‘The Colors Within’ Director Naoko Yamada On Using Sound And Color To Capture The “Atmosphere Of The Characters”

For director Naoko Yamada, creating a project from scratch for The Colors Within presented a big challenge but also the realization of a lifelong dream. “I love music and I’ve always wanted to form a band,” says Yamada. “In this way, I was able to form a band and present it to the whole world and that makes me really happy. My dream came true.”

The Colors Within follows Totsuko (Sayu Suzukawa), a young girl with the ability to see the color of someone’s heart. After being enthralled by the colors she sees in her new friends Kimi (Akari Takaishi) and Rui (Taisei Kido), the three decide to start a band. Yamada’s choice of colors for the three main characters was based on the primary colors that make up light – Totsuko as red, Kimi as blue and Rui as green.

DEADLINE: Where did the idea come from to have this connection between color and music?

NAOKO YAMADA: The fact that Totsuko is able to feel the colors of other people is something that’s not tangible, and I think that was really a connection to how people sense music. It’s not tangible, but they could be able to feel emotions from it. So, from the way Totsuko feels the colors of others, and then how the audience could be able to sense the music and sound of the movie, I really thought there’s a deep connection.

DEADLINE: The animation is really beautiful; how did you arrive at this style for the story?

YAMADA: I wanted the audience to feel calm, kindness and happiness, so that went into deciding the colors and the atmosphere of the characters. But I really wanted to express light through color. The way Totsuko sees color, she sees Kimi as blue and Rui as green, and then she finds out later that she’s red. These are the primary colors of light, and when they get layered on top of each other, it turns into white. In that color of whiteness, I really thought it expressed the possibilities and the futures of these characters in a beautiful way.

DEADLINE: What was the reason you had the story take place at a Catholic school?

YAMADA: When I first thought of the character of Totsuko, I really wanted her to have a strong sense of belief. I thought if she had a strong sense of belief, she’s going to just go straight through believing in it all the way. I think that’s why I set her to be Catholic, but in Japan the religion of Christianity or Catholicism is only maybe 1% of the Japanese population. Surprisingly, there’s a lot of Catholic schools in Japan but even within the school, I think the students who believe in the religion is only about 10%. So, it’s a really interesting dynamic within a certain place where people gather, there’s people with different beliefs. They could be Buddhist, they could believe in Shinto, they could be atheist, but they’re able to not just coexist, but accept and respect everyone else’s culture and religion. That sense of coexisting in a respectful place really represents Japan to its core.