A sanctuary rising beyond enormous waterfalls, a town beside the water at night, and a stage prepared for kagura. I made the music video for “Kagura” because I wanted to create something that felt like the opening sequence of an anime set in the world of Japanese mythology.
Rather than explaining a specific myth from beginning to end, I hoped to capture at least a little of the feeling that an unseen story might be about to begin.
Looking for the atmosphere
I wanted to establish the atmosphere first, so I made several images exploring shrines, the cave, clothing, ornaments, places, and characters. Some were not used in the finished video, but I think they still gave me a useful direction for its colors and visual language.
I also wanted to include a little more story. Japanese mythology has many gods and events, though, and fitting a clear thread into a short video was difficult. I could not quite bring it all together, so the result is closer to a collection of fragments that hopefully feel as if they belong to the same world.
Connecting scenes when movement is limited
I generated the motion with DomoAI’s subscription model. In the setup I used, it was difficult to create the kind of fast, expansive movement associated with tools such as Seedance, so motion alone could not provide all the energy of an anime opening.
Instead of forcing one shot to move for too long, I made more visual material and connected it in shorter cuts. I tried to use small changes in light and visual density to carry some of the song’s momentum without relying only on large movements.
A hint of a story
The finished video does not follow one specific myth in a clear, literal way. I am not sure how much of the world comes through, but I would be happy if it leaves even a slight feeling that something might continue beyond these few minutes.
Anime openings often contain shots that make little sense at first and look slightly different later. I hope “Kagura” leaves a little of that kind of space.
I moved back and forth between wanting to suggest a story and wanting the images to simply feel good with the music, and eventually managed to bring the MV into shape.
J-pop / electro-pop / UK garage神楽Open the song page for audio, lyrics, and notes.Explore this song →Thank you for reading.
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