Quotes from Hiro Murai

Most of the time, I'm a little bewildered or sort of feel out of place.

'Twin Peaks' was my gateway for David Lynch.

I like absurdist aesthetics. There's something about dream logic that's really fascinating, how it interweaves with narrative.

In a lot of comedy shows, there's a safety net where you don't assume anything of real consequence will happen.

FX is a network; that's their whole model, letting creators make the thing they want to make and then marketing it really well.

TV is generally an unfriendly environment for directors because you're expected to come in and tell a story in the voice of the show that already exists and just fill in the blanks and then submit it back.

A lot of my personality and my affinity for certain pieces of pop culture and art all stem from a sort of Japanese aesthetic and way of thinking.

At the end of the day, if you don't identify with the main characters, no television show will work.

I just got a Filmstruck account so I can watch all of those Criterion movies streaming. I've been nerding out about that.

It might sound naive, but for me, you know, for me, the important part is kind of making process. So I'm not super result oriented, and I just, like, kind of getting lost in the process of making something.

I grew up listening to hip hop and embracing black culture, probably because it was 'outsider art.'

I'm an immigrant, and I think being an outsider in your home is something that I really relate to.

I've loved music all my life.

I think music videos in particular and film in general - it's really good at communicating tone and feeling.

Some people draw a line between music videos and short films, looking down on music videos as a format, but there's so much potential in music videos.

I thought there was a way of marrying what I wanted to do with filmmaking with pop videos, which I found out through a couple projects just wasn't possible. That's not saying anything about the artist. If you're making an Usher video, you're making an Usher video, not a film with an Usher song in it.

I usually work in music videos, where we shoot, like, 10 to 12 setups and 60 shots or something.

Regularly in music videos, I'll write the pitch and convince the artists that this is a good idea, and then I'm having to make concessions to meet in the middle.

Two things - one is obvious: always keep making. The second thing, with regard to music videos specifically - the music video industry can be a place that takes advantage of young freelancers and filmmakers. Make sure you're making stuff that you're proud of and you can get behind.

A TV show has to be a certain length and, you know, you have expectations from the viewers. You know, you want to see the characters again, or you want to see certain dynamics between the characters or certain kinds of storylines. And you kind of figure out how to best fit what you want to say into that format.

Most of the time, I can't listen to the song after the video's done. Sometimes I'll hear a song that I've worked on at a restaurant or on the radio, and I'll have this visceral physical reaction.