Lexus Takumi Living

Stephan Bischof

Lexus Takumi: A 60,000 hour story on the survival of human craft

Play video

‘Lexus Takumi is an interactive film experience that gives audiences the chance to discover the dedication and endurance of putting in 60,000 hours of work to achieve true mastery of a skill.’

Stephan Bischof, Creative Director, UNIT9

The background

Machines are outperforming humans at a rapidly growing rate. To preserve the nobility of human craft, Lexus wanted to highlight the talent and dedication of Takumi, Japanese craftspeople who believe it takes 60,000 hours to achieve true mastery of a skill. So we created an interactive video player that lets people witness the time and commitment required to become a pro.

Lexus Takumi Living

The execution

We built a unique video player that showcases the hard work of four Takumi at various stages in their mastery: a carpenter who constructs elaborate temples without using nails, a chef who furthered his craft by finding a deeper purpose, an artist who found creative ways to break the rules of paper-cutting, and an engineer whose ability to detect a flaw in an engine is sharper than a machine’s.

 

Lexus Takumi Living
Lexus Takumi Living

While it might seem like a simple video player, there are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes. Using a combination of React, Redux, Immutable, PIXI, and HLS, we looped through a sequence of video frames to give viewers the feeling they’re fast forwarding through huge spans of time—60,000 hours, to be exact.

With so many large video files and moving parts, we had to ensure the experience could be served reliably and quickly on any platform, and to any number of users at a time. After many challenges, discoveries, and extensive experimentation with new technologies, we found a way to bring our vision to life.

Lexus Takumi Living

The results

In a world where technology, artificial intelligence, and automation threaten to
outperform humans, viewers were reminded that master craftsmen are more valuable than ever.

Lexus Takumi Living
Lexus Takumi Living
Visit Page

Credits

Awards