Why Filming the Bullet Train Video was an Absolute Nightmare (Not that I Regret it) (Patreon)

Story time.

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If you haven't already seen the latest Bullet Train episode check it out first.
► Watch: https://youtu.be/icwENiwT1zI
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So when JR East dropped us a line a few months ago and invited Ryotaro and I to film inside the Bullet Train, it was a dream come true. 

Some Youtubers get to review a phone, and here we were about to review a train.
- Outstanding.

I’d always wanted to do a video on Japan’s bullet train culture, but I’d been put off by the fact it’s notoriously difficult to film inside the cabin, given you’re not allowed to be too noisy. Running around the train terrorising passengers with a camera and my dashing smile was never going to be fun or easy.

With JR East inviting us onboard, at last I’d finally be able to whip out a camera and go wild.

At last, it really would be #AllAbroad.

Originally, the plan was for us to film a video about Bullet Trains in general, predominantly in the economy cabin. We weren’t even going to cover Gran Class, but I got greedy - I figured given we had this rare chance, we may as well go for gold and ask if we could film in the premium-first class cabin, reserved for the Crème de la crème of Japanese society. 

And admittedly, overexcited passengers with credit cards.

It was quite a big ask of JR East, given passengers paying to use the Gran Class cabin certainly wouldn’t be too happy with a British guy and his erratic friend running up and down the carriage, causing chaos and making silly noises.

Initially, they admitted it probably wouldn’t be possible but I insisted. I knew that it’d really give the video the edge - especially if I could get some free sake. Surprisingly, my delusions of grandeur paid off; they realised I wasn’t going to give up, so they came up with a solution.

There was no way in hell we could film inside the cabin with paying passengers, and so for a segment of the train journey between Tokyo and Utsunomiya station, 30 minutes north of Tokyo, they bought out all the seats in the entire carriage and populated it with staff from JR East! Ingenious! (And ruddy costly I imagine).

This meant we’d be able to freely move around the cabin - or rather I would, given I’d have to be the cameraman. (Ryotaro might be able to speak 40 languages, but he’s a disaster behind the camera).

However, given we had 30 minutes I knew it’d be tough to get pack in enough scenes to make it look like we’d gone on a proper journey. Watching the video, it kind of looks like we had a relaxing couple of hours, enjoying the complimentary Bentos and sake, whilst gazing at the majestic Mount Fuji out the window.

When in reality it was a shit show.

From the moment we got on, I stopped running the camera two or three times for the whole 30 minutes. There wasn’t a minute where I wasn’t filming a person, a dish or a door. I’d sprint up the cabin like a fucking race horse, frantically film everyone, get a handful of close-ups, run back to my seat at the front of the carriage, throw the camera to Ryotaro, sit down, recline the chair and act like I was having the absolute time of my life in my swanky chair.

- All the while trying to conceal the fact I was completely out of breath, sweating and felt like a wreck.

The shots of me sitting in my chair, gently sipping sake might just have been some of my finest acting yet.

Not only was there the 30 minute time limit though, like some crappy video game level, I also had two other hurdles. The first was the hostess lady, who travelled up and down the cabin dispensing complimentary bentos, drinks and smiles, wasn’t allowed to be shown on camera. So I had to be bloody careful not to get her face in shot, which was tricky given she was moving around the entire time.

The second hurdle was the guy sitting several seats behind Ryotaro couldn’t be in the video either - he was the JR East staff acting as our liaison and didn’t want his face shown. Fortunately, unlike the hostess, I could blur his face as he was in a fixed position.

As the clock counted down to our arrival, and I wrapped on filming, we arrived at Utsunomiya station, in what had felt like less than 10 minutes. There’s no doubt, filming inside Gran Class was the best workout I’ve had since ascending bloody Mount Fuji.

Stepping off the train, I felt a wave of relief knowing the intense ordeal was over and I could stop rolling once and for all, in the 40 minutes since we’d boarded at Tokyo station.
- Except the ordeal wasn’t over. 

While filming Ryotaro’s tearful goodbye to Gran Class, as the train pulled out of the station, Ryotaro surprised me by revealing the bullet train which had just pulled into the station heading back to Tokyo, was OUR BLOODY TRAIN. 

You can briefly see it pulling in at 11:35 in the video.

I sprinted carrying all the heavy camera equipment, whilst Ryotaro ran ahead - every man for himself - as we ran down the stairs, across the station, up the stairs and remarkably with 5 seconds to spare, dived through the closing doors as they swung shut and the train pulled out of the station.

I promptly dumped the equipment at my feet and collapsed into the chair feeling battered and bruised from the camera which had slammed into my face during the run, as it’d been hanging around my neck. And I prayed that all the footage we’d just shot was actually watchable.

And now that you know all that, go back and watch it the video again and see if you can notice how exasperated I was inside the cabin. See if you can spot those flickering moments where I give it away. Hopefully for the most part I was able to hide it successfully!

My tip to any of you who might be looking to vlog or film though is remember, when you’re filming something, you’re there to quickly get all the footage you can to tell the story and paint a picture of reality. The viewer only ever sees what you show them. Like any good craft, they’re not supposed to notice the chaos and mayhem that went into creating the finished product or piece of art.

Overall, I’m really happy with how it turned out. I’ll admit my sense of humour wasn’t really present, given how focussed I was on filming the video, but Ryotaro’s relentless absurdity certainly made up for it. This episode was essentially The Ryotaro Show. 

All that “different air” went to his head.

But there's no doubt without him, it wouldn't have been half as fun.

That’s all for now guys, if you have any questions about this week’s video (or Podcast), please fire away in the comments below! I’ll be back in a few days with two pieces of exciting news and the all important poll for this month’s Patreon exclusive episode.

In the meantime stay safe, wherever you may be out there right now.
Chris