Direction: Kirsten Irving and Noriko Ishibe
Writing and Voiceover: Kirsten Irving
Animation: Noriko Ishibe
Music: Ally Mobbs

May 2021

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This is the trailer of the poetry film called ‘RUN’ which is a tribute to the cult Japanese novel and film Battle Royale by Kōshun Takami & the film of the same name, directed by Kinji Fukasaku. A class of schoolchildren is sent to an island to play a deadly game.

In producing this film, I collaborated with London-based poet and voiceover Kirsten Irving.
For each of her original poetry works, I created short segment animations that contain fragments of action and mini-portraits of the characters – glimpses or snapshots to mimic the film’s fast pace and chaos.
20 pieces of each animation, about 6 seconds loops along with her voiceover.

As a key visual that summarises the entire work, I adopted what is associated with the school as the background and drawing style, and used grayscale and bloody red colour which stands out as the key colour of the original.
Besides, I composed the atmosphere regarding her images for poetry in the process of production.

The original work of Battle Royal is more than 20 years old. Though it is relatively easy to find in modern media these days, the striking cruel expression in this movie was very shocking for the younger generation like me.
Kirsten’s poetry works reminded me of the sensational impression I directly received at the time. Hope it is beautifully sublimated through this work.

And also, I would like to thank Ally from the bottom of my heart for his brilliant ambience music every time.

Chapters (open in new tab)

Schoolyard Rhyme
How to fight a Battle Royale
Be Nice To Them
Mitsuko the Spider 1
Boy As Bomb
X =b over 2a
Shogo says 1
Portrait of the Paper Fan as Machine Gun
Mitsuko the Spider 2
Chigusa’s Warm-Up
They were my friends
Shogo says 2
Mitsuko the Spider 3
God, Can I Tell Him One More Thing?
Schoolgirl shootout
Yuko Sakaki in Pieces of Yuko
Mitsuko the Spider 4
Shogo says 3
Stretch
Pot Lid and Binoculars: Two Voices under a Tokyo Bridge