​Natsuki Urayama is staying true to the story

One of two New Director of the Year winners at the shots Awards APAC 2024, 25-year-old Natsuki Urayama, signed to AOI Pro in Tokyo since 2023, won with her six-minute short, Cut. 

The film follows a scissor-obsessed young man and a quiet struggle to find place and meaning in his life. Encircled by its own dream logic and subtle poetry of the familiar turning increasingly extraordinary, Cut reassembles everyday settings into a sharp-focused narrative with its own transformational jump-cuts, from school to office to street bento stall, where the young man with the scissors cuts out his own reality, to the delight of others. Here, Urayama talks about her background and work, the making of Cut, her creative drive and how winning a New Director of the Year award impacts her career. 

What is your background, and how did you start out as a director? 

I was born and raised in Shikoku, the smallest of the four islands of Japan, and a place rich in nature. After studying advertising at Tama Art University, I became a planner and director at AOI Pro in April 2023. I was fascinated by the power advertising has to influence values and shape society. My passion for personally crafting videos that move people’s hearts inspired me to become a director.  

At AOI Pro I accompanied senior directors in their work and cultivated the techniques and expressive skills necessary for planning and directing advertising spots. The knowledge and experience I gained during this time laid the foundation for my receiving shots New Director of the Year award. 

What kind of work is being done at AOI Pro? 

AOI Pro’s production capabilities cover a wide range of creative content, not only advertising, but also feature films and TV dramas. Under the slogan “AOI MAGIC!”,  our philosophy is to create as many moments as possible where films bring magic into this world. 

What kind of culture does AOI Pro foster and what, for you, are the company’s stand-out pieces of work over the past year? 

AOI Pro has always nurtured a culture of taking on new challenges. This spirit of exploration and creativity is reflected in the design of the end credits, as well as in various other aspects of Cut. 

One of the standout works from AOI Pro is Nike Japan’s Imperfect You. The film depicts a teenage girl burdened by the pressure to be ‘perfect’ in today’s world. She meets women from different eras of the past and realises what is truly important to her. Through this work, I was impressed not only by the excellence of its visual storytelling, but also by the powerful message it conveys about a woman navigating modern society. 

What is your personal favourite of the pieces you have directed, and could you describe the making of the piece? 

My favourite film is Cut, which won the award. In this piece I wanted to convey the message that people can turn flaws and negatives into positives – which is the strength of humanity. 

I asked many people for their opinions and advice from the scriptwriting stage, and was conscious of whether the message was being communicated correctly. Throughout the process, I was constantly searching for a better way to express the message. 

What’s your view on the work across the APAC region you’ve seen this year? 

Among the films I saw this year from the APAC region, many focus on war issues and the violation of women’s rights that are happening across various parts of the world. These films made me more aware of the magnitude of the problems facing contemporary society. 

How would describe the current creative climate in Japan and across the APAC region? 

I believe that the creative environment here will be further stimulated by the development of film technology. One example: at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, which is a landmark of the Japanese capital, the building itself was used for a projection mapping show, Godzilla: Attack On Tokyo, based on the Godzilla feature film. It was projected onto the building at night and created a big buzz. 

I believe that utilising new visual technologies such as projection mapping will expand in the future. It is important to always pay attention to the latest film technologies and create advertising content that matches current trends. 

How do you think the creative industries might evolve across the APAC region, and in Japan, through 2025?  

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a shift to a society where online interactions are the norm throughout the world, including Japan and the APAC region. This allows for a smoother creative exchange across borders. I believe that cross-border productions will continue to grow, leading to new works that fuse the creative strengths of various countries. This will become a significant advantage. 

However, a potential weakness is that, as borderless productions continue to progress around the world, the unique culture and originality of regional filmmaking will fade away.