Sony - FUTURE PROOF : What is the Future of Music for All?
Inspirational music plays. A white logo appears in the top right corner of a green background.
ON SCREEN TEXT: SONY
A wipe motion in the bottom right arcs upward, revealing an African-American young woman in a white room with her hair in braids. Text appears vertically next to the video.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Diana Sinclair
Artist & Activist
DIANA
“Hey Nao!”
A wipe motion from the top left arcs downward, revealing a Japanese girl with a ponytail sitting in front of a bookshelf. Text appears vertically next to her video.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Nao Kondo
Artist & Entrepreneur
NAO
“Hey Diana!”
DIANA
“What’s going on?”
Yellow subtitles appear as Nao speaks in Japanese.
NAO
“I recently started to learn the drums.”
DIANA
“Are you serious?”
NAO
“I’m getting better, but it’s not easy!”
DIANA
“That’s what I love about this concept. Literally anyone could pick up an instrument and start playing it.”
NAO
“Sounds fun! I want to try it.”
Now the green screen has a bubble coming in from the left showing a woman learning to play a small electric saxophone. A magenta swipe arcs in the top right and white text appears in the bottom right and the music changes into a tune with more elements.
ON SCREEN TEXT: What is the future of
Music for All?
The text and bubbles disappear and a wipe motion in the bottom right reveals a young child grinning as he tries out an Ultra Light Sax, the same small instrument shown before. The shots change and feature a few people playing the instrument. First a man plays a tambourine while a woman plays the Ultra Light Saxophone. A boy plays the Ultra Light Sax with a hand in his pocket. Yellow subtitles translate Japanese speakers throughout the video.
TOMOHIRO SAWADA
“I believe that creativity is a power that all people possess equally.”
A clean-shaven Japanese man sits for an interview in a dark room with columns lit behind him. A green bubble rises from the bottom left, with text.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Tomohiro Sawada
YURU Music Founder
TOMOHIRO
“Through YURU Music, I’m hoping to build a society where everyone can become a creator.”
Tomohiro smiles at a woman who plays a keyboard. Now the woman sits for her interview in a dark room with columns lit behind her and text appears in a green bubble.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Yuka Maruko
Producer
Sony Music Entertainment
(Japan) Inc.
YUKA
“When Tomohiro Sawada asked me to join in his YURU Music efforts, we had a conversation about people who want to play music but have given up for a variety of reasons.”
A teenaged boy wears headphones and plays on a Sound Wars machine, which has a mini keyboard and drum pad. Another teen concentrates on a Type Player, which has blank buttons arranged like a computer keyboard.
YUKA
“And that it would be great if everyone could use music to enjoy, and express themselves.”
Two women in white YURU Music t-shirts clink Glass, musical wine glasses of pink liquid. Two guests play Touch the Sound by placing colorful marble-sized balls on a black foam surface. Some balls roll around and others are held in play with small rings.
Tomohiro sits in his interview.
TOMOHIRA
“The concept behind YURU Music instruments is that the movements that you have learned in your life can be used to make music without practice.”
A woman beams as she uses the type player. Back to Tomohiro’s interview.
TOMOHIRO
“For example, there’s an instrument called Ultra Light Sax which uses Sony’s tiny microcontroller board called Spresense.”
Someone holds the Ultra Light Sax, then Tomohiro plays it. Hands unscrew it and open it up to reveal batteries, wires, and a motherboard.
TOMOHIRO
“The Spresense is placed inside of the saxophone.”
A hand holds a motherboard with the Sony logo on it.
A Japanese man in a brown blazer sits for an interview in a dark room with shades of light behind him. A bubble displays text.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Teruki Kirihata
System Engineer
Sony Digital Network
Applications, Inc.
TERUKI
“What Spresense does is when a person sings a tune, it detects that sound.”
A boy plays the Ultra Light Sax, then a girl, then a woman.
TERUKI
“It analyzes the pitch of the voice and converts the sound into a saxophone tone.”
Teruki fits the Ultra Light Sax back together. Yuka’s interview.
YUKA
“Sony’s purpose is to fill the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology.”
Press point cameras at a YURU Music event staff member who demonstrates a Pose Guitar bracelet by moving his hand around to make sounds. Beside him, another employee plays the Ultra Light Sax and more stand behind tables, demonstrating different YURU Music instruments. Yuka’s interview.
YUKA
“And YURU Music allows us to utilize new technology for the purpose of creativity. It's exciting that now we can create new instruments and enjoy playing them immediately.”
In a YURU Hackathon, guests try to build new YURU instruments. One builds up small connecting blocks on a cardboard platform with spinning paper plates which look like a DJ’s turntable. Three people on a stage are wired up with headphones, waistbelts, and arm straps. One presents another, who shakes the gloves he wears. A woman wears a machine strapped to her chest. It’s in a plastic food container with a phone stuck to its lid and wires connecting to stretch bands. The woman pulls the handles on the ends of the bands in different directions making sounds. Tomohiro’s interview.
TOMOHIRO
“If people all over the world could find an instrument that they excel at, I think they’d play it for at least five minutes a day.”
A man connects colorful plastic pieces to a board, each with a wire attached to it. A boy sits at a laptop and shakes a mini soccer ball in each hand, making electric sounds with each swish. A box is open with two xylophones in its lid, wired to several rows of connecting blocks on one side of the bottom of the box. The other side is a white space with small colored geometric shapes that move around and make sounds similar to a xylophone. A man in glasses holds a coat hanger crossed with instrument strings. Tomohiro’s interview.
TOMOHIRO
“If we could provide people with even five minutes every day to share their positivity by expressing themselves through YURU Music, I truly believe the world would become a more beautiful place.”
Three members of the band Yuru Almost All Stars wearing rainbow pastel outfits stand on stage. One man holds the coat hanger instrument, another holds a pink umbrella, and a woman holds a microphone.
WOMAN
“Everyone, freestyle along with us using your YURU instruments!”
Everyone sitting in the hackathon room plays an instrument while people standing without instruments clap along. A couple of young men toss mini soccer balls, and a couple more fiddle with the cardboard platform. A girl in pastels pats musical notes strapped to her waist. Everyone plays and dances together.
TOMOHIRO
“I’d like to turn everyone into a musician and at the same time I want to turn everyone into a creator as well.”
WOMAN
“Thank you!”
The band finishes and the audience claps. The inspirational techno music returns. Now an upward swipe from the bottom right corner of a green background reveals Diana.
DIANA
“In a lot of ways, YURU music is about access.”
A downward swipe in the top left corner of a russet background reveals Nao.
NAO
“What do you mean?”
DIANA
“Access equals innovation! When you give people more opportunities to be creative, the more beautiful and creative the outcomes will be.”
NAO
“In the future, everyone gets to be in a band together!”
A magenta screen splits into two bubbles on a green screen. The left bubble has a white logo.
ON SCREEN TEXT: FUTURE PROOF
Japanese text is underneath. On the right is a white logo.
ON SCREEN TEXT: SONY
Colors pulse outward with a ding from the center of a dark background where a logo turns white as the background goes black.
ON SCREEN TEXT: SONY