On My Radar: Kosai

Kosai, director of Honda/Senna Sound of Honda which mopped up the awards at Cannes Lions 2014 including the Grand Prix for Titanium and Intergrated, says the ad industry needs to think more about 'doing good' and everyone needs to watch Paris, Texas.

What’s the best ad campaign you’ve seen recently?

I quite liked the spot called I Am Mumbai directed by Abhinay Deo, for the newspaper Mumbai Mirror. Every year the ad campaign gets too complicated, but this one is super simple and solid, a really impacting and meaningful piece of advertising. I always respect when the commercial becomes more than just advertising...sometimes it breaks the barriers and give a huge impression across the world. This is it.

What website(s) do you use most regularly and why?

I look at Huffington Post a lot. 

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought and why?

Me and my team use motion picture analysis a lot, sometimes to make 3D models in motion or just to pick colour or tracking information when I do experimental forms of film or installation projects. But we also love to develop original technology by ourselves such as the censoring devices in the Nike Music Shoe spot.

Facebook or Twitter?

I use both of them.

What’s your favourite app on your phone and why?

I use LINE. It’s a bit like WhatsAap. Most of the population in Japan just communicate using this app alone. But recently China banned it. They banned Facebook, Twitter, now LINE...

What’s your favourite TV show and why?

I don't watch TV, almost none at all. Basically because of too much nonsense from controlled information by TV media in Japan.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders was what inspired me to enter into the film industry. I actually visited the town Paris in Texas in which the film references and was really surprised to find out that hardly anyone has ever heard of the film! It’s a must-see!

Where were you when inspiration last struck?

I was in Buenos Aires, at the tango bar called SUR. It was where Wong Ka Wai shot Buenos Aires. It’s a real tourist spot, but still it was my first time I watched Argentine Tango and the atmosphere is striking. I always receive my inspiration when I travel. Traveling is my biggest resource of creativity.

What’s the most significant change you’ve witnessed in the industry since you started working in it? 

Nowadays we rarely shoot with raw film as we have so many digital cinematic cameras and devices. But for some projects I still try to shoot with film, as I still believe that it has a totally different overall feel. Nowadays we have lots of clear picture monitors and lots of great directors always try to make the pictures "dirtier" and "messier" because it feels more real and organic. Such a counterfeit! I hope we won't lose the culture of using real films.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

Our planet and human race is in danger of destroying itself - in advertising we sometimes overlook this.  We see a lot of ‘for good’ ads with good intentions but realistically, they’re about pushing the interests of a company.  Of course, it’s an ad, it needs to positively impact the image of a company, but I think that we could take the idea of ‘doing good’ more seriously.

People are easily affected by media and in that sense, we should feel responsible for the affect we have on people’s lives, positively or negatively.  If we work positively, advertising could change the world in a very right way, or the opposite, we could affect the world in a horrible way.

It’s impossible for me to do it alone but we have lots of really smart people in this industry, people who believe that we have this power. It’s why I believe in this industry – believe that we might be some of the few people who can affect the world in the right way.  We should think about our lives, not just our careers.

What or who has most influenced your career and why?

Eiko Ishioka, a Japanese designer, costume designer and production designer who worked with Francis Ford Coppola, Tarsem, and other great filmmakers and creators to make design something we can truly say is original. Her work has such a sensual, impactful and intelligent design that I have never seen before. I learned from her that to be original is something necessary in order to create.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

A few years ago I looked into my family tree and found that my ancestors were pirates who were active for more than 300 years in West Japan!