[Exclusive Interview] Acclaimed Director Kensuke Kawamura Reveals Behind-the-Scenes of His Music Video Production for ARASHI!

Ryu for TeamARASHI @StormLoverUSA December 13, 2022

StreamLINE INTERVIEW SERIES - KENSUKE KAWAMURA

Read Time:9 Minute, 24 Second

ARASHI Fans! He also unveils the original plot and unpublished storyboards of the music video for a song that you’d never imagine.

Kensuke Kawamura, the director of the music videos and commercials, talks about his music video direction for ARASHI. Kawamura has directed music videos for numerous major artists in Japan and commercials for large corporations such as Coca-Cola, Asahi Beer and Nikon. He has won several awards at the prestigious Japanese music festivals such as VMAJ and MVA.

— First, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to respond. You have provided me with such an intriguing story. I am just thrilled to be able to share it with the readers.

“My apologies in advance. I just couldn’t keep my replies short. It is what’s going on behind-the-scenes of the creation.”

— Not a problem. I asked for brief answers, so that no part of the interview would be omitted. WPVR Platinum Vibes Radio‘s program director, Kevin James, kindly allowed me to post the uncut, unedited version in its entirety.

We will talk about the two tracks by Japan’s iconic boy band ARASHI. WPVR currently broadcasts them as a “Double Play” on their daily program, “Pratunam Vibes Worldwide.” It’s been a routine for the Japanese fans to listen to the two songs in a row at the end of the day.

Track #1: “Do you…?”

— The music video “Do you…?” and the making-of footage were included as a perk for the limited first edition of the album “This is ARASHI.” How were the visual and conceptual plans made?

Kensuke Kawamura: The lighting and colors were designed, of course, keeping in mind ‘how to turn digitally shot materials into images with analog warmth.’ The initial visual concepts were the following.

★ EXPO ’70 -Japan World Exposition (‘70)

★ “Your Mother Should Know” by The Beatles (‘67)

★ ”Hohoemi Gaeshi” by Candies (‘78)

First off, about EXPO ‘70. This also was relevant to “Your Mother Should Know” by The Beatles… The dance scene of the music video was intended to include motifs from Osaka’s EXPO ‘70. Those were “design motifs” frequently used in the 60s and 70s by TV shows in the US, as well as the ones in Japan which emulated them.

Simply put, the idea was the graphical design sense in a slightly futuristic atmosphere. (In terms of my work for ARASHI, the music video ‘FACE DOWN’ boldly showed the idea)

In the end, however, only a few glimpses of these design ideas remained in the finished product. The reason for that was a J-Pop hit song ‘Hohoemi Gaeshi (Smiling Back)’ by Candies, which was included as a motif.

— “Hohoemi Gaeshi” was the last song recorded by the popular female trio in the 70s before they disbanded. “We want to return to being ordinary girls” was a sensational phrase by the pop stars, who were at the peak of their careers at the time.

Kensuke Kawamura: This song was ‘cleverly’ approached with the titles and contents of their past popular hit songs appearing in places in the lyrics etc. I’ve always loved that idea…

This time, ‘Meta’ or ‘Self-referential Perspective,’ as ARASHI being involved in themselves, watching from a higher viewpoint, singing, and showing, while they also got into themselves, was what I applied to ‘Do you…?’

Therefore, the initial plan was revised and all those items and motifs from ARASHI’s previous songs and music videos were incorporated into this one video. This was a bit of a step back from the original ‘EXPO-like, futuristic of the past’ taste, instead leaving the idea of a TV show setting distinct. The vibes of the music video of ‘Your Mother Should Know’ by The Beatles was added to that.

The reason for that was the similarities between these two bands. In my opinion, ARASHI has an ability to make fun of themselves, to have the capacity (despite being an idol group) of being funny. Whereas, The Beatles had the ‘Self-critical, cynical levity’ that some see as personality traits of the British.

As a result, vibes of a bit of “EXPO” and quite a lot of “Your Mother Should Know” formed the basis of the set design as dancing in the TV show. It seems complicated to say this way, but it is about half a day’s worth of workload, so to speak.

— After receiving your initial response, I had to get back to you to clarify the words, “Deliberately doing something wasteful.” I believe I was able to understand the meanings in depth after you explained it.

Kensuke Kawamura: Yes. It’s the white cyclorama (cyc, background), which most studios are equipped with. If the shooting is done against the white background, you just need to go and shoot where the cyclorama is located. But the white background installed for the shooting is rather a ‘waste’ or a ‘luxury’ and is considered as a ‘method to express’ on its own.

Especially for this video, a small white cyclorama was placed behind each of the five members individually. In the creative field, this type of the technical method is often referred to as ‘Perversion,’ giving the audience the impression of a reversal of means and ends, which is the new expression itself.

*Visual reference is shown solely for the instructional purposes. All rights reserved. Reproducing all or any part of the imagery is prohibited.*

Just as an example, for the music video of Namie Amuro’s ‘CAN YOU CELEBRATE? feat. Taro Hakase,’ I installed the ‘unfinished form’ of the white cyclorama in a warehouse-like space. This was an extreme case of the ‘Perversion’ described above. I used this method to express the fact that reality was spreading ‘outside’ what was visible in the video.

As an aside, ‘some sense of the future’ was… left boldly in the typeface choice for ‘This is ARASHI’ lighting-signage enshrined in the setting. This typeface was from the one for the title of British TV series ‘UFO’ (‘70), the first science fiction series by 21st Century Productions, which also produced ‘THUNDERBIRDS.’ I loved this futuristic typeface for my personal taste, so I adopted it in the design.

— From the black-framed color panels as seen in A·RA·SHI to the flash of Ohno, Nino and Jun sticking out their tongues as seen in Love so sweet, it was so fun finding the traces of ARASHI’s earlier works in the music video.

Kensuke Kawamura: The idea was to include ‘items as an homage of the past music videos,’ and releasing the music video ‘without saying a word about the homage’ when it was completed was also one of the ideas. I was aiming for fans to notice something and say… ‘No way!’ Then I thought they’d start looking for the various items that appear throughout the song by watching the video again and again. (It didn’t take long for them to find them all)

That is to say, my creative process is done by ‘referencing concepts and impressions’ rather than ‘using images as references.’ It is difficult for me to quote this film or that music video… therefore, please excuse me for this lengthy explanation.”

— How fascinating it is to peek at a creator’s viewpoint. You totally caught me off guard about the Candies’ episode. Please tell us about the episodes during the filming. How did the members of ARASHI react to the music video?

Kensuke Kawamura: As the shooting took place during COVID-19 pandemic, we didn’t come into close contact. I thought the ‘Making-of’ video captured the atmosphere of that day very well.

I received words from Sakurai days after the shooting. He said, ‘I think fans will really appreciate how this video is being made!’ He also said that the use of the mini Frisbee (as a homage) of ‘Sunrise Nippon’ was especially nice because he felt it somehow dispelled the fact that this song as the second single didn’t make an explosive hit as much as he’d hoped for.

— Thank you for sharing the story. Now, let’s move on to the next track!

Track #2: “The Music Never Ends”

— The song begins with the lyrics, “Closing my eyes to envision there, the world that never fades away.” Envisioning ARASHI is essential for the fans to survive since the band has been on hiatus. What would you envision, if you were to direct the music video for “The Music Never Ends?”

Kensuke Kawamura: Well, I would begin with jotting down what came to mind, the same as I always would do.”

◆The setting could be an airport, maybe.

◆ If there was a dance scene, the floor surface could be something like Mondrian’s “Broadway Boogie Woogie” inspired.

◆ I envisioned the wind blowing in the setting.

Putting those ideas all together, I would wonder if it was something like five of them departing from Japan to somewhere, to the U.S, for example.

These were what I’d envisioned solely based on the ‘fragments’ of words in the lyrics, the ‘effortless’ vibes of the sound, and the ‘refreshing’ feel of the track.

— Sounds fantastic! Last but not least, please tell us about the storyboards you’re unveiling for the first time in public. You are very generous to share your artwork with ARASHI fans.

Kensuke Kawamura: “Yes. I had drawn up storyboards of what I just explained. I would like to share it with you in this ‘Framed’ format. I feel that the title of this drawing is ‘The Music Never Ends.’ In other words, it’s not drawn for “The Music Never Ends” by ARASHI or anyone in particular.”

*“The Music Never Ends” storyboards by Kensuke Kawamura. All rights reserved. Reproducing all or any part of the imagery is prohibited.*

— It’s been such a pleasure to present an exclusive interview with award-winning music video director, Kensuke Kawamura. For more information on Mr. Kawamura, please refer to the following links.

Genius Verified Artist (ENG): https://genius.com/artists/Kensuke-kawamura

Official Blog (JPN) “おすすめ音楽ビデオ” : https://ksmvintro.hatenablog.com/

Official YouTube: “kampsite (キャンプサイト)” : https://www.youtube.com/@kampsitej

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kensukekawamura

*Kensuke Kawamura | Artist photograph provided by Kensuke Kawamura himself. All rights reserved.*

— Curious about songs discussed in this article? Check ARASHI on Genius.com, the world’s biggest collection of song lyrics and musical knowledge. Create a free account to join ARASHI fans or search #嵐ジニア on Twitter for more information.

“Do you…?” by ARASHI: https://genius.com/Arashi-do-you-lyrics

“The Music Never Ends” by ARASHI: https://genius.com/Arashi-the-music-never-ends-lyrics

— Wondering how to buy Japanese Music CDs and DVD/BDs? You can order through various online shopping sites, and CDJapan is one of them. They ship most of the pre-orders before the release date, so you can receive your purchases on the release day even if you don’t live in Japan!