Chukyo TV Corporate Movie

This is a co-directed work with Hideyuki Kojima. Based on the world of papercraft, we carefully shot the film in stop motion, moving through a series of scenes: first, Chukyo-kun and motifs from Aichi, Mie, and Gifu are cut out from paper to create a flat world; then Chukyo-kun transforms into a three-dimensional form, creating a more tactile, dimensional world; and finally, the perspective expands further as the paper world bursts into live action. The transition from the paper hand to the live-action hand was actually filmed in reverse order from what appears on screen. We first shot the stop-motion hand, then converted the hand footage into contour data and cut it out from paper, and finally replaced the paper hand and shot it again in stop motion. Lighting was also quite challenging. Because all of the paper used was the same “white,” if we didn’t use subtle changes in light to create shadows and convey depth, shadow color, and distance between objects, it would simply become an all-white world. We carefully crafted the lighting so that, no matter where you paused the video, it would form a beautiful still image. The live-action scenery is the familiar Nagoya Port. That scene was also done in stop motion, and we shot it while praying for clear weather. On the day of filming, it was a violent storm like a typhoon, and just when we thought everything was hopeless, we carried the camera up to the rooftop—and somehow, the sky cleared up all at once. It was a strange and wonderful moment.