Sometimes it’s the simplest concepts that produce the most surprising results.
Logan director Kenji Yamashita teamed up with Masashi Kawamura from creative lab PARTY to create a whimsical music video for Namie Amuro, the “Beyoncé of Japan.”
Playing on the central theme of touch, the video intro instructs viewers to press their index finger against one stationary point on the center of their screen and to hold it there. It continues and a series of vignettes fly across the screen, giving the illusion that the viewer’s finger is interacting with each one.
The mixed media music video contains live-action, animated, photographic, and illustrated scenes that were shot on a RED camera then finished in After Effects, Nuke, Photoshop, and Illustrator, before being cut together with Final Cut Pro. Finishing touches were were handled by renowned Colorist Adrian Seery at MPC.
If you’ve read the New York Times best-selling children’s book Press Here, the concept for the video will be familiar. Something about interacting with a passive medium in way that we’ve come to expect from modern devices feels playfully transgressive.
A spread from Herve Tullet’s “Press Here,” a book that rewards the reader for interacting with its pages.
For maximum enjoyment, you know what you need to do. Go on, no one’s looking: put your finger on the screen!
Credits
Client: Namie Amuro
Title: “Golden Touch” Interactive Music Video
Agency: PARTY NY
Director: Masashi Kawamura
Producer: Jamie Kim
Designers: Jamie Carreiro, Qanta Shimizu, Tom Galle, Eiji Muroichi
Talent: Lolli (disco dog)
Production Company: LOGAN
Director: Kenji Yamashita
Producer: Catherine Yi
Art Director, Editor: Matt Anderson
Designer: Rick Kuan
Lead 2D Animators: Adam Stockett, Lu Liu, Mike Costabile
2D Animators: Rick Kuan, Nate Mullkien, Jingky Gilbert, David Lee
Cell Animator: Simon Ampel
Lead Compositor: Eric Concepcion, Lu Liu
Compositor: Livio Huang
Jr. Compositor: Felicia Guest
3D Artist: Livio Huang, Warren Heimall
VFX Supervisor: Eric Dehaven
Colorist: Adrian Seery
Coordinators: Peter Rynsky, Kaori Watanabe
PAs: Brian Criss, Erica Dillman
DP: Dylan Steinberg
AC: Alexa Carrol
Storyboard Artist: Roger Hom
Lead Prop Stylists: Maggie Ruder, Cat Navarro
Prop Stylist: Courtney Dawley
Assistant Prop Stylists: Jason Jaring, Miles Debas, Phillip Kadowaki, Ellen Burke, Elizabeth Flogd, Brian Goodwin
Key Hair, Makeup: Jodi King
Hair, Makeup: MyAnh Nguyen
Frame Models NY Agent: Jordan Morris
Frame Models NY Talent: Daniel Jones, Jake Dean Taylor, AJ Clarke
Talent: Jacqueline Reyes, Phillip Kadowaki
Special Thanks to: Alan Bibby, Madison Brigode, Ariella Amrami, Shuyi Wu, Rachel Rardin
Project Management: Epoch Inc.