We recently connected with Chris Shimojima and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

“When I was your age…” — lol — it’s true though. The system has definitely changed in the nearly 20 years since I started college (and longer since high school and middle school.) And obviously this varies depending on school and location… But for me, the teen years existed primarily to do everything possible to get into a “great” college. In our decent middle-class suburbs of NJ, a huge percentage of students were trapped in that grind, and I excelled because I was naturally competitive, and I liked finding ways to shine. I ended up valedictorian of my high school. I was a top swimmer, and pianist, and in various clubs to check that box off, and always using any other time for personal projects in writing or arts. Everyone knew I was bound to get into the Ivy of my choice.

And then that didn’t happen. We could get into the affirmative action issues… That’s another story. What it really was, was a blessing in disguise. I instead ended up at NYU following my passion in storytelling and film. And though it’s a great school for that, once I started working, I learned that the school hardly mattered. Increasingly, even in other fields, the school doesn’t matter. Unless you’re becoming a doctor.

So the point is, I would remove the competitiveness around getting into university. I think it distracts from the real focus, which is to actually learn. I remember specific books and philosophies that left an impression on me. And even if I don’t remember calculus specifically, or pieces of history, learning those things are what taught me to think analytically in general. I’m wary of the school system now, with its various ideologies and indoctrinations taking too much focus. I would stop teaching stances and certain positions on current events that we don’t have the benefit of distance to properly analyze, and I’d keep the focus on teaching critical thinking.

I would go further and say there’s room to improve visual literacy in school. This is something Martin Scorsese talks about. If we teach kids how to understand visual grammar and cinematic grammar, we can improve the values of that next generation. They can better learn to enjoy creative and meaningful and thought-provoking storytelling, over the junk food commercial variety that is too prevalent and easy to be tempted by these days. And if that audience mentality changes, then corporations will learn to pivot as well, and more interesting art will be produced by the mainstream.

Chris, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I say I’m a filmmaker, to keep it concise. But more specifically I got into this field by developing various skills in my own time. I was a musician growing up. I also drew my own comic books I’d sell to my parents for $5. I “home-schooled” myself on video editing in high school. I got a dramatic writing degree from college. And what I love about film is that makes use of all of these disciplines and more.

Because of my editing background, I was able to start doing that at an ad agency and make a living. I still edit for various brands, but as a freelancer now, I’ve also moved into commercial directing. Brands, agencies, and sometimes individuals, will reach out to me or production companies I’m affiliated with, and we’ll bid for video shoots. I was never one to fully emulate safe trends, which has been a positive and negative. I will say, if you’re looking to do something that is unique, dynamic, witty, premium, or visually purposeful and sophisticated — that’s generally when you come to me.

I also have the time to work on my personal projects, and it’s the same thing here: I’m not in it to just “make a film” (or audio drama or other media, as I’m doing now). I have to have something to say first. I make things because I want to communicate my thoughts on the culture around me, and I take a lot of time and care thinking what’s the best structure and means for me to do that.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I don’t necessarily take big pivots. But I’m constantly in that vague limbo where I’m taking little pivots whenever I can. A year ago, I was finding it difficult to get one of my film scripts in front of the right talent to then secure funding. And the industry overall was becoming so uncertain — this was before even the SAG strike. But this specific idea was something I needed to express sooner than later. I started looking outside traditional film. I decided to turn it into an audio drama (https://safesociety.world). (Additional visualizations potentially coming down the road.)

I started to also dig more into AI, and I’m curious to see how it can enable creators. If traditional film gets harder to make — and all signs seem to point to that — then I see opportunities to use AI for hybrid projects. That means I’d still rely on human performances for the backbone, but AI can create animation or other stylings on top of that. Possibilities are opening up.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The biggest thing seems to be the age-old “art vs commerce”. The commerce is at an all-time high. That includes entertainment that exists primarily to assert agendas that have become a given in the cultural landscape. Companies promote what their money-people want, and to an extent, what the audience wants, and that very often means drinking the kool-aid.

So when friends or contacts outside the field say to me, “why don’t you make something like (insert latest trending Netflix production)?” it’s a complicated thing to answer. First off, those things are developed by large teams. An independent filmmaker can definitely play that machine, but it’s a lengthy uphill battle. It’s not as simple as just writing a concept.

And what I always have to explain is that, if I’m going to spend my time and passion on something, it needs to come from within. It’ll come from observations too, but the motive is what’s important. What I’ve found over the years is that it’s best when I don’t operate from the perspective of “I need to make something, so let me figure out what to emulate.” Having an insight is what comes first.

I think people also feel that if you criticize more commercial fare, you must be an art snob that wants to make boring or difficult stuff, and that’s not true either. I realized some time ago that I want to entertain. But it has to be within the parameters and story that make sense for how I see the world. I also think that audiences need to meet artists halfway with that, or we all develop a couch potato and junk food mentality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chrisshimojima.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/cshimo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisyshimojima
• Other: https://vimeo.com/chrisshimojima