I am delighted to announce the recent release of a brand new video series. The format will consists in long, uninterrupted discussions between myself and a guest about a specific topic on Aikido or Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu.
I have been producing video interviews since 2011, and I decided from the very beginning not to include my own interventions in the final edit, so as to keep the focus on the instructor I was talking to. I find this format very interesting because it allows me to bring up an image of the man or the woman that goes well beyond that of the sensei that most of the practitioners usually have access to. In all honesty, this format is also made necessary by the technical limitations related to the fact that I conduct most of my interviews alone. In most cases, I have to deal with the logistics, the image, the sound, and ask the questions, and all this does not really leave me any room to worry about filming or recording myself.
Filming interview with Peter Goldsbury at his home in Hiroshima.
Yet it has become clear that this format has sometimes reached its limits. For example, in my interview with Professor Peter Goldsbury, the nature of our interaction that day was much closer to that of a discussion between researchers than an interview. Although I opted to edit that particular interview like the others, Peter told me, after publication, that he was a little disappointed that I decided to cut my comments and reactions to what he was saying. It made me think a lot and I decided to find a solution to this problem.
Mori Tower in Roppongi, the headquarters of YouTube in Japan.
The answer came thanks to the generosity of YouTube, which kindly offers access to its Roppongi Hills studios and its technicians to some videographers of which I am a part. So nowadays, I have access to several studios, as well as an impressive amount of audio and video material. After some more or less successful tests, I managed to find a format that leaves me enough room to film a discussion with three or four cameras and as many microphones.
The YouTube live set in Roppongi Hills.
This series, which is just in its beginning, will offer in-depth exploration of very specific topics. To be clear, it is aimed at a relatively scholarly audience on the topics of budo and aiki. Indeed, inserts of documents, videos, and photos to illustrate the subject will be kept to the minimum possible. In addition, I intend to do the minimum possible cutting and editing, and therefore my guests, as well as myself, will work without a net, which I think will bring a lot of bite to the discussions in comparison to the heavily edited format that I had used so far.
My first guest, Olivier Gaurin and Megumi Erard (in charge of production that day) enjoying YouTube's complimentary barista before our discussion.
It is obvious that for this format to work, I will have to stick to discussions in English or French because my Japanese is way too informal for me to publicly broadcast the discussions I usually have with Japanese sensei. I apologize in advance for this limitation but honestly, it is very unlikely that a Japanese teacher will want to lend himself to an interview format as free as this one and therefore for them, or during cases when I will have to travel, I will keep the original format you are used to.
- Playlist of the new series: "AikiTalks with Guillaume Erard"
I would like to thank you again, the viewer, for your interest in my work. Feel free to leave a message below if you have any comment or question.
