The Secret World of Zen
04/23/2007 @ 10:00 am
For those of you interested in historical documentaries, here is a promo for a one-hour documentary I am producing called The Secret World of Zen. Filmed in 5 cities across Japan, we should have it out for broadcast by August.
EDIT: There seems to be a frame rate issue with the play back that makes the image look slightly jittery. Not sure why exactly (first time uploading to a site like this) but I’ll work on it.
Wow, that looks gorgeous!
What is the format, is there narration, or are you taking the ‘baraka’ approach?
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:56 pmIts all shot in Sony HDcam and no its very much a traditional ‘History Channel’ type of doc with narration and interviews and such.
We’ve done about six interviews so far, two with zen monks that was quite interesting. But I think we need at least three to four more before we can start cutting.
I was hoping to get James Earl Jones for the narrator but the editor and broadcast partner say it wouldn’t match so we’re still arguing about what the narrator should sound like. We haven’t even agreed if its to be a female or male voice either. (If it was female, I’d love to have Sigourney Weaver do it).
April 24th, 2007 at 12:22 amI really like the photography. Fantastic imagery.
April 24th, 2007 at 12:33 amBut have to say I’m not sure about that music. Though again I like it, to me it evokes Peter Gabriel’s ‘Passion’, which of course is North African and Middle Eastern. Just a point of view.
Ha ha, yes I’ve heard that actually that from several people. It was composed by a musician by the name of Rob Khurana. It isn’t very “zen” like, but that is on purpose. Some folks will like that and some won’t.
But I assure you the shakuhachi does make an appearance in the final show.. hehe
April 24th, 2007 at 4:24 am