MOCHISLAYER'S REVIEW OF NEWS, “MR. WHITE” SHORT FILM
This is an old review I did for an event on LiveJournal months ago. I'm no expert in film or music, but I thought it was fun reviewing this. I just wanted to post it up here. If you are interested in hearing me ramble, douzo~
Since the announcement made by NEWS last month for the release of their new album titled “WHITE”, fans had endeared a small amount of time banging their head against their desks with -twisting agitation, waiting for the release. With great anticipation, the album “WHITE” by NEWS was released on the the 25th of February 2015. Along with the album, they release their short film for their song titled, “Mr. White”.
Before I dissect the short film with a review, here are more interesting information about the PV, “Mr. White”:
Directed by Testu Maeda who had been known for working with School Days with a Pig (2008), A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth (2006) and Dolphin blue: Fuji, mou ichido sora e(2007).
Story draft written by NEWS member Kato Shigeaki
Clothing designed by NEWS member Masuda Takahisa
Compare to the full film of “Chankapana” back in 2012 with 8 minutes of bright and bubbly flirtation, Mr. White is a much longer film with close to 23 minutes of screen time with NEWS (If including the credits). The video is what can be described as a episode-like TV series PV of four handsome heroes that saves children from the internet that is destroying their childhood.
Plot
The story's main characters revolves around TEAM WHITE (NEWS members: Koyama Keiichiro, Masuda Takahisa, Kato Shigeaki, and Tegoshi Yuya), who works for a mysterious boss name “Mr. White” protecting children from the evil internet.
The film starts with the setting of a elementary school. A kid runs into a classroom and sets his backpack down on a desk suddenly finds himself distracted and vastly immersed at the strange black blob moving and making unusual echoing noises on a laptop screen. He blankly stares at a computer screen, almost compulsively until he is warped and has disappeared elsewhere.
The scene proceeds to another frame of TEAM WHITE (NEWS members) sitting in their headquarters relaxing and fooling around until they get a call by the mysterious Mr. White that a child, 7 years old Shiroyama Tooru, is trapped in the dark world of the internet.
TEAM WHITE gears up and and put on their suit and gadgets on and walks away slowly, back against the camera advertising the lovely “Mr. White” battle pack. They step into a elevator to be transported where the child had been “downloaded”.
Cutting to the next scene, you find little Shrioyama in the internet world. He stand in the front of what it seems to be his elementary school, but bland without colors. The school looks run-downed and abandoned. There are three mysterious beings running after him as he flees for hideout in the broken down deserted school. He ends up being cornered by the mysterious beings hopelessly trapped when TEAM WHITE comes to the rescue and has a brawl with the dark beings to save the boy. In the end the boy is saved and is sent back home safely.
When TEAM WHITE comes back home, they notice that Koyama did not return home with them and gets news briefly afterwords that he is captured along with more children. ( Now we know what they are called) Weblack is all up to this evil scheme. Mr. White explains that it is Weblack who takes children, demolishing all experiences a child should have, trapping them in the net world.
TEAM WHITE finds themselves in the virtual dark pits of the internet again searching for their friend and the trapped children. They later find themselves in a large room filled with children and Koyama who are trapped in nets connected to weird wires that lead up to the ceiling of the gym. It is with only two shots available of use, the team uses 1 shot to try destroying the core black heart of the internet.
When they try to fight against Weblack, the members are swallowed in darkness by the core. All the kids are in tears and with a single tear drop, light breaks the darkness. With the members recuperated, they use the very last shot and destroy the dark, bringing light into the life of the children and zaps them back into reality.
Review
Plot: 
Mr. White is what I would called a trip back to childhood. It reminded me of a mixed adaption of The Power Rangers, Teen Titans, Kim Possible and Ghostbusters. The concept of course, has been used before and is still being used today in many children shows. The idea of the Good VS Evil is the main concept we can see here like in many other films. Although this concept will never gets boring. I love that they have taken the chance to do this!
The plot although predicable most of the time flows smoothly in film the and still excites the viewers with anticipation. I wished there hadn't been so many long scenes of them sneaking around because it took away from some suspensions to the next scene. I also wished there was some character growth or development.
Excluding those small issue I had about the film, overall, this film was very well executed. It was very much like a film that had potential to even become a show series to teach kids the morals of abusing the use of technology. Partial props to Shige for writing the story draft!
Acting Review :
Kids: The kids acting is very natural and there isn't much more to say so, since they did a very good job. Of course they looked the most natural at the end of the short movie when they run up to TEAM WHITE happily high-fiving them or when the kids are playing with the paint. Ahhh the good old innocent youthful days.
TEAM WHITE: Their acting was not one of the best acting I've seen from them, but it was decent from the beginning. Since there wasn't really much dialogue, it is only correct that one must act better upon their facial expressions. Of course it must have been awkward with the lack of very much dialogue. Throughout the film, the characters they portrayed seemed too calm and collective to be heroes. There were some moments that seemed too staged or looked unnatural like when Koyama grabs the book out of Shige's hand playfully at the beginning of the PV. When they are conversing with each other they speak very briefly. There was no flow in the dialogue which made the scenes a little awkward and unnatural also. But by the middle of the film, the members seemed allot more comfortable and natural acting. Their facial expressions were less artificial, stiff, forced and they relaxed a bit more. With the children, there personality seemed to melt into the kid's enthusiasm. 
Setting/Props: 
The setting of a Elementary school is used as both in the reality world of the film and the internet. The use of the same school in both occasions showed a different aura with the use of certain props and the black and white filter. You find the school in the real world to be warm and friendly while in the internet world, the school has changed into a dark deserted school with danger lurking in ever corner.
The setting of TEAM WHITE's headquarters is as if straight out of The Power Rangers because they has a place to hangout and relax, but also a area to gear up for trouble. The use of the elevator as a transporter was impressive as it gave these heroes a even cooler image. You can even call it TEAM WHITE's own bat cave, except less subtle, aesthetically pleasing and comfortable.
Costume: 
TEAM WHITE: The theme is set with an aura you would receive from a show like Ghostbusters. The gadgets used in the story itself reminds you of Ghostbusters, but their's is nothing as close to Mr. White's PV. The huge difference is that NEWS has adapted the outfits to look more fashionable and comfortable for easier movement . Its not like the simplistic plain green jumpsuits.
Going with the theme white, the outfit fits that concept as everything worn was white. On their hands they have gloves. The outfit consists of a long sleeve black shirt worn with another white t-shirt over it. Another, over these two clothing items, a vest. They wear white leggings with shorts, and white knee pads over them. All most everything worn has a “TEAM WHITE” logo on it which makes it very loud and clear who they are. As a graphic designer, I find this very enticing and delightful for the repetition of colors, logos, and consistency in how the outfit was put together!
The outfit looks like a mixture between a soccer and volleyball outfit which mixes presumably well together. 
The battle packs used in this film as stated before on top, reminds you of Ghostbusters, but with a twist of modernization. It is the top part of the battle pack that reminds you of something you've seen from Ghostbusters before, but the small shorter silver hand gun connected to the backpack and the bottom circular plate was different and once more you see the flaunting pride of TEAM WHITE's logo!
The outfit seems to have allot of layers of different things to be worn. To be more realistic here, if you were called in urgent need of rescuing people in distress, those outfits would take a very long period of time to put on. Other than that, overall the outfit design by Masuda is impressive and if it were to be cosplayed, I would gladly do it and look like a badass flaunting with pride to be part of TEAM WHITE!
Weblack: What else can I say other than “big-plushie-man-that-looks-like-he's-running-in-his-sleeping-bag-and-hoody”. If the idea Weblack was to be scary and intimidating this idea hit the fan and landed into a camping catalog. I assume that since the concept is sticking to a kid-show like program, it may frighten you if you were a kid.
Audio/Music:
One thing in particular I found strange and stood out the most is the fact that you cannot hear what TEAM WHITE is really saying once they are in the virtual world. Their voices are all glitchy and you can't make out anything, leaving you with only subtitles. They must have done that purposely to set the mood and whole idea that the internet is a pretty messy and scrambled up place.
The little background sound affects such wind, heavy breathing and echoing noises sets the suspension. It makes you very agitated waiting for the next occurrence in the scene. You can see an example of that when TEAM White finds themselves walking into the hall that they will soon realize, to be a location children had been trapped. The music following those sounds built up to the scene.
The sound of loaded guns and lightening, a typical effect in action movies and films.
I don't have much to criticize about the sound effects in the background other than the volume of NEW's voices. When they converse among each other, it sounds muffled. NEEDS TO BE LOUDER!
I've listened to the album “WHITE” a couple of times to recognize that the scenes where we find TEAM WHITE fighting with Weblack, the instrumental of SuperSONIC and Black Jack is being played. This music fits perfectly for the scene as they fight against Weblacks. The song Mr.White was played once after the kid's kidnapped and the credits.
Overall I enjoyed the sound effects and the music. A superb fit with no misplacement.
I enjoyed the concept that the internet is a dark place and is lifelessly bland. The filter really connected to a great meaning behind the message in the PV. The camera filter when TEAM WHITE is resting at their hangout has a orange-warm color filter that calmly makes you reminiscence about the Power Rangers.
The use of digital animation could have had better improvements as it seem a little simplistic and has been seen in other films before, but then again you show great appreciation to the style adaption of editing effects like your childhood shows.
What I found amusing the most is the sudden switch from live action scenes to drawing animations of TEAM WHITE. It was shocking to see a sudden change of style in the film, but it fit well and I liked it's comic sorta Marvel style fighting scene.
The PV seems like a fun little action crime-fighting themed TV series for children, but the storyline has a much more deeper meaning behind it.
Shige's written story is a symbolic representation of social issues in today's youth.
In the beginning of the PV, little Shiroyama looks at computer screen and finds himself into a different world where he becomes trap. This can easily be converted into the idea that today's youth gets easily stuck in the idea that they can find entertainment from the internet rather than elsewhere.
Weblack itself represents the dark and dangerous internet. As insightful the use of the internet is as of today, people have taken advantage of its use. There are advertisements, beauty standards expectations and social medias place on the web everyday and people are not aware at the idea that whatever gets puts on the internet will never disappear. There are not always good people on the internet and they may want to harm you. The words you say must be done with precaution too because it may be harmful to people and can cause self-harm, depression, or even death.
The internet takes kids and steal them away from reality. Everything the internet gives to the children are black and white. Objective and straight forward. This is becoming an issue to many children now a days since kids would rather sit and play video games on their phones and laptops rather than playing, creating, and expressing themselves. This makes the kids bland and lifeless as they have conformed to the idea that they don't need to make anything. That everything on the internet is all there for their entertainment.
Even if the children try to escape this, it is almost impossible to leave. They have already been use to using the internet and become dependent on it for entertainment. That can be represented through the use of the nets that trapped the children. The net itself in literal term represents the network.
We see that Koyama has also been captured and trapped by the nets. This message not only applies to children and teens, but it happens to adults too.
It is never impossible to dig yourself or a child out of this hole though. In our lives, there is a TEAM WHITE. A person who can protect you and support you. Even you yourself can become a member of TEAM WHITE. There is always hope with great perseverance that you can get out of this addiction or bad habit.
This film acts as a warning to this generation's compulsive use of technology. Of course if it weren't for the internet you would never be here, able to connect with others and listen to a variety of music and learn about other cultures. ( *wink wink wink I'm half way across the world, but glad too find out about NEWS) Appreciate the internet, but don't worship it!!
You must remember that technology is only an object that won't last long. It is life and experience that will last a life time! Go outside, see the beauty and color of the world. Appreciate whats around you!
I don't know how many times I have watched this short film and have been tired of seeing it! Its over cinematography is outstanding with the concept of children shows and incorporated with socially issues that any age group can relate to. I hope NEWS continues to keep up the good work and do more concepts like this in the future! If you have not watched the film and have read this far showing interest, go check it out!
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