Kasai's single follows a woman through one night in Tokyo as she tries to reach someone who has stopped answering, lit by back alleys and arcades.
Signal was Yuna's first film with Ama Boateng, and the start of the practical-light approach they later took to The Long Field. Kasai's track is about a phone that never lights up, so the video is about every other light in the city.
We shot over three nights in Tokyo with a crew of nine and permits for four locations, working mostly between midnight and five. Ama used a small cinema camera with a set of fast vintage primes and lit the lead with a single red LED tube she carried herself, adding it to whatever the street already offered. In the arcade the machines were left running and the camera shot through their glass, so the reflections are all in camera.
Daniel Okafor cut it as one continuous night, keeping the order we shot it in. Simon Achterberg graded to keep the red key apart from the cold city light around it, which is the only real rule the film has.
Credits
Director
Executive producer
Producer
Director of photography
Editor
Colourist
Recognition
Notes from a river shoot
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Behind the scenes
Samir Haddad
What a week on a mountain riverbank for Dust and Daylight taught us about tents, weather, small crews and carrying less than you think you need.
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The clapperboard is not a prop
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Craft
Theo Lindqvist
Why slates, scene and take discipline and proper sound sync still matter on a digital set, and how we run them on every Offscreen shoot.
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Lighting a room with one lamp
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Interviews
Yuna Sato
Yuna Sato and cinematographer Ama Boateng on lighting interiors with practicals for The Long Field and Signal, and why they rarely bring a light the audience cannot see.
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The Long Field premieres at Northlight Film Festival
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News
Hannah Reyes
Yuna Sato's short about a woman walking out across a winter snowfield has its world premiere this week as an Official Selection at Northlight Film Festival.
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Grading Night Drive
grading-night-drive
Craft
Eun-ji Park
Colourist Eun-ji Park on building the look of Night Drive for Halden: two colours, one face, deep blacks and four nights of Manchester rain made to match.
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Annelise Vogt joins the roster
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News
Marcus Bell
The Berlin-based documentary director behind Low Water joins Offscreen for long-form, branded and commercial work, represented by both our London and Los Angeles offices.
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Casting real people
casting-real-people
Craft
Mara Okonkwo
Mara Okonkwo on street casting non-actors for Twelve Rounds, from gym noticeboards and casting tapes to contracts, consent and the first day on set.
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What a treatment is for
what-a-treatment-is-for
Craft
Hannah Reyes
A director's treatment is a promise about a film, not a description of it. Hannah Reyes on what a good one does, what it should never try to do, and how we read them.
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A week in the edit of Feedback
a-week-in-the-edit
Behind the scenes
Daniel Okafor
Editor Daniel Okafor on one week of cutting Feedback, Kofi Mensah-Hart's tour film with The Lowlands, from 300 hours of rushes to a seventy-two minute film.
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