One...Two...Three... Part One
28 March 2008
This is quite possibly the most complicated but ultimately pointless project I've ever taken on. My aim is to establish how often an individual member of Morning Musume features during an episode of Haromoni@. I shall watch each episode, starting with the first of 2008, and tally how many times each member appears on screen. It will be an ongoing project for the time being and I shall continue the count for each new episode released. What is the aim of this project? Mainly curiosity about whether some members get more exposure than the others. I hope to find out over the next few weeks.
As with any experiment there must be some rules and regulations. While these do not make the results completely scientific they are needed in order to keep things as far as possible. I have defined nine different conditions that must remain consistent, these are:
1. Each cut to a new camera (or the same camera) counts as a separate instance, even if the subject is the same in each shot;
2. Panning and zooming out/in only counts once. Any new members that come into shot on a pan/zoom will get tallied;
3. Still images and photos count as a new instance. Size of the image is irrelevant;
4. If the footage gets paused into a still image it counts as a new instance;
5. Drawn illustrations of members do not count;
6. Multiple occurrences of the same member on the same shot count separately;
7. Preview footage goes towards the tally, as does repeated footage;
8. Music footage played on the ending credits does not count, the footage in the box below does;
9. At least 75% of the member's face must appear for it to get tallied, independent of which direction they're facing.
I did exercise a bit of discretion when it wasn't very clear if it should count or not. I tried to remain as consistent as possible. I did not go back to check my numbers (it would be far too exhausting and tedious to do so) so an error margin of plus/minus two is applied to the figures. I think that's about it. Let's proceed onto the first set of results.
New Year episode - 6 January 2008
Niigaki Risa : 105
Tanaka Reina : 97
Michishige Sayumi : 85
Takahashi Ai : 83
Kamei Eri : 80
Jun Jun : 64
Kusumi Koharu : 62
Lin Lin : 49
Mitsui Aika : 47
First and second place were quite close on this episode. I think the thing that won for Risa was the fact Reina's little test with the children was cut slightly short. Quite a big gap to third, fourth and fifth places which were filled by the senior members. Jun Jun and Koharu didn't manage to perform so well but they were still miles ahead of Lin Lin and Aika. The editor must not have been a fan of theirs. It was quite unbelievable that the gap between first and last place was so large. This episode was really biased towards the more established members.
MouTube episode I – 13 January 2008
Niigaki Risa : 108
Kamei Eri : 108
Tanaka Reina : 106
Michishige Sayumi : 105
Takahashi Ai : 102
Jun Jun : 97
Lin Lin : 91
Kusumi Koharu : 1
Mitsui Aika : 0
This episode was a lot more balanced, mainly because they tended to show all the members at once during the showing of the clips. Jun Jun and Lin Lin are ever so slightly behind since they were seated together at the end of the table. Koharu wasn't actually in the main show but she appeared in the closing credits. Misui Aika didn't appear at all.
Viking Buffet episode I – 20 January 2008
Tanaka Reina : 136
Niigaki Risa : 124
Takahashi Ai : 121
Kamei Eri : 104
Michishige Sayumi : 3
Kusumu Koharu : 2
Lin Lin : 1
Jun Jun : 0
Mitsui Aika : 0
Only four members were in this episode so the results are totally skewed. Reina was the clearly ahead in this one. She was the attention of the camera a lot of the time. Sayumi, Koharu and Lin Lin all appeared in the end credits. Jun Jun and Aika didn't appear at all.
There we have it for the first three episodes of the year. Risa probably came out on top overall with two first place appearances as well as a second place. Reina wasn't too far behind with first, second and third placings. Poor Aika came last pretty much every time. Still very early at the moment and it could still change but there seems to be a divide already. Maybe as expected, the older members get more air time than the newer members. I wonder how things will shape up?
Posted byHocchan at 4:20 pm
Boy, do you have a lot of time on your hands. Lol, good luck on your project though. =P