Because the story progresses through narration, we needed to make sure viewers wouldn’t get bored while watching. In particular, with short dramas, if viewers lose focus the piece won’t perform well, so at the script stage we asked for a larger amount of dialogue, recorded it at a fast pace, and then increased the speed by 20% in editing to pack in as much information as possible without leaving gaps. The script originally started from the idea of “you know how people used to let their minds wander in class?” and was structured around the protagonist, Kimura, pointing out his boss’s verbal slip-ups. But it was later changed so that Kimura would keep getting sidetracked from correcting the mistake and, in the end, would be unable to point it out at all. As for the wordplay and phrasing, I really have to thank the scriptwriter’s sense of style. When I read it for the first time, my honest reaction was, “As expected, that’s brilliant.” For the filming, I had always associated short dramas with an overwhelming number of cuts and a very fast tempo, but for this work we wanted to create a new style of short drama that would be entertaining through direction. So across all five episodes, we used every gimmick we could, including episodes that played with editing through text animations, and episodes that experimented with high-speed shooting and slow shutter. We developed the basic direction to a certain extent, but on the day of shooting we kept adding ideas and adjusting things on the spot. Thanks to the cast freely bringing the characters to life, many ideas came to mind, and I’m truly grateful.

Since the story progresses through narration, we needed to make sure the audience would not get bored. In particular, with short dramas, if viewers lose focus, the work won’t perform well, so at the script stage we asked for more dialogue. We then recorded it at a fast pace and increased the speed by 20% in editing, packing in as much information as possible so there would be no dead air. The script originally started from the idea of “You know how your imagination would always drift during class?” and had a structure in which the protagonist, Kimura, would point out the boss’s verbal slip-up. But it was changed into a structure where Kimura keeps getting carried away after pointing out the mistake, and in the end never manages to actually point it out. As for the wordplay and phrasing, I’m truly grateful for the scriptwriter’s sense of humor and style. My honest reaction the first time I read it was, “Wow, that’s impressive.” For the filming, I had always associated short dramas with an overwhelming number of cuts and a fast pace, but for this project, we wanted to see how much fun we could create through direction and make a new style of short drama. So across the five episodes, we used every gimmick we could, including episodes that played around with text animation in the editing, as well as episodes that experimented with high-speed and slow-shutter techniques. The direction had a basic structure in place, but on the day of shooting we kept adding things and adjusting them on set. Thanks to the cast freely performing, a lot of ideas came to mind, and I’m really grateful for that.