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Caledonian Dreams [ME-060U] (ANA,CAV,NTSC)
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Author:  publius [ 11 Sep 2015, 01:41 ]
Post subject:  Caledonian Dreams [ME-060U] (ANA,CAV,NTSC)
Caledonian Dreams

The best way to introduce this disc is to quote the text on the back cover. (There are no credits in the program -- indeed, there is a conspicuous lack of any sort of spoken or written language, aside from one sentence written in French on a windowpane at the very end -- so if you somehow acquired this disc without a jacket, it would be something of a mystery.)

Shoji Otake, Director
When you photograph a woman, the first thing to do is look at her objectively. When a man observes a woman, though, he will do so subjectively rather than objectively ; it often happens that he is not looking at the woman with sufficient detachment. That's because, deep down, he may be expecting something from this opposite sex, or else he does not observe thoroughly enough ; he does not catch the basic qualities or faults of his female subject. So, a photographer will often be disappointed in the shots he took, no matter how good his camera, how logically he planned his approach, or how well-done the lighting was.
This all the more so in the case of nude photography. The cameraman can lose his head over the fact that the woman is naked and click the shutter at random. When photographing nudes, it is very important to observe the female dispassionately as an object, and to determine what her good points are.
The female beauty captured on this LaserDisc has been sequenced so that the camera enthusiast can use it to improve his technique : use the stop motion feature and take a close look.
I used three new models, two Japanese and one French, for variety, and zeroed in on the interesting contrast in their personalities and the atmosphere that each one of them projected ; my plan was to have scenes balancing out the healthy and cheeful looks of the Japanese girls and the pathos-filled expression and mature womanly qualities of the French model, but my job was even harder becase there wasn't any script.
The French model, Sylviane, is twenty ; I would explain the moves I wanted, in my limited French, and she would ask questions again and again, until she was satisfied that she undrestood me. One scene called for her to show sadness after being left by a lover, and she was actually shedding tears during the shooting, which greatly affected everyone on the set.
I might add that the strong rays of the southern sun and the rain effectively supported the contrast I was looking for in this photographic essay.

Norio Maeda, Composer
"Norio Maeda and the Wind Breakers" — in the 30 years of my musical carreer, this is the first time I've led a group bearing my name, and unless my feelings undergo a radical change, it will be the last time too.
My motives for forming the group were purely personal. I wanted to put together a group of musicians who understood my direction in music and with whom I could experiment as much as possible in forming my sound. The big combo centered on ten musicians, but numbers and personnel were flexible ; the musicians responded to my wishes as much as they could and achieved the near impossible, as each one of them was satisfied with the music too. All the members of the main group were studio musicians.
I added a string section (ten violins, two violas, two cellos) and a synthesizer to the main group of musicians ; I wanted to obtain a fuller sound by contrasting the core group and the superb improvisations of Kounosuke Saijyo and the strings.
I was heavily influenced by Shoji Otake's magnificent shots and this just naturally led to a simple tropical mood n all the compositions. This may sound like I'm boasting, but I like these original pieces very much myself.
I ghad to do my work with stopwatch in hand and one eye on the videotape ; I was frequently distracted by the images but decided it was an advantage, at my age, that I was pure of heart and had not had much experience in life, so I really enjoyed it. I must say, though, that musicians do not have that many chances to see the female body as part of their work (music hall hacks excepted) so I felt thoroughly envious of photographers ; however, it's possible that they do get bored because they're exposed to it all the time, so maybe I'm lucky to be on the side lines, where I can still feel this envy.

Now, that was pretentious, wasn't it?
If it's not obvious from the tropical scenery, "Caledonian" in the title refers to "New Caledonia" in the South Pacific, not Scotland. And this disc consists of ten scenes, in which three women (Shoko Hiroe, Shina Watanabe, & the aforementioned Sylviane Galinie) frolic naked or mostly so, on the beach, in the sea, in a shower, around a swimming pool, and so on, to the accompaniment of light jazz of the "easy listening" school. Perhaps more shocking than the nudity (which just avoids the "full frontal") to modern eyes is the smoking. There is also a poorly-thought-out scene involving pyrotechnics, which looks as though it could easily have gone bad and injured someone severely.
The videography is excellent, comparable to that on demo discs of a few years later. Aside from noticeable tube-camera "trails" in one scene, it could have been shot yesterday. It's very sharp, and the colour rendering is excellent, suggesting that it was recorded directly to 1" tape. Indeed, where film photographs are inserted, the difference in picture characteristics is very noticeable. The analog sound quality is also quite high.

So, if you want to watch three girls frolic naked under tropical sunlight, with full CAV trick play features, this is the disc for you. Other than that, it doesn't really contain much of interest.
Author:  je280 [ 11 Sep 2015, 11:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: Caledonian Dreams [ME-060U] (ANA,CAV,NTSC)
PAL release issued in the UK (1985) on ME060-E

Had a few pass through my hands, in among some collections bought years ago.

Both the PAL & NTSC versions were identical, same cover, notes etcetera & there was no real discernible difference in the on screen image (to my eye anyway but it was quite a few years ago now).

It appears that this sold well when issued in the UK (an early release here) & it was on at least one listing under "Art & Classics" when released, yeh.

The cover notes..... thanks for putting them on, forgot how ridiculously "pretentious" they actually were & how about this line..... "The female beauty captured on this LaserDisc has been sequenced so that the camera enthusiast can use it to improve his technique : use the stop motion feature and take a close look."
Author:  nems [ 12 Sep 2015, 13:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: Caledonian Dreams [ME-060U] (ANA,CAV,NTSC)
Great review. Thank you for providing the text from the back cover. A highly entertaining read! :lol:
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