"Missing Child Videotape" Director Ryota Kondo x General Producer Takashi Shimizu: The Sense of Shooting a "Scary Atmosphere" [Director's Interview Vol. 466]

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The editing check went so smoothly I was worried

Q: As a veteran of horror films, what advice did you give to Shimizu?

Shimizu: Not really. However, as a commercial film, it has to satisfy the general public who happen to come in without any prior knowledge. No, I want them to be satisfied, and I want them to be satisfied. Regardless of whether they like horror or not, or their preferences, it should be made in a way that resonates with as many general public as possible, but there's no need to pander to them... I may have said a few points along that line.

I usually work as a director, so I usually get told by producers to "make it more flashy," "include some easy-to-understand scariness," "use some famous cast members," etc. (laughs), but this time I was the producer, so I felt bad that I had to tell them that.

Kondo: One of the pieces of advice I was glad to receive was that we talked about "Konaka theory*." I had written about the subjective views of ghosts in the stage directions, and Shimizu asked me, "This is taboo in the Konoha theory, but are you going to do it?"... No one would normally tell me something like that (laughs).

Shimizu: Unless you have a deep knowledge of horror, even producers usually don't know the Konaka theory. Also, when I made my debut, I was asked the same thing by Hiroshi Takahashi and I answered the same way (laughs).

Kondo: That's true (laughs). But in that scene, I thought it would be scarier to have a shot from the perspective of the ghost, so I said, "I'll do a shot from the perspective of the ghost!" That's where I was heavily influenced by Shimizu-san. The sensibilities and knowledge at the root of each of us resonated with me a lot, and I was very grateful.

"Missing Child Videotape" ©︎2024 "Missing Child Videotape" Production Committee

Shimizu: I don't believe everything that older people say, and I find it hard to accept it...rather, I've always wanted to surpass them somewhere. At the time, I nodded in agreement with the Konaka theory, saying "I see!", but I wanted to break it somewhere, so when I shot the video version of "Ju-on," I deliberately left it out (laughs). Now that I'm in more senior positions, I'm afraid of the younger generation's energy (laughs).

This time, Director Kondo brought in staff that he found easy to work with, but if he wants to expand into new areas in the future, he will need to involve and use more experienced technical staff. If he can make that his own, I think the Kondo world will continue to expand. That is also the future of Director Kondo as a commercial director.

Kondo: I don't think I'll be able to do things this freely again in the future. The final version is almost the same as the first editing rush. I cut a little bit of the first half, expecting it to be considered too long, and was surprised when I got the response, "Maybe it would be better to make it longer?"

Shimizu: The three producers, including myself, had almost no say in it, and we felt that it was fine the way it was. In fact, it would be better if it was longer. That doesn't happen very often. Even when I'm the director, I get told a lot more (laughs). But as a director, there are times when it's reassuring to have someone tell me.

Kondo: No one really said anything, so I was worried that it was too serious and that it had become a big problem. I was worried that they were having an emergency meeting in another room without me (laughs). I was really scared at that time (laughs).

*) Konaka Theory: Rules for horror film production proposed by screenwriter Chiaki Konaka.

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