{"id":9142,"date":"2017-12-30T20:10:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T20:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary"},"modified":"2017-12-30T20:10:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T20:10:00","slug":"feature-we-learn-more-about-the-ambitious-cycle-across-kanto-pokemon-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2017\/12\/30\/feature-we-learn-more-about-the-ambitious-cycle-across-kanto-pokemon-documentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: We Learn More About the Ambitious &#8216;Cycle Across Kanto&#8217; Pok\u00e9mon Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/0\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/0\/original.jpg\" alt=\"bc795f_9f25152a549045569a5bcfffa94f461b_mv2_d_3840_2160_s_2.png\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Earlier this month, production company Gravity Dog launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a documentary exploring the real world locations from the immensely popular Pok\u00e9mon video games series. Travelling across the Kanto region in Japan by bicycle over the course of 40 days, the team hopes to find the inspiration for the games, as well as discover secrets about Japan&#8217;s rural landscapes.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an ambitious documentary, and one that is clearly a passion project for all involved. The <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/1605464340\/cycle-across-kanto?ref=nav_search&amp;result=project&amp;term=Cycle%20\">project&#8217;s fundraising page<\/a> has been carefully put together, with a pitch video that leaves a rather good impression. The team has also been at pains to emphasize that the film shouldn&#8217;t fall foul of copyright issues &#8211; it&#8217;ll aim to utilise fair use, avoiding copyrighted imagery in the final result while it will be distributed and shown for free, with Kickstarter funding being broken down to highlight how the money will be used. It&#8217;s a tricky line to walk, however, and is perhaps reflected by a slow start &#8211; at the time of publication &#8211; in the fundraising.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an interesting project, in any case, and we took the opportunity to learn more by chatting with producer\/ writer \/ director Stephen Aymond.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"object object-vimeo\">[embedded content]<\/aside>\n<p><strong>First of all<\/strong><strong>, congratulations on the launch of your Kickstarter campaign for \u2018Cycle across Kanto\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thank you. The campaign video\u00a0you\u2019ll find\u00a0on our Kickstarter page was a labor of love\u00a0to make. After three months of planning, we\u2019re excited to\u00a0finally\u00a0have it\u00a0public.\u00a0We need everyone\u2019s\u00a0help\u00a0to bring this adventure to everyone\u2019s screens.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How did the team come together?<\/strong><strong>\u00a0And w<\/strong><strong>hen did the project start and gather momentum?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was a fan of Javed Sterritt\u00a0(our editor)\u00a0from \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/goodbloodgames\"><span class=\"s3\">Good Blood<\/span><\/a>\u2019\u00a0since he released his first video essay\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I6ak3ebBep0\"><span class=\"s3\">\u2018DEAR SEGA\u2019<\/span><\/a>. (It\u2019s a brilliant piece\u00a0with nearly half a million views,\u00a0if you haven\u2019t seen it yet.) I approached him this September (2017) through a Twitter DM with the very basic idea of making a\u00a0video\u00a0tour of the real-life locations that inspired the Pok\u00e9mon games,\u00a0and\u00a0he fell in love with the idea on the spot\u00a0when I phrased it as \u201ca cinematic glimpse into the real-life world of Pok\u00e9mon.\u201d\u00a0Javed, of course,\u00a0had some notes that helped bring the idea from 50% to 100\u00a0by\u00a0adding in the human element\u00a0\u2013\u00a0making\u00a0the documentary\u00a0about\u00a0<em>the journey<\/em>\u00a0in addition to learning about the land\u2019s cultures and people.<\/p>\n<p>To make a film, you need a team\u00a0<em>tailored specifically<\/em>\u00a0for it.\u00a0I needed\u00a0filmmakers\u00a0who\u00a0were\u00a01)\u00a0able to clear 40 days in their schedules, 2) willing to train for endurance biking,\u00a0and\u00a03) grew up with the original Pok\u00e9mon games.\u00a0That last point was important, because passion makes a project shine.\u00a0I knew\u00a0of only\u00a0two people who fit the bill,\u00a0film school pals\u00a0Nick Solorzano (our director of photography)\u00a0and Ahmad Evans\u00a0(field audio and grip)\u00a0of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gravitydogproductions.com\/\"><span class=\"s3\">Gravity Dog Productions<\/span><\/a>. Nick introduced me to Mai\u00a0Gozu\u00a0of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/maiography.com\/\"><span class=\"s3\">Maiography<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(cinematographer and translator)\u00a0who would later become one of the biggest assets\u00a0to\u00a0the team.\u00a0I later hired\u00a0friend and current-day Pok\u00e9mon narrator\u00a0Mike Pollock (with permission from The Pok\u00e9mon Company) to\u00a0reprise his role for the documentary, as well as Jonny Higgins, a wicked talented composer and friend of\u00a0Javed\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Together,\u00a0we\u00a0spent\u00a0the next three months creating the most ambitious crowdfunding video campaign that we could conceive.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/1\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/1\/original.jpg\" alt=\"bc795f_7b381c28aa8e401cab44502a86fc241d_mv2_d_3840_2160_s_2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>What is the team<\/strong><strong>\u2019<\/strong><strong>s experience in Japan?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mai is a Japanese native and spent roughly half her life in Japan.\u00a0Other than her,\u00a0I visited for nine days\u00a0back\u00a0in 2011.\u00a0You\u2019d think a week\u00a0over five\u00a0years ago\u00a0wouldn\u2019t be enough experience to return for a 40-day biking excavation, but Japan is remarkably easy to\u00a0navigate\u00a0and\u00a0nearly\u00a0every\u00a0person\u00a0you\u00a0come across\u00a0is\u00a0very helpful.\u00a0Mai\u00a0and I are very excited to return,\u00a0as we miss it daily.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Are any of the team experiencing the area for the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nick and Ahmad will be visiting for the first time.\u00a0Nick\u00a0was planning to visit Japan eventually and\u00a0often travels for work, so this project will be both new and unfamiliar for him.\u00a0They\u2019re both very excited to see what Japan has to offer\u00a0if we reach our budget on Kickstarter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Miyamoto-san has shared anecdotes about childhood experiences influencing games such as Zelda and\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Star Fox<\/strong><strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong><strong>What do you think makes the\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong><strong>\u00a0series so popular and special?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love\u00a0that developers\u00a0find inspiration from the world around them\u00a0and recreate\u00a0it\u00a0one way or another in their work.\u00a0It just hit me\u00a0that\u00a0our crew intends to relive their experience,\u00a0but in reverse.<\/p>\n<p>The Pok\u00e9mon games have every reason to be popular. They are as complicated or as simple as\u00a0anyone\u00a0wants\u00a0to\u00a0make them, so anyone can pick it up and become enthralled. I experienced this first hand. As a kid, I would just grind and grind until my Pok\u00e9mon were strong enough to defeat anything instead of worry about\u00a0strategy. As an adult, I think carefully about my team\u2019s assembly and\u00a0move sets. And with such a vast array of monsters to choose from, playstyle allows each person to experience the game\u00a0very\u00a0differently.\u00a0We can share our different experiences with each other. We can trade\u00a0the\u00a0monsters\u00a0we tamed. The worlds are\u00a0quirky, and the music is fun. Pok\u00e9mon is magical.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/2\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/2\/original.jpg\" alt=\"bc795f_d539671d3a664ed8b01ffc371af234d0_mv2_d_3840_2160_s_2.png\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>You get to experience Kanto by bicycle. How important was this aspect of the project?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cycling across the Kanto region is one of the most important aspects of this film.\u00a0Driving from location to location wouldn\u2019t be\u00a0nearly\u00a0as\u00a0entertaining\u00a0and it certainly wouldn\u2019t\u00a0<em>feel like an adventure<\/em>.\u00a0People would\u00a0rather\u00a0witness\u00a0a story unfold as we undertake a great physical challenge.\u00a0We want to stick as close to the source material as we can\u00a0by walking and biking everywhere\u00a0(however,\u00a0we\u2019ll be picking up our bikes in Pallet Town. No waiting\u00a0until Vermillion City to find some\u00a0bike vouchers).<\/p>\n<p><strong>When did you and the team first start to form the idea of the documentary?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The idea was born about a\u00a0year ago, but\u00a0it first began as something quite different, not even as a documentary.\u00a0My best friend Miwa\u00a0and I would often talk about walking across the connected United States, from Key West\u00a0in\u00a0Florida\u00a0all the way to Cape Flattery in Washington State.\u00a0The trip would have taken us about six months, and, having never done something so ambitious, we looked at smaller goals, like walking across Japan, her home country. At some point, I came across an article that talked about how\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0X and Y were based on North France. Naturally, I wanted to see if the earlier titles\u00a0did\u00a0the same, and surely\u00a0enough they\u00a0did!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From Japan and NYC to France and Hawaii, every main series\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0game takes inspiration from locations here on Earth. There\u2019s an entire page on\u00a0Bulbapedia\u00a0that goes into\u00a0great\u00a0detail\u00a0about the similarities between every town, mountain, forest,\u00a0and so on.\u00a0It\u2019s impressive.\u00a0I had to see these places for myself\u00a0and share them with everyone.\u00a0To \u201ctravel\u00a0across the land searching far and wide.\u201d\u00a0However,\u00a0Miwa was soon unable to join\u00a0on\u00a0anything involving a lot of physical activity\u00a0due to\u00a0abrupt\u00a0health concerns.\u00a0The idea left. Then it would come back. Then it would leave again. And after a long while,\u00a0I\u00a0decided to revisit again it\u00a0in September\u00a0by\u00a0approaching\u00a0Javed\u00a0Sterrit, and the rest unfolded from there.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<strong>Are there any filmmakers that have influenced or inspired you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There certainly have\u00a0been filmmakers that inspired us.\u00a0For me, off the top of my head, Edgar Wright, Jamie Hewlett,\u00a0and\u00a0Wes Anderson.\u00a0For this project, however,\u00a0we decided it\u2019d be best to not take inspiration from our film heroes,\u00a0but to instead\u00a0emulate\u00a0the first season of the Pok\u00e9mon anime: Lots of\u00a0straight-on and profile shots, foreground and background foliage, birds-eye angle\u00a0to emulate\u00a0the games, very saturated colors,\u00a0etc.\u00a0It wasn\u2019t\u00a0an\u00a0easy\u00a0task;\u00a0we shot everything in our home state\u00a0of\u00a0Florida. Vegetation here isn\u2019t very green,\u00a0and it was about to get less green\u00a0as\u00a0Winter\u00a0approached.\u00a0We had to\u00a0quickly\u00a0scout out three cities\u00a0all far\u00a0from each other\u00a0(Orlando, Daytona, and Jacksonville) to get exactly what we needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/3\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/3\/original.jpg\" alt=\"bc795f_f012d5ab4e954fe8adb428589cb195d4_mv2_d_3840_2160_s_2.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong><strong>\u00a0has always been immensely popular in Japan, but last year<\/strong><strong>\u2019<\/strong><strong>s\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong><strong>\u00a0GO has taken it to another level (if that was possible<\/strong><strong>)<\/strong><strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For a while, I was considering making it a goal to catch as many of the original 151\u00a0as I could\u00a0in\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Go\u00a0while in the Kanto region, but due to copyright reasons we\u2019ve decided to cut all visual references of Pok\u00e9mon in the final cut of the documentary. Nintendo are basically the Disney of video games, so we are doing everything in our power to tread lightly on their intellectual properties by keeping\u00a0ALL REFERENCES to a\u00a0\u201cverbal-only\u201d\u00a0rule,\u00a0to\u00a0ensure everything\u00a0falls\u00a0under Fair Use. \u2026Sorry, I\u2019ve gone off topic. Uh, Pok\u00e9mon GO is great!\u00a0I intend to catch my Asia-exclusive\u00a0Farfetch\u2019d\u00a0while\u00a0there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the balance like between finding the references in the games and being able to discover the hidden landscapes of Japan?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is a little interpretation involved when comparing the two worlds. Pallet Town for instance is just a couple of houses and a lab next to the ocean.\u00a0That\u2019s not\u00a0exactly\u00a0a lot to go\u00a0on\u00a0except for its geographical location being\u00a0similar to Shimoda\u00a0City. However, places like Mt Silver being indicative of Mt Fuji, Pewter City and Midori City sharing rocky slopes and fossil museums, Lavender Town and Narita City\u00a0sharing the fame of their massive grave sites,\u00a0those are\u00a0more obvious\u00a0when comparing and contrasting. But we won\u2019t stop there. We\u2019ll display what other specialities each town has to offer so long as it fits the theme of the\u00a0area.\u00a0But this unexplored concept will be left in the dark if the project isn\u2019t funded. We\u2019re hoping to garner a lot of $10 donations since it\u2019s an amount that won\u2019t break the bank for anyone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is your favourite\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong><strong>\u00a0game?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been very hard to pin down a favorite. The games have become more complex with each iteration\u00a0to\u00a0keep things fresh, but I\u2019d have to say that X and Y had so many features that I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. And triple battles in Black and White were definitely\u2026 a thing. Sun and Moon were a breath of fresh air by simplifying things again. But in all honesty, I see myself returning to the original games more\u00a0often\u00a0than\u00a0the\u00a0others. Red\/Blue and Gold\/Silver are simply too charming to put down.<\/p>\n<p>Quick story \u2013 we filmed 7 and\u00a08-year-olds\u00a0in our campaign video\u00a0and,\u00a0man, they were hard to keep still.\u00a0When we tasked\u00a0them\u00a0with playing Pok\u00e9mon Blue and Pok\u00e9mon Snap, they\u00a0started\u00a0complaining about how there wasn\u2019t anything to do and that it was boring\u00a0and so on.\u00a0Five\u00a0minutes later, they were hooked\u00a0and back to having a great weekend.\u00a0They didn\u2019t want to put it down!<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s something about the originals.\u00a0They\u2019re magical.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture strip\">\n<div class=\"img\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/4\/original.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/news\/2017\/12\/feature_we_learn_more_about_the_ambitious_cycle_across_kanto_pokemon_documentary\/attachment\/4\/original.jpg\" alt=\"bc795f_a08636ca1e23499a9dbd83944957c5e6_mv2_d_3834_2156_s_2.png\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><strong>What are your hopes for the upcoming Switch\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0<\/strong><strong>game?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Game mechanics-wise, who knows. But,\u00a0our Pok\u00e9mon games are\u00a0moving on up to\u00a0900p and\u00a01080p. With a resolution like that, everything sort of\u00a0has to\u00a0scale up\u00a0with it.\u00a0Expectations will be higher\u00a0both\u00a0visually\u00a0and audibly. Will the budget significantly\u00a0rise\u00a0in order to meet that demand? One thing\u2019s for sure, the team working on the\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0games will be working with\u00a0fewer\u00a0hardware\u00a0restrictions, so I hope that they utilize the new specs, and I hope that they\u2019re ready for what it means to make an HD Pok\u00e9mon game. A lower-poly avatar with a few facial expressions\u00a0might\u00a0not cut it, you know?\u00a0If\u00a0you asked me,\u00a0I\u2019m imagining something\u00a0similar to\u00a0Ni No\u00a0Kuni,\u00a0in terms of\u00a0how to visually\u00a0represent the world. That would sell me in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>We&#8217;d like the thank Stephen Aymond for his time; you can check out the Kickstarter page at the link below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this month, production company Gravity Dog launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a documentary exploring the real world locations from the immensely popular Pok\u00e9mon video games series. Travelling across the Kanto region in Japan by bicycle over the course of 40 days, the team hopes to find the inspiration for the games, as well [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}