AFTER WAVE

In March 2011, when the Tsunami struck the northeast coast of Japan, i was sprawled on my couch, watching the news on TV. At the very begining most of the reports on french TV were about missing persons and the huge damages, but after two or three days Fukushima and the nuclear catastrophy became the main (not to say the only) subject of the reports. Then many journalists were asked to return to their respective countries for security reasons (and insurance !).
At that time, i was supposed to start a new project of advertising for TV, but the project was delayed for a few weeks. So i decided to flight to Tokyo...
I took my "old" Canon 7D and a 5D mark II with me. I had in mind to make a documentary about the human consequences of the tsunami : missing person, testimonies of survivors, .... I drove to the northeast of Tōhoku, along the pacific coast for several days, in the silence of the AFTER WAVE. Day after day, while i was filming the ravaged landscapes and cities, testimonies of survivors,... i started to work on photographic documentary project, but without any intention of sticking to the moment, and with a deliberate lack of narrative content, like visual archives.
Finally, after 2 weeks and 700 kms driving along the Japonese east coast, i flought back to France. Some months later the photo project became an exhibition ... and the huge amount of video footage shot remained in my hard drive for these last 5 years.
We still did not have the time to start working on this documentary (in the end you never have enough time to do what's really needs to be done, because you use your skills or time for living and eating), but we humbly present to you this "shortcut" in the silence of the aftermath.

If we got a little bit of your attention with these few minutes, you can also visit the photo exhibition on this link : oliveb31.tumblr.com

I would like to thank Frank Meyer for accompanying me on this journey and for his devotion on the shooting.
Many thanks to my friend Bruce Touron for having insisted for many years to do this shortcut and his incredible involvement in its post production.
Thanks also to Morgan Jouquand for his great work on the post production of the photo project.
Also many thanks to Eric and Eriko for their help.

Shot in 7D mark II
And 5D mark II
Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro
ColorGrading&Graphics: Adobe After Effect

NB : sorry for my english ... I did my best but It's not my native language.

Cast: SMALL CREATIVE UNIT, Olive, Bruce Touron and Franck MEYER

Tags: Japan, tsunami, wave, earthquake, missing, environment, survivors, documentary, tokyo, tōhoku, fukushima, rikuzentakata, sendai, aftermath, ofunato, minamisanriku, footage, nature and DSLR