Getting Real With: Gokaiju!

On all things poster design, physical media, freelance as a parent, his creative process, inspirations, and much more!

Gokaiju AKA Grégory Sacré (@Gokaiju) is a freelance designer and illustrator based in Reims, France. Albeit with a itch for Japanese pop culture among other things. Citing his goal post to always be “creating contents with the idea of a physical outcome or print.” His main form of professional commission work being the development of beautifully intricate cover sleeves for limited edition Blu-ray film releases.

One look at Sacré’s decade long portfolio (available at gokaiju.art) and you’ll be greeted with poster concepts for films, video games and so on both familiar and obscure. Always designed with an articulate level of craft, colour and
textural goodness.

The following conversation took place between the two of us back in October of last year and I couldnt be happier with how it went! I hope you enjoy and maybe learn a thing or two…

---

GB = Grungiest Bunny
GS = Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju)

GB: So your online design alias is ‘Gokaiju’ what does it mean? Why that name? Is it in the vein of Godzilla or am I way off base?

GS: When I started creating alternative posters in 2013, I wanted to find an alias so as not to mix my activities. I do video and graphics, and I really wanted this second creative activity to be “apart”. So I looked for an alias.

I gave myself some constraints: It had to start with a “G” (like my first name: Gregory), and needed to refer to something I like. As I love Kaiju’s films (like Godzilla) and I am passionate about Japan, having this Japanese word suited me well. The “Go” in front means “five” in Japanese. A bit as if my hand formed a group of Kaiju. And then Gokaiju sounded good!

GB: Five kaijus? That's pretty hectic. I don't even know if the Power Rangers could sort out a situation that crazy.

GS: I'm a purist of the original versions so... I'll tell you that the Power Rangers wouldn't be able to do it, but that a good Super Sentai team would be up for kicking their butts!

(Super Sentai is the Japanese Power Rangers equivalent, which America yoinked the footage from and retroactively added white people to (and Zack, and Trini)… It wont stop me loving it though.)

GB: Another thing to establish for readers, you're from Reims in France. But ever since you first went to Japan with your OTSUKATSU partner Thibaut in 2013 you've both been hooked on their culture (as is made clear in your design work) Does Sake hold up to French wine that well? And has emigrating there ever crossed your mind, or is it out of question?

GS: I can no longer drink wine as I no longer tolerate sulphites, so I would say that Sake won! My friend Thibaut from OTSUKATSU just went to live there (already for a year) a few days ago! He took the plunge. I have often asked myself the question but in the end I prefer not to live there (for the moment). I already have a family life in Reims, where I have my wife and my three daughters. Then, going to Japan means for me to reload my batteries. Disconnect everything from my life to let myself be guided in this country I love so much. When I come back to France, I'm reloaded for at least one more year, mentally and artistically! Living in Japan would not have the same flavour of freedom and disconnection.

GB: I can understand that… Sort’ve like eating your favourite food everyday. It’d be pretty rubbish after the first week or two, right? I’ve never been to Japan but it’s definitely somewhere high on my imaginary bucket list. Is there a particular place there you’d recommend a visit to?

GS: So many places to recommend in Japan... and at the same time one of the pleasures I find there, is getting lost there. My biggest advice, and which also applies to other countries, is to avoid tourist places as much as possible to build your own experience, and not that of the books about "the 100 best things to do in Japan". The best memories or localities that I have, are precisely those that are the furthest away: A meal offered by a grandmother at the top of the mountain because we had picked up trash on the way, the pouring rain outside, taking a coffee, while waiting for an Onsen to open...
and bathe there in the rain.

GB: So you refer on your website to creating your alternative movie posters as
a game at first before managing to turn it into a full-time job. Would you say your relationship to your design practice has shifted since it became 'work' as opposed to play?

GS: In a way, yes. I pay much more attention to the perception you can have of one of my posters compared to when I started. I remember making posters that could be too personal with my relationship to the film, in the sense that it was going to refer to things that were not going to speak to people. I did it above all for fun. And the more I continued to do, the more I wanted to communicate and tell something through the posters I made. Get the person watching the poster to look for details, atmospheres, to even wonder why
I chose this or that element. So it's not a bad thing. I take the work of creating a poster much more seriously than before, but always with as much pleasure... Except when the film I have to work on doesn't interest me.
And there... There, it's complicated!

GB: In my biassed opinion, browsing through as far back as the beginning of your portfolio, I can feel the love for each film shining through in your poster designs. Even for the ones I’ve yet to watch. That is to say the craftsmanship really shows. I won't ask you to name and shame the projects that haven't been fun for you! (Unless you wanted to...)

GS: It is really nice. It touches me deeply. Communicating my love for cinema is such an important thing, that knowing that it can reach people, is always a joy for me. Concerning the projects where I didn't enjoy it... It's obviously in the professional part. Out of respect for the editors I work with, I will not give titles. But the difficulty when I didn't like the film is making people want to see it anyway... or finding the visuals interesting and engaging. Or that it reflects the film or the era.

GB: In tandem with the previous question, I should ask, have you ever had any formal design slash illustration training, or has your skill set been primarily
self-taught?

GS: As far as design is concerned, I am completely self-taught (as in the video by the way). I only did two years of training in a class where we learned DTP. And I didn't even get the diploma. It at least allowed me to have a foundation in this area which has served me a lot since. Everything else, I learned by doing things that I liked, on subjects that I liked. The work came like that.

(PAO/ DTP is Desktop Publishing, IE: Laying out type and visuals digitally, usually for print. In the vein of Indesign. Grégory began with what he calls it's 'ancestor', Quark X-press.)

GB: You also mention the importance of physicality to your work and the end-goal often being print media like blu-ray covers. This makes me wonder about your perspective on the slow erasure of physical media by companies like Disney, Paramount and so on in favour of digital release only, with many new films, games, etc not even getting the luxury anymore?

That is to say, are you willing to let there be a day that there is Gokaiju posters out there without a physical element or exhibition. Or are you ride or die with print media till the very end?

GS: The prospect of no more physical products saddens me to no end. Big companies want to take things away from us and want to control what we consume. I don't want to be guided by an algorithm to watch this or that film, or play this or that game. The same goes for music. But I think it's cyclical.
We see it with music with the incredible comeback of vinyl. Blu-ray is also entering a certain golden age. There have never been so many editors
re-releasing forgotten films, and they are mostly doing it with care and respect. It's not just adding a title to a digital catalog.

Right now, I'm not interested in creating limited visuals, thumbnails, for streaming platforms. I need space to create. If I am reduced to having to “tell something” with a small image, two actors and a title, I would be really sad. I find that the public loses this attachment to objects. I'm from the video store generation, and for me, watching a film is a ritual. There is an engagement, conscious or not, with the film (or the music, or the game, whatever).

I can touch the film, see images, let myself be surprised by a poster which invites me into a universe, an atmosphere. And I will get to the end of the film, because I chose it and there was some thought behind it. It's not just an image that was sitting there on the home page of a streaming service and I have to watch it because it's the platform's phenomenon film. It does not interest me.
I don't want to remain passive. It's a big subject and I'm getting off track, sorry, but a subject that is close to my heart and which is ultimately linked to my work. So as long as I can, I will do covers for physical releases, and I will also always do alternative posters! Besides, even when I design a cover for a Blu-ray release for example, I always work on it in large format, as if I were going to release it in poster size.

GB: Particularly, being born in 2002 and growing up with video stores as a kid. Your comment about them really struck me. Googling the ones I used to visit with my parents and finding them all shut down and unarchived is pretty heartbreaking. It was a very cherished ritual for me and my childhood friends to go and judge film covers and their synopsis before committing to one, if we were lucky, two DVDs to watch over the weekend.

Nowadays that committal aspect of experiencing a film is reserved for rare cinema visits, if you don't like something now you can just flick it off and scroll for two hours trying to find greener grass. All that is to say, I suppose the convenience of modern technology is a curse as much as it is a blessing...

As I stare at my ‘Amazon Prime Video’ page, I see the icons for bond films like GoldenEye and Dr. No presented as a PNG of the actor with the title slapped in
a white void beside them. Fully devoid of flavour or context. I just wouldn't click on them. It hurts knowing these are both pictures you’ve developed loving, colourful fan posters for. It’s a disservice to everybody involved.

GS: I read an interview with the screenwriter of Batman Returns recently where he explained that during his youth, seeing a film could be an obstacle course and that if you missed a screening, you didn't know if one day you would be able to see it. This was before the arrival of the VCR and video stores. I am from the VHS generation. I was lucky to be born when my parents bought their first VCR and therefore to be able to see and especially rewatch films very very early.

I actually learned to use it... at the age of two! I put on VHS by myself to watch films, especially comedies with Louis de Funès. But growing up, there was still this thing about finding a movie! It was like a quest! We heard about it from friends, or in certain specialized magazines. The film took on enormous importance in our minds, even without having seen it. All we could do was imagine it, and often, thanks to the poster or its cover! And we can say that but so many movie posters were better than the movies themselves!
The capture you shared is sad. The universe of these films is so rich that to see them reduced to these kinds of vignettes (those of the jumps are the worst)
is depressing.

GB: While you've cited using Photoshop primarily to create your designs. Is there any secret physical Gokaiju sketchbook for pre-visualisation and concepting ideas on pen and paper beforehand? If so... May I see a page or two? (It's totally okay if I am disallowed.)

GS: Yes! It has been part of my creative process for several years. I have a notebook, which I keep nearby when I watch a film, and if I have an idea, or a desire to make a poster, I sketch and take notes and timecodes. Sometimes a concept can stay in my notebook for a very long time before I bring it to fruition... A very, very long time!

The sketchbook of Gokaiju (images courtesy of him.)

GB: Would you personally go as far as to call yourself an 'auteur' with your poster work with certain recurring elements and particular style or are you open to changing and experimenting beyond your comfort zone?

GS: I wish I would never rest on what I do. There have been times, in the ten years that have just passed, when looking at my posters, I said to myself: I do the same thing all the time, it has to change, I have to try new things. I don't like it when my work hums (I don't know if the expression is in English) or when I feel like I'm going in circles. In any case, I always try to bring my point of view, my perspective regarding the film I am working on. Let there be real personal work. I like to be inspired by all things, from the film in particular, but also from its music, from things that have nothing to do with it but which touch on the era in which the film was released. I am sometimes amazed at how certain artists move away from the established codes of a poster, their work inspires me to do the same to offer something personal and original. Something that reflects the film, without ever forgetting the vision I have of it.

GB: Could you name a few of those artistic inspirations for me off the top
of your head?

GS: Unfortunately I couldn't name the artists but I have a passion for old Japanese posters. If I find that I lack inspiration on a composition, I open one of my books which deal with these posters and I look... without really looking, a bit like recharging a battery. To name artists I adore: Mike Mignola, Eric Powell, Housui Yamazaki... They're too many... And my brother: Florent Sacré. He has always had a big influence on me. And we don't have the same style at all. Especially since he draws, while I don't. Then for the artists of Poster I could cite many... But let's say that I am very sensitive to the work of people like Matt Needle, Ben Turner, Rafa Orrico Diez, Snollygoster Productions, Przemek Bartnik, Callum Mullin, etc. So many artists that I would like to name them all!

(Very strangely, while researching Grégory's influences, I found his brother to be a game developer who worked on Rayman 2 one of the first video games I played as a kid. Thanks Florent!)

GB: To my understanding you're primarily a freelance designer. But two-fold you're also a parent. How is that experience being at home with kids where you're presumably designing from. Is it tricky to juggle your time, or do
you all have a clear understanding of a strict schedule when you're busy
in 'work-mode' ?

GS: Before becoming completely independent, I was part-time. I worked in post production in a video and design company in the morning. And in the afternoon I worked for myself. This is where I learned to build my working method “at home”. I try as much as possible to work when my daughters are at school and therefore to have fairly “strict” schedules. A bit like I was my own employer. And when I have to exceed, I arrange with my wife to manage the children. But everything happened quite naturally. I don't close the door when I'm working so my children can come and talk to me. But they also know how to respect what I do.

It's been something else since I had my third daughter (who is one year old). But I don't see why it would be any different with her! And last thing: I only work during the daytime. Never in the evening (except when I have to watch a film on which I have to do a cover) nor on the weekend. These are moments that I completely dedicate to my family life. There are of course exceptions, but as a general rule, I disconnect everything, as if I were leaving work to go home... except that I am still at home... But that's all people who work from home are faced, even more so since Covid.

GB: Congratulations on your third daughter! It sounds like you have your hands incredibly full... Is movie making something you're interested in ever returning to or are you content with transitioning purely to designing artwork for
them externally?

GS: THANKS! I still continue to make videos. Much less than before, but it's still a big part of my job. What I miss is creating fiction. But it will come! I'm going to get back into it soon, with a director friend of mine, we're going to make a short film. And we've been writing a feature film for three years...
It's very long, but we want to do things well!

(If you're curious, Sacré has a series of short Japanese documentary videos on Youtube, under the channel: Balades Japonaises. Theres no dialogue, so dont worry about not knowing your French to enjoy them.)

GB: For me, like a lot of creatives, seeing a blank page in front of me is probably the most daunting prospect on any piece of design, personal or otherwise. Have you got any tips and tricks that you'd recommend for getting around this?

GS: For my part, creating means constantly making mistakes and testing... And finally arriving at something you like. Making a paper draft based on concrete things (screenshots, atmospheres, photos of accessories, etc.) is always a good basis. But the best advice I can give, especially when you start doing this type of job, is: Have fun. Work on subjects or materials that motivate us, that make us vibrate, and with which we maintain a rich and creative relationship. If you decide to make movie posters but you don't like cinema... Good luck.

We communicate our love of film or genre through a design, a film, regardless of the medium chosen. But it takes love behind it. Then comes the problem of: you have to bring back money to eat. And that's another story, we learn to make concessions. but if we have trained on cool and motivating things, we can always come back to it or use it for less cool things.

GB: I suppose on a greater scope... What do you recommend to new designers fresh to building a portfolio and attempting to begin their professional careers, selling themselves slash their work. Do you have any wise words of wisdom?

GS: I think I half-answered this question in my previous answer! If we stay on the job of poster artist. I would say above all: Work on films that you love deeply and with whom you have an affection, and avoid the big films that are coming out. Certainly your design will be part of a vast communication of the film and perhaps, you will be entitled to a small moment of glory. It's always interesting to have your poster shared by an official account or a big site...

But I ask myself the question: apart from the communication side, what do you have to communicate? Why release a poster for a film where we've just seen the trailer? Why make a poster for a film if behind it we have nothing to convey, to tell. I need to use the design to add your two cents. The little thing, the little detail that will make your poster different from all the others. And for that, you have to have things to say, and if they are specific to you, your poster will resemble you, and will not be drowned in the mass of all the others. If your work has heart, it will eventually touch someone.

gokaiju

A post shared by @gokaiju

A special thank you to the man himself, Gokaiju. For being so earnest in his conversation with me and being so giving with his answers. How about those wise words, right? Despite a bit of a language barrier with his French. We made it work out in the end!

I really enjoyed doing a deep dive into someone’s story like this and I’d be happy to make it more than a one time thing, if anyone else fancies coming on for a chat let me know! My DMs are open.