Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tsubasa Maruno. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tsubasa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I think it started very early on even without me noticing it. When I was a kid, I was good at sports like baseball. But I hated seeing even the greatest players of all time loose their greatness as they age. I really hated it about sports. Then I saw a TV documentary about Pierre-August Renoir, a French painter. At the end of the program, there was a narration describing how he died. I don’t remember exactly but it was about the last entry on his diary, or his last word to someone. It explained that even at his death bed, Renoir kept painting till he really couldn’t anymore and he said or wrote he was very close to unveil a new possibility or form of painting. It might have been over-dramatized for TV but it moved me so much as a child. I just thought “Wow. That must be a hell of a way to live life staying passionate about something till the day he dies!” and I wanted to have something like that for me. I still remember the moment the idea hit me vividly. Another big influence was my brother. I have a bother 5 year older than me and he is very creative. When I was 7 years old and he was 12, he created an original comic series with his friends, with their original characters and stories and everything. He was very good at drawing. They seemed to be having so much fun. I really wanted to be part of it but they didn’t let me because I was younger and wasn’t good at drawing like they did. I was looking at them enviously and that feeling stayed with me till much much later, I guess. When I discovered cameras and movies, I just realized I don’t have to be good at drawing to tell a story. I think that was the beginning of everything I do now.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started out as a wedding videographer. I was studying Photography and my brother started a company with his partner then. They were kind of the first people started calling themselves a VJ (video jockey) and played videos at a club along with DJs. My brother sometimes bought pictures I took from me and used them in his videos. So I hang around in his office. One day my friend’s brother got married and they asked me to film the wedding and I filmed and edit it using my brother’s equipment. That’s how I started. Someone at the wedding asked me to do another and so on.
My goal has been always making movies so I wanted to move out from making wedding videos and I went to every shoots I could as a volunteer and worked as a lighting crew or a camera crew or a production assistant, on variety of shoots, short film, web-series, music video, documentary, corporate shoot, commercial. I was just curious. Wanted to learn about everything. I even did Sound for a while. At the same time, I made several short films of my own with friends. Some people say “Never work for free,” and there is some truth in that but most of the work came from people I met on those free shoots, some short film I DPed a while ago, etc. They kindly remembered me and came back with a project that had some money to spend.
Now I mainly do branded content. Fashion and skincare and some small businesses. Small businesses can’t turn their eyes from the importance of video content anymore. It is a huge part of marketing. But often time, they don’t know where to start. Naturally they are afraid of over-charged and under-delivered. But also, they sometimes offer so little, and loose a great opportunity to work with a potentially good creator. They just don’t see it. I think right now, I fall in that gap very well. Because I am well versed in most aspect of filmmaking. I can work with a crew but also can be great as a one-man band. I produce, direct, shoot and edit. It helps me tremendously to deliver the best quality for smaller-budget projects. I offer a very reasonable package deal. I can edit faster if the person shot the footage was me.
Now my main focus is how to create an image that evokes a feeling in people watch the content. I learned the key to be noticed is to create something that speaks to emotions. Shooting pretty images isn’t enough. So I’m learning how to do it and very excited about this discovery.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’m not sure this qualifies as the answer to this question, but it was a turning point for sure and I am still learning it. I was so focused to get better at what I do on set. Didn’t really pay much attention to anything else. But I realized and learned in a hard way that your skills are not even half of why people hire you or anyone. People naturally would like to have a good time, whether they are there working on not. Even the clients who are not part of filming on set. If we, as clients and creators, can’t bond with each other, how can we create something meaningful for the audience, right? First, we have to bond. If we can, it’s always better anyway. I used to be like “That’s not my job,” but now I’m all about making sure everyone is feeling comfortable. At every stage. Excited is better. It’s like creating an experience. I think it translates into the final product as well.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The fact that we can achieve a unique bonding experience. What I do, video content creation or filmmaking is inherently collaborative activity. The fact and experience that we created something together is very strong. Stronger than any memories and life experiences in a way and I love it. And I get to meet all kinds of people, not just creatives but people with great innovative ideas and leaders, which is very educational.
Contact Info:
- Website: tsubasamaruno.com
- Instagram: @tsubasamaruno
- Other: https://vimeo.com/user31253686