Mana Hiraki (photographer/director): I took a lot of inspiration from Ohzora Kimishima for the sound design and Hiraki works closely with him for the art direction. Her surreal neutral feminist art style that is sometimes serene and otherworldly, other times shocking and confusing (in a good way) inspired me throughout the new experiments. Her core strengths that appeal to me are her use of colour and blur, her unique sense of distance/depth of field, and her range of editing skills.
I feel like in some of her works you can recognise influences of traditional Japanese artworks, like its subject matter, composition, and colours.
my horrible attempt at mimicking the effect from the music video "16:28" by Ohzora Kimishima directed by Mana Hiraki. The image below is the shot I took inspiration from. I really loved the super blurry distorted lights that go in different directions. I have no idea how she did it and I don't think I did a good job at mimicking it so I need to explore this shot more.