2015

[EPOCH’s website]

We produced, planned, and directed a music video and Google Chrome-exclusive extension content for Namie Amuro’s song “Anything” from her new album “_genic.”

[Planning]
To express the song’s message “You can do anything,” we put together a plan for the world’s first music video using Google Chrome extensions. Through the bold use of tab switching via extensions that aren’t normally used for video, we took on the challenge of exploring the world of “Anything” through the browser. In addition, the extension’s New Tab function can be used to give the Google Chrome home screen a Namie Amuro-themed makeover, displaying updates about the artist from YouTube and Facebook each time a new tab is opened. By adding functionality to a browser function used on a daily basis, we created new opportunities for fans to come into contact with the artist.

[Presentation]
In the standard music video, Ms. Amuro’s skirt floats and the studying children’s papers fly into the air for no apparent reason, but watching the full music video on Google Chrome with the extension installed reveals the whole picture.
In addition, when Ms. Amuro extends her right hand, a surprise present is downloaded. If the viewer accesses the special site after watching the music video, they can view a different ending story. By using functionality made possible only by extensions, viewers can enjoy a completely new “extended experience.”

 

[Anything’s website]

Namie Amuro, an artist representing japan, has released a new album “_genic” for the first time in about 2 years.

In the situation where the production of music video with 5 songs recorded and the evaluation in each promotion are determined, “Anything” is an unprecedented approach, having been requested to deliver her music and video experience not only to the existing fans, of course, but also to the layer of people other than the listeners until now.

We have planned the world’s first music video using Google Chrome extension (an extension function) by bearing the thought inspired in the music of “You can do anything” in our mind and by capturing the continued walking by facing forward for any unreasonable events or adversity as “our own growth = expansion.” Audaciously using the extension function that is originally not intended to be used in the video production, we have challenged to represent the world view of “anything” with the browser for sending the message.

Also, we have simultaneously deployed the mechanism that makes the Google home screen into the screen of Namie Amuro specifications when you install the extension. Every time you open the Google Chrome and a new tab, the latest artist information transmitted from YouTube and Facebook will come to be always displayed. By extending the capabilities of the browser to use daily, we have created an opportunity to contact fans with the artist that had never been done previously.

We have suddently posted the teaser site in order to attract topic of conversation and attention for disclosing the music videos. Contents of existing only the mysterious “black show” cause controversy for each scene that will be released in this edition.

Also, we noticed the hint to elucidate the “mystery” in the official Facebook at the same time. The negative world created by the negative words that were extracted from the lyrics of the song promised us to release the ending story and the music video that will change from now.

The teaser site, when browsing it after finished watching the final full version music video, is made so that you can see this happy ending of those who apepar in each scene by rewriting the information that is released by the function of Extension.

We will release two types of music videos: the normal version that you can view on Youtube and the full version using the Extension. In the normal version, you cannot see the “black shadow” that have been posted in the teaser site, having remained as a mystery why the phenomena have occured, such as that the skirt of Namie Amuro floats unnaturally or the notebooks of studying children suddenly float and dance in the air.

In the full version, it has contents to reveal that the “black shadow” to sink the people into sorrow has caused such phenomena as the things that the tab of the browser projects the absurdity of the world.

We began to develop the production for sending the messages of music by interweaving the existing technology based mainly on the video experience that can be realized by only using the Extension function.

In addition, in the last of the music when Amuro Namie outstretches her right hand to the windows, downloading starts automatically, and a surprise gift from Amuro Namie is present in the downloaded folder.

The contents of the gift include a message from her, an autograph signature written by herself, and a blank letter corresponding to seven languages, having provided an opportunity to encourage to take a new step of making something through the music and video experience.

The total number of music video playback exceeded 1 million playing time within no less than a month from the release. In addition, the number of times the artist information has been transmitted from the home screen of Google Chrome is 90 million times or more, having reached to 81% in Google Chrome for the browser access ratio to the special site and having made a wide range of user opportunity to ask them to use the Google Chrome browser. These measures become a big topic even on the SNS scene, having won the publicity in a number of media including TV, magazines, and Web news.

Accompanied with this, it obtained 4 crowns by winning the first place in all the major music charts of Oricon weekly album ranking, Billboard JAPAN HOT Album chart, iTunes weekly album ranking, and Reco Chok album weekly ranking. Even with the unreleased new songs and non-tie-up original album without recording any single song, it results in winning the provisional first place in 2015 Japanese female solo artist division by only the cumulative sales in the first week.