Tag: Yanagi Studios

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 3rd 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 15th 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’ Screenplay

By Thomas Caterer
This film is available to watch at the Yanagi Studios YouTube Channel –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQoNe4Caf12D62lP_s0gww

INT. MISAKI’S DEATH CAFE – NIGHT

Misaki is working behind the bar, cleaning pint glasses. A man and a woman are stooped in a corner, talking in hushed voices. There is a woman reading at a table.

The door opens. Nathan enters. He walks briskly to the bar, his eyes meet Misaki’s. She pauses her work, dishcloth in one hand, pint glass in the other. She half-smiles.

NATHAN
This is a death cafe?

MISAKI
That’s right.

NATHAN
What happens here?

MISAKI
We serve coffee in the day, alcohol at night. A limited range of snacks. And you can talk to people about death.
Tuesday is quiz night.

NATHAN
A death quiz?

MISAKI
Sure, like how did Marie Curie die? What’s the most common cause of death in children? What’s the mortality rate for Ethiopia last year?

NATHAN
(pauses for thought)
I’ll have a beer please.

MISAKI
Sure.

Nathan pulls up a stool at the bar and sits. Misaki serves his beer. The man and woman are playing Operation. After a buzz and a sigh of frustration from the man, they turn their attention to Nathan.

JOHN
What brings you here?

NATHAN
I’m just tired of it.

INGRID
Sick and tired. Yeah me too. What’s brought you here though? Something made you crack?

NATHAN
A friend of mine died. I’m trying to understand why, and what it means.

MISAKI
Well this is a place for exchanging ideas about death.

NATHAN
Well, I don’t have any ideas of my own really.

INGRID
Maybe you can find some here…

NATHAN
I don’t know where to begin with that. I don’t know why I was born, I don’t even know why I have the body of a carbon-based great ape! Why am I trapped in this shell that always needs something? From one moment to the next it needs something different; food, drink, sleep, medicine, just to keep it running. And then whether its my body or soul or something else I don’t know, but there’s all these things I want constantly; love and sex, and a god, but then I worry ‘what if he’s evil or just doesn’t care about a small thing like me?’. What does any of it mean?

JOHN
Nothing means anything. Your brain processes the information of the outside world, and once it decomposes and is eaten by worms, that’s it. No more brain, no more you.

INGRID
(gesturing with the Operation scalpel)
That’s according to one school of thought. If you believe there is only material and nothing else.

NATHAN
What else could there be?

INGRID
Who knows? But it was very kind of chance to allow for all the things a conscious being needs to live and make the things they want to, to be within their reach. Especially considering over 95% of the universe is dark matter and dark energy. Its useful that we’ve got water, and rocks, and animals all here.

JOHN
We find all the conditions necessary for life, because we are alive. So those conditions must have been met. That’s all it is.

NATHAN
You’re an atheist?

JOHN
Well I’m agnostic, and a realist. I like to come here so we can discuss other matters related to death than simply the problem of what happens to consciousness.
Did you see the DeathLab exhibit at the 21st Century Museum?

NATHAN
Sadly not.

JOHN
Well, it addresses the issue of how in a secular society, in which declining birthrates are coupled with aging populations, and cremations release carbon emissions, how do we in an ethical and responsible way, dispose of our dead?

NATHAN
I have no idea, I’ve never thought about it.

JOHN
In New York, there was a proposal for memorial vessels to be built underneath Manhattan Bridge. They would house microbial colonies. They emit light, and as the bodies inside decompose the light wanes, and at the end of the year, new bodies power new lights. The decomposition of one body lends itself to create beautiful lights to inspire and warm the consciousness of living people found inside living bodies. Its a wonderful idea!

NATHAN
It sounds like a nice way to pay your respects.

During John’s explanation of Constellation Park, the woman at the table reading, places a bookmark, puts her book down, and moves over to the bar, she orders a black coffee from Misaki, and sits next to Nathan, one empty stool between them.

JUNKO
You didn’t come here because you’re worried about your friend’s corpse though, did you?

Nathan turns on his stool to face Junko. He drains his beer.

NATHAN
(turning to Misaki)
One more please.

MISAKI
Of course!

NATHAN
(turning back to Junko)
No, I’m not worried about the body, but rather the consciousness.

JUNKO
Yeah, consciousness. In modern semantics, its what folks like Ingrid (she nods in Ingrid’s direction) call the soul.

Misaki serves Nathan his beer.

NATHAN
And you’re a what?

JUNKO
Something close to a Buddhist. I believe we’ve always existed. Your body you have now is just the manifestation of the here and now. When the soul moves on, it learns something new from the experience of a new body. Would being beautiful make you vain and cold? Would being disfigured make you angry and resentful? How would you cope with a disability? Would being born into wealth make you corrupt? There are infinite lessons to learn about your own soul.

INGRID
From a biocentric viewpoint we can recognise death as an illusion, as it is merely an extension of the stubborn illusion of time. The conscious observer can control time; change the direction taken by a particle in the past, turn a particle into a wave…

NATHAN
Look, I’m sorry, but this is all just fucking noise to me! An exercise in intellectual masturbation, meaning no disrespect. But it’s all rather abstract. Is there anything solid that can support a materialist viewpoint or a biocentric one? Any stones or mud or earth? Or is it all just fucking fairy dust, and we can’t know or prove anything until we’re just bloody rotting.

MISAKI
You’re right, it isn’t solid. It’s not a tangible topic to begin with. That’s why it’s horrific, and also why it’s beautiful, and hopeful.

NATHAN
(hesitatingly)
Look… I’m not sure if this is the place I was looking for…

As Nathan’s sentence trails off, the door opens with aplomb. Death dressed in the archetypal garb, scythe in hand, strides confidently to the bar.

Nathan turns around, his mouth ajar. His jaw is on the floor, his face flushed, his eyes wide with excitement.

DEATH
Whiskey. Neat.

MISAKI
Starting early, Death?

DEATH
It’s never too early for whiskey, Misaki, you know that!

Misaki smiles and pours Death a whiskey. Nathan’s eyes are glued to Death, who has occupied the stool between him and Junko.

NATHAN
(slowly approaching Death to face him)
Shit… it’s you!

DEATH
Huh? You’re not on my list are you?

Nathan shakes his head. Death takes a sip of whisky.

DEATH (CONT’D)
Well, all right then.

NATHAN
Listen, I have questions for you! I need to know what you are, where you take us all?

DEATH
Look pal, I’ve just clocked off, and I’m trying to relax after work. People see me, and they think I’m a trained monkey. I’m not signing anything, I’m not posing for a photo, and I’m not answering any work questions. Sorry, if that makes me a diva, but fuck it!

NATHAN
No, come on, you have to tell me!

DEATH
All right then, what’s your job?

NATHAN
I’m a copywriter.

DEATH
Oh fabulous! I need some sparkling new copy written for my press releases and online ads! Why don’t you just put your beer down and start writing me some copy in your own damn free time!

NATHAN
It’s easy enough just to say it! I want to know where my friend is now, you can just tell me!

Death sighs, drains his whisky and turns to Nathan to hold his gaze.

DEATH
If I knew I would tell you. I’m just a facilitator, a hired hand. I extract souls from bodies and then fuck knows what happens to them. I don’t really ask questions. It’s just a job, my real passion is music, this just pays the bills. I don’t actually know anything.

Nathan is crestfallen. The cafe is silent, and he stares into his glass.

DEATH (CONT’D)
You’d be better offer asking, Junko, she’s in transport, she should know where they go…

NATHAN
(excitedly turning to Junko)
You mean you actually know? Buddhism is true?!

JUNKO
Umm no, Buddhism is just what I believe is true. I just drive the truck from point A to point B. I have no idea what actually happens to anyone.
Ingrid is in the logistics department for death, I always figured she might know something she’s not letting on…

INGRID
Oh no, goodness, I don’t know anything. John is in planning though!

JOHN
Don’t look at me! I’m as clueless as anyone!

MISAKI
It’s just a bunch of people doing things without any idea what they’re doing or why…

Nathan looks from face to face, the realisation dawning on him. His look of frustration turns to one of resignation.

NATHAN
I can’t stand not knowing anymore.

DEATH
(speaking softly)
Nathan, your name has just appeared on my list… I can feel it. I guess I’m working overtime tonight…

MISAKI
The Sai River is just around the corner from here, take a left when you leave here, then left again at the first corner, and there it is.

NATHAN
Yes. Let’s go.

Death rises, and puts an arm around Nathan’s shoulder. They leave the cafe together.

‘Princess of Death’ Screenplay

By Thomas Caterer
This film is available to watch at the Yanagi Studios YouTube channel –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQoNe4Caf12D62lP_s0gww

EXT. FOREST – CLEARING – DAY

The leaves of the trees are green and gold. There is a wide clearing in the forest. The Princess is dressed in an elegant white dress, and white shoes. She wears a white tiara upon her head. She looks at peace.

The Princess walks into the forest, and moves gracefully among the trees.

Two large skeletal claws tread upon the leaves, turning them dry and grey, as the feet move across the clearing all life and colour are drained, like blood drained from one’s face.

Death is tall, winged, and skeletal, horns are risen from his head, and he is shrouded all in black, a hooded cloak, and scythe in hand. He is the classic image of the grim reaper. Eyeless.

Death follows the Princess.

The Princess turns around, her face turns to terror, and she begins to flee, with Death following at full flight behind her.

EXT. FOREST – AMIDST THE TREES – DAY

The Princess runs from the pursuing Death. Her dress tears on the branches and, in panic, she throws the shorn pieces away.

EXT. FOREST – LAKE – DAY

The Princess comes out of the trees, and finding a lake, approaches it. She turns back to face Death on the other side from her. She moves to the edge of the lake and then tentatively removes her shoes and places her feet into the lake.

Death approaches the lake.

EXT. FOREST – CLEANING – DAY

The Princess is on the floor of the same clearing as before. She is soaked and shivering. Her hair sticks to her face, she is panting.

EXT. FOREST – LAKE – DAY

Death is at the edge of the lake. He looks at his reflection. Lifting a skeletal hand to his face, he caresses his cheek. It crumbles into dust and falls into the lake. He holds his hand out in front of him and studies the scene before him with curiosity but not terror.

EXT. FOREST – CLEARING – DAY

The Princess rises from the ground. She is drenched from head to toe. She approaches an old, gnarled tree and sits beneath it. Death is staring at her from the opposite side of the clearing.

The Princess adopts a meditation stance, her hands resting atop her knees, which she rests herself upon. Her eyes are closed. She meditates and then slowly opens her eyes, her expression is peaceful.

She sees Death standing on the opposite side of the clearing, a piece of his face missing. He approaches and with a determined look, she moves towards him too. They both pause when they meet in the middle.

The Princess lifts a hand to Death’s face. She caresses him, he lets out a wail, and moves his face into her hand.

The Princess kneels down and then Death lowers himself to rest his head in her lap, as she gently caresses him and a gentle yet joyful and rising piano begins to play.

THE END

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.