~Endless curiosity brings about a chain of opportunity~
Character designer & filmmaker Junjiro Kodama
Character designer and filmmaker Junjiro Kodama is currently 33 years old.
While working as one of Sapporo’s few character designers, Kodama has started making films last year. His first film was a success, bringing him an award at a festival.
- Pursuing an endless well of curiosity
Junjiro Kodama (33) His warm personality attracts many
After graduating high school, Kodama attended a school specializing in travel and worked as a tour conductor for 1.5 years.
“I traveled to many places while being a tour conductor, but I always wanted to take a ‘journey of my own’,” he says. Sure enough, three days after he descended from his final tour, he found himself in Kumejima, Okinawa prefecture.
“It reaffirmed the scale of Japan for me. I couldn’t hold down my urge to see the entire country, so I decided to go on a trip to see it.”
After saving up money at a car factory, he spent 6 months traveling throughout Japan with a group of friends.
He began working for a company as a web designer in his hometown of Sapporo. This was to be the beginning of his life as a creator.
- First steps as a creator taken in web design
“At my company, within web production, I was in charge of a wide range of jobs including project development and art direction. At that time I noticed an urge to create animation and characters.”
He began a freelance creator group called Puff 5 with a few of his coworkers. His present partner in life and in work, Midori Tamate, was a member at that time, too.
The next year in 2001, he became part of ICC along with Puff5. In fall of the same year, he became independent with Tamate, creating a character design unit called “Tamas”. In 2002 he joined ICC as Tamas.
- ICC spins into another turning point
One of Kodama’s strengths is creating richly original characters.
His animation titled “Beauty & Bird” won him 2nd place in the animation category in a competition on Shockwave.com. He also participated in the “Tomato Workshop” at ICC, which broadened his mind as a creative artist.
“The 3 years I spent in ICC were invaluable in the sense that it laid a basic foundation for many projects to come.”
- A fortunate encounter and larger chances
Another large opportunity rolled in for Kodama when he graduated out of ICC in 2005.
He was invited to stay in Rovaniemi, Finland and continue his work as a creator.
“There were creators from all over the world making art in many different genres. These people helped me create characters based on folk tales. “
Kodama stayed in Finland for 3 months, taking on many more projects.
After his stay in Finland, he was invited to stay in Italy for two weeks at FABRICA (The Benetton group communications research center) by Andy Cameron from ICC.
“Through discussion with some colleagues, I felt my ideas were up at the level of FABRICA. It inspired my creativity even further, and I returned to Japan with renewed confidence.”
FABRICA provided a magnificent environment to inspire creativity.
As he returned home, Kodama came face to face with reality. The creative environment and the acceptance of art in Sapporo are very different compared to Italy. His bright spark of creativity quickly darkened, replacing itself with a wall of darkness that seemed to block every idea.
“In such a hard time, it was my friends from ICC that came to support me. I was given their courage, which helped me retrieve an urge to create my own artwork.”
- An unexpected film director
A contest caught his eye on a website.
It was a call for entry in a short film competition. The topic, “Japan through your eyes”.
When he first landed back in Narita airport, he saw many “caution signs” that quickly brought him back to the reality of Japan. He used this experience to come up with an idea for a film. On the due date for submission, he wrote up an idea and submitted it.
“When I found out it had passed the paperwork judging, I was surprised. I felt nervous, as I had never made a live action film before. Without the help of friends and colleagues in the film industry, I couldn't have finished the project. Unlike animation, I enjoyed the aspect of tension, knowing that we could not redo a take, as well as the joy of filming something from my imagination.”
The final film, titled “Instruction”, won him the grandpre in the festival.
At the third national Sapporo International Short Film Festival, his piece received Best Hokkaido Short, and as part of his award, he was given the opportunity to intern and produce a film at Brisbane, Australia’s screen industry and development centre, QPIX.
His unending curiosity led Kodama to film direction.
- A new beginning as a filmmaker
After directing his first film, Kodama decided to introduce himself as a “character designer and filmmaker” from then on.
“Until now, I never quite knew who I was, or what to call my self. After directing a film and receiving an award, it helped me define my goals. I wish to continue creating entertaining content.”
There was a significant change in Kodama’s personal environment, as well.
With three colleagues, he began Snowbugs Inc., becoming a board member of the company himself. Tamas became an affiliate creator with Snowbugs.
“Now that we have a framework for selling content, we can focus on producing projects.”
With his inherent curiosity and pleasant personality, Kodama has seized every opportunity that came his way. It will be interesting to see what chances he will come upon and we look forward to seeing his future projects.
Kodama began Snowbugs Inc. with some colleagues this spring.
He continues his work as a board member and contract creator.
Character designer & filmmaker Junjiro Kodama
WEB SITE
http://tamas.tv/ (Tamas)
http://snowbugs.jp/ (Snowbugs)
Written by Eiichi Sato
Translated by David Neptune
