Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

VICE documentary in Fukushima - "Alone in the Zone"

Ivan Kovax

Ivan Kovax

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
975
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Hey All,

This is my latest documentary which I shot in Fukushima, Japan on my Epic of course. It is a piece for Vice magazine.

"Two years since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant went into full meltdown, and the resulting 20KM evacuation zone was enforced, one farmer still remains behind braving high levels of radiation and loneliness to tend to abandoned animals. His name is Naoto Matsumura, and he is the last man standing in the ghost town of Tomioka..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llM9MIM_9U4

Make sure you click "captions" to activate subtitles!

Cheers,
Ivan

EDIT:

For those who are interested, here is a write up of our movie and his main character from Vice's front page. Please make sure you read this only after watching the movie, as it borrows lines from the actual movie itself.

http://www.vice.com/read/radioactive-man-japan
 
Last edited:
Hey Jeremy,

Thank you for your kind comments. My kit was as follows:

Camera:
Epic
3x 128GB
wøøden camera handheld rig
Lenses used: Canon 24-70mm 2.8 (for 75% of the movie). Tokina 11-16. I brought with me a Samyang prime set, but they rarely saw the light of day during this shoot (even though I love my samyangs they were not practical on this shoot due to the fact that we were head to toe in radiation suits for much of it).

Basically I shot at 4KHD for all interviews, compression ratio 10:1. Basically to get as much run time as possible. I reserved 2x SSDs for interviews, 1 for b -roll. For b-roll I shot at 4KHD as well. The only time I used 5K was if i needed the extra width in the shot to fill frame that my tokina just could not do.

Essentially I didn't want to have to deal with the stress of backing up on location as we were only allowed inside the Zone for 5 hours MAX.

AUDIO: Sanken lav mics. Rode NTG2 shotgun, mixed together in post. Zaxcom recorder/mixer/wireless.

Hope that helps!

Ivan
 
Last edited:
Great piece! I was going to ask about how you dealt with the radiation, but you just answered that. I'm a big fan of VICE. Have you shot other stuff for them?
 
Brandon J.F. said:
Great piece! I was going to ask about how you dealt with the radiation, but you just answered that. I'm a big fan of VICE. Have you shot other stuff for them?
Click to expand...

We willed the radiation away with the power of our minds...

...and radiation suits :)

EDIT: And yes I have shot other stuff for them, but this is the first piece i directed and produced for them too.
 
Thankyou Brandon. I am glad I was able to pitch for it and direct the project. Was really an important project for me.
 
Very interesting, cannot wait to watch it when I get off set! I love Vice, how did you get in with them? I wish I could be a camera tech on a shoot for them, really dig there programming a ton!
 
Lovely piece, very moving. I can't imagine working in radiation suits. I guess you buried the Epic when you were done....
 
Rob Gardner said:
Lovely piece, very moving. I can't imagine working in radiation suits. I guess you buried the Epic when you were done....
Click to expand...

Lol.. Nah, Epic was wrapped in plastic... anyway, you know. Gamma rays don't really do much to inaninmate objects I believe :)
 
Ivan,

great work!

The Farmers in your film are very noble people. I liked that you gave them a voice and a vehicle to express the horror they have lived through.

david
 
Bud, David, Paramon. Thanks for your comments! I am glad you liked our work, and found the documentary interesting.

Ivan
 
Hey Ivan great work ....a damming indictment on nuclear power ......& how do economics rationalise fallow land for what 40 years - 100 years, 1000 years on island where land is at a premium ? Every Tepco executive deserves to be bankrupted from this.

Have you passed a geiger counter over your gear ?
 
Ivan Kovax said:
Hey All,

This is my latest documentary which I shot in Fukushima, Japan on my Epic of course. It is a piece for Vice magazine.

"Two years since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant went into full meltdown, and the resulting 20KM evacuation zone was enforced, one farmer still remains behind braving high levels of radiation and loneliness to tend to abandoned animals. His name is Naoto Matsumura, and he is the last man standing in the ghost town of Tomioka..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llM9MIM_9U4

Make sure you click "captions" to activate subtitles!

Cheers,
Ivan

EDIT:

For those who are interested, here is a write up of our movie and his main character from Vice's front page. Please make sure you read this only after watching the movie, as it borrows lines from the actual movie itself.

http://www.vice.com/read/radioactive-man-japan
Click to expand...

Shared on FB.
Lets hope this piece will go viral, those farmers deserve it. ;-)
B.
 
Mike Garrick said:
Hey Ivan great work ....a damming indictment on nuclear power ......& how do economics rationalise fallow land for what 40 years - 100 years, 1000 years on island where land is at a premium ? Every Tepco executive deserves to be bankrupted from this.

Have you passed a geiger counter over your gear ?
Click to expand...

Hey Mike,

Thankyou for your comments!

Gear is 110% fine. Radiation is absorbed by organic matter more than it is by solids. Steel especially does not retain foreign radioactive particles. We had it covered with plastic anyway, so nothing got on it. Just like me :) Clean as my conscience ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top