Taiyo Yamamoto's 10-second expression in the REEL opening

Every few years, flapper3 creates and releases a REEL that compiles their past productions. The opening of each REEL is an original 10-second motion graphic created by director Taiyo Yamamoto, with a different theme each time and new tools and techniques incorporated into the production.

This time, Yamamoto will talk about what he keeps in mind when creating his works and the challenging endeavors that differ for each work, through introducing the REELs that have been released so far.

Flapper3's creative work captivates viewers with videos lasting just a few tens of seconds

-First of all, please tell us about the projects that you usually handle.

I often work on music-related projects. For example, I work on live footage of artists, music videos, CD jacket artwork, etc. In addition to music-related projects, I also work on a variety of projects, such as designing key visuals for events and creating spatial effects. As for REEL, I have been in charge of producing the original motion graphics mentioned at the beginning since the first film in 2012.

-Is there anything you keep in mind when creating the motion graphics at the beginning of a reel?

We are conscious of being able to appeal to the creativity of flapper3 from the opening part of REEL. Of course, in the main part of REEL, you will be able to know our achievements and the image of the content production, but even in the opening part that introduces it, we want to create a video that will amaze the viewers.

In addition to setting a theme, I am conscious of varying the pace of the movement when creating the video. I feel that if the video only plays for 10 seconds, the viewer will get bored. Therefore, I try to create a video that is striking and leaves an impact by combining images with fast and slow movements.

In a sense, REEL is the "company's signature brand," so I would be happy if you could feel the flapper3 vibe from the opening.

Because it is a place with a high degree of freedom,
You can try new expressions that you have never tried before.

In the greeting video released in 2014, I created a work with a mechanical theme. In this video, the flapper3 logo is assembled with mechanical movements.

-How do you decide on the theme for REEL's opening video?

Each time, we create something with the theme of "trying something we've never done before." Because it's flapper3's in-house production, I think it's an easy place to do experimental things. We can also apply the know-how we gain there to our client work, so we actively incorporate new tools and try new forms of expression.

-Please tell us about the REEL opening videos that you have released so far.

REEL, which was released in 2015, left a particularly strong impression on me. It is a video in which the flapper3 logo appears in a time-lapse video, and this was the first time I tried live-action compositing. For the time-lapse video, I used footage that a cameraman I know had taken. In order to create a stylish and cool atmosphere, I put a lot of thought into the choice of video, the movement of the logo, the positioning of the title text, and so on.

In 2018, we focused more on live-action footage. This time, we started production by trying to shoot live-action footage ourselves. We had vague thoughts like "Maybe this footage can be used for the punch line," or "This footage can be used effectively," but we just kept shooting cityscapes and connected them together to create an improvised video work. By adding effects, we were able to incorporate a virtual world view into the familiar cityscape.

Since we had been using live-action footage, we decided to use CG as the main focus for REEL 2019. Since it is the 10th anniversary of flapper3, we made a complete departure from the dark atmosphere of the past and aimed for a refreshing impression with bright and colorful colors.

The plug-in I used for this was tyFlow, which had just been released at the time. I experimented with new technology and created the work while assessing the actual usage. I tried simulating cloth, which physically moves in a strange way, and layered glass-like textures and hologram-like colors to create a fantastical image.

The latest reel production, continuously updated using tools

-Please tell us about the new REEL.

This time, we used a higher spec GPU renderer with a worldview reminiscent of a dark superhero movie to create the opening video for REEL. Simply put, a renderer is a tool that creates the final 3DCG image. The renderer we used this time is software that can produce more realistic images than ever before, so we aimed for a heavy-looking image.