A Cannes first! A musical-style seminar

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was held in Cannes, France, from June 19th to 23rd. How did this world's largest celebration of creativity appear through the eyes of its creators? Creators involved in Cannes from various roles—award winners, jurors, presenters—unravel the "now" of Cannes from their unique perspectives.

First up is Masashi Nagahisa, a film director and creative director. The unprecedented musical-style seminar he hosted as MC received rave reviews on-site. Why did he choose a musical format? What was the surprising reason behind it?

The most crucial element in creativity is "Voice"

──The theme of this seminar was "Voice of Creativity."
 
Nagaku: I've always believed the most crucial element in creativity is the individual "Voice" each creator possesses. Voice encompasses philosophy, ideology, mission, and message. Marketing and cutting-edge technology are important too, but without Voice, it all becomes just another money game.

In this seminar, I spoke about how AI is entering the creative domain, yet simultaneously emphasized the importance of the humanity we as creators possess.

──That seminar was presented in an unprecedented musical format.
 
Nagaku: For the first time in Cannes history, we made it a seminar using the "musical" format. Dancer/performer Aoi Yamada played the character Voicy, embodying Voice, singing and dancing, while musician Hideaki Shirahata and I provided instrumental accompaniment and chorus from the back.

The structure was: one song at the beginning, followed by a 15-minute interview video about Voice, then two more songs, totaling 30 minutes.

In the interview footage, three of us—Katie Robbins, showrunner for the A24 drama "Sunny" scheduled for release next year; Emi Kusano, an artist renowned for NFT art and AI-driven works; and myself—each shared our thoughts on Voice and our respective work.

Left: Nagahisa performing Right: (from left) Nagahisa, Aoiyamada, Hideaki Shirato

The Unexpected Reason for the Musical Format
 

──Why did you decide to make it a musical in the first place?
 
Nagaku: It started with a negative situation. I agreed to be a seminar speaker, but I can barely speak English... I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do when it hit me: "I can memorize English lyrics!"

I immediately wrote English lyrics conveying the message that Voice is crucial for creativity and composed the main song. Here's a snippet of the lyrics:

Web3! GPT-4! That’s what they all say. Uh-huuuh

We all care about trends and markets!
But there's much more that we are about!
(Omitted)
Each of us has a distinctive voice
That’s the voice I want to hear
 

※Japanese translation by the editorial department

By structuring it as a musical, it naturally aligned with this project's theme of "Voice." Moreover, crafting it as a warm, analog musical with a strong human touch allowed us to convey the message that "entertainment requires humanity."

 

──How did the audience react?
 
Nagaku: The venue was absolutely buzzing. I was secretly relieved. Aoi-san is truly a genius performer; she unified the entire space, including the audience seats. Personally, I was nervous because there was live music and dancing, but I had a great time. If the opportunity arises at another advertising festival or event, I'd love to do it again.

While the musical format tends to draw attention, the message conveyed also generated significant resonance. This year, dubbed the first year of AI, featured many advertising projects and seminars heavily focused on AI themes. By communicating the necessity of "Voice" = "Humanity," positioned as the polar opposite of AI, our seminar was widely recognized as one of the most important at Cannes this year.

The Beginning of Cannes' Future

──How did this year's Cannes look through your eyes, Mr. Nagaku?
 
Nagaku: I sensed Cannes transforming. I feel it's evolving beyond its role of merely evaluating advertising outputs. Currently, it functions as a networking hub for creating new business. Moving forward, I believe it should become a base camp where creators and clients worldwide collaborate on ideas for social issues and bring them to life. Ideas discussed at Cannes are further realized in each country, improving society. I sense the beginning of this future transformation.

──Beyond the seminar, Kering's (GUCCI) "Kaguya by Gucci," which Nagaku-san worked on, won Bronze in the Film Craft category.
 
Nagaku: Thank you! Since I also work as a film director, I was confident in the film craft aspect and went to the event expecting an award! Winning Bronze is truly wonderful. Honestly, I hoped for a bit more recognition, but I understand why. My work tends to avoid technology and gimmicks, so I realized again that this isn't an advertising award you can win solely on cinematography. It's not that I crave recognition, but experiencing the powerful stimulation of global film craft firsthand at Cannes has made me want to embrace curiosity about technology too. I'm eager to take on the challenge of creating visuals that incorporate it.

 
──Finally, please share a message for everyone involved in advertising creative.
 
Nagaku: I feel that in advertising work especially, the individual "Voice" of each creator and corporate representative is crucial.

How do you want to improve society?
What do you want to convey to your audience and society through this expression?

Put another way, precisely because advertising communication—especially video—is so powerful, we cannot afford to be irresponsible with it. So, even though I know you're all busy, let's keep creating and living our lives today without forgetting our "Voice."

【Staff List】

"VOICE OF CREATIVITY: The Musical"
 
VOICY (vocals & dance): Aoi Yamada
CRAZY MUSIC MAKER: Hideaki Shirato
MC: Makoto Nagahisa
 
Interview:
Katie Robbins
Emi Kusano
 
Staff:
Music: Katsuya Yamada / Shouta Ojima (Ai-in)
Costume and Muppet Design: Kenichi Miyazawa (magma)
Costume Making: Masaaki Nishiguchi
Muppet Making: Takehiro Hayashi / Kazuyoshi Tamaru / Momoka Ando (Artbecrew)
Graphic:
Art Director: Satoshi Kohno
Photographer: Mumuko
Hair Make: Hitomi Mitsuno
Movie
Director of Photography: Hiroaki Takeda
Gaffer: Meguro Yutaro
Colorist: Hisashi Nemoto
Sound Design: Junnosuke Okita
Editor: Syunichi Sone / Ryo Tatesawa
Assistant Director: Tomohiro Furuta
Assistant Producer: Moyu Tomioka / Reiru Baba
LA-team: Maki Osada
LA-Camera: Yoshimasa Miyazaki & Tatsuya Ueno
LA-Sound: Seiya Yato
Special Thanks
Oi-chan / Sara Bando / Kie Kamioka / Anna Fujiwara
Production: Ghostichi
Producer: Yasuo Suzuki / Tina Toda / Yuzuru Hasegawa
Executive Creative Director: Yuya Furukawa / Yasuharu Sasaki