Sound Hunting: Murakami Kenji and Preserving Films<\/span><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nJAKARTA, ARKIPEL, Forum Lenteng<\/strong> \u2014 12th<\/sup> of September 2014. The atmosphere at Kineforum looked suitably excited for the screening of Kenji Murakami\u2019s quirky project called Sound Hunting<\/em>. At exactly 19:30, audience began filtering in, drinking in the sight of a vintage projector situated right in the middle of the room; tucked unobtrusively at the back. Kenji Murakami, the director, stepped forward and grinned. Beside him was Makiko Wakai, Coordinator of the New Asian Currents Program, YAMAGATA International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF). He grabbed a microphone and started speaking, in rapid Japanese, occasionally pausing to let Makiko explained to the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThis movie is recorded with Fujica 8mm,\u201d said Kenji, beginning his detailed explanation, \u201cthis camera is produced and used exclusively in Japan. It stopped producing about twenty years ago.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI recorded the sound with this camera as well, because the magnetic stripes underneath the film allow me to record sound with it,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\nAfterward, he thanked the committee profusely for obtaining a rare and vintage projector specifically for the screening of the movie. He began moving to the projector, fiddling with the camera roll and soon the room darkened and the movie began.<\/span><\/p>\nThe movie opened with his voice, heavier and raspier as it was filtered through the camera\u2019s rusty recording ability, explaining his intention of recording something using this old equipment. The images were barely discernible; most of the colors appear in two-tone. The sound was almost in perfect condition, save from the loud sound of spooling film. There appeared to be no recognizable pattern to his scene-taking, except for his voice narrating that he\u2019d name this movie Sound Hunting<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\nHis narration, though understandably monotonic, were oddly poetic as he narrated how he wished to film the wind (sometimes whispering the mantra-like \u201cwind, wind, wind\u201d), depict time, and filming a woman \u2014whose voice speeds up and slows down, sometimes taking a chipmunk-like quality.<\/span><\/p>\nOne scene that stood out, to me, was the ending where he found out that after developing the film there were no discernable images and that he was pessimistic that the last cartridge would show any promising images. Oddly, however, the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku was captured so vividly (as much as the film was able to, of course) by the camera going so far as showing vivid pattern of skyscrapers and people traipsing around. The last scene showed him in the beach, facing the ocean. The waves were captured by the film, and although he appeared, he was nowhere to be seen and his voice was almost swallowed by the crashing wave. As he stepped further away from the camera, he repeatedly screamed, \u201cDid you get the message?\u201d to the person behind the camera and, though I doubted it had been intentional, it was the perfect ending to such unique project.<\/span><\/p>\nThe movie ended and we applauded his work. Per usual, the committee allowed questions to be asked. I raised my hand and asked him, \u201cDid you know when you named it Sound Hunting<\/em> that the images would not appear and only sound would be retained?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe paused before answering. \u201cI didn\u2019t. But I knew that there was a possibility that it wouldn\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cThe camera is old and the equipment kept failing over the month that I shot this movie. My goal was to show, somehow, that the celluloid is better than digital preserving film. There\u2019s no physical archive of a digital film, and if it crashes then it\u2019s wiped. But this camera recorded the sound of the movie, even though the images were not seen. And the fact that the film roll which I used has to be present in the room adds a value to the movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nI nodded, satisfied with his answer. After quick round of questions and answers, the committee reminded the audience that there will be another movie playing. I made my way to the exit and thanked Mr. Murakami personally.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Tujuan saya adalah untuk menunjukkan, entah bagaimana, bahwa seluloid lebih baik daripada filem yang digital dalam mengarsipkan filem. Tidak ada arsip fisik dari filem digital, dan jika rekamannya corrupted maka filem itu hilang. Tapi kamera ini merekam suara filem, meskipun gambar tidak terlihat. Dan fakta bahwa, roll filem yang saya gunakan harus hadir di ruangan ini, menambah nilai untuk filem.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[362,1],"tags":[173],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Berburu Bunyi: Murakami Kenji dan Pengabadian Filem — ARKIPEL<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n