"Village" Director Michito Fujii's origin of the movie and sense of crisis for the future [Director's Interview Vol.307]

What is the ideal way to promote a movie?

Q: ``Village'' may be an opportunity, and I would like to keep an eye on how the ``receiver'' changes after this work.

Fujii: I feel like it's reaching the people who really love Yohaku, so I'm wondering how it will reach the younger generation and people who tend to say, "So, what was it all about?"

Q: One of the touchpoints is advertising. Even when designing a poster, it is really important to make it look cool.

Fujii: I always ask a crazy person like Kikori's Shigeto Ishiyama to be the advertising producer, and this time as usual, I told him, ``I like this,'' ``This is good,'' and ``I don't like this.'' I think it's a unique existence. When it comes to other advertising teams, there are sometimes arguments about how lame the posters are, but Ishiyama's team always makes things look cool, so everything goes really smoothly.

“Village” ©️2023 “Village” Production Committee

Q: Mr. Ishiyama is also participating in the production, and I think that Fujii-gumi is a group that works together to create something creative. This is quite rare, isn't it?

*Comment from advertising staff member Nakata

Nakata (advertisement): I think so too. Advertising basically starts after the work is completed, but it is possible because of the relationship between Star Sands, Mr. Fujii, and Mr. Ishiyama. I think that being able to make the director and cast understand the concept of special photos (photos that are released when information about a movie is first released) and then allow them to take pictures on set is something that only Fujii-gumi can do. .

Fujii: Because it's definitely better to take photos on-site.

Nakata (advertisement): That's right. I have a role to play, and the quality is completely different from shooting in a studio. Although the main visual for ``Village'' was shot late at night after filming had finished, I am extremely grateful to the publicity side for the cooperation of all the cast and staff. This is an impossible sequence in the main story. People who would not normally meet in one place came together with the idea that they wanted to turn the poster into a single image. I just want to show you the making of it.

Q: This is just my opinion, but if people keep saying that Japanese movie posters are lame, then they should just make better ones. Of course, there are various constraints and circumstances, but...

Fujii: If you think about it, it's the director and group members who lose out if the poster is lame. If this doesn't work, there will be no next time.

This also applies to actors, who are sometimes referred to as ``starring in a crappy movie.'' We are taking risks, so I think it is absolutely necessary to have a say in publicity as a sense of responsibility. If it's a cool poster, I can understand it even if it fails, and I think we should reconsider this aspect more.

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Director/Screenplay: Michito Fujii

Born August 14, 1986 in Tokyo. The Graduate from the Department of Film Studies, College of Art, Nihon University. After The Graduate from university, he founded the video group "BABEL LABEL" in 2010. Original work by Kotaro Isaka “Oh! Debuted with “The Father” (14). Since then, he has actively released works such as ``Blue Return Road'' (18) and ``Day and Night'' (19). "The Journalist" (2019) won numerous film awards, including six awards at the Japan Academy Awards, including three of the highest awards. Since then, popular works such as ``The Brightest Roof in the Universe'' (20), ``The Yakuza and the Family'' (21), ``Avalanche'' (21/CX), and ``The Journalist'' (22/Netflix) have been released in 2022. ``10 Years to Live'', which was released in 2008, was a huge hit with box office revenue of over 3 billion yen.

Interview and text: SYO

Born in 1987. After The Graduate from Tokyo Gakugei University, he worked at a film magazine editorial production site and a film information site before becoming a film writer/editor. Works on a wide range of topics including interviews, reviews, columns, event appearances, and recommendation comments. Contributed to ``CINEMORE'', ``Cinema Cafe'', ``Soen'', ``FRIDAY Digital'', ``CREA'', ``BRUTUS'', etc. Twitter「 syocinema 」

"Village"

Released on Friday, April 21st

Distribution: KADOKAWA/Star Sands

©️2023 “Village” Production Committee