Today we’d like to introduce you to Hoku Uchiyama.
Hi Hoku, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Being bored is a gift. I grew up in a performing arts family, and as a kid, I spent LOTS of time in dressing rooms and backstage, needing to keep myself entertained.
I think it created this sensory deprivation chamber that pushed me to think of images and stories to pass the time, which I believe is where the desire to make movies started.
As an adult, most of my work involves mixing live-action and animation for commercials and music videos, which was, in many ways, an accident.
I trained as an exclusively live-action filmmaker, who would doodle both for my own pleasure and to communicate ideas. But one day, one of my favorite musicians, Jason Webley, asked me if I wanted to direct a music video for a project he was doing with another amazing musician, Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls).
I pitched them a concept where live-action people were drawing on window fog, and the window drawings came to life with animation. They accepted the pitch, and suddenly I was directing a mixed-media hybrid, the likes of which I’d never done before. My close friend Adam Bolt, a filmmaker in his own right, came aboard to be the lead animator.
The project took us over a year to create. There was almost no budget to speak of. I was working as a PA at a motion picture studio at the time, stocking sodas in executive refrigerators by day, and directing this video at night. Part of the challenge was the unique nature of the concept. It’s exciting when you have an idea that no one’s done before. But it should also be a warning – *WHY* hasn’t anyone done this before? Might that be a sign that it’s difficult?
That unique nature became an asset when the video finally came out. It got a fair amount of notice, particularly in visual arts communities, and both Adam and I were courted for representation. We decided to team up and get represented together under the banner “Hoku & Adam.” We direct both separately and together.
Since then he and I have been making short films and ads for musicians and brands – most of which, for better or worse – are mixed media concepts with a “unique nature.” These concepts have featured hand puppets, 6 foot long pop-up books, zoetropes, motion comics, traditional 2D animation, sand animation, food animation, and even facial hair animation.
Beyond ads and music videos, I direct more personal work. “Upaj: Improvise” is a dance documentary that I made about an artistic and personal bond between a Kathak master (Kathak being a classical Indian dance form), and a Black tap dance star. My mother’s a dancer whose work is rooted in cultural tradition, and this film (which aired nationally on PBS) was a way to connect with that part of my upbringing.
I also direct short live-action narrative films in the fantasy, horror, and comedy vein, including a silly and violent little film that I’m about to shoot in a few weeks.
I still feel very much like I’m growing. The goal is to make longer works, and tell longer stories and put even more of what boredom I have time for these days to good use.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It is not a life of stability. Some projects work, and some not so much. Pitching can take (unpaid) weeks only for someone else to get the job or for the job to vanish entirely.
And to birth a project you really love – the kind of project that grows you and which shows that you can do something different – sometimes you earn nothing or pay for them yourself.
It can mess with your head. Especially when those in your life, in different professions, may not share your experience.
In those times when the waters are rough and the boat feels unstable for me, it’s important to talk to other creatives and remind myself that those challenges are nothing special. They’re shared by many, many creative people. If you’re lucky enough to work and make things, then that kind of chaos can often be the price of admission.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I direct short films, commercials, and music videos.
Most of my work involves mixing live-action and animated media. And that mixed media aesthetic is probably what I’m known for.
The project I’m most proud of, however, is not mixed media. It’s 100% animated: it’s a music video that I co-directed for Katy Perry a few years back for the song “Harleys in Hawai’i.”
While I am not Hawaiian, I grew up exposed to Hawaiian culture because my mom, Māhealani Uchiyama, directs a Polynesian dance company.
Hula, Hawai’i, and Polynesia often get disrespected and reduced in pop culture, particularly in animation. Girls with rubbery arms and grass skirts, natives with spears, tiki torches, and tiki bars. Reductionist, kitsch.
“Hawaiian” kitsch is not always bad. It can be awesome. But some of it is racist, and to many people, that’s all they know of Polynesia.
So when we were asked to pitch an animated treatment for “Harleys in Hawai’i,” what naturally popped into my head were kitsch visuals. But I was also repelled by them. Then an idea came: “What if we made a video in the style of the early animated cartoons that helped bring us Polynesian kitsch, but instead of featuring racist tropes, we work with advisors to feature authentic Hawaiian culture? What if we commissioned a Hawaiian Kumu Hula to choreograph a dance for us that we’d animate in this old, previously reductionist style to celebrate the beautiful parts of kitsch and replace the ugly parts with genuine cultural expression? What if the lead characters were local Hawaiians and the perspective of the video was theirs?
We pitched the idea, and to our surprise, Katy Perry wanted to make it.
So we collaborated with several cultural advisors, including a wonderful Kumu Hula named Patrick Makuakāne and my mother (also a Kumu), to create a video that emulates 1930s animation while honoring cultural specificity.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People should feel welcome to reach out if they’d like to work together or collaborate. Even if the right project doesn’t exist now, it might in the future. It’s almost always good for creatives to be on each other’s radar.
And if folks want to support me, please share the work!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hokuuchiyama.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoku_chan/
Image Credits
•Victor_Stories_Cropped.jpg – Photo featuring Hoku Uchiyama. Photo by Victor Giovanny Parra •EvelynEvelyn_HaveYouSeenMySisterEvelyn_2 – Still from the music video “Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn” for the band Evelyn Evelyn (Jason Webley & Amanda Palmer) •KatyPerry_HarleysInHawaii1 – Still from the music video “Harleys in Hawai’i” for Katy Perry •KatyPerry_HarleysInHawaii2 – Still from the music video “Harleys in Hawai’i” for Katy Perry •TheyMightBeGiants_You’reOnFire1 – Still from the music video “You’re on Fire” for the band They Might Be Giants •TheyMightBeGiants_YoureOnFire2 – Still from the music video “You’re on Fire” for the band They Might Be Giants •UpajImprovise_1 – Still from the film “Upaj: Improvise.” Still features Pandit Chitresh Das. •YouTube_1 – Still from “The A-Z of YouTube: Celebrating 10 Years” for YouTube •YouTube_2 – Still from “The A-Z of YouTube: Celebrating 10 Years” for YouTube
