“FIST BUMP,” part of the J-VAVE’s radio program “GRAND MARQUEE,” features Tokyoites.
The episode on May 1 welcomed a video director Eisuke Shirota, who directs manga-themed videos, usual music videos, and TV commercials. He shared his philosophy on staying creative, how he made a manga-esque trailer for Chainsaw Man, and spoke up about how ads are perceived in society.
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Chainsaw man‘s manga-esque trailer saw a global buzz
Celeina (MC): First of all, let me give you a brief profile. After graduating from Tama Art University, you worked for a commercial production company before starting your freelance activities in 2018. He is good at directing not only live-action but also cross-motion graphics, animation, and other visual techniques to bring out the charm of music, and has worked on TV commercials for various companies, manga PVs such as “Chain saw Man” “One Piece,” and “HUNTER x HUNTER,” as well as KIRINJI I understand that you have directed music videos for KIRINJI, Shugo Tokumaru, Siamese Cats, OH-SHUN, YUGA, and also for Mr. Takano’s Frasco.
Takano (MC): That’s right. We are very close, actually.
Shirota: Because they are my men.
Takano: They made the music video for Frasco. They are a weekend creator unit called “yorocine”.
Shirota:Originally, yes. We were a unit that only worked on Saturdays and Sundays.
Takano: There is another person named Yone-chan (art director Shun Yonemura), and yorocine was formed by Shiro-chan and Yone-chan, and they made a music video for a song called “Viewtiful” by Frasco.
Celeina: It was cute. It felt like a collage, like a lot of pictures from advertisements. I was really attracted to it.
Takano: It’s a mass of sense.
Celeina: Mr. Shirota, I know that you are currently active mainly in commercials and music videos, but I understand that you also make a lot of “manga music videos. Could you tell us what this manga PV is about?
Shirota: There is no strict definition of manga PV, but it is basically promotional PV for a book of manga. I myself am more of an advertising director than a manga PV craftsman, and my first priority is to think about how to make people want to read the work, but there seems to be a demand for it, and I often receive orders to make it.
Takano: The manga PV for “Chain saw Man” is getting a lot of buzz. People from South America have commented on it.
Shirota: The PV of the 9th volume of “Chain saw Man” is also popular overseas, and the YouTube comment section is filled with comments in languages I don’t understand. It seems to be holding the No. 1 position on the “Jump Channel”.
Celeina: I was drawn in by the way the images moved in time with the music and BPM.
Shirota: The music video for “Star Guitar” by The Chemical Brothers was made by a director named Michel Gondry. In the video, a train passes through a cityscape, and in fact, everything is in sync with the BPM. I feel a sense of mission to link and synchronize with the sound (haha).
Takano: It feels good, doesn’t it? Like the timing.
Celeina: Besides the BPM, is there anything else you keep in mind when you are making a video?
Shirota: For manga music videos, I try not to add too much fine movement. I can make it look high quality by blinking, shaking the hair, etc., but a manga is a finished manga, and if it were animated, the animation would probably be even better. So, I focused on doing the best I could with the original drawings as the source material.
Takano: I see. So it has a bit of a two-dimensional feel, or perhaps it really feels like the manga is moving.
Shirota: Manga is amazing, isn’t it? A single person can create something like that. I think it is an amazing art form, and I respect it.
