Location Managers Guild International

Spring 2024

The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ

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34 • LMGI COMPASS Spring 2024 Some of the filming there also involved car and motorcycle stunt work which also complicates things in terms of safety because Tokyo doesn't have "movie police" the way most of our major cities do. "It's kind of unthinkable there," says Poul, "so even though you have permission from the local police to be there, they still have the power to shut you down at any time and you can't just say, 'well, we have a contract.'" They also have to be extra careful when doing stunt work or gunfire in a public space. "If you're in the middle of rolling," adds Poul, "and grandpa is carrying his groceries from the local grocery and wants to get through to his house, you ask him politely if he'll wait until we cut, but if he says, 'no, to hell with you, I'm going now,' he can walk through your shot and you are not allowed to stop him in any way." One neighborhood sequence in which Jake unwittingly contributes to the theft of a motorcycle took a full four months to gain approval. For one, it's a night sequence in a residential area, and the guy who steals the bike has to tear out into the street and head off in the opposite direction of traffic as precision drivers screech and pull over. But more than that, according to Poul, "It was because we were portraying a character breaking the law and going the wrong way down the street!" Production also filmed the interior of Jake's residence there, which is its own kind of challenge since, according to Aikawa, "The apartment is the size of a postage stamp." THE TEMPLE Scenes for the funeral of one of the show's major characters were shot at the Ryūkō-ji (龍口寺) Temple in the city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa prefecture (a Tokyo suburb). The temple itself dates to 1337 and features a long stairway up to the Hondō or main temple. On the day of the filming, it rained, and Aikawa feels that it actually served to enhance the tone of the scene. Even with hundreds of extras attending a massive funeral in a downpour, the day's work was far less complicated than almost anything else they had shot during the season. "It's a private property and we were able to stay inside the temple grounds at all times," says Poul, "so all Masa needed to handle was negotiation with the temple management and then they basically let us do whatever we wanted, including bringing in cranes. So, I mean, it looks terrific, but that, paradoxically, was easier than being on the street." THE SHRINE A location they returned to after its first appearance in Season 1 is The Atago Shrine (愛宕神社), which appears in a flashback where Samantha and her friend meet. The property dates back to the year 1603, though most of the buildings which exist there now were built in 1958. Located on Atagoyama, a view of the city from Tokyo prefecture is now obscured by high-rise apartment buildings. Ryuko-ji Temple, Fujisawa. Photo by James Lisle

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