Team building
I sourced the collaborators required to execute the film, including the director, photographer, lighting crew, and makeup artist, then coordinated communication across creative and production needs.
Creative Direction at KOOKi
Building a product-launch microfilm around the logic of shoelaces.
For this footwear launch, I led the creative direction and independently drove nearly the entire production process: casting, script development, costume and prop design, location coordination, production planning, on-set supervision, and post-production communication. The photographer, director, lighting crew, and makeup artist were all people I recruited.
Film
Final Short
Concept
Turning product design into plot structure
The product's most distinctive feature was its shoelace system: laces could appear on the front, sides, and back of the shoe, giving wearers freedom to tie and reinterpret the design in different ways. I used that flexibility as the central narrative trigger for the film.
The core dramatic idea became: the stranger your shoelaces are tied, the stronger your personal ability appears to be. I placed that logic inside a job interview setting. One candidate arrives with standard lacing, then notices a rival whose laces are styled along the side of the shoe, signaling greater creativity and presence. When the boss's secretary appears, her styling is even more distinctive. Finally, the boss enters with the most creative lacing of all.
01
Script and Story Logic
using escalating costume cues to make product innovation legible on screen
A metaphor-driven product story
Rather than describing the shoe's design innovation directly, I built a social hierarchy around it. The film uses the interview scenario to dramatize creativity, confidence, and authority. Every new character raises the level of styling boldness, which gives the audience a simple visual ladder to follow.
I realized early that shoelace placement alone might not read clearly enough on camera, so I developed a second visual system to reinforce it: each character's necktie placement echoed the placement of the shoelaces. This let the audience read character hierarchy and styling logic almost instantly.
That decision was important from a marketing perspective: it let the audience understand the product feature emotionally before they needed to understand it technically. The lace system becomes memorable because it is tied to status, wit, and escalating surprise.
Script reference: screenplay pdf
02
Production Process
independently assembling the team, system, and visual language within three months
World building
I handled location coordination and led the design of key props and wardrobe elements, ensuring the interview-room world supported the absurd-but-polished tone of the story.
Creative supervision
From script to shoot to edit feedback, I stayed inside the full pipeline so the original concept could survive execution without losing clarity or visual quality.
Takeaway
What this project gave me
The microfilm did not generate the direct commercial return we originally hoped for, but it significantly elevated the perceived sophistication of the KOOKi brand and opened the door to higher-quality collaboration opportunities.
More importantly for my own practice, it gave me end-to-end experience in film production within just three months. As a creative who did not come from a formal film background, I learned how to recruit a team, translate product features into narrative structure, manage production realities, and communicate across every stage from concept to final edit.
That experience made me much more confident in taking on future shoot-based work with stronger planning, better cross-team communication, and far higher execution efficiency.