JR Portman Photography

Onegaishimasu - starring Jackson Jean and Octavio Rivas. Directed, Shot and Edited by J.R.Portman. A.D. Kenji Arai. Special thanks to Brandi Tucker and Adriana Ristau.

This film was originally made to enter in a film contest whose purpose was to challenge filmmakers to shoot a super 8 film in cartridge without editing. That is to
say that you only had one cartridge of super 8 film and there was no post editing allowed, so all scenes had to planned out and shot meticulously in one go. The
idea I came up with was for a martial arts type film that explored the idea of samurai code of always being ready for a fight and what that would be like today. A
guy on his way to the bus stop is confronted by a challenger; he has to be ready regardless of whether or not he's in the dojo. The Japanese term 'onegaishimasu'
is a phrase of respectful asking and is common to hear in martial arts dojos when one person asks another to engage with him in combat.
The actors are friends of mine from the Los Angeles Aiki Kai and the fight choreography is their own. The song "Lost" is performed by Stabbing Westward.