Local filmmaker has a yen for video arcades

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Brad Crawford was fascinated by Japan's arcade culture and made a film about it.

At first blush, there is little about the blinking lights and blinding neon of urban Japan that could remind a Winnipeg kid of home.

But there is this: while teaching English in Osaka, Brad Crawford stumbled across the first of many Japanese arcades. And in those sprawling corridors of video games and people, Crawford's mind drifted back to childhood memories of mashing buttons in some cozy arcade den on the outskirts of Charleswood. It wasn't just arcades either: back then, every 7-11 had Street Fighter, or Rampage, or some scrolling shooter where you pew-pew-pew the enemy planes.

In North America, suburban culture and the triumph of home video game systems helped kill off the old video game havens. But in the bustling six-storey arcade towers of Japan, Crawford found it alive, and well, and bigger than he ever imagined. "Those memories, they still exist," he says. "They still enjoy that same kind of atmosphere today, and with so many games and a very welcoming atmosphere."

So after Crawford moved back to Winnipeg, he founded a film company -- Strata Studios -- and did what any enterprising filmmaker would do: he decided to make a movie about what he had seen.

Now, three years and a lot of fundraising later, he has a final result: 100 Yen, a bold and brightly-coloured 75-minute documentary about Japanese arcade culture. The film's title itself is a nod to Japanese gaming history: when the revolutionary video game Space Invaders made its debut in the late 1970s, Japanese kids crammed so much money into the machines that it was blamed for a shortage of 100 yen coins.

"The film is a history of video games, but it's also a history of the social culture that exists around video games," Crawford says. "It's this excitement that brings people together. That's why I wanted to tell this story."

Now, Crawford and his colleagues are ready to tell it to the world. This weekend, the crew will premiere 100 Yen at the popular Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. That's a huge platform, and buzz is already building -- after all, the Internet gaming community has been patiently waiting for this exact piece to come along.

See, after recording a few initial interviews for the film, Crawford cut a short trailer. He put that on the fundraising website IndieGogo.com, looking for donations to make 100 Yen a reality. On the strength of the trailer alone, Crawford and crew raised $15,000 in less than a month; later, they'd add another $32,000 via IndieGoGo.com to seal the deal. A grant from the Manitoba Arts Council covered the rest of the production cost.

That support allowed a crew of filmmakers to jet to Japan, where they filmed 28 interviews in a hectic 27 days. They interviewed gamers, game creators and observers in arcades across the country; they were invited to visit Sega's Tokyo headquarters. Arcade giant Taito -- which created Space Invaders -- even approached them to offer interviews and filming locations.

And though Crawford speaks solid Japanese, he suspects what really eased the production was the passion he shares with the film's subjects. "(At first), they thought I was going to make a negative piece, saying arcade culture is dying," he says. "And maybe it is for them. But compared to North America, it's the polar opposite... once they realized that, I think they really opened up and were excited to see someone interest in their culture and how they experience it." And, hopefully, how North America may experience it again.

As the first video game generation presses deeper into adulthood, there are signs that arcades are primed for a revival: Crawford notes that a few have recently opened in Seattle, where 100 Yen is premiering, and more are on the way. The retro-gaming experience is big, and it's been bolstered by an vibrant independent game-making community that takes its cues from the classics.

"It's eccentric, vibrant gameplay that brings people to the table, but it's not what keeps them there," Crawford says. "It's this connection to the other people that you're playing with, and you create these communities that didn't exist before that."

Although there are plans in place for a Winnipeg premiere, Crawford has yet to finalize the date; first, the production team has to get over the big Seattle premiere. They'll even have a chance to deliver a talk about the documentary in front of many of the donors who helped make it possible.

"There's definitely some pressure," he says. "But I'm very excited to share it with the community. I hope it inspires people to get back to their arcade game roots."

To check out a trailer and keep an eye out for information about a Winnipeg premiere, check out 100YenFilm.com.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 30, 2012 C3