[Student PR staff] Interviewing students who directed works selected for the Student Film Festival

We, the student PR staff, are in charge of disseminating information about JIU from a student perspective both inside and outside the university. We mainly interview students and cover events.

Student PR staff: Hikaru Miyata (4th year, Faculty of Management and Information Sciences)

"Enkiriya," a film created by Shunta Sudo (3rd year student at the time, left, Department of Media And Communications Faculty of Media Studies, Film and Performing Arts Course) in the Comprehensive Exercise D, was selected for the Short Film category at the 18th TOHO Cinemas Student Film Festival, held on March 27th at TOHO Cinemas Hibiya (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo). (Supervisors: Katsunori Sato, Hirotaka Nakagawa)
This time, we interviewed Sudo about the struggles and ingenuity he went through to create his work, as well as his future goals.

About the struggles and ingenuity of the filming and the "relationship cutter"

The story "The Relationship Cutter" tells the story of a mysterious entity that suddenly appears in the daily lives of college students and cuts off ties with the characters, tempting them with money if they help it.
I rewrote the script more than 10 times. It took about three weeks to complete, incorporating my own opinions and the advice of my teachers, and the filming and editing took three to four months to complete. When deciding on the cast, I told the students on the staff my image, met the people they found in person, and decided on someone who fit the atmosphere of the story. As a director, I tried to communicate with the staff, but on the first day of filming, I had some conflicts with them. The scene that depicted an important part of this work was the most difficult because it took a long time to shoot. When I looked at the finished footage, it was bright outside at first, but it got dark halfway through. I'm satisfied with the result because I stuck to my opinions without compromising.

Mr. Sudo talking about his work

Creating works based on what you learn in class

In the classes "Comprehensive Exercise B" and "Comprehensive Exercise C" that I took, I was able to gain on-site experience by actually going to Nikkatsu Corporation's Nikkatsu Chofu Studio. During that time, I was put in charge of lighting as a technician and assumed the position of representative. I have incorporated the experience of learning how to communicate with assistants and give accurate instructions, as well as observing how the director works, into my work. In these classes, I also had the opportunity to hear directly from cameramen and technicians who are currently active outside the company, and learned what filmmaking is all about.

My dream for the future and what motivated me to pursue it

In the future, I want to be a film director. I want to make an indie film like "Samurai Time Slippers," which won the Best Picture Award at the 48th Japan Academy Awards. I want to make a film that will not spread from a big theater, but will gradually spread by word of mouth from a single independent theater screening, and become a hit.
I was originally a TV fanatic, and I had always had the impression that directors' names were prominently displayed in dramas and movies, so I was interested in them, and so I chose Josai International University University, which has Faculty of Media Studies. I started making my own independent productions in my second year of university, and it was in my third year that I started to seriously aim to become a director as a career.

Thoughts on winning the award and enthusiasm for the next project

It was a strange feeling to see the film we made from scratch being shown on the big screen at TOHO Cinemas, but we were also really happy. We were disappointed that our film was rejected from the TOHO Cinemas Student Film Festival last year, so it was very meaningful for us that our film was selected from the nearly 300 films submitted to the festival this time. For my next film, I would like to try a mystery where the culprit is unknown. I would like to create a film that makes the audience speculate about who the culprit is.

A commemorative photo with the students who came to the film festival

Comment from Professor Katsunori Sato, who taught the class

We are very happy that Sudo's team was selected. In this production, they put a lot of effort into the story idea and script. Sudo's team analyzed the trends of film festivals, came up with many ideas that fit those trends, and then created the occupation of "relationship cutters". They then developed the story from there, and revised the script more than 10 times. I think the most difficult part of the revisions was the punch line. This time, the entertainment element was strong, and it was a short film, so it was very important that the punch line was neatly decided. There are countless patterns for punch lines, so there were times when it didn't work out as if they were stuck in a quagmire, but they didn't give up and kept thinking about how to make a good punch line, and I think they found a wonderful ending. I think that such tenacity is what gave the work strength and led to this selection. Next, they are planning to direct a graduation project, and I hope they do well in that too.

Comment from Professor Hirotaka Nakagawa, who taught the class

When I was a student, I made a self-produced work that won the runner-up prize at the 10th TOHO Cinemas Student Film Festival, so I decided to enter a competition in my class for the first time. To be honest, I didn't think we would win on our first attempt. It was a very high-level film festival, and it was a competition that all students who make films knew about, so I thought it would be a tall order. However, I was surprised when I received a simple reply from Sudo saying, "We won," but since he was a student who I had supervised, I was honestly happy. When I saw his work at the theater, among the many other works, I thought that I could aim for a good point. As a drama, the story is properly depicted from start to finish, and although there are some issues with the technical aspects, I thought that Director Sudo's work was the most straightforward in terms of conveying the thoughts. I think the works of other students were also inspiring, so I hope they will absorb and utilize them, and try various competitions. I hope they will try again at this year's TOHO Cinemas Student Film Festival.