Jun'ichi Okuyama

For some eight years, Kaneko Yu followed Japanese avant-garde director Okuyama Jun'ichi, observed him making and showing his films, and collecting printed materials.

An infinite horizon line and the image of continuous waves... Experimentation with the vertical displacement of the image of a 35 mm film. 35mm film has four perforations per image. If the perforations are offset from the projector window, the image is split in two on the screen: for example, in a face image, the eyes are at the bottom and the mouth is at the top; The image has two displaced parts. To avoid this mistake, this multi-image movie uses collage. The filmmaker assembles an image by perforation (the normal technique is an image by 4 perforations). Therefore, there is never a vertical shift in the projected image.

Raw material spliced ​​into projection film, paper, leaves, vinyl, 6mm audio tape. Depending on hair, etc. the film breaks during projection. The film gets shorter with each projection, the author wrote this {Disappearance Movie} and named it.

Short film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama.

Sky and earth. The image begins to move slowly. The sound of water moving in and out of the distance. The image begins to fluctuate, while rotating, it will come off the frame. Everything swings. A moment when you just drop by. Installation and performance work.

A 16mm wide film without perforations. I pull it by hand and send it off. If the speed is a little slow, you may slip. It melts from the heat of the projector. The visuals are the melted footage was re-shot. It has an image of a multi-layered structure. Screening prints are only used once and then become trash. The original "disposable film."

Live experimental film. Music played on a projector? The film is a string, and the projector itself is an instrument. Feel it on your skin and hear it? It's a movie. W8mm film passes through a 16mm projector and uses an optical sound reproduction system to produce sound.

Short film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama, premiered at the Image Forum Festival in 2018.

One of the early works of Japanese filmmaker Jun'ichi Okuyama.

Short film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama.

Camera and film inter-relate: the camera is massaged by the film at 24 frames per second, the film is massaged by the camera.

At the screening venue, making a film while it's being projected. It is the {original live film}. Painting on a loop of snooker film, screening will be held. Even now, sometimes, in 16mm, do a live performance. It is a long-lasting work.

Here is one of the most legendary films by Japanese filmmaker Jun'ichi Okuyama. Recently screened at the 2023 Image Forum Festival, it was quite an event, as it hadn't been shown since the 1970s.

A typical university study trip. The camera is the gun, the lens is the muzzle. While moving with this in mind I shot a lot 8mm continuously. Stop-motion documentary with a keen sense control the camera freely, swinging the timing to press the shutter subtly adjust to the subject and boldly change. It produced unique movements and images.

Accumulated in cardboard, a pile of unused negative film, snapshots, student ID photos, etc. These were all shot for purposes completely unrelated to film. When I decided to "get rid of it," I had an idea. A discontinuous sequence, film that does not have the frames of a normal movie. What happens if you film it? I couldn't sit still any longer. Then, I diligently pieced together these short negatives, it was compiled into a film. In other words, it is a work that uses waste materials. To add some flavor, additional photography was done with a half-size camera.

I found an old 8mm film can! It's W8 (Regular 8). I want to see it!! But the projector is broken and doesn't work. I still want to see it!!! That's right. Each one is 8mm, but two lined up together are 16mm. Just show it on a 16mm projector!!!

Short film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama.

The mood of the man on the left side of the screen (the artist himself) is captured in a long take, represented on the screen on the right, for example, stroking a dog's head with your right hand. When the shot falls to the ground, the man on the left looks entranced. The calculated shots were taken separately for the left and right sides. It was completed without editing. The impressionable high school days symbolically depicted. It is a multi-part work divided into two parts. First film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama, filmed in 1964 on 8mm (regular 8).

One of the last works of Japanese filmmaker Jun'ichi Okuyama.

Short film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama, premiered at the Image Forum Festival in 2014.

The fate of heavy smokers. The era is the Taisho era. A young man, while warming myself by the fire heavy smoking. Then, his chest instantly turned black. The fear of lung cancer creeping into the comical depiction. The author, a former smoker, dreamed the fate of smokers.

Short film by Japanese filmmaker Jun’ichi Okuyama.

When you watch a film projected on a screen, the emulsion itself, which is a photosensitive emulsion, there's nothing to be conscious of. I like the emulsion itself. Take it as an image to emphasize the film as an object, Apply the emulsion directly to the film with a brush. Changes and unevenness appeared in thickness: dots, lines, bubbles, etc.

For this film, I followed the negative development instructions to the letter to develop a Super-8 positive. Osmography stems from the desire to create a new version of My Movie Melodies. The image overlaps with the soundtrack, and optical recording was used to reproduce the sound.

What is a frame? He attempts to make a film that doesn't have the normal 16mm frame. He also doesn't respect standard recording principles. Thus, a distinction must be made between: - the real time during which he films the object (himself) through his camera. - the time the film is recorded. These two periods do not always correspond to real time. The image must illustrate the search for these different notions of time. To achieve this, he experiments and places a 16mm film on top of a 35mm film during the shooting.