Description: An unusual work for me, edited by combining animation and live-action footage. I’ve long been drawn to videos like MAD edits, where someone else’s footage is borrowed and synchronized with sound, so this result emerged from an experiment to see what form that might take if I incorporated that approach into my own animation. Since I didn’t want to make anything that would be a copyright issue, I purchased all of the live-action footage from an overseas stock video site called ENVATO MARKET.

An image-based video work centered on Atami and the surrounding areas, the setting of the TV anime Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun, composed from live-action footage. Over three days of filming in Atami, time-lapse shots and snapshots were meticulously gathered from early morning until sunset. By carefully editing and compositing this vast collection of cuts built around the keyword “beautiful” in accordance with the rhythm and flow of emotion, the work creates a visual experience in which everyday scenery gradually takes on color and seems to synchronize with one’s inner feelings.

The aim was to create a direction that reverses the seemingly negative image of meeting through mistakes and presents it in a pop and positive way. Mistakes and errors are something everyone makes in life, and whether a judgment made at the time is right or wrong depends on the surrounding circumstances and the timing. In reality, when something happens, there is a time lag before you can take it in and make sense of it. In the midst of that, people often go through situations that seem inexplicable and cannot be clearly judged as right or wrong. By rolling along and falling like that, we directly expressed the image of “this is life, and yet there is something compelling about it, and it’s not all bad,” in sync with the lyrics. Being unable to resist and getting totally absorbed in something is neither justice nor evil, but a helplessly human side of us; it can be a mistake, or it can be desire. From there, the first image that came to mind was “missing an aerial trick in a circus.” Also, since a circus is on tour, I had a slight image in mind of messy romantic entanglements developing among the performers during that time. Also, in terms of falling from heaven to earth, and because this was pop music x hip-hop, the first things that came to mind were Wenders’ Wings of Desire and American pop art, so I referenced those. The quotation of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks comes not only from the fact that the title is Night Owls (this work is the theme song for the TV anime Yofukashi no Uta), but also because it is frequently quoted in Wenders’ works. I also referenced the image of pop-art-style silkscreen prints and the imagery of Romare Bearden. In addition, when considering Creepy Nuts, I was mindful of their broad appeal, especially their exposure on variety shows, so the roulette was inspired by Jungle TV Tamori no Hōsoku, and the confession scene was inspired by Ore-tachi Hyokin-zoku.

Dancing young woman and a piano robot.