dwarf's 'By Your Side' Is A Heatrfelt Reminder Of The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake

Artistic reactions to devastating events are always undeniably powerful and heartfelt, yet sometimes the most effective interpretations of a nations emotions can be conveyed through the most unlikely of conduits, as is the case with the new animated film 'By Your Side' from dwarf, Tokyo.

Set to Sade's Grammy-nominated song of the same name, the two-years-in-the-making animated film is released on the third anniversary of the Great Eastern Japan earthquake. Directed by Tsuneo Goda and dwarf (responsible for the hit TV series 'Domo-kun' and 'Komaneko'), the film was created as part of Zapuni, a global effort to bring aid and assistance to help the people of the Tohoku region reconstruct their lives.

Filmmaker and artist Gregory Rood, inspired by the work of El Sistema, a visionary global movement that transforms the lives of children through the healing power of music, decided to bring together some of Japan's most talented anime artists with globally renowned songwriters and musicians. Their collaborative original short films help raise both awareness and funds for the children of Tohoku. Donations are used to provide them with instruments and a musical education.

We spoke to the team at dwarf about the extraordinary process into making the film and the impact of its release.



How did you guys get involved in Zapuni?　

Film Director/ Gregory Rood approached us through our mutual acquaintance and actually came to our studio to discuss with Goda. Through that, Goda agreed with what Gregory was planning for the project, so that's how it got started.

Where did the concept for the film come from? Was it a film in search of a song, or did the song inspire the film?　

There were some other candidate songs to potentially use, but Goda preferred 'By Your Side'. The story then came from the song and lyrics.

Tsuneo Goda is famous for the fantastic Domo. How long did it take him to come up for the story/characters for this film?　

It took about 2 months from when Goda actually listened to the music.



Can you talk us through the pre-production? How were the characters designed? How big were the sets?
　
It took many long days, made worse as we had to ask crews to join the project as volunteers. We knew that it would be lots of work for every department. Thankfully the crews say 'yes'! Despite that, it was hard for all of us to find time between working normal business projects to do this film - hence it took almost a year to shoot. Last summer, we had to even use Saturdays for the shooting, since we were worried we might not have been able to complete the film by the day we should - March 11th.

In regards to how we designed/developed the characters, first of all Goda created the 'main girl character', which was inspired by a traditional craft product of Tohoku's called 'Kokeshi' (a type of wooden doll).

From this, he developed what the girl had as companions, which turned out to be the 'Rabbit' and 'Bear' characters.

As for the set construction, the widest set was 6m wide and 5m deep, and for the wide shot of the garden (like the very last shot), the room was 1.5m wide and 1.2m deep.

How was the production process? How long was the shoot as a whole?

As mentioned earlier, the most difficult part was to find everybody's time for shooting, creating puppets, set construction, props and more. We were dying to finish as early as we possibly could, but we also had to work. So, the balance between work and the project was important. The shooting was more than 120 days (whilst doing our job projects) and 1 year for prep, so the total production took 2 years from conception to completion.



It's wonderful that the crew (and Goda himself) worked on the film for free. What do you think it was about the project that inspired people to do this?

What happened to us was really unforgettable. It made many of us think deeply about how we wanted to live from now on. It may not apply to every single person, but the "WE NEVER FORGET" attitude inspired people to do this.

Who is the film aimed at? The characters have a kawaii adorable look, but the subject matter is understandably serious. Was it a difficult thing to balance?

We're hoping that the film works for everybody around the world.

Goda thought that by appearing 'kawaii', characters would encourage more people to be interested in the film. Besides this, he also thought it might be aid in focusing on the emotions and feelings of the event, which most people don't want to recall.



How is the film being released?　

It will be released on March 11th, 2014 on Zapuni's site.

What's up next for you guys?

We are pitching some series ideas to overseas media. We're hoping that they will be our next projects!