Kagoshima’s Instagrammer, Kaisei, gives lecture on how to shoot social-media-worthy shochu videos
Kaisei (bottom right) instructing guests
On October 30, Kaisei, a popular Instagrammer from Kagoshima Prefecture, gave a lecture on videography techniques to make shochu videos social-media-worthy. The lecture was held during the online festival “Shinshu Matsuri” hosted by Hamada Shuzo Distilleries.
Kaisei, having 110,000 followers on Instagram and 590,000 on TikTok, uses social networking sites to spread the charms of Kagoshima Prefecture and other areas. He said that he only used his iPhone to shoot all the promotional videos for the shochu series Kaido 2000, commissioned by Hamada Shuzo Distilleries. The lecture focused on the filming methods used in these videos.
In the scene pouring shochu into a glass, Kaisei showed how to shoot a slow-motion video using the slow mode on iPhone. He explained: “Set the HD displayed in the upper right corner to 240. Adjust the position of the camera. The glass should be in the center, and the mouth of the bottle should be within the frame.” He also introduced a filter called “Vivid (Cool)” for the videos. “If you adjust the colors of the video with this filter, the shochu will appear crispier,” he said.
Kaisei also explained how to take trick-art style videos. In this method, shot with the panoramic mode, the person pouring the shochu and the other receiving it in the glass appear as the same person. In addition to giving tips on how to fix and slide the camera when creating the panorama effect, he explained how to get the timing right. “The first thing to do is to fix the iPhone vertically, and then slide it horizontally while keeping it straight. Get the person ready in the position, tap the shoot button, slide the phone while counting one, two, then shoot the person in another position, and slide it again, one, two. Timing is the key,” said Kaisei.
In the lecture, Junichi Miyashita, the host, and others tried their hand at shooting videos. Miyashita commented: “I didn’t know it was so easy to do with just a smartphone. It would be a shame if we didn’t use it.”