60 seconds of Ancient Japan
Editing, Strategy & Trilingual Storytelling on Instagram Reels
(Intro)
What if softness was power?
A weekly collaboration with Lou, a Japanese artist sharing Japanese culture from the source, before it’s lost to simplification or forgetting.
We created trilingual Instagram Reels, blending storytelling, spirituality, and cultural memory.
My role: editing, direction, and building a process where slow, intentional content can thrive.
(Context)
This is an ongoing collaboration with Lou, a Japanese artist and spiritual practitioner, whose mission is to preserve and transmit Japanese culture from the source. Not as it is filtered through global trends, but as it lives in memory,
energy, and voice.
Together, we produced a series of Instagram Reels that explore ancient Shinto myth, sacred femininity, and the subtle balances between action and intuition. Each video is a gesture of cultural memory, designed to slow down the viewer,
spark reflection, and share fragments of a Japan that’s often forgotten.
(Intention)
• Offer an accessible entry point to dense spiritual and mythological topics.
• Center the sacred feminine as a theme: how receptivity, softness, and sensing can also be forces of transformation.
• Design a process where content feels handcrafted, slow, intentional, even within a fast-moving platform.
⟶ We weren’t chasing reach,
we were testing resonance.
(My role)
• Creative direction: I worked with Lou to define the aesthetic and emotional tone of the series ⟶ clean, grounded, minimal.
• Video editing: I edit each Reel with English, Japanese, and French subtitles, embedded and styled to stay unobtrusive but legible.
• Workflow design: Lou sends me weekly footage and translated scripts.
I deliver the final video, usually within 24 to 48 hours, fully timed, cut, and captioned.
• Strategic support: I track engagement to help identify which tones, rhythms,
or topics create the most connection.
This project has also been a space for mutual learning: navigating language barriers, iterating our process, and gradually building trust through consistency.
(Stats)
Out of the ten Reels we’ve published so far, we’ve tracked performance on four. Enough to get a clear sense of how the project is landing. What’s emerged is a pattern of steady engagement, high viewer retention, and a growing base of returning viewers.
Most Reels have reached between 5,000 and 13,000 organic views, with an average watch time of 12 to 16 seconds: a strong metric for this kind of content.
The 3-second view-through rate consistently sits around 40%, which is above average on Instagram, and suggests the opening seconds of each video are doing their job.
We’re seeing a clear increase in follower-based views over time: early videos were watched ~55–65% by existing followers; the most recent ones have crossed 70%, signaling a shift from discovery to community.
Engagement (likes, comments, saves) remains stable and healthy across all Reels : typically 200 to 450 actions per video, with strong save rates, indicating depth of interest.
Most Reels have reached between 5,000 and 13,000 organic views, with an average watch time of 12 to 16 seconds: a strong metric for this kind of content.
The 3-second view-through rate consistently sits around 40%, which is above average on Instagram, and suggests the opening seconds of each video are doing their job.
We’re seeing a clear increase in follower-based views over time: early videos were watched ~55–65% by existing followers; the most recent ones have crossed 70%, signaling a shift from discovery to community.
Engagement (likes, comments, saves) remains stable and healthy across all Reels : typically 200 to 450 actions per video, with strong save rates, indicating depth of interest.
Most traffic still comes from Feed and Stories, showing that resonance is happening in direct, intentional viewing spaces, not just from passive algorithmic exposure.
(Subtitles)
Every Reel is built with three languages in mind : Japanese and French (spoken or subtitles), and English (subtitled only), demanding careful attention to meaning, rhythm, and legibility.
I developed a fast subtitling system to handle this task weekly, even under time pressure.
I developed a fast subtitling system to handle this task weekly, even under time pressure.
(Process)
• Creative clarity through constraint:
60 seconds, 3 languages, 1 voice. That’s enough.
• Language friction and timezones as creative material: our collaboration improved by embracing miscommunication early on, and shaping a shared process through practice.
• Editing as spiritual translation: it’s not just about cuts and timing; it’s about sensing what must be preserved, and how to let a message breathe.
(Experience)
Why this project matters:
In a space saturated with volume and speed, we chose depth.
This project reminds me that even on platforms built for quick scrolls, truthfully held ideas find their space. And that collaboration, when rooted in trust and care, can turn into a quiet ritual of its own.
This project reminds me that even on platforms built for quick scrolls, truthfully held ideas find their space. And that collaboration, when rooted in trust and care, can turn into a quiet ritual of its own.
(Credits)
Concept & Voice: Lou
Video Edit, Creative Direction & Strategy:
Hey Mimka
Subtitling (JP/FR/EN): Shared
Production Workflow: Hey Mimka
Filming: Lou (self-shot)
Thanks ❤