Ren's Footprints

Since 2004 I have been on video crews for many different types of events. It started with Reggae on the River, lead to more music festivals and responsibilities, and progressed into internships and work in televised sports in the Bay Area.
Anyway, just because I am a part of many things doesn't mean that I am very high on the "totem pole" so to speak. An example of this is that I had never watched one of the recordings of any of the concerts I have been on camera for. However, one day while on Youtube I stumbled upon footage that I filmed! It doesn't make sense how the video got there though because copies of the shows go to the artist, our director keeps a copy, and the concert's organizational committee keeps a copy for archival purposes. None of them would have any reason for posting this raw, unedited footage online for the world to see. Yet somehow someone has done it. I also have no idea why, but the footage is in black and white. Anyway, even though this isn't the most legal, nor desired method, I see this as my first opportunity to show people my work on camera! My camera on this shoot typically gave a view of the right side of the vocalist. Some times that my camera was used in this clip are 0:05 1:13 1:59 etc etc. This is from Reggae Rising (formerly Reggae on the River) in Humboldt County California.

I also found some fun pictures on the director's blog of me at work. Reggae Rising was an incredibly enjoyable show considering all the turmoil surrounding it. The first is of me on one of the jibs and what makes it cool is guys I went to high school with are performing on stage, and friends of mine are in the front row! That group threw marijuana into the crowd and some of it landed on my shoulder! I had totally forgotten about that until seeing this picture. The second is me using one of the cameras on a stand in the crowd.

Anyway, back to the present. Before arriving here, I told myself that I was going to try really hard to get involved in something memorable, and unique to Tokyo while here and I feel it is about to happen. After sending a letter to Major League Baseball Japan explaining why I am here and that I was looking for a way to try to get involved, I was invited in for an interview. The interview was today and so I left in the morning for the Minato district of Tokyo to find the MLB offices. The office is very close to one of Tokyo's most famous landmarks, Tokyo Tower. I was a little early so I took a couple pictures.

The office building where I went was nice and as I made my way to the MLB entrance I passes the Walt Disney offices of Tokyo which are in the same building. The interview took place in a meeting room that (other than a TV I saw Sunday at a store) had the biggest plasma television I had ever seen. The interviewers were all really nice and casual. It was two women, one Singaporean and one Japanese, and a guy from Las Vegas. It was sort of a relief to me having two native English speaking interviewers but everyone there also spoke Japanese. Only about ten percent of the interview was in Japanese but working there does require Japanese language ability.
What was discussed in the most detail was how there will be a series between Oakland and Boston here in Tokyo in March and we will be a major part of organizing it. This includes all sorts of tasks including stadium operations, helping foreign tv crews prepare for the event, providing comfortable accommodations for the teams and being there when they have questions or needs, and lots more. The primary function of this office is for marketing MLB to Asia, but when there is an event in Japan like this it seems there is a lot more work for them to do.
Anyway, I will know if I get hired next week to work with them from mid January through the end of March. The interview went well and these people contacted my references working for MLB in New York and got a good word on me so I have a good feeling about getting this job. It sounds like I could miss out on my group's prepaid trip to Okinawa though!

I am tired and I have to give a report on Japan's involvement in World War 1 tomorrow. I am also going to an elementary school teach kids foreign culture with some classmates and I will also meet students at my school thinking about going to school in California!