JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL

The Agency for Cultural Affairs has been organizing the Japan Media Arts Festival annually since 1997 with the aim of promoting the creation and development of media arts. The Japan Media Arts Festival awards prizes for outstanding creative works in the fields of art, entertainment, animation and manga as well as providing opportunities to introduce these works, specifically through the prizes announcements, the Awards Ceremony, and the Exhibition of Award-Winning Works.

The Japan Media Arts Festival stall will be showing 16 short films at HYPER JAPAN 2011, selected from 2010 award-winners. The sixteen films will be shown throughout each day, over each day. This is an amazing chance to see some of the cutting-edge work coming out of a country that is renowned for its innovation and spirit of challenge in the arts.

Find out more about the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival here. 

Award-Winning and Recommended Films at HYPER JAPAN

• NIGHT LESS :: Yuichiro TAMURA
• factory of dream :: EUPHRATES
• arukuaround / sakanaction :: Kazuaki SEKI
• natsu wo matteimashita / amazarash :: YKBK
• ab_rah :: Kohei YOSHINO (networks)
• I ♥ XXX / OTSUKA Ai :: Chie MORIMOTO / Show YANAGISAWA
• Nike Music Show :: Naoki ITO / Frank HAHN
• Pico / SJQ :: Takafumi TSUCHIYA (TAKCOM)
• The Last Piece - Chapter of HANASAWA Etsuko :: Takanobu MIZUNO
• Venus & Jesus/Etsuko Yakushimaru :: Daito MANABE
• Fumiko's Confession :: Hiroyasu ISHIDA
• farm music :: Yousuke OOMOMO
• TWO TEA TWO :: Hiroco ICHINOSE (decovocal)
• The Messenger from the Sea :: nosferatu
• anti-chaos :: Shino NAGASAKI
• a song like a fish :: Taijin TAKEUCHI

Art Division

Excellence Prize/Movie: NIGHT LESS :: Yuichiro TAMURA

NIGHT LESS is a road movie composed entirely of images from GoogleStreet View. The story transcends national borders as it takes spectators on a journey from Nebraska to Chiba, Alaska, Portugal and Marseille. The sun never sets on the views in this movie. The first half features dubbing by the artist himself, while the second half uses audio from YouTube. Does this movie created without actual filming deserve to be calleda "movie"? (11 min. 36 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Movie: factory of dream :: EUPHRATES

After everyone has settled in for a good night's sleep, a conveyor belt flows quietly, seemingly suspended in mid-air. This is a factory where the letters “D, R, E, A, and M” are being manufactured. In this animated movie created as a good-night song for E Tele 2355, a program aired on NHK Educational TV, each finished “DREAM” is packed into a box with the words “GOOD NIGHT” in other languages from around the world. (3 min. 46 sec.)

Entertainment Division

Excellence Prize/Movie (Music Video): arukuaround / sakanaction :: Kazuaki SEKI

The camera follows the walking figure of Ichiro Yamaguchi, the vocalist of the Japanese rock band sakanaction.The typographic objects that appear ahead of him are in fact lyrics that he songs. His walking speed is exquisitely synchronized with the tempo of appearance of the lyrics expressed as art objects. The display of lyrics in a spatial manner using expressive analog methods represents the realm of songs where one can explore him / herself by repeatedly analyzing and restructuring the lyrics. (4 min. 47 sec.)

Excellence Prize/Movie (Music Video): natsu wo matteimashita / amazarash :: YKBK

This movie is a video clip of a song by amazarashi, a Japanese rock band led by Aomori Prefecture-based musician Hiromu Akita. The white teru-teru bozu handmade doll—the symbol of amazarashi—travels through a gloomy town enclosed by telephone poles. The head of the doll transforms into octopus arms, a TV, an antenna, a speaker, etc., in tune with the melody of the song. The dynamic pen-like strokes and the 3D screen effects create a familiar and yet disturbing atmosphere. (5 min. 54 sec.) 

Jury Recommended Work/Movie (Short Film): ab_rah :: Kohei YOSHINO (networks)

An animation created using a toy that draws pictures with magnets, the kind of thing most of us have tried in childhood. The “rule” of this toy is that pictures are deleted immediately after being drawn. The sense of speed created by repeatedly drawing and erasing images and the sense of exhilaration that comes from the experience of this rudimentary form of digital paint are expressed at a rhythmic pace. The images develop from flat surfaces to open space, and from indoors to outdoors. The sense of freedom inherent to this medium and the free development of the music complement each other. (3 min. 16 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Movie (Music Video): I ♥ XXX / OTSUKA Ai :: Chie MORIMOTO / Show YANAGISAWA

Based on the anecdote that “A pair of penguins love only each other for life,” the story of this film stars two penguins who are separated from each other, and who meet again on the other side of the world. The production of the music began as the set piece for the Junior High School category of the 77th NHK National School Music Competition. The chorus work from the mid-section and the impressive music combine to conjure up the image of the two penguins walking and walking around the world. (5 min. 13 sec.)  

Jury Recommended Work/Movie (Commercial): Nike Music Show :: Naoki ITO / Frank HAHN

Under the tagline of “Free Like Feet Want to Be” this is a promotion for Nike Free Run+, for which a campaign has been launched to communicate the astonishing pliancy of these shoes. To bring the flexibiltiy of the shoes together with the musicality that is the key image of Nike+, the company worked with RHIZOMATIKS to develop Nike Music Shoe, a show with parts that actually play music, performed by HIFANA (2 min. 55 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Movie (Music Video): Pico / SJQ :: Takafumi TSUCHIYA (TAKCOM)

A soundtrack that breaks down a music sound source into finely detailed noise, converts this into film using 3D software, and combines this with animation to create a dazzling new world. In the 3D software, the musical pieces are applied to objects and composites, and the parameters obtained and the allocation of the rhythms and sounds created from the parameters thus obtained and the animation are highly representative of the groove. (5 min. 40 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Movie (Short Film): The Last Piece - Chapter of HANASAWA Etsuko :: Takanobu MIZUNO

The second part of an animation series which depicts a mysterious episode of a human encounter in modern society by setting it to music in the style of a music video. HANAZAWA Etsuko, who is unable to recover after the shock of losing her beloved husband, finds a cat which has been abandoned by the side of a pond. Her connection with the cat brings a smile back to her sad face, but…. Shown using a combination of two technologies: 2D and 3D. (6 min. 30 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Movie (Music Video): Venus & Jesus/Etsuko Yakushimaru :: Daito MANABE

A particle music video created from the 3D scan data of YAKUSHIMARU Etsuko (vocalist). A magical image is created by matching this with the vocalist's singing voice. The entire film has been created entirely by using software created by the artist himself, rather than editing software. In addition, a website using 3D data which allows audience to experience the mechanisms of movie creators for themselves has also been created and made public at the same time. (3 min. 13 sec.)

Animation Division

Excellence Prize/Short Animation: Fumiko's Confession :: Hiroyasu ISHIDA

Fumiko, who has a crush on Takashi, tells her feelings to him only to be rejected. Crying out, Fumiko starts to run. Just like the wind, Fumiko runs through the town, rolling down steep stairs, falling off the cliff, and flying over the shopping promenade where does she find herself in the end? In this animation, a story of a desperate "confession" by a pure-hearted high school girl unfolds with a unique depiction of angles and speedy actions. (2 min. 22 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Short Animation: farm music :: Yousuke OOMOMO

farm music is a musical animation that features a delightful melody composed of the chirps, cries, footfall, biting and chewing sounds, and tinkling of bells of various animals, such as baby chicks, goats, pigs, cows, moles, cats, mice, etc. By using simple clean lines to depict the animals against the backdrop of the rhythmical flow of the music, the artist strives to convey the lively atmosphere and warmth of the farm, and pursues the fun experience typical for animation movies. (2 min. 58 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Short Animation: TWO TEA TWO :: Hiroco ICHINOSE (decovocal)

Marge calls the past “Ienanyo.” She is meeting Ienanyo in a café. They will overcome what separates them and become one again. The new unity is different from the original form and provokes a feeling of unease and strangeness. Marge decides to coexist with her past in a new type of relationship. (3 min. 8 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Short Animation: The Messenger from the Sea :: nosferatu

Non-chan saves the life of a turtle being bullied at the seashore. The turtle invites Non-chan to leave his cruel country and go to Paradise. But after another bout of bullying, the turtle grows to an enormous size and begins to destroy the town. Non-chan embarks on a battle to protect what is precious to him. The Messenger from the sea is the latest installment in the Kidousenshi Non-chan series started 10 years ago as a simple Web animation project. It comes to the audience six years after the previous film, Held in the Rain. (8 min. 30 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Short Animation: anti-chaos :: Shino NAGASAKI

anti-chaos tells the story of a frog obsessed with the idea of bringing its fellow frogs into line. The film places the spotlight on the relationship between the acts of lining up and bringing others into line, which is one of the core concepts that form the foundation of our society, and depicts the chaos and convergence that occur when something unexpected happens. (4 min. 5 sec.)

Jury Recommended Work/Short Animation: a song like a fish :: Taijin TAKEUCHI

One day, a boy is visited by a huge fish that enters through the window of his room. To create this fusion of illustrations and puppet animation using real large-size puppets, the artist rented a house that had been empty for over 10 years. After making the puppets, including a 2.4 meter-height boy puppet and a 1.4 meter-long fish, he suspended them from the ceiling and set them in motion using wires, shooting the film as a stop motion animation. For the dream sequence, each frame was painted on the walls, floor and ceiling and animated with stop motion. (4 min. 56sec.)