#zuzzu

Good evening, one and all!

The other day, I talked about working on two music videos in a single week in this Staff Journal. As today is the last day of 2020, looking back on what the year was like, it dawned on me that it was a year where our concerted efforts lie mostly with shooting these videos. We've released seven of them so far so I thought we could take a short trip down memory lane and recount what crazy 2020 was like for us.

It's been just about a year.

Since Kaze's first individual concert that was held at LINE CUBE in Shibuya, that is. This was the show Kaze decided to first announce to the world his original song, NaN-NaNw. It goes without saying that the first music vid that's going to be released would also be that of NaN-NaNw. As someone whos's been making and uploading videos on YouTube all by himself all this time, it's a matter of course that he has very clear ideas on what he wants in this first music video.

Calling ourselves Team Kaze, a small team of staff all came together and brainstormed on everything right from the concept, to the director, to the location.

Call it great timing, but we were able to find ourselves a director willing to take on the job and we were able to have a series of in-depth discussions with them.

See, not only is the entire song in Japanese, it's also sung in a rural dialect. But. The location is NYC. (Kaze himself wasn't too particular on the location though.)

The final story concept was something that came about after many in-depth back-and-forths between Kaze and the director to brush it up. Casting auditions including for the role of the angel were held at the location city right up to the last minute when, three days before we were due to travel to the shooting location, the original director had to bail on us for reasons I'm not able to disclose.

※Please refer to the vlog on YouTube to find out a bit about the progress we were able to make with said director and the concept of the song itself.

Remember, this was Kaze's very first music video. And it's slated to be shot at an overseas location, no less. But here we are, served with this shocking news, three days before we had to show up on set.

"Let's just give up on NYC and rethink the concept from scratch while we search for a new director. I mean, we could just delay this whole thing, couldn't we?"

Were some of the suggestions brought up within the team at the late night discussion table. But Kaze wiped everything clean off it when he said:

"Ah can't think o' another concept that'd work wit' this song."

By the way, just so you know, I actually tabled a suggestion where we go to India with a skeleton crew and shoot with just a single camera instead. But it got voted down pretty quickly which was just as well. Lol.

SEP Nakagawadani-san, Itabashi, the cameraman Kamiike-san, the lighting engineer Takahashi-san and Chris, who took over directorial duties, accompanied us on this journey with its beginnings full of ups and downs, starts and stops. The location coordinator Chika-san and Michael were also a huge help.

(Img taken from Kaze's app)

Here's a little anecdote from the shoot I thought I'd share:

You know the emotion-sharing scene where Kaze was in this room surrounded by a whole bunch of the cast who were all dressed in white? That was actually the very first scene shot which Kaze was initially none too happy about. He complained to me, "Ah never once imagined that the very firs' scene o'mah very firs' music vid wud see me lip-syncing in fronna whole buncha foreign peeps ah've ne'er met X(." He sounded nervous and I probably didn't imagine that hint of agitation I detected in his tone, either.

Also, because shooting was around Christmas season, NYC was alight with decorations. Which complicated things for us as the music vid had absolutely nothing to do with the holiday and we now had to be extremely careful to avoid anything to do with it getting into any of the shots.

When shooting the opening scene of the music vid, the image Kaze, the director and the cameraman each had for it in their respective minds were all different so tensions were slightly strained until everyone eventually came to an agreement.

Reckon it can't be helped, since the original director is no longer on board.

The last scene shot was at the subway. After wrapping up, everyone in Team Kaze and the film crew all felt as though we've created something pretty dang awesome.

And we weren't imagining it either because as a result, NaN-NaNw  won this year's MTV Video Music Award Japan for the R&B category. I can't even begin to describe how happy this made us all.

(Img taken from Kaze's app)

This song and its MV turned out to mark a good start for us all so it felt like all the things we went through for it paid off.

After we've returned to Japan, without waiting for the music vid's release on 24 Jan, we went on ahead and dove headlong into pre-pro for MOH-EE-WA.

Since MOH-EE-WA is a song with hip-hop vibes to it, we figured we could engage a director who's at home with the genre, preferably someone young? Were some of the things Kaze and I talked about and it just so happen we were fortunate enough to have crossed paths with one Spikey John earlier, who not only hail from Okayama just like Kaze, they're pretty much the same age, with Spikey having been just one school year above.  We met him some time in early Jan.

But, whether it was the folly of being about the same age, or both being extremely dedicated to their craft, as things turned out, they were pretty far from smooth-sailing. Having been able to meet the man was a highly fortunate thing in itself still, though. Lol.

Basically it's like this:

The ideas Spikey thought were great, Kaze didn't see eye-to-eye with.

The things Kaze wanted in, Spikey didn't think much of.

For someone who's usually pretty chill, Kaze got uncharacteristically worked up by the communication issues he seemed to be having, at one point going, "There's no way ah can work wit' someone ah can't co'municate on equal terms wit'. Wha he expect me ta do? Git down on mah knees an' beg?"

And from Spikey's end, it was, "Yanno, maybe I'm not the right guy for this."

So while trying to placate Kaze on one hand, on the other I spoke with Spikey to help him gain a better understanding of Kaze. It took several meetings but the two were gradually able to close the gap between themselves and understand where the other was coming from.  Once they've gotten to the point where they've gained respect for one another, well, I'm sure you were all able to see the work that resulted for yourselves.

After the video's official release, Kaze well and truly considers Spikey as one of his bros and Spikey proclaimed himself a Kaze fanboy.

(Img taken from Kaze's app)

Goes to show how important it is to trade ideas, even if they clash.

Whoa, seems like I've been going on forever about this and I'm not even near the end yet. Mind if I took a break? I'll continue in the next entry, promise!

Oh right, since we're looking back on the past, I figure I should let you all in a bit on how Kaze and I met.

"Oh hey, so I've been pretty into this young dude on YouTube lately," Asako Miyazaki, the guitarist-cum-vocalist of SHISHAMO, the band I was managing back then, told me one day. That was how I first learned about the existence of one Fujii Kaze. If memory serves, that was probably around the end of 2017.

Back then, I was just like, "Oh, is that so?" But half a year later, in the summer of 2018, I found myself reaching out to him, and was promptly rejected as he told me, "A bunch of people who claimed to be from the industry have already gotten in touch, so I think I'm good, thanks."

Me, dejected: D8 T___T

So I placated myself by thinking that it didn't have to be me, that he'd for sure be able to meet someone worthy, who could do proper justice to his talent.

But Asako, bless her generous soul, wouldn't hear of it and urged me to not give up, telling me , "Dude. Don't just throw in the towel. Keep trying."

"Wow. That's really big o' her. Me, ah wouldn't be able to find it in meself to jus' han' mah own man'ger over ta someone else," was what Kaze said when I told him about it later. But really, this is just one of the countless things that make Asako an extremely cool person.

After that little push from behind, I gathered up my will to try again and eventually managed to get to a point where he was willing to meet with me at Okayama Station to hear me out.

There, we settled into a cafe and spoke at length and, on that very same day, he brought me home to meet his folks.  In the days after, I made a few more visits to Satosho to explain to Kaze and his folks my ideas and hear what they have to say as well. We communicated a lot and, well, here we are.

They say that fate or destiny is what brings people together and I can't stress enough the truth and importance of that. Thinking back on what led us here this New Years Eve has just renewed my conviction of it.

Lastly,  I'd like for you all to know that the warmth you have so generously shown us was what kept us going throughout this whole year. Trust me when I say we can't begin to thank all of you enough. Really, thank you all so very, very much! I hope you'll continue being generous in your support through 2021, as well.

Looking forward to seeing you all in tomorrow's piano livestream!