Kong Studio releases a third ‘Long Story Short’ with the true story of ‘holdout’ Shoichi Yokoi

The tale begins in 1944 during the battle for Guam island. Shoichi Yokoi, a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army, who fearing the shame of being captured by American Forces, went into hiding in the Guam jungle. It would be another 28 years before he emerged and re-joined society.

Kong Studio’s ‘Long Story Short’ series is about showing that truth can be stranger than fiction, and all told in the space of a single minute. The challenge, in this case, being the contrast between a Yokoi’s long lonely exile, and the film’s rapid running time!

Kong Co-Founder Bill Elliott took on the challenge to shrink the 28 years right down, using fast-paced match cuts to describe the progression of time. Rather than focusing on geopolitical events, he describes the changing world through new technology, obscure inventions and seminal moments in popular culture. We see these world events stripped down into single graphic, stamp-like ‘blink and you’ll miss them’ animations – postcards through time.

‘Did I Miss Anything?’ is a tale of Twentieth Century cultural evolution against the backdrop of the survival of one lone man, told using beautifully simple micro animations.

Kong Co-founder Bill Elliott said –

“I came across the so-called ‘Japanese holdouts’ – members of the Japanese Imperial Army who continued to fight or go into hiding until well after Japan’s surrender in 1945. Some of whom didn’t re-emerge for over thirty years. Their stories coincided with decades of technological advancement that would have been unthinkable to them.

I wanted to create a lightning-fast film referring to just how much the world had changed during their self-imposed isolation. From the baffling to the disposable, to the simply unimaginable.

Shoichi Yokoi was not the last ‘holdout’, but his story was certainly (marginally) less grim than others. He retained a sharp wit and went on to become a famous TV personality in Japan. The irony of telling his twenty-eight-year holdout in one minute was not lost on us.”

Fast-changing visuals usually mean a fast-paced script. Getting around all the major events in super quick time would need a person with a particular set of skills.

 On the voice-over, Bill Elliott said –

 “Simply put, we needed a talent that could verbally machine gun our story. A script we could only fit into one minute by recording at double speed! Our artist not only had the credentials but could do it with wit, charm and clarity. The recording session became a time trial. I used a stopwatch, pushing him each time to break the one-minute mark. We left him perspiring and out of breath, but we had our twenty-eight years condensed down to one minute exactly.”

‘Did I Miss Anything?’ is a tale of Twentieth Century cultural evolution against the backdrop of the survival of one lone man, told using beautifully simple micro animations.