Dear Sir/Madam, Are you creating content!? (Part 1)

Reasons for its acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival

Takasaki: When Nagahisa told me we'd won the Grand Prize in the Short Film category at the Sundance Film Festival, I was completely stunned. Anyone who's ever dreamed of filmmaking trembles at the mention of Sundance. I never in my wildest dreams imagined my junior would win the Grand Prize.

Nagaku: Honestly, it's huge (laughs). The Sundance Film Festival is the largest and most prestigious international film festival dedicated to indie films. It's famous for discovering young directors. Director Damien Chazelle, for example, won an award for his short film "Whiplash," which he then rebuilt into the feature film "Whiplash" that became a hit. It's no exaggeration to say his breakthrough with "La La Land" started at Sundance.

Takasaki: How did the project for this film, "And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool," come about?

Nagaku: I originally graduated from a film school. Now I work as a commercial planner creating ads, so I rarely had opportunities to make films. However, I found a competition called the "MOON CINEMA PROJECT," which funds the project that wins first place in a web vote. I decided to challenge it, and thankfully, I won first place and was able to make the film.

Takasaki: I voted for it too. "And So We Released Goldfish into the Pool" is based on an actual incident that happened in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, right?

Nagaku: Yes, it's based on an incident in the summer of 2012, when four junior high school girls stole 400 goldfish from a "goldfish scooping" booth during a summer festival and released them into the pool at their school.

Takasaki: What do you think made such a local motif resonate on a global stage?

Nagaku: Personally, I hoped the Japanese schoolgirls' mindset and the exotic festival atmosphere would be appreciated. But actually, it was praised because the film's theme resonated with global issues, portrayed through innovative visual expression. I intended it as a story about the very specific locale of Sayama City, so I was surprised it was called a global theme.

Takasaki: That's probably because the world those girls inhabit isn't unique; it depicts emotions anyone can relate to.

Nagaku: Sayama City is a place where you can reach Tokyo in just an hour. Most people who live there spend their entire lives without ever living in the city itself. The main characters, the girls, say things like "I hate it" and "I want to escape" about spending their whole lives in Sayama City, but they've resigned themselves to the fact that they probably can't. Why is this global? Because apparently, many people around the world live in the same way, in the suburbs of large cities, spending their lives with pent-up feelings in a closed environment.

Takasaki: So you discovered the theme after learning about the incident?

Nagaku: No, learning about the incident wasn't the trigger. I was already living with a sense of resignation. For example, even when feeling immense stress, I'd recognize that it was interesting in its own way. I had this sort of "positive resignation" personality.

Takasaki: So the theme was already within you, and a single incident helped give it shape.

How does film differ from TV commercial production?

Nagaku: Americans told me "And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool" felt "really real." I think that's less about the dialogue's realism and more about scenes like the protagonist's brother talking about adult videos – scenes unnecessary to the plot. Because I believe the "real" in life is that kind of noise.

Onoe: Sorry, I was just listening intently. If I don't ask now, we'll end up in silence (laughs). Watching the film, scenes like eating gratin with a "squelch" sound really stood out as noise. You just can't depict scenes like that in TV commercials.

Nagaku: TV commercials are structured logically. But sometimes, things just hit you hard, even if you can't articulate why. I consciously embed those kinds of scenes.

Takasaki: I often sense a rebellious streak against mainstream trends in your commercials, Nagahisa-kun, but I actually don't feel that much of it in this film. It seems like you're striving for extreme purity in the theme. Where does that difference come from?

Nagaku: I wonder. TV commercials exist to sell products, so no matter how emotional the visuals, the endpoint is always the product. Films, on the other hand, are a space to present ideas; they don't need to clearly state the goal. That might be the difference.

Takasaki: Advertising, if you just put the product out there, no matter how surreal or poorly written the script, it lands. If you don't have that resolve from the start—that you can't get complacent about that—it tends to become childish in its expression. Maybe the difference comes from the space where you can create, not just how to break conventions.

Nagaku: In that regard, I think Onoe-kun is truly skilled at creating content with his own perspective and emotional depth.

Takasaki: The work of Onoe-kun's generation is incredibly interesting. Even after delivery, they keep revising and evolving it. It feels like the conversation with the client continues long after the project is handed off.

Onoe: Yes, a lot of it is built on call and response. It's about stepping into the circle, so to speak.

Making advertising work through personal passion

Nagaku: Onoe-kun, you used to draw manga. Don't you still feel like drawing now?

Onoe: The time I drew manga was a dark period when jobs would disappear midway and nothing ever got published. I vented my pent-up frustrations through manga. But now that I can get my work published, that urge has faded. Though occasionally a theme I want to draw comes up. Speaking of manga-related content, I absolutely love "Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo" (Kochikame), and I got to work on their 40th anniversary & end campaign. One part of that was the low-budget theme park "Kameyashiki." We hijacked Hanayashiki amusement park, selling bland yakisoba for 3000 yen, creating a merry-go-round broadcasting horse racing, and finally posting a sign saying "Ryōsan ran away, so we're closing."

In this project, I think I managed to express things I'd long felt—like the theme park's overpriced yakisoba or the tackiness of the merry-go-round—as content. I just kept thinking about what Ryōsan would actually do if he were real.

Nagaku: It contains a lot of personal passion, yet it still functions perfectly as an advertisement.

Onoe: There's an infinite amount of content on the web. To win in that space, I believe it's crucial to express passion at a level that other content simply can't achieve.

When Nissin Foods' cup noodle campaign "Donbare Series" for "Nissin Donbei" was canceled, we commissioned manga artist Akira Miyashita, known for "Kaizoku!! Otoko Juku," to draw the cancellation manga "Donbare ~ The Tale of Donbei ~". I drew the storyboards myself and redrew them countless times. Manga artists are truly amazing. Finally, following the standard ending for a canceled manga, we had all the characters appear together for "Stay tuned for what's next with Donbei. Part 1 Complete."

Nagaku: That's the part, right? (laughs)

Onoe: Yeah, exactly (laughs). It was crucial to end it while hinting at a planned Part 2. I thought, "What could happen if I combined the 'serialization cancellation imagery' I'd accumulated from reading manga in the past with advertising?" That's how I came up with the concept.

That's how I create ads—by pulling out things I love. For me, it's mostly manga. Takasaki, what do you think shapes who you are today?

Takasaki: For me, it's entirely the music, novels, movies, and manga I encountered in my teens. As I gain more experience, I feel drawn back to those origins. Like something I can't resist.

I'm not necessarily creating things I like, but I absolutely cannot create things I dislike.

Nagaku: It's true—compared to the past, I really feel a growing momentum valuing the individual's sense of "liking" something.

Takasaki: Thanks to the media revolution and the flood of content, it's become easier to find "people who like the same things" all over the world. I feel like personal taste is becoming an even more important sense.

※Continued in Part 2
You can also read the interview here on AdTae!
Planning & Production: Dentsu Live Inc. Creative Unit Creative Room 2, Aki Kanahara