On Saturday, 15 November, we held the 15th Creative Café “Local attractions through TV commercials” at Yamagata Manabikan.

At the beginnig, we screened the short videos made by Yamagata Artists-in-Residence filmmakers. They stayed at Zao resort for four weeks to concentrate on their development for their film work.  The participants were watching them very happily and told “It made me proud of Yamagata”.

*These videos will be uploaded very soon!

《Filmmakers from Indonesia and Malaysia》

For this time, Mr. Y, the experienced film commissioner of Yamagata City, took a turn to organize the event.

Film commission is an active focal point for visual content makers to provide smooth logistical support for on-location shooting of visual works such as movies, TV dramas, and commercial films. Yamagata Film Commission has become a part of Culture Promotion Division, Yamagata City, the office of Yamagata Creative City Promotion Council since 2018.

Mr. Y became close to  Mr. Tomohiko Kondo, a professional location coordinator from Tokyo, when Mr. Kondo was searching for filming locations.

《Left: Mr.Kondo, Right: Mr. Y》

Who is location coordinator?

The location coordinator is a member of the film crew responsible for finding and securing locations to be used, obtaining all fire, police and other governmental permits, and coordinating the logistics for the production to complete its work.

He introduced about commercial films shot within Yamagata prefecture, shared how to search for filming location and its actual process, and talked about those backstages. The participants were amazed by his experience and getting deeper understandings of Yamagata as a film location.

《FULL house! Thank you!》

Looking back the event, Mr. Y writes;

Mr. Kondo is a real professional who is trusted by film commissioners all around Japan. He has completed so many films and it is becuase his talent to find a location, negotiate, and manage the filming is at the top of Japan. His presentation was full of ideas to reconsider what filming location is, how attractive Yamagata is, and how to smoothly do our job. 
I wish, one day, I will bring him to Yamagata for his film shooting and will be able to watch the film at this Creative Café along with his explanation.

Thank you everyone for your participation!

We hope to see you again at the next Creative Café 😊

NEXT EVENT

Creative Café 〜 Tea Time vol.4 〜

“Christmas Party to Review Yamagata City of Film”