, can we really appreciate their pleas for “no more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki”.

For more on this story and other glimpses of the artistic and technical development of the movie, visit the blog of Directors Ian and Dominic Higgins.

Warning: Due to the nature of the subject matter, some posts on this site will contain graphic depictions of wounds and other images of war and destruction that some people may find disturbing.

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by Major Oak Entertainment on April 5, 2012 • Permalink

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Posted by Major Oak Entertainment on April 5, 2012

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Now the Indiegogo campaign is over, the next stage of production begins…

As the dust settles on our latest fund raising campaign, the next major step of the production process gets underway – namely the translation of all the Japanese interviews and research material, and within the next few days, the (potentially lengthy) casting process of finding our key actors will begin.

As always, script re-writes and work on effect shots continues simultaneous to the other production work.

Since our Indiegogo campaign ended, we’ve also received several emails from people asking if they can still make a donation to help towards the costs of production. Well, yes you can! Right under the video posted below, you’ll find a “donate” link, simply click on that and PayPal will take care of the rest. It’s safe, secure and easy. Feel free to donate however much or little you want, it’ll all make a difference. Donate $15 dollars or more and you’ll get to see your name in the end credits of the movie, $500 or more and you get a producers credit!

Below is an exclusive video in which Directors Ian and Dominic Higgins and Producer Joel Fletcher discuss their vision for All That Remains and why they believe it’s a great project to be a part of.