New Project and Talent Call Out

Here at Yanagi Studios we are excited to present a new project, Notepad Reviews. This is something I’ve been meaning to launch for a while now, and we finally went live on 3^rd May 2022. This is a site where anyone can submit an article, review, dissection, top ten list, or rant about any topic related to culture, art, and media. This is the address of the new site –https://yanaginotepadreviews.wordpress.com
Send us an e-mail at yanagistudios@gmail.com if you have an article you would like to be considered for publication on the site.

Meanwhile we are looking for voice actors to contribute to our Notepad Audiobooks project, where you will be reading short stories and poems for our Yanagi Studios YouTube Channel. We are also looking for illustrators for our Notepad Stories website to provide illustrations to accompany our stories and poems. Both of these roles are unpaid I’m afraid as we are a very small organisation, we would love to support artists’ work by showering them with riches were it possible for us to do. One day now! Until now we merely invite others to collaborate with us in the spirit of fun and camaraderie. However as compensation I will include you in my prayers to Odin the Allfather.

A Quick Notepad Stories Update – 09/05/2022

On the 15^th March 2022, we celebrated Notepad turning 2 years old. In September this year Yanagi will turn 6! Don’t they grow up so fast? Brings a tear to my eye… and reminds me of a simpler time before the weight of the world crushed my spirit, and the last of my youthful handsomeness was sapped away by the cruel advance of years and ever mounting stresses and existential crises.

Also we have some great news! One of our stories from Notepad Stories found its way into print. It’s a horror short I wrote called ‘The Teddy Bear Principle’. It is featured in CultureCult Press’s horror anthology, ‘Sleepwalk’. It is available to buy as either a paperback book or as an e-book. I’m absolutely delighted to see one of my short stories published in a physical book for the first time! I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supports us at Yanagi Studios, and Notepad Stories.

Link to buy the book – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleepwalk-Anthology-Jay-Chakravarti-Ed/dp/B09PK4G4DN/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1652125996&refinements=p_27%3AJay+Chakravarti&s=books&sr=1-1

If you would like a story or poem of your own to be considered for publication on Notepad Stories please don’t hesitate to send us an e-mail at notepadstories@hotmail.com

Happy Birthday to Notepad Stories! 15/03/2021

Today Notepad Stories turns 1! This time last year we decided to launch Notepad Stories – https://notepadstories.co.uk – as a subsidiary of Yanagi Studios. It has served as an online catalogue for poems, short stories, and instalments of longer pieces. The site welcomes fiction of all kinds. Over the past year we’ve had stories of tribal initiations, time travelling lovers, demonic stuffed toys, human sacrifice, hedonistic monks, and visitations of avatars of death. Themes have ranged from spiritual adventures to tales of bloodthirsty revenge, from acceptance of loss to revelations of one’s own divinity within the ever revolving kaleidoscopic cycle of life, love, and death. It’s been great fun to both write for the site, and curate the fascinating and inspiring submissions from other writers. We look forward to another year of seeing the site grow, and embarking on more literary adventures through the words of our writers! At the bottom of this post is a full list of all the works contributed by each writer so far. Please feel free to send any work you would like to be considered for publication on the site to – notepadstories@hotmail.com.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank A. O. Wallat, one of our writers, for his diligent and thoughtful feedback and proof-reading. It’s been a thoroughly professional job he’s performed free of charge! Well free of any monetary charge anyway. One can only assume he has operated some kind of karmic vacuum to drain from me the good karma aggregated over the course of my various good deeds, as a well-deserved gratuity! He and his co-host, Holt, have a great podcast of the amusing, rambly variety (https://holtandwallt.com). Recommended for those interested in learning more about mushrooms or stealing their board game ideas before they patent them. Goes down nice with a cuppa tea missus. Like a big hug in a mug.

We’ve had a couple of publishing success stories for Notepad writers this year already. My short story, In the Shadow of the Sun God has been published by Spillwords Press (https://spillwords.com/in-the-shadow-of-the-sun-god). A. O. Wallat’s Company has been published in Bloom magazine. We insist you download a copy here – https://redpenguinbooks.com/bloom-lit-magazine. Meanwhile another of our contributor’s Ernest M. Judd, has been writing for history and travel sites, sharing his knowledge of East Asia and its history. Here you can read a fascinating article about Korean repatriation from Japan following the Pacific War – https://www.historyhit.com/how-is-korean-repatriation-important-to-cold-war-history/. Meanwhile here you can learn more about one of South Korea’s moving and introspective war films – https://whattodoinkorea.com/taegukgi-the-greatest-war-movie-ever-made/.

Other Yanagi projects in the works for 2021 include Twitching Wilbur, and Notepad Audiobooks. The former is in pandemic lockdown limbo currently, along with my soul… Anyhow, the remaining shots to be filmed should be wrapped up soon after restrictions are eased. Also, we are launching Notepad Audiobooks as a new category on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQoNe4Caf12D62lP_s0gww) later this year. We hope to bring our stories to as much of a wide audience as possible. There are many fans of literature out there who are either visually impaired or simply prefer the oral tradition of story-telling to reading, we hope that converting our poems and stories to an audiobook format will allow us to reach more people with our works, while also providing a new way to enjoy these stories to those who have already read them.

Thank you to all our readers/viewers/listeners for your continued support!
Peace and love xxx
– Yanagi Studios

Notepad Stories:

Thomas Caterer:

The Toymaker
Twins
Sleep-walking
Seven Years
Trying to Wake Up
Things Change
Many Things Are Disgusting
In Hope of a Good Harvest
A Place Where He Speaks
In the Shadow of the Sun God
Confession of a Drainer
The Teddy Bear Principle

D. S. Johnson:

The Vampire
Lost
November Twelfth, 2120

A. O. Wallat:

Dreams Are the Opposite to Reality
Company

Ernest M. Judd:

Worse Things
Confessions in Time
Nothing Remains

Gareth Godliman:

Our World
The Spirit of Grandfather Herber
I Said Stop! Not Stomp!
Well Played
The Dorian Falls
John’s Task
Gareth’s Idea
He Couldn’t

Robert Artisan:

Twin Stories
A Helping Hand
The Vitamin D Army
Grandpa’s Advice
Dissy’s Day Out
Panda’s Painting
A Collie and a Wally

Yanagi in 2020/Thank You!

The concept for Yanagi Studios was born out of a Skype call covering the approx. 4800 miles between the UK and China, as myself (Tom, in Chongqing at the time), and Gareth discussed possibilities for collaboration for film and writing projects. I had recently put the finishing touches on my first film; Bucket, and Gareth’s main areas of focus of the time remained music (in particular soundtracks for films and games), and writing fiction.

Since then we’ve collaborated on further film projects (Princess of Death, Misaki’s Death Café, and Twitching Wilbur). 2020 saw us create this website, our YouTube Channel, and complete the editing and soundtrack work for Misaki’s (subsequently uploaded to the channel). It’s also been a productive year for writing. The scripts for Twitching Wilbur and The Receptionist having both been completed this year, and the feature, The Gift started. What with one thing and another there have been disruptions to the filming of Twitching Wilbur but we have been able to take the aspiring ornithologist and his demonic companion out for a some shoots this year nonetheless!

2020 also saw us launch our short story and poetry website; Notepad Stories. Initially only contributed to by myself and Gareth, we have since been delighted to welcome Ernest M. Judd and A. O. Wallat to the writing team. Stories have ranged from time travelling lovers to trippy tribal rites to vengeful Teddy Bears with insatiable blood lusts! A full list of each writer’s works for Notepad in 2020 are listed at the end of this post.

Yanagi Studios would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us this year, whether by lending practical support to our film productions, working in cast & crew, submitting stories and/or feedback to Notepad, or just by watching and reading our creative output. Or in the case of Cinema of Mystery and Imagination, providing additional forums for our work to be viewed!

Happy New Year to All! (and please bear in mind that although it can be too early to sex a bucket it’s never too early for whiskey!)

Notepad in 2020:

Thomas Caterer:
The Teddy Bear Principle (parts I-III)
Confession of a Drainer
In the Shadow of the Sun God
A Place Where He Speaks
In Hope of a Good Harvest

Gareth Godliman:
The Dorian Falls
Well Played
The Spirit of Grandfather Herber
He Couldn’t
Gareth’s Idea
John’s Task

Ernest M. Judd:
Nothing Remains
Confessions in Time

A. O. Wallat:
Company
Dreams Are the Opposite to Reality

Robert Artisan:
A Collie and a Wally
Panda’s Painting
Dissy’s Day Out
Grandpa’s Advice
The Vitamin D Army
A Helping Hand
Twin Stories
I Said Stop! Not Stomp!
Our World

What’s new with Yanagi? – 3rd October 2020

Here at Yanagi, we were delighted to see our first short film; Bucket, featured in a selection of short films shown as part of Cinema of Mystery and Imagination’s Popcorn Cocktail Cinema Nights!
The event took place on the evening of Wednesday 30th September at the Oasis Lougue by Melaya in Leicester, England.

Below is a link to view the three short films that were shown at the event as preludes to the evening’s feature. They include Double Word Score, and Parenthood, made by local filmmakers. Then next is Bucket!

We’re looking forward to CMI’s next events includig their Halloween/One year anniversary screening!

What’s New with Yanagi? – 17th September 2020

The weekend just gone saw us make further progress with our horror-comedy short Twitching Wilbur. A found footage horror parody and fond tribute to very low budget horror TV and film. Our hero, bird enthusiast Wilbur runs afoul of a demonic power who questions Wilbur’s legitimacy as an ornithologist. High-octane action, thrills, spills, and a real horror show are all sure to follow! Will the effortlessly sexy and charismatic Wilbur be able to survive, and live to twitch another day? Well we’ll find out on YouTube one day…

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQoNe4Caf12D62lP_s0gww

Wilbur is ready to chuck a nun right in that Demon’s face!

Meanwhile on Notepad Stories, recent updates have included tales of time travel, and consciousness draining monsters in human form! Feel free to submit a short story, poem, or serial of your own! E-mail us at notepadstories@hotmail.com

Notepad Stories

Misaki’s Death Café

Here at Yanagi Studios, we are delighted to announce the release of our latest short film on YouTube.

Misaki’s Death Café is written and directed by Thomas Caterer. The original soundtrack can also be found on our channel; written by Gareth Godliman and Joe Fowler.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQoNe4Caf12D62lP_s0gww

In Misaki’s Death Café, Nathan searches for answers after the loss of a close friend. He discovers a death café, and after hearing the various viewpoints of the barflies, he meets an indiviual who is uniquely qualified to speak on the topic of death. However he would rather drink in peace than allay the fears of mortals.