Dialogue with Akatsuka Yoshihito: Create a new narrative of Muverse NFT with the movie world view

"NFT itself should not just be sold as a commodity, it should carry more stories." Said Mr. Akatsuka Yoshihito, a senior Japanese film practitioner and art director.

Interview & Writing: Robin, Foresight News

Entrepreneurs realize that NFT needs to carry richer and more exciting elements than before, such as music and movies, and joining well-known artists has become their inevitable choice.

On May 27th, Muverse announced the launch of the film project "The Interstice" in conjunction with Mr. Yoshihito Akatsuka, a senior Japanese film practitioner and art director, at the Tokyo station of its Asian tour event, and this film will be the first in the world based on NFT Avatar The film, created with the image in mind, marks Muverse's first step towards exploring Web3 film.

Akatsuka Yoshihito has been nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards twice, and has cooperated with Quentin, Zhang Yimou, Tsui Hark and other well-known directors at home and abroad. Muverse is a pan-entertainment platform actively exploring the NFT market. Its business and products will involve games, music, movies and other fields. The cooperation between the two has made Muverse users and fans of Akatsuka Yoshihito highly anticipated.

To this end, media person Robin interviewed Akatsuka Yoshihito, who described the inspiration of his latest work, his cooperation with Muverse and his views on how to combine movies and NFT.

Use movies to create a new narrative for NFT

**Robin: What kind of story did you build for the Muverse metaverse? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: What I conceived is a metaverse adventure story, in which I want to explore issues such as good and evil and technological ethics.

In the story, the heroine is a high school girl named Shihan, who accidentally discovers that she can enter the metaverse world after wearing her sister's VR glasses. In the metaverse world, she explored together with a creature named Fuwwa, and together they defeated the evil character Ren Hao and rescued her sister who was trapped in the procedural world.

The scenes in the movie are very rich, there are cities full of technology, dreamy forests and swamps, and a cyberpunk procedural world. Under the interweaving of different scenes, the audience can feel the more possibilities that Web3's scene-shaping power brings to the movie, and these scenes will be integrated into the Muverse metaverse platform in the future.

There are all kinds of characters in this metaverse city. Some of them are the incarnations of people in the real world, such as Shi Han and Ren Hao; some are the incarnations of AI. I want to emphasize that people can overcome intelligence through the comparison between the evil incarnation of AI people in the movie and the spiritual image of real people with flesh and blood. In addition, in the discussion of good and evil, in the world view I have constructed, the metaverse world and the real world are mutually influencing.

Ren Hao, the evil character in the Metaverse, is Shihan’s cousin in the real world, and the cute 11-year-old genius boy can become the master of all kinds of evil in the Metaverse. This contrast will bring people a more novel feeling.

**Robin: It is said that the protagonist in this story will also become the NFT image in Muverse, and become the entrance for users to enter the Metaverse? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: Yes, the NFT I want to make is presented in the form of PFP. The PFP held by the user is a movie character, which is part of the metaverse story I created.

The logic of the NFT I created is very similar to that of BAYC. Users first hold an avatar, and then find a sense of belonging in the community or in the spread of values. As far as I know, Muverse is also aiming to build a metaverse super app, and is committed to creating a metaverse communication platform for users.

At this stage, maybe the NFT image has not been produced yet, but the role positioning and concept map have already come out.

**Robin: How do you think to create a successful NFT image? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: NFT itself should not just be sold as a commodity, it should carry more stories.

The Muverse platform itself has a strong musical attribute. Therefore, before starting to design the scene, my ideas revolved around music, and the core of the entire movie content construction is also on music.

In the end, if NFT wants to present the best state, it needs a good story. Take the Boring Ape Yacht Club as an example, it is a picture, but there is a story behind it. In terms of art, Boring Ape may lack beauty, but this series can attract attention, because this series has its own world view, which is described by the founder as "the boring life after becoming a rich man". On the basis of this worldview, the designer designed the image of a boring ape.

None of these NFTs are very expensive to begin with, or have a lot of people buying them. Their development is a process. In the process of development, they form their own community. In the community, everyone carries out secondary creation together, and continuously spreads the created things. A very important thing in the community is the community. The consensus of the group members, or the sense of identity with the work.

The development of NFT takes time to spread slowly, and then it can make good results. I believe that with the blessing of the movie story and world view, this NFT can attract the attention of the community and the love of the audience. Once the movie is successful, NFT may show higher value as an IP.

**Robin: Why did you join NFT creation? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: I didn’t think about joining this industry before, nor did I think about releasing the images of the characters in the movie in the form of NFT. Before I came into this industry, I wanted to make a good movie. I believed that there would be interested artists engaged in NFT creation, so I didn’t compete with people in other industries for jobs at that time.

But NFT is a very innovative field, because the Muverse team invited me, and I am also full of curiosity about this new field, so it’s okay for me to give it a try. For me, this experience will be amazing.

**Robin: It is understood that the Muverse platform will also participate in investing in the movie script you built. How do you hope to realize this movie? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: The most important thing is to have investment. As an experienced filmmaker, my team and I are very confident in creating a good film.

I have participated in the set of the Chinese film "Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", and cooperated with famous directors such as Tsui Hark and Zhang Yimou. My team has all kinds of outstanding talents, excellent directors and producers. If you choose us, my team and I can make a great movie in the shortest possible time. So no kidding, as long as I have enough money, I can make this movie happen.

"I regard the Web3 platform as the entrance of future movies"

**Robin: How do you understand the relationship between Web3 and movies? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: I think Web3 has opened the door to a new world, and movies are also an intermediary to enter this world. The addition of Web3 may increase the audience of movies, and also allow greater innovation in the presentation of movies.

**Robin: We know that Japan’s music, film and animation industries are developing very well. The Japanese Prime Minister is also actively supporting Web3 and has introduced many supporting policies. As a Japanese, let’s talk about the development of Web3 based on your personal experience. The status quo in Japan? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: Web3 is developing rapidly all over the world, but Japan has lagged behind in comparison.

In order to catch up with the pace of global Web3 development, the political circles have launched some support policies, but if only politicians do it, nothing will change, and the industry also needs to actively participate.

For example, Nintendo and Sony in Japan are two top companies. If they invest resources in the Web3 field, they will make great contributions in terms of economy and technology.

**Robin: Just now we mentioned the impact of politics on Web3. Recently, AI is hot. What impact do you think AI and other technologies will have on the development of NFT or art? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: Why are there so many NFTs that no one buys? Because there are too many pictures produced by AI, the artistic value and sense of ownership given to NFT will disappear, so the value of PFP will plummet.

But as I have always emphasized, a single picture is worthless. Only when you build your own story and world view on the basis of pictures, what they derive are valuable. Right now, content is what matters.

For example, I immediately make some AI works and put them on Adobe Shop for sale. They can be sold soon, but the selling price may not be very high.

**Robin: Innovation is an important proposition. You mentioned AI in this movie story. Have you incorporated other technologies, such as Web3, in this movie or in your script? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: Technology is constantly developing, so the way people watch movies is constantly changing. In the world of Web2, we have platforms such as Netflix to host works. But in the Web3 world, we will have more new platforms and technologies to disseminate new works. I also hope that in the future Web3 world, new works will be disseminated through more innovative methods. Today, VR and other things have become new media, and the platforms we watch video content are also in the Metaverse. Under this trend, everyone has a strong curiosity and interest in the world that can be seen in VR, and so do I.

Maybe my works do not directly incorporate other technologies, but I am willing to regard Web3 as the entrance of future movies and use Web3 to spread my own stories.

**Robin: Where is your future creative direction? **

Akatsuka Yoshihito: I recently went to Taiwan to find a friend, he is a very famous photographer, he also created his own documentary. When I was having dinner with him, we talked about what we should do as filmmakers in the future? What should be done for the movie?

We all believe that the future of film is continuous innovation, and we all say "We have to do something new."