Drone flights in Japan face increasing restrictions and a complex regulatory landscape. With new laws constantly being added or updated, obtaining permission for even small flights can require a lengthy and formal process. In this post, we explore the challenges of flying drones in Japan and provide insights into a recent project that required special permission. If you’re considering drone services in Japan, read on to learn what to expect and how to prepare.
Author Archives: hotakadm
In Praise of Shadows, Cinematography, and Time to Time
The light is not so much manipulated as it is perfectly controlled. I don’t think it is possible to manipulate light perfectly outdoors, but it is possible to manipulate light to a certain extent indoors by blocking out all ambient light. What should be praised, however, are the unintended effects of changes in time and place that cannot be captured intentionally, and I do not necessarily believe that a beautiful visual world can be created if everything is done exactly as thought out in the mind.
A New Wave – A local director and/or director of photography for documentary/commercial productions
Traditionally, a large amount of CM/documentary-production demands from foreign productions to local crew have been concentrated on supportive tasks like AC, camera, gaffer, sound recordist, PA and the like. Creative brains such as directors and directors of photography often came to Japan from their mother countries. This is a natural course basically due to […]
A Narrative Film Form as a Promotional Tool | August 2021
At 99.999% of its occasions film festivals are places to show your own film by paying fees for it. No, you must be “chosen” to show your film to the audience. Twenty years ago, the festivals were the only way to show independent films to a wide range of audiences whom you’ve never met. Today, […]
Timecode Sync and Super 35 Digital Cinema Cameras: Canon C300 Mark II, C200, and Sony FS7 Mark II | April 2021
There are many large-sensor cameras, also called digital cinema cameras, in the market today. What not a few people missed is these cinema cameras often do not have timecode I/o or genlockable interfaces. To my surprise, for example, Sony FS series do not have timecode I/o and gunlockable features as their default (I.e Sony’s FS7 […]
Internet Speed and Remote Productions in Japan- April 2021
What is different today from pre-COVID 19 days is an increasing demand of remote production and livestreaming services. When I first invested in a switcher from Blackmagic about an year ago, I neither expexted this new business would happen nor did I expect this pandemic would continues more than an year. It’s been an year […]
Okay, we made a film | March 2021
My long lasting ambition is to make narrative films. When? Well, I’m actually doing it. I have made one recently. We had the first private screening in Osaka this January. The head photo is the theater in Higashiosaka named Higashiosaka Cultural Creation Hall. In early 2019, I organized a team for this film from early […]
Overnight Shoot and a Remote Production – October 2020
Last October we had an overnight shoot with production teams throughout the world the remote headquater of which is in New York. As far as I remember those teams were from London, New York, Los Angeles, Colorado, Florida, and we Kyoto. We Japanese team drew the overnight shoot because we were at the opposite […]
Remote Monitoring – May 2020
Osaka has re-opened its economy today which had been closed for about one and half months due to the pandemic worldwide. Something has been changed and nothing has ended. My question is simple: Will there be any new demand in this market now and in close future? I’ve already heard some foreign productions cancelled their […]
Drone Flight in Kyoto – March 2019
Do you want to fly in the city of Kyoto? Yes, we can fly. This is a report about a day project to take aerial footages for a hotel’s online promotional video. In pre-production, we arranged the followings: Flight schedules (day and time) National permission Local permissions (public or/and private) 1. Flight Schedules: There two […]