Snowfilm Fes in Moerenuma

Big Thanks to the crew at B.C. Map backcountry shop for all the help putting on the movie event at Moerenuma park yesterday. It is such a pleasure to perform in that fantastic glass pyramid! This time the event was a short film few style with each movie production showing about a 15 to 20 minute version a total of 7 films were shown.

It is interesting to note that out of the 7 films shown 6 were basically  freeride snowboarding/skiing movies.  There was only  one that  could be considered a freestyle movie with lots of tech tricks.  All 7 movies were made here in Hokkaido.  The quality level of film production in Hokkaido is improving rapidlly that could be observed for certain.

 

The only disappointing thing was the almost total lack of DVD sales at the event.  I sold zero, The production next to me sold like 2 copies and I don’t think there were many more sold.  The place was pretty packed so I am assuming that most of the customers were related in one way or another to one of the productions, which creates the feeling of I can probably get one free!  Oh well no big deal.

Jet Lag back in action

Yo I am back at the home office and the jet lag seems to be kicking in! Might as well make a few blog posts while I am feeling awake.

Time to announce the big snowboard film festival coming up on the 11th at Sapporo’s Moerenuma park. That’s right we will be back in the glass pyramid again, this time with a bunch of other local film makers all showing off their latest productions. Each film has made a special 15 minute edit of the their movies and these will be shown back to back for a total of two hours.

I will be hosting the event which is being put on by Sapporo’s B.C. Map backcountry store. A great shop for both snowboarders and skiers located near Soen Station on the JR line.

The DVD’s will be on sale at the event and there will also be a few prizes given away to those who buy a copy of any movie on site.   Check the flyer for times and details below.  Please help spread the word, lets get the snow loving community together and have a pre season pow wow!

 

Sapporo Movie Premiere

9月17日 @ Booty!

Sapporo Ski & Snowboard movie Premiere!

Director Neil Hartmann (One Films)

“Roots & Tweets”

Start 10:00 pm

Director Daigo (Realive Films)

“Build 2”

Start 11:00 pm

With special Directors commentary and DJ battle in Booty lounge 2F

Neil plays LOVE SONGS

Daigo plays HARDCORE

Please come check out these new and old snow movies!  2011 season is coming sooooooonnnnnnnn!!!!!

Arrival day

Once a year for the last six years there is a certain day when a box of my new DVD release arrives.  Usually a hundred DVDs direct from the factory and usually about four or five days before the on sale date.  Today was that day!  A box of freshly pressed DVDs came to the house today and made my day a good one.

There is always the fear that there might be a mistake with the package printing, or maybe something went wrong and the sell date will have to be pushed back etc.,  Not this year, everything went smoothly and I am stoked on the end result.  I am also very happy that I will now be able to watch my first two films on DVD rather than dragging out the old VHS player.  In fact I did not even have a single copy of “Escape” here at the house.  So it is with great pleasure that I  take the wrapping off and pop one in the DVD player.

The first 1000 copies come with the One Films official sticker.

The front and back

For the first time I use a clear package.  This allows printing on both sides of the jacket.  More fun for the designer, more work too, but I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I actually scanned an old VHS laying around the house.  Masato my designer this time added all the fonts and graphics and came up with the concept of linking the DVD with the graphic in the back ground.  There is a little twist behind the DVD, but I will save that for those who actually buy a copy.

Roots and Tweets goes on sale at your local shop from the 17th, this coming Friday.  If you don’t have a shop close by, check the internet or call the distributor Visualize Image for more info. 03-6273-2686

Teaser from Key Photo

The Roots & Tweets teaser #1 is on line for your viewing pleasure! Thanks to Kei for filming and editing this funny interview!

I Dig it

Yo! Met up with Diego from Diggin’ Magazine in Tokyo a few days ago. We had a very quick coffee and chat in Shibuya just before I left to catch my plane. We chatted about the release of my upcoming DVD project. Now you can take a look at the report on Diggin’ mag! Thanks Diego!

Roots and Tweets package!

Masato, my designer for the “Roots & Tweets” package, has been working late nights putting together this masterpiece. I just gave him a bunch of photos, some scans of old VHS tapes that I had laying around the house and some general guide lines on the style I wanted.  After that he was on his own to come up with something, and here is what he came up with!

I like it, and hope you do too.  “Roots & Tweets” will be coming to a snowboard shop near you around September the 17th!

Please ignore the spelling mistakes in the English below, caught it and fixed it!

Never before released on DVD, the rare and hard to find “Introduction” (1999) and “Escape” (2000) are now coming to the digital age. Through these first two films, director Neil Hartmann created the style and concept that would become the now infamous “Car Danchi” series. Introduction captures the spirit of snowboarding in the late 90’s with super 8 filming from Hokkaido to Alaska. Don’t miss the legendary halfpipe session with Terje Haakonsen at the Nippon Open. Escape continues with the theme of “escape the city, head to the mountains.” Niseko, and Rusutsu are featured along with classic backcountry locations. By including the full director’s commentary, you can now take a trip back in time with these two classic features from One Films and Neil Hartmann. Pure powder, pure freeriding, pure roots! Purity at its best.

DVD editing wraps!

The master tapes are in the mail!  Finally was able to wrap editing for this years DVD project “Roots & Tweets”  A big thanks goes out to DJ Sebastien for helping me remaster the soundtracks from my original master tapes.  He did a great job as always.  Also thanks to Yoshida Masato for coming up with the cool design for the package.  I will be posting the package image soon here on the blog, we are still cleaning up a few details before finalizing.

Nothing I love more than outputting to tape! Finishing an edit is probably the closest a man can come to the experience of child birth! Time to bring this “baby” out into the world!

DJ Sebastien in the studio. Seb’s combination of music knowledge, software prowess, and understanding of flow is invaluable in creating a good soundtrack.

Made a visit to Masato’s studio/house in Niseko to help out with the direction of the package design. A true modern Japanese “creator” Masato lives in a massive house by himself about 20 minutes drive from Hirafu ski area. The house he is based in used to be a vacation house for famous Japanese actors and musicians. It is massive and located in the middle of a forest. How he survives the winter there is beyond me.

His former roommate left an Arctic cat snowmobile on the front doorstep! Niseko style.

The modern creators coffee table, inspiration, snacks and data storage.

already making plans to use Masato’s house as a shooting location this coming winter. Maybe a scene for Car Danchi 5.

Thanks for all the support guys, more info coming about the DVD release soon here on the blog.

Louis the XIII

I have been sound mastering this years DVD release “Roots & Tweets” at DJ Sebastiens studio the last few days.  Seb always has something amazing to share at his house and this year is no exception.  I was privilaged to share a glass of 140 year old Congac from Remy Martin two night ago.  Wow, what an experience, I don’t think I have ever had a drink of that caliber before.  There is a lot of history in a bottle that old and it was a real pleasure to sip.  The flavor and nose was truly amazing, hard to put into words.

Here are some words I found on the web describing this vintage drink.

With three centuries of Cognac making under its belt, the Rémy Martin family certainly has perfected the art, and nowhere is this more clear than with its top-of-the-line offering, Louis XIII de Rémy Martin.

“Louis XIII is not a Cognac,” they say at Rémy. “Put simply, it’s a moment.” Why is it a moment? Figure this: each bottle is a blend of 1,200 Cognacs, ranging from 40 to 100 years old, across three generations of Cellar Masters, resulting from the combined labor of 10,000 people.

Now check this out!

Seb in the studio working on my sound track.

Classic record jacket wall art!  Thanks for the good work Seb!  When is the next bottle of louis XIII arriving?!!!