MX Media LLC Blog Archive

Greetings. Ken Hoinsky here.

I want to write to you about one of the most unique projects myself and MX Media has had the honor of assisting with.

During New York Anime Fest 2009, I was asked by an associate of mine to help out on the production of a music video for Japanese idol band sensation, AKB48. The song used was their new single “River” which debuted at #1 on the Japanese Oricon chart.

Japanese TV show Nemousu TV (ネ申テレビ) was following AKB48 on their trip to NYC. They chose two local directors to each scramble to create music videos on a strenuous one-day shoot.

One of these directors is J.X. Carrera (Jonathan Carrera) who happens to be a video director for Anime News Network. Needing someone bilingual in Japanese and English to assist with the production, I was asked to assist.

Look, Mom, I’m on (Japanese) TV!

I am not sure any of us were prepared for the scope of the shoot:

1 day, 3 locations (Central Park & two studios), 16 group members, 2 music video film crews, 2 TV show film crews, and other support personnel. I wouldn’t be surprised if it totalled over 50 people. Oh, did I mention we had about 10 hours to complete everything?

I am not sure I ever worked harder in my life. That goes for everyone involved with the project. The poor girls from AKB48, freshly jet-lagged from their trip across the world, gave it everything they had. To think they had appearances and performances at NYAF and Webster Hall that very weekend, too!

Jonathan Carrera did an excellent job captaining the ship and the finished product speaks for itself.

As a professional translator, every once in a while I am tasked to do some sort of simultaneous interpretation. Though not my strongest skill, I somehow managed to survive the day and get the director’s vision across to the girls.

I’d like to think that having worked on shows about the entertainment world (Skip Beat, Glass Mask, White Album) helped me out with some of the rather obscure lingo used on a TV shoot.

All in all, it was a great day and something I am proud to have on our portfolio of completed projects.

You can visit the director’s homepage here and blog here.

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