My Tokyo Celebrity Girlfriend Is Love-Struck, What Should I Do? - Chapter 12

You Call This Rough and Shallow

The Photography Department of the Kiyomi Art University was housed in a two-story, old and worn-out building tucked away in a corner of the campus.

Ascending the stairs and turning along the photo-adorned wall to the second floor, one side of the corridor had an openwork railing, while the other side housed a spacious activity room.

Kimura reached the entrance of the activity room. Next to the door, a yellowed sign hung on the wall, reading “Photography Department.”

The Photography Department seemed to be one of the earliest-established clubs at Kiyomi Art University. Its members were mostly students majoring in photography or photography enthusiasts.

The door to the Photography Department was ajar. Standing at the entrance, one could observe the interior of the room. 

The spacious activity room was filled with various photography props and equipment. 

Not far from the door, a long table was placed with several computers.

However, at the moment, there was only one young man in front of the table, facing away from the door, engrossed in working on a computer.

Kimura raised his hand and knocked on the door of the activity room.

The young man turned around, assessing him from head to toe.

“I’m Kimura Hayata, the one who called earlier… Are you Koike-kouhai?”

“Yes.”

Koike Koichi nodded and stood up from his chair, “Please come in, Kimura-senpai.”

Kimura entered the room.

“Please have a seat,” Koike Koichi gestured to the vacant chair beside him.

“Koike-sensei mentioned that if I needed assistance with shooting, I could reach out to you, Koike-kouhai,” Kimura said after sitting down, carefully observing the young man beside him.

There was a resemblance between them, a similarity in their facial features reminiscent of Koike Yui.

“Yeah,” Koike Koichi responded casually.

At this moment, he refocused his attention on the computer screen in front of him, appearing somewhat indifferent to the additional presence beside him.

The atmosphere became somewhat subdued.

Seemingly aware of the subtle atmosphere, Koike Koichi suddenly turned his head and said, “I’m sorry, Kimura-senpai, can you wait for a moment? Let me finish editing this scene, and then we can talk in detail.”

“No problem,” Kimura waved his hand.

After all, he came with a request, and waiting a bit longer was not an issue.

Upon hearing this, Koike Koichi continued to operate the mouse and keyboard, editing the video on the computer.

The video showed a woman walking step by step to the edge of a rooftop, then jumping off.

The camera followed the woman towards the rooftop’s edge, capturing her entire figure with a distant shot from behind.

Although it was challenging to discern the genre from this single scene, the file Koike Koichi  had opened indicated that this sequence was shot from various angles and perspectives.

Koike Koichi, in the process of selecting appropriate segments and angles, was evidently dissatisfied with the current outcome, judging by the furrowed brow.

Continuously switching angles, adding and removing perspectives, and then watching from the beginning—his brow remained furrowed.

Kimura stared at the screen displaying the footage. 

In truth, if one were to evaluate the current sequence edited by Koike Koichi, it was already a quite impressive visual composition—something commonly seen in movies or TV dramas, very natural.

“There’s still no feeling…” Koike Koichi, frustrated, ran his hand through his hair, teeth biting onto his finger.

Suddenly, he turned to Kimura, pointing at the segment on the screen, and asked, “Senpai, what do you feel after watching this scene?”

The abrupt inquiry left Kimura momentarily stunned, but he quickly recovered.

“It’s not bad, very natural, like scenes in movies I usually watch,” he replied.

Koike’s brow furrowed even deeper. “Don’t you think the shots in this sequence are dull and plain? Like it’s missing a certain…”

“Suspense?” Kimura interjected.

“Yes!” Koike exclaimed excitedly. Then, he looked at Kimura with a hint of suspicion. “How did you know?”

Kimura pointed to the last second of the sequence, focusing on a pair of black shoes appearing in the lower right corner of the frame.

The falling girl, the second person on the rooftop, the girl’s smile before her death…

At least it wouldn’t be some sweet love story. The most likely possibility was a suspenseful scene.

Koike suddenly realized, and his previously indifferent expression softened slightly.

“It’s the suspense, although this sequence isn’t forced… it’s just passable. It completely lacks the desired feeling,” Koike explained.

Listening to Koike’s words, Kimura remained silent.

If this sequence was considered merely as a part of a film or TV show, perhaps there wouldn’t be much of an issue. 

However, it was clear that Koike wanted something more than simplicity.

“In terms of creating suspense… I have a somewhat crude idea,” Kimura said.

Koike frowned, looking at Kimura with skepticism.

He had heard about Kimura from Koike Yui. It seemed like he was a student who might not even submit his graduation project on time.

However, he kept those thoughts to himself, as Kimura was his senpai, regardless of the potential issues.

“Please go on, Kimura-senpai,” Koike said.

Kimura took the mouse, dragged the progress bar of the sequence back to the beginning, and began explaining his thoughts.

“I feel that the opening long shot is too revealing. Such a wide-angle shot allows the audience to anticipate the character’s surroundings and guess the upcoming actions, easily losing the sense of mystery.”

“Perhaps we can be bold, remove the opening long shot, and start with a close-up shot of the feet. Viewers would only see the woman’s feet moving forward, but wouldn’t know where she’s heading.”

“For the later part that uses close-ups of the face, could it be changed to the character’s point of view? When the audience is curious about where the character is going, insert a shot from the character’s perspective looking down from the rooftop. Would that create more visual impact?”

“Here, we can add the previous close-up of the face, showing the woman turning with a mysterious smile. Then, cut the scene of the woman leaning forward to fall off the building and directly connect it to the shot of the empty edge of the rooftop. If we could add some sounds of police cars here, perhaps it would enhance the atmosphere.”

After going through the entire sequence, Kimura stopped.

Looking at Koike, who seemed a bit dazed beside him, he scratched his neck a bit awkwardly and said, “These are just some of my rough and shallow ideas. Koike-kouhai, take it as some casual suggestions…”

Gulp.

Koike swallowed hard, his fixed gaze slowly refocusing. His stiff neck turned toward Kimura, and his eyelids twitched.

You call this rough and shallow?

To smoothly conceive such a long sequence from start to finish… and it’s considered rough?

What’s even more absurd is that, following Kimura’s description, he kept trying to visualize the scenes in his mind.

Surprisingly…

Kimura was absolutely right!

If he followed the suggested edits, it would be much better than what he had just edited.

And this guy even said these excellent ideas were shallow?!

What did that make him?

Koike nodded stiffly. After a long time, he managed to squeeze out a sentence, “I’ll… give it a try…”

Compared to Kimura’s seemingly arrogant words, he was more eager to see the actual result after implementing the suggested edits.

An excited feeling inexplicably filled his body, and the frowning expression on his face began to relax.

Listening to the sound of the mouse and keyboard clicks by his ears, Kimura sat on the side with a smile.

It should be fine now.