AG! Steve

I remember vividly that morning when I woke up, grabbed my phone and noticed an email all in Japanese. After running it through the Deepl translator, it confirmed what I suspected: I had been invited to be an extra on the next Atarashii Gakko music video.

I remember feeling nothing, just a numbness and a sort of “matter-of-fact” state of mind. I got out of bed, walked into the kitchen to started making my breakfast.

But finally, slowly, I started smiling. I looked at the email again. Then I yelled “Holy shit”. I probably got red faced as I started walking in circles in my living room. The mental shock had melted away, and now the full impact of it all was hitting me, all at once.

I’M GOING TO JAPAN TO FILM A MUSIC VIDEO WITH ATARASHII GAKKO! 😱

I only had about 5 days to book my flight, hotel, and the most tricky part: convince my boss to take nearly a week off in such a short notice, but it all worked out. And soon I was on my way.

The Mystery Ride

In the instructions, we were told to gather and meet at the Kimitsu Station, across the bay from Tokyo, where buses would pick us up and bring us to a secret filming location.

That immediately raised suspicion in me: the train station is fairly close to the Tokyo Wan-Kannon statue, where AG already filmed their music video MANINGEN, and I was wondering if they planned on filming something there again… maybe a callback for their 10th Anniversary?

In any cases, I showed up with hours to spare at the station.

I was supposed to meet with friends (Achan, Kana-san, Aoi-san, Heeyeon-san) but it turned out they were able to get to the location already from an earlier bus, so I decided to board the next one, too, even tho my planned bus was not until a good while.

I met and befriended a couple of fans, including Sai-san who easily recognized me from social media posts, and spoke fluent English, so that made me relax a bit!

And so we are on our way to that mysterious destination. I’m still suspecting we are aiming for the MANINGEN statue, and I follow our path on Google Map on my phone.

And then we saw it, the head of the statue peaking out from a hill, and everyone on the bus started chatting and get excited. We were all wondering if that was it!

But… plot twist! Soon enough we reached an intersection… and the bus took the road away from of the statue!

So at this point we are all in the dark. Until the bus finally reached a YAKULT corporate building, and let us all out.

The Movie Backlot

We followed a path that lead us to what turns out to be a full fledged movie backlot, the kind you find around Hollywood studios, where fake buildings and streets are built to film movies, TV shows, and apparently, music videos!

They led us to what looked like an old school gymnasium. One that probably served as a real school before, but is now clearly used for film productions.

The Gymnasium

Well this is it! This is where we will spend the next 5-6 hours! I was relieved everything would be inside, as it was quite chilly outside, and with intermitant rain. The place was not heated, but being inside I immediatelly felt comfortable.

At first I had to be in line so I can register myself and present all my signed papers and passport. It was a joy to see the ever smiling Kana-san walk toward me and greet me, as the others were sitting further away and waving at me.

If I had any anxiety or nerves that something bad could happen up until that point, it all went away. Seeing all these reassuring faces and smiles, I knew I was about to get the time of my life.

The Waiting & Prepping

We had to wait for a while, and so they had speakers playing the new song, with its lyrics printed on papers on the walls. It felt like such a privilege to be one of the first the hear a new song!

Eventually, they had everyone turn off their phones, and no recording of any kind was allowed until well after the end of the shooting. So from there, you will have to put up with my wall of text!

Then the crew started to prep us for the shooting…

They positioned every extras around the Square Stage, and each of us had to remember exactly where we were located, as we would need to move out and back again multiple times, and we needed to get back to our individual spot every time.

They would do lots of camera testing, and drones spinning around the stage, to make sure everything was ready, before the “talent” to come in!

The Shooting

The shooting happened in 3 parts.

Part 1: The Big Stage

For this part, all of us extras were moved at the very back of the gymnasium where the lights were turned off, and had to remain silent.

They had a group of actors in sailor uniforms lined up on the big stage, and Kanon/Mizyu/Rin were doing a “piano bit” while Suzuka seemed to address the lined up actors from a big desk. Eventually the leaders runs down the stairs in front of the Main Stage, and onto the smaller square stage.

They did that part multiple times to make sure they had all the coverage. Meanwhile, all of us extras were just having a blast watching them film it all.

One random thing to note: on the very first shot where they run onto the Square Stage, Mizyu tripped on the edge of the stage and face-planted pretty hard on it. Everyone held their breath, but Mizyu, an absolute trooper, was all fine! Turns out the edge of the Square Stage was unglued and the crew quickly worked on a solution to make it safe again.

That was the only accident tat happened that day, thankfully, without any serious harm!

Part 2: The Square Stage

This is the part that we practiced before the shooting. We all went around the Square Stage, and for hours we just kept re-shooting the same part of the song over and over again. Sometimes with different cameras, or with drones, etc.

This specific shot ends with two confetti canons blowing over the stage, and so after each takes we would walk away, the Leaders would walk off and on to the side with OTA, and a cleaning crew would come in and clear all confettis with vacuums and brooms. Then AG would walk back, the extras would return to their spots, and we would do it all over again.

I forgot how many times we did it, but it was a LOT of times!

I didn’t end up in many shots, but here’s a few shots from the MV and promo materials:

And here’s an official behind-the-scene clip at the gymnasium set:

Then we were all done, and I thought it was all over… but they only let about half the extras leave the set and return home. I was one of those who stayed around, and…

Part 3: The À Capella Recording

They moved all of us near the Main Stage, where the Leaders stood on, and a bunch of microphones on sticks pointing toward the smaller crowd of extras.

They had us sing the song and recorded it! Suzuka gleefully played the role of conductor, as she gestured at us when to start, stop, (or when to cheer her 😂), etc.

The parts in Japanese I obviously only faked singing. But I gave my best for the English parts.

And so, from what I understand, in the final audio of the music video, if not for the actual song itself, there will be a crowd chorus, and my voice will be a part of it!

My Interactions with AG!

As super fans, we enjoy interactions with the band. That’s why we do all these barricades and VIPs and Meet & Greets, and spending all that money travelling around. 😂

And oh boy, did I got my share on that day!

#1: Kanon

Oh Kanon, sweet Kanon! When AG entered the gymnasium, needless to say that the crowd of extras lost their minds. But we were professionals, so we eventually calmed down, as they walked on the Main Stage to welcome us and thank us for coming and helping with the shooting.

As they passed the microphone around between themselves to say a word each, eventually it was Kanon’s turn, and she immediately pointed at me and said in Japanese “and we even have a special guest from abroad with us today!”.

It made me feel like when they spotted me at Yoyogi, but this time it was in a much more intimate setting, and my heart just skipped a beat. 😊

#2: OTA

During the first part of the shooting, when we were all in the back watching them film on the Main Stage, between two takes a few of us noticed OTA walk in through a side door. Because they were not filming at that moment, a few of us whispered at OTA to catch his attention, which eventually turned into a quiet chant: OTA! OTA! OTA!

He turned toward us, and because I was sticking out like a sore thumb he made eye contacts with me right away, started laughing, and then put his index finger on his mouth to tell us to be quiet, so that no one would get in trouble with the filming crew.

But not to worry, this was not an annoyed gesture, you could tell from his face that he was amused, probably to recognize one of the goober from recent tours (not long ago we saluted each other’s when he walked by us at the Fukuoka concert).

#3: Suzuka

Before each takes on the Square Stage, there would be a moment of waiting where AG is on stage, and we’re standing around, waiting for the cameras to be ready to start.

Even tho we were instructed not to bother the talent and instigate any interaction, the girls themselves of course were generous as always, and did some interactions with a few extras standing around.

During one of such waiting moment, Suzuka stuck her neck out, looked straight at me, and gave me a thumb up while shaking her head in approval.

My heart skipped another beat.

#4: Rin

Rin was the closest to where I stood as an extra, and so I spent the whole filming right next to her. I’ve noticed Rin a few times looking in my direction and my boxing gloves.

During a waiting break, she finally leaned toward me and asked, in english: “Did you made the gloves yourself?” to which I answered: “No, a friend made them for me. He’s from New York”. And she made her round mouth, replying “Oh! New York, nice!”.

And then we started shooting… once again, after I skipped another heart beat.

#5: Mizyu

For some reason I’ve had multiple interactions with Rin, Suzuka & Kanon in the past, but never with Mizyu. She has always eluded me (with the exception of Meet & Greets of course).

And so the shooting was wrapping up, we were done with our chorus recording, the girls had thanked us one last time and they were walking toward the exit door as we waved at them.

Even tho I had just experienced a thrill of a lifetime, I remember thinking “Ah damn, once again I was invisible to Mizyu…”

To make sure that I got a good view of them leaving, I quickly moved right next to the exit door so I can wave at them out.

Mizyu was last, throwing “Arigatos” all around. But then as she walked past me, she points at me with her two index fingers and said in english: “and thank YOU!”.

Ok, you get it by now. My heart stopped a little at that moment too 🥰

And Then Another Goodbye…

When we arrived at the location, they had us drop our bags in a building with tables, next to the gymnasium, so as to not clog the set.

I was one of the first to head there to get my bag after the shooting, but as it turns out there was a bit of a miscommunication, as AG themselves had their personal bags in that room! And as I and a few other extras got to the door, crews rushed in to stop us, and watched them exit with their bags, prompting yet another wave of face-to-face arigatos and goodbyes.

That felt like after eating your favorite dessert, and you think it’s over, but then you find one last hidden bite. 😂

The Trip Back To Tokyo

Then the crew gave us stacks of Fettucini Gummies (Seishun SHUA!) and off we go to the buses!

The buses only brought us back to the original train station . From there, we were a whole bunch of AG fans pretty much owning a couple of carts for the 1.5 hours back to Tokyo.

I hope everyone enjoy the new song, and that I’m not ruining the music video. 😊

The End.