RES Features: RES 10
Teevee Graphics
Words: Sandy Hunter
While many Japanese creators and designers draw heavily from Western culture, Tokyo's teevee graphics has recently turned a wry lens on the intricacies of its own country with a series of amusing shorts satirizing Japanese tradition and culture. Director Junji Kojima founded teevee graphics (TVG) in 1995 and since then, commercials (for Shiseido, Sony, NTT, DoCoMo and Canon), broadcast branding (Space Shower TV) and music videos (Audio Active, Yuki, Kirinji and Towa Tei) have been a mainstay. However, TVG recently released a DVD compilation of shorts titled Video Victim that showcases the company's highly original and sardonic humor.
The Japanese Tradition: Sushi poses as an instructional video for foreigners interested in the finer points of Japanese culture. With deadpan accuracy, Kojima, writer Kentaroh Kobayashi and several other TVG members pantomime their way through a "typical" sushi experience while a calm voice describes their actions. Of course, most of the short is sheer farce, but its seeming seriousness is enough to fool maki virgins.
"There are no deep meanings here, we are just trying to make people laugh," says TVG's Nao Hori. "Today's society is rapidly speeding up, and this was to say, 'Let's go slowly and have fun.' Sometimes to do this we have to watch bakka [dumb] films like this."
TVG's New Way of Trashing continues in this vein. The satirical short features an animation style frequently used by the Japanese government for TV messages and announcements and shows an animated child delivering a pro-recycling mandate to the public. In a chipper voice, the child segues from helpful recycling advice to orders by the government to share all private letters or photos that pique its interest.
Sketching the larger creative context in Japan right now, Hori explains, "There is no border between photography, graphic design and moving images on the Japanese creative scene. Also, creators are starting to publish and release their personal works on DVD." He goes on to note that Japanese ads and music videos are not as interesting as they were five years ago, which may help explain the creativity TVG has recently poured into their noncommercial projects. Commercial work may pay the bills, but it's clear how Kojima and company get their kicks.
