Hayashi Nozomu (Director of Guuzen no Kotae MV) interview from BRODY June 2021
The chance to evoke empathy
Q Hayashi-san, you first met Keyakizaka in AEON CARD CM, and are still involved in the same commercial after they changed into Sakurazaka46. What was your impression of them?
Hayashi: That they are a group with a different atmosphere from Nogizaka46, with whom I usually work together with. My impression was that everyone is stoic in how they do things in order to convey the world-view of the song, and Hirate (Yurina)-san at the center of it is amazing as an artist. I basically had nothing to do with their songs or dance, but after they changed to Sakurazaka46, I could feel that the atmosphere of the CM filming had changed. Perhaps it’s because they have gotten used to it, but I had a slightly brighter impression of them [this time].
Q How did you come to work on the MV for “Guuzen no Kotae”?
Hayashi: I think when they became Sakurazaka46, I talked with staff about something along the lines of, “If there is an opportunity, please let me direct the MV”. And then they asked, “How about directing the MV for a coupling song?”. I heard that it’s a Fujiyoshi (Karin)-san centered song, and I decided to take the offer.
Q What impression did you have of Fujiyoshi-san at first?
Hayashi: Over the few times we’ve filmed, I’ve had the impression that she is a quiet person. But when I watched the MV for 1st single’s coupling song “Naze Koi wo Shitekonakattan darou?”, I was surprised at the gap like “Her smile has such an impression!”. Also there was a time where I went to their rehearsal studio for a CM fitting, but she was practicing dancing alone in front of a mirror even though rehearsal had ended already, so I had the impression that she is a person who imposes high hurdles upon herself.
Q Well then, what did you first imagine when creating the MV for the Fujiyoshi-san centered song?
Hayashi: From Keyakizaka46 to Sakurazaka46’s 1st single, I’ve felt the stylistic beauty of “dancing with a big picture, dynamic camera work, and fast cuts”. It might be common for idol groups, but I see how something that is “Where will they go next and what kind of dance will they do?” continues. Of course that is the right thing to do, and I know that the appeal of the performance is the most important thing to convey, but there are already a lot of wonderful videos such as “Silent Majority”, and since I’m given the chance to participate in something new, I wanted to do something that’s different from that trend. And among the things I imagined is a story MV, which didn’t exist even during the Keyakizaka46 era, and I made the suggestion, hoping that it could be a new alternative.
Q Idol groups have a large number of members, so when you think about how to show them effectively, you tend to end up thinking about a major production like that, right?
Hayashi: That’s right. I think that showing the attractiveness of various members is the right thing to do. In that sense, in this story (MV), it was difficult to be able to show everyone, and that was a very troubling aspect of making it.
Q The MV depicts same-sex love and how that love ends. Why did you decide to make it with this theme?
Hayashi: When I think about what story would be good, I decided to focus on what I like from watching Sakamichi members. While of course they enter because they like singing, dancing, idols, I think that it is not the only reason. I felt that, surprisingly, there are girls who didn’t have dreams, or are not satisfied with themselves in some way, and that they want “To go somewhere else” or “To change myself”.
I realized that there could be many young people throughout Japan who have the same problems, and that is why the members who took a step forward are wonderful, and why they could be a presence that can give hope to their fans. With that kind of a subject, I thought that for a story that expresses the feeling of wanting to change something, romance would be a highly sympathetic one even if it’s short [in duration]. While of course there are individual differences, I think that the start and end of love is the time to face yourself.
Q I see
Hayashi: While I personally think that same-sex love is something natural, it appears to still be a sensitive topic in public, and I think that’s a considerable thing to worry about. Even though I was worried about a lot of things, I was really happy to see many comments like “I was encouraged” in the comment section after the MV was released.
Q In the case of female groups, I think that there may be people who take it as yuri, depending on their perspective.
Hayashi: What I was most conscious of when creating this movie was to make it different from the “yuri thing” of idol groups. I think it would be rude to everyone if we are making this just to create a buzz. That’s why instead of pursuing something fantasy-like, I always kept in mind to pursue the fun and sadness of love that everyone, regardless of their sexual preferences, would equally have.
Seamless Design
Q The MV starts from Fujiyoshi-san’s confession. What is the flow in chronological order?
Hayashi: The scene at the beginning and ending are present time, and the rest are past events, but when I first composed it, it didn’t include the beginning and ending scenes. From the point where she fell in love with “Riko” that is played by the actress Nagase Riko-san, to the point where she said “I’m going to Tokyo” is kept in chronological order. However, when I first tried to edit it, I thought it’s better to make their relationship clear from the start, so I moved the confession scene to the front. I added the Shibuya scene just before the filming because I thought it would be easier to convey the story if there is a bird’s eye view of the present.
Q How was Fujiyoshi-san during the filming?
Hayashi: When I convey the direction and the intention of the planning, she responds with her own expression. And that is entirely okay, right? For example, Fujiyoshi-san’s emotions are expressed in dance in each scene, in the school rooftop scene at the start, she’s expressing her love with a smile, and I told her it would be better if her smile was slowly clouded by a painful expression in the train station scene.
On that, Fujiyoshi-san kept smiling, and at the last scene of the rooftop, the moment she moved to the next scene and turned around, her smile disappeared. I thought that this is the expression that will hint at what the next scene will be (laughs). Also, in the last chorus, the relationship of the two doesn’t go well, and I told her that I want her to show a sad and painful expression, and she responded with a cry. I was actually planning a crying scene in the parking lot after the song was over, but I thought that it’s no longer necessary. I even changed it in a hurry because I thought that this last chorus is the point where the sadness is reached.
Q So you didn’t tell her to cry in the dance scene?
Hayashi: Of course not. But when I told her something along the line of, “The protagonist has this kind of feeling at this time, so I want you to perform with sadness”, I think from about the middle of the dance, she started to cry. This was a performance that I just had to use. At the age of 19 years old, she could show “I understand your intentions, but I would do this”. It surprised me.
Q As the topic of dance came up, what did you talk about with Takahiro-san?
Hayashi: Basically Takahiro-san read the story and then did the choreography, so I made no request. But I talked about wanting Fujiyoshi-san to appear quickly at the start. Actually, this time I wanted to seamlessly connect the story and the dance. For example, I think that the train station and the schoolyard scene at the end accomplished this relatively well, but in fact, at the classroom scene at the beginning there was supposed to be a crane camera that would lead directly to the dance on the roof. But in the end, due to scaling issues, it was cut and we didn’t use it.
Q So it was like that. The members are dancing as the story progresses, but what did you want to express with that production?
Hayashi: When you watch story MVs from other artists as examples, there were many cases where the story was divided into dance and performance, which I felt cut off the tension. I thought that if they performed as if they were expressing their feelings in the flow of the story, they could express themselves passionately both in the story and in the dance without interrupting the feeling. Dance is also an inseparable part of Sakurazaka46, and I want to use it a lot, so that’s why I choose that form.
Q It’s certainly true that Fujiyoshi-san’s emotional turmoil was conveyed more directly through the dance expressions of the members beside her. They are not there as separate objects, but connected by their emotional expressions, which makes it easier for the audience to understand them, right?
Hayashi: That is a point that I was quite conscious of. So, even during location hunting, I would think things like “If there is a scene where they pass each other here, where could it lead to dance?” or “Should it be this platform for the train station?”
Appearance that gives quality
Q At the end of the story, Fujiyoshi-san found a dream, and left her hometown. Why did she choose to be an actor?
Hayashi: As I mentioned earlier, the end of love can be negative and make you feel negative about yourself. If she thought, “If I were a different person, I wonder how this love would’ve turned out…”, then it’s convincing of her to dream of being an actor who plays different characters. The line at the beginning is in past tense, “Back then, I wanted to be someone who’s not me”, but that means that she doesn’t think so in the present.
It’s also related to what I said earlier, but I think that it must be difficult for members of an idol group to go along with the flow with just the motivation of “I want to change”. That might be their reason, but it’s quite difficult if they don’t find something in the middle of their group activity and work hard towards it. Humans can’t replace everything like an operating system, so it’s not like people will suddenly change.
In this story, the reason why she’s aiming to become an actress might be because of the end of a love, but if she continues to deny herself because she wants to be “someone who’s not me”, she may get stuck. “Karin” felt that she was able to reaffirm herself while discovering the charm of being an actor and the fulfillment of her performance. It’s because of that that she could say “I wanted”. My interpretation of the line is that no matter what the reason is, she is moving forward despite her troubles in the world she has stepped into.
Q So in there, what Hayashi-san is feeling toward the current idols is projected there.
Hayashi: This is just my personal thinking, so I didn’t tell them that much (laughs). But I told them, “this theme can be inspiration for you to want to change yourselves”.
Q Near the ending, Fujiyoshi-san and “Riko” meet again, and there is a scene where Fujiyoshi-san is affectionate with the dog that “Riko” owns. What are your thoughts on that scene?
Hayashi: She already decided to go to Tokyo and do her best, but after all, seeing her in front of her made her feel the love she’s trying to forget, and she expresses it by kissing the dog. To put it in another way, she can only convey her feelings to Momo, whom Riko is pouring her love toward right now. It’s sad, isn’t it…
Q In the last scene in the present, Fujiyoshi-san looked back at the end. Fujiyoshi-san’s facial expression in that scene is very natural
Hayashi: It’s quite a nice expression, isn’t it? Actually, there was another shot where something more concrete could be felt, but I thought that it’s an unnecessary addition, so I decided not to do it (laughs). Fujiyoshi-san herself was very worried because she had almost no acting experience, but her acting ended up being so moving that these worries were unnecessary. Actually, after the MV was completed, I was absorbed into the story, and kept thinking like, “I wonder if ‘Karin’ is happy in Tokyo?”. When I mentioned this to Fujiyoshi-san at one time, she said, “I really understand that” so I wonder if she was also absorbed into her role.
Q It’s precisely because Fujiyoshi-san wasn’t the type of person who straightforwardly expresses her emotions in Keyakizaka46, that it was refreshing to see her showing it in the MV.
Hayashi: I think that the other directors also feel this way, but I think that Fujiyoshi-san has something that gives quality to the video. For example Mitsushima Hikari-san and Tadanobu Asano-san from the older generation, I think that Fujiyoshi-san has that look where just by working on it they can raise the quality of the work. I think that that is something that is truly innate.
Q Are there any other memorable members?
Hayashi: Takemoto Yui-san’s ending performance was very good. From the time of the filming, she gave such an emotional performance that I thought, “I definitely want to use this!”. This is personally my favourite scene, but in the series of scenes between (Yamasaki) Ten-chan, Takemoto-san, Morita (Hikaru)-san, and Tamura (Hono)-san, it’s good how everyone has sad expressions on their faces, right? I’ve mentioned several 2nd generation members, but of course the 1st generation members were also great.
Among them, (Watanabe) Risa-san and Kobayashi (Yui)-san are the most impressive. Risa-san has an eye-catching presence just by standing, and Kobayashi-san has outstanding expressiveness which was wonderful. I had the impression that the two of them are calm people, but it drastically changes when it comes to performance. They were cool.
Q Do you already have an image of a video that you would like to take in Sakurazaka46?
Hayashi: On the contrary, I’d like to make dance as the main, and try something cool and fashionable like the early 2000s. If everyone could make that many facial expressions, then I’m sure that they’ll be able to do that as well. I’d like to keep that in mind for the next time I get an offer.
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