PROJECT

Team Bridgestone — Chase Your Dream

These stories explore their personal hurdles, emotion and inspiration of Bridgestone’s para-athletes while chasing their dream to compete at the 2021 (2020) Tokyo Paralympic Games.

I worked in collaboration with Spoon and Shutoku Mukai to create Japanese Ukiyo-e inspired artworks which were then taken and transformed magically by the Tokyo based team at Spoon into these charismatic video animations.

 

CREDITS


Client: Bridgestone
Production: Spoon (Tokyo)
Animation: Spoon (Tokyo)
Music Production: Shutoku Mukai
Assistant Artist: Janelle Barone

The third story shares the character of wheelchair badminton duo, Rie Ogura & Kohei Kobayashi. Even though they both compete in the sport they both have their own unique playstyle. Rie Ogura moves like a falcon, quick, speedy and graceful. Kohei on the other hand is represented as a Hawk, strong, sharp and outstanding vision.

 
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Rie Ogura quick as a falcon on the badminton court.
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Eagle badminton artwork in a great japanese dusk scene.
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Great falcon of the Tokyo games, featured in a classic ukiyo-e style.
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Purple falcon, mid competition shot on the badminton court.

Our second story with Team Bridgestone shares the journey of the young and passionate wheelchair tennis player Manami Tanaka.
The song and video highlights her passion for getting on the court after her injury and her frozen soul taking flame. Soul in my ball doesn’t only reference her love for the game of tennis but also shares her love for onigiri (rice balls), which she prepares and makes for herself before matches.

 
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Green, ice cold wheelchair tennis player artwork in ukiyoe Japanese style.
 
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Thai wheelchair athlete from a sunny, warm, thai landscape scenary.
Team Bridgestone Paralympics Japanese Ukiyoe Artwork. Illustration of wheelchair sprinter at the warm Tokyo 2020 paralmpyics.

The first video tells the story of Paralympic athlete Mami Tani and her first experience of feeling wind (kaze) while running with her new prosthetic leg. We then follow her journey through two contrasting colour palettes representing her struggle and breakthrough which lead her to the 2021 (2020) Tokyo Paralympics.