Kurosawa Kiyoshi / scripts

[Aaron Gerow]

>Furthermore, they are often only simple distillations of the dialogue. 
>Don't count on getting preproduction versions of scenarios from the 
>scenarios magazines or Kinejun, either. This is always a problem. 

My impression is that a journal like Shinario, which is put out by 
screenwriters, is less a distillation of the dialogue than a 
representation of the screenwriter's craft. Thus what they publish is the 
script as the scriptwriter created it. In production it may have changed, 
but this is essentially the way the script was when it was finished by 
the writer. I should note, however, that Japanese screenwriting has 
rarely been that focused on the production aspects of the film. Thus 
while US scripts will often specify shot length and even camera movement, 
most Japanese scripts, even at the production stage, do not go to that 
length. Much of that info is handwritten into the script during filming, 
or done in a separate storyboard.
 
>department library has an emphasis on scripts, and we're buying 
>thousands of scenarios from LA. Does anyone know if there are comparable 
>sources for production scenarios in Japan? I have one for Ran sitting on 
>my shelf, but it was a present from someone on the inside. Jinbocho 
>seems to have television scripts, but not film...

The Waseda Enpaku has thousands of these scripts, some donated by the 
directors themselves. And you can occasionally find them in Jinbocho and 
other used markets as well. I have a couple of old Toei scripts myself.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171