I'm a fan of the mythos of Atlanta hip-hop, and it's something I grew up imagining. It was very interesting to get there and see the real version of this world and then reconcile the differences between what's presented as Atlanta hip-hop to the rest of the world and what the real, breathing version of it is.

Hiro Murai

Categorized in : Real Differences Breathing

I like the idea of reading into people's faces when they're not emoting. Some people are fascinated, some are sympathizing.

Hiro Murai

reading people ideas

Shooting videos with lots of effects is like shooting a bunch of puzzle pieces.

Hiro Murai

shooting video pieces

That exact moment when you're about to realize that this might be a dream is my favorite thing.

Hiro Murai

favorites-things dream might

People have a natural tendency to read emotions out of faces, so when you see a face that is hyperreal but without the life behind the eyes, it's really off-putting and intriguing.

Hiro Murai

eye faces people

Even my nighttime dreams are very, very rooted in reality. They just start to become surreal, little by little.

Hiro Murai

dream littles reality

Obviously the actors are incredible at being the audience surrogates in this crazy universe.

Hiro Murai

incredibles actors crazy

At the end of the day, if you don't identify with the main characters, no television show will work.

Hiro Murai

the-end-of-the-day character television

TV is generally an unfriendly environment for directors because you're expected to come in and tell a story in the voice of the show that already exists, and just fill in the blanks and then submit it back.

Hiro Murai

tvs voice directors

I like the feeling of keeping people off-balance and having the audience not knowing where I'm coming from or keeping that mysterious.

Hiro Murai

knowing feelings people

The way I look at stories is often from far outside, like a god's point of view, and also very, very subjective.

Hiro Murai

views stories looks

A lot of the music video stuff I've worked on is mostly me pitching ideas, and then if [the artists] have notes or thoughts, I'll integrate them into the idea.

Hiro Murai

video artist ideas

If artists do have ideas, they're often not great.

Hiro Murai

artist ifs ideas

Too many things are possible in a dream. It's most interesting when you don't know which space you're in.

Hiro Murai

space dream interesting

I love museums, but I always thought there was something funny about a group of strangers silently staring at works of inanimate objects together. Each person is having a very personal and maybe even emotional experience, but it's in the confines of an extremely quiet and sterile room.

Hiro Murai

emotional together museums

Atlanta. those were the two things he pitched me, and from that, and from the way he was kind of miming the dance moves, we abstractly started bouncing the ball back and forth.

Hiro Murai

politics

There's sort of a world-weariness in both this season and the music video, they're both reactions to what's happening in the world.

Hiro Murai

entertainment

In the case of, like, Childish Gambino, he is someone who is a writer by trade, so he is very meticulous about how he writes his ideas. I don't do this with a lot of artist, but he would give me a treatment that he wants to do, and I'll go off that; then I'll give him feedback and pitch him my ideas.

Hiro Murai

childish someone me ideas

I really enjoy blocking and staging. I think most of visual storytelling is camera placement and how to stage action around the camera.

Hiro Murai

camera think enjoy action

In Japan, animation is a big part of your media diet. I moved out to Los Angeles at 9, and when I got homesick, I would watch anime.

Hiro Murai

diet your big media

Most of the time, I'm a little bewildered or sort of feel out of place.

Hiro Murai

out feel place time