"Search" Director Shinzo Katayama: Film techniques that immerse you in the story without relying on words [Director's Interview Vol.175]

Immerse yourself in the story without relying on words

Q: There are devices throughout the movie that drive the story, such as the chronological discussion, items such as clothing, art, and props, camera work and angles, and it explodes in an entertaining way. But please tell us about your commitment to that.

Katayama: When I was working as an assistant director in Korea, I would often watch movies at the theater when I wasn't filming. Of course, I watch movies without understanding any of the words, but when I do that, I can clearly tell the difference between an interesting movie and a movie that isn't. If it's an interesting movie, even if you don't understand the words and just look at the pictures, you'll be able to get a sense of the relationships between the characters and the flow of the story. This was a learning experience. That's exactly what I'm aiming for, and I want people to be able to get involved in the story just by looking at the pictures without relying on the dialogue.

“Search” Director Shinzo Katayama

Also, in this movie, many items that serve as the main points of the story appear from beginning to end. I was very conscious of this. There are three main characters, but they don't all fit in the same frame. If you do that, there is a high chance that the movie will fail. Rather than trying to make the relationships between the characters clear in a single shot, he makes full use of items to highlight the relationships between the characters. This was a challenge for me, so I thought about it a lot.

If you were to portray each and every character, it would be a very long movie and the budget would be limited. The key point is how to omit that and show the relationship.

An endless desire to create