Report◉Yusaku Kanagawa
A platform for disseminating 10-minute web documentaries under individual names, in a nutshell, that is the "short film" genre of Yahoo! JAPAN CREATORS Program. Creators was born in November 2018. It was launched as a program to support the production activities of talented and passionate creators around the world, and to deliver high-quality content that leads to "tomorrow's actions" to users through transmission on Yahoo! JAPAN.
Since the birth of Creators, there have been precedents for recording about 40 nominations at overseas film festivals and making them into TV programs and movies. It can be said that it is a platform that attracts attention now.
In addition to the "short film" genre, which deals with 10-minute documentaries, there are also 5 short-length genres of 30 seconds to 2 minutes, such as "trends/culture" and "things/gadgets." There are currently 114 documentary content (as of July 31, 2020), but if you include the short-length category, more than 20,000 videos have been released, so be sure to check out the site.
Calling for projects
The short film genre is a platform that supports passion projects, and we are looking for projects that are full of passion that creators want to convey. .
There is a reason for this. Ever since I was involved in web documentaries at my previous job at a newspaper company, I felt that there were almost no places where documentary videos could be published. Television is made in a very limited and narrow world, and the door is not even open to apply. This situation continues even now, and we will become a platform for creators to deliver documentaries to many people on the web. By extension, I hope to become a mediator with television.
CREATORS has worked with many people involved in documentaries to come up with a plan and find a direction to aim for. What I learned was that even talented directors working at TV production companies were having trouble finding a place to send out their passionate projects. Now, not only independent creators, but also creators who belong to production companies create accounts on the platform and put their individual names on the front.
Creators supports production costs of 200,000 to 1,000,000 yen per film (including transportation and other expenses). The 10-minute content produced is often likened to a "sapling." I support the development of TV programs and movies so that creators can grow this seedling into a thick trunk. I would like to shift a little bit from the common sense of the industry, which has been judged by the "things that don't have a form" called proposals, to the direction of judging by images. There must be a more exciting future ahead of the shift, where talented people can get the chance to spread the word. I believe that the popularity of documentaries will revive once good works are seen by users.
We want to greatly change the current situation where even if there is something you want to convey, there is no coverage cost and there is no place to convey it. We are working to grow it into a platform that has the potential to have a major impact on society and become a “social infrastructure” for creators.
Creator support
The main features of the creators program are the following three. (1) You can receive various support when posting, (2) You can publish your work using the power of Yahoo!
Creators has enhanced a lot of support. With the support of Canon Marketing Japan, we provide creators with equipment for renting Canon cinema cameras, and free use of the audio network, a music library boasting 170,000 songs. In addition, we have graphed the viewing data of the work and provided feedback as a report, and have held monthly study sessions on editing, sound effects, distribution, PR, etc. by inviting celebrities from various fields. Above all, the main feature of this program is that you can receive third-party advice. In the case of personal production, planning, shooting, and editing are often done by one person. In such cases, it is absolutely necessary to have an objective point of view, such as what should be organized and conveyed at the beginning, and what kind of structure should be used to effectively convey the message. Yahoo!'s producers give advice and finish it to a higher quality work.
Send personal name and message
Secondly, posting personal name is nothing new in the age of SNS, but we believe that the message creators want to convey What? A documentary with personal thoughts can be sent on a platform that boasts the largest traffic in Japan. Depending on the theme, it may be picked up by "Yahoo Topics". If so, it will have a big impact on society.
Solving Social Problems
Lastly, I would like to introduce the mission of the short film. Our motto is to move people's hearts and solve social issues. In March of this year, a special project called "DOCS for SDGs" was launched. With the concept of learning about the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) through documentaries, the Daiwa Securities Group is supporting us. Not only Yahoo, but also other companies working together to achieve social change toward the big goals of the SDGs will raise money, which will be returned to creators, and the users who see it will change society for the better. The Daiwa Securities Group showed a great deal of understanding of the creative intentions of the creators and did not touch the editing. With the spread of such support, Japanese creatives may change dramatically.
This special project also includes a school education program using a 10-minute documentary. Have students watch videos in class and connect them to active learning. The students who were moved will actively discover and investigate social issues. I would be happy if I could become such a conductor. Through various measures, I would like to move society and work with creators who will lead the future to make it the most shining place in the world's documentary scene.
Four works I want you to see first
https://creators.yahoo.co.jp/
Please select "Short Film" from the above address and see the work. Each piece is about 10 minutes. You'll be hooked from the beginning, watch it to the end in no time, and want to see the next one.
A beloved wife, three children, and a stellar career. But her husband had a secret that he kept hidden. ``I'm really a woman.'' What did a trans woman in her mid-40s gain and lose? Directed by Shiho Fukada.
https://creators.yahoo.co.jp/fukadashiho/0200037266
There is a ritual that 200 million women in the world are undergoing. Female Genital Mutilation. Two films that follow Fatamata and Ajayi, two women fighting to end FGM in Sierra Leone. Directed by Shiori Ito.
https://creators.yahoo.co.jp/itoshiori/0200036444
What can comedy do now in the “corona disaster”? A film directed by Akira Habuta that follows 27-year-old Japanese stand-up comedian Saku Yanagawa, who pursues new possibilities for comedy in Chicago, known as America's "comedy city."
https://creators.yahoo.co.jp/habutaakira/0200064515
There is an entertainer who is said to have "disappeared" from the world. Daisuke Muramoto from Woman Rush Hour. His current challenge is the American stage, the pinnacle of comedy. A film directed by Fumiu Hyuga that follows Mr. Muramoto as he challenges himself.
https://creators.yahoo.co.jp/hyugafumiari/0200053903
Profile of Yusaku Kanagawa
Yahoo! JAPAN CREATORS Program Short documentary section manager. Since 2004, as a video reporter for a national newspaper, he has covered the sites of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Kumamoto Earthquake, the September 11 terrorist attacks in Paris, and the Rio Paralympics in Brazil. Feeling the limitations of news, which emphasizes conveying information quickly and easily, and believing in the possibilities of stories and images that can be conveyed more deeply, he studied documentary filmmaking in New York. Films directed and cinematographed while studying abroad for a year were nominated for overseas film festivals such as SXSW. Joined Yahoo Japan in 2017 and is working to create a new short documentary market in Japan.
Reprinted from VIDEOSALON September 2020 issue
documentary
