Geidai Animation: 8th Graduate Works 2017 (DVD)
Friday, June 9, 2017
Geidai Animation: 8th Graduate Works 2017 (DVD)
東京藝術大学大学院映像研究科アニメーション専攻第七期生修了作品集 2017
This past March, the 8th cohort of graduates from the MA in Animation programme at Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) celebrated their graduation with the annual tradition of an exhibition and screening event. According to the accompanying catalogue, they called their year “ZOOM” because they “ZOOM into the deepest consciousness when creating animation, where vivid fantasy worlds unfurl endlessly and no impasses will be seen.”
In his comments on the graduating class, their professor Taruto Fuyama writes that he heard that they choose the name ZOOM because of the visual similarity between the number 8 and “OO”. Yet, he cautions that beginner filmmakers often overuse the zoom function on the camera and advises against this practice because zooming creates a fixed distance between the filmmaker and their subject matter rather than creating greater intimacy: “Since the advent of the internet era, we tend to feel like it’s troublesome to bring ourselves closer to the subject matter in order to gain an understanding of it. However, an artist can’t be a bystander to the theme he or she wants to express. After all, ZOOM is dependent upon technology. I want you to remember the attitude of moving your own body closer to your subject matter to interact with it, understand it, and figure out your own answers.” With his Koma Koma Lab, Fuyama has built his career designing technology that allows people to interact with the art of animation in inventive and engaging ways. I hope his students will heed his advice.
Alongside Fuyama, who taught them research and theory, the class of 2017 was supervised by stop motion animator Yūichi Itō(model animation course), producer Mitsuko Okamoto (project planning and development course), and the Oscar-nominated animator Kōji Yamamura (2D animation course). The students collaborate with students from other departments at Geidai for their soundtracks. Their sound lecturers were Yuichi Kishino and Hiroshi Takayama, with support from Tatsuhiko Nishioka and Toru Kamekawa. In addition, French animation expert Ilan Nguyen lectured the students and animator Hiromitsu Murakami provided support in his role as assistant professor. Former students Hiroki Kono (Geidai 2011), Hakhyun Kim (Geidai 2013), and Yūtarō Kubo (Geidai 2014) also provided assistance.
Women once again dominate the student body at Geidai. Of the 14 students graduating this year, only 3 are men, and the current student body in the graduate programme in animation is also more than half women. Interestingly, four of this year’s graduates did their undergraduate studies at Joshibi University of Art and Design, the private art school for women which was founded in 1900. Tokyo University of the Arts began as a male-only fine arts school in 1887 that did not admit women until 1946. It joined with a music college to become a university in 1949.
The Geidai animation department also continues to diversify its student body with international students. Yunjae Oh is from Korea, Wenrui Huang from China, and Man Yee Lam from Hong Kong. Many of the Japanese students have an international outlook. Ryōtarō Miyajima was born in Tokyo but grew up in Bali and Honami Yano did a year abroad at Rhode Island School of Design during her undergraduate studies. In addition, the department hosted an exchange student from ENSAD(France), Marilou Soller, whose film Power Down was included in the exhibition of first year student works in March. You can watch the film on her Vimeo profile.
This year’s graduates represent a wide variety of styles both 2D and 3D, ranging from drawn to stop motion, experimental to traditional. My favourite work is also one of the shortest: Kōjirō Inoue’s first year work Who’s there? (だぁれぇ/ Dārē, 2016) which I reviewedlast year after it screened at Nippon Connection. Other stand outs for me are Moe Kuribara with her innovative wool felt stop motion, Rina Okada who uses various minerals in her animation, and Haruka Uemura, whose character design looks inspired by illustration styles of the 1920s and 1930s. On the whole, it is a very strong year and the preview of the class of 2018 that I saw at Nippon Connectionpromises more great work in the coming year.
8th Graduate Works
第八期生修了作品集
Helpless Void
3’20”
“At night, a man holds out his own leash into the void. He has to explode in order to escape.”
Keigo ITŌ (伊藤圭吾, b. 1992) / twitter
Born in Ibaraki. He graduated with a degree in Character Creative Arts from the Osaka University of Arts in 2015.
Opening Sesame
5’19”
“Three psyches, three voices. A tale of life choices.”
Born in Gifu. He graduated with a degree in Design from Nagoya University of Arts in 2011.
yelp
5’
“Once we used to be happy and grateful for the pure act of eating.”
Haruka UMEMURA (梅村晴香)
Born in Gifu. She graduated from the Kanazawa College of Art in 2015.
Pit-a-pat
4’08”
“A poodle named Coco is put out of its misery but wants to return to its beloved owner”.
Yunjae OH (お・ゆんじぇ, b. 1992) / twitter
Born in Seoul, Korea. She graduated with a degree in Imaging Arts and Sciences from Musashino Art University in 2015.
cosmopolite
3’40”
“Hold up minerals and natural stones to the sunlight. Search for the shapes where light shines through and [for] the shapes of shadows. The process of a small spot gradually finding its own form.”
Rina OKADA (岡田莉奈, b. 1992)
Born in Tokyo. She graduated with a degree in Visual Design from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2015.
Mind Room
4’11”
“Little by little, something has gone wrong with a career woman’s personal life. But these little things are what fill the big hole in her heart.”
Moe KURIBARA (栗原萌, b. 1993)
Born in Kanagawa. She graduated with a degree in Visual Design from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2015.
South Forest
6’48”
“The Gaza Strip is at war. A little girl feeds the deprived helpless animals in an abandoned zoo. Suddenly, an air raid strikes.”
Wenrui HUANG (黄雯睿 / コウ・ブンエイ, b. 1991)
Born in X’ian, China. She graduated with a degree in Animation from the X’ian Academy of Fine Arts, Motion Picture Photography, and Animation in 2013.
Cogito Wonderland
大丈夫だよ / Daijyōbu dayo/7’
“This is film is an allegory [of] clumsy people. Having met egocentric people, I go down the stairs of melancholia. I get swallowed up by the waves that I myself create. I know life is not only bad. . . [but] who am I? What am I?
Saori SUZUKI (鈴木沙織) / tumblr
Born in Shizuoka. She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2010.
Scroll of Darkness
闇の絵巻 / Yami no emaki / 7’48”
“One night as I was walking through the forest, a robber steals my bookmark. I chase him only to end up in an endless void of darkness.”
Tomoko TAKAYA (髙谷智子, b. 1992)
Born in Tokyo. She graduated with a degree in Imaging Arts and Sciences from Musashino Art University in 2014.
Lady Nosferatu
少女ノスフェラトゥ/ Shōjo Nosferatu/ 6’10”
“The story of Nosferatu vampires glimpsed by a boy who gets lost in the forest.”
Born in Hiroshima. She graduated with a degree in Visual Design from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 2015.
Aeon
3’48”
“Self-replicating entities that have evolved on different planets merge and proliferate exponentially. In search of more energy sources, they consume other stars.”
Born in Tokyo but grew up in Bali, Indonesia. He graduated with a degree in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2015.
Chromosome Sweetheart
染色体の恋人 / Senshokutai no Koibito/ 4’55”
“An ex-couple in a café, a girl sucking on her girlfriend’s hair, a running woman, a fleeing town, a little girl walking along the river. In this world, there are as many forms of love as there are people.”
Born in Ehime. Studied at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2013 as part of an exchange program. She graduated with a degree in Animation from Kyoto Seika University in 2015.
There was a Man
8’47”
“A one-armed mountaineer encounters a lost arm on a mountain of salt. Who did it belong to? Why was it left there?”
Moeka YAMAZAKI (山崎萌花, b. 1993)
Born in Hokkaido. Graduated from Tama Art University in 2014. She produces stop motion animation using cutouts and minerals. Her creative motto is: “Visual Art you want to touch.”
Silent Smile
5’20”
“She wears a white mask to keep her sadness hidden from others. How can she free herself from the darkness of her mind?”
Man Yee LAM (林文薏 / リン・マンイ, b. 1991) /
Born in Hong Kong. She graduated with a degree in Animation from Northumbria University.
1st Year Works 2016
一年次作品2016
Eternal Flame
無限の火/ Mugen no Hi / 4’02”
“In the pitch darkness a man cannot see anything. [The] only light source is a light lit with a match by someone else. The night is lit and put out. This repeats [for some time] and eventually the man makes up his mind.
Keigo ITŌ (伊藤圭吾) – profile above
Who’s There?
だぁれぇ / Dāre? / 1’25”
“The Rakugo story of Parrot is told by a Rakugo-ka, or a lone storyteller formed of Japanese characters.”
Kōjirō INOUE (井上幸次郎) – profile above
Jade
翡翠 / Hisui / 3’45”
“A woman is pronounced to be ill but it is too much for her to accept. Her thoughts and worries continually change to [make] a strange and mysterious world.”
Yume UKAI (鵜飼ゆめ, b. 1991)
Born in the Chubu region. Graduated with a degree in Design from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2015. As of 2017, she still in the graduate animation programme at Tokyo University of the Arts.
First Hand Memories
てのひらのにわ / Te no hira no niwa / 5’04”
“A girl looks [at] the surrounding world through a core of toilet paper, [playing in a way that everyone can identify with].”
Haruka UMEMURA (梅村晴香) – profile above
Sounds Over Seas
貝殻のウラ / Kaigara no Ura / 2’26”
“The film is a journal of a woman who travels in time. . .”
Yunjae OH (お・ゆんじぇ) – profile above
Smells like Coffee Spirit
まごころ？マスター / Magokoro? Masutā / 3’36”
“Kosaku Sarutahiko is a minuscule manager of a mysterious café. He tries many ways to treat his customer with the coffee he brewed but. . .”
Erica OHYAMA (大山絵梨香 / Erika Ōyama, b. 1992)
Born in Okazaki City. She graduated with a degree in Art History and Aesthetics from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2015. As of 2017, she still in the graduate animation programme at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Charon Pluto’s Lonesomeness
CHARON 冥王星の孤独 / Charon Mei
“In the pitch darkness a man cannot see anything. [The] only light source is a light lit with a match by someone else. The night is lit and put out. This repeats [for some time] and eventually the man makes up his mind.
Rina OKADA (岡田莉奈) – profile above
Japanese Chess
将棋 / Shōgi / 3’44”
“At a Shogi chess game, the players start pondering the opponent’s game strategy. . . They lose themselves in their deep contemplation.”
Moe KURIBARA (栗原萌) – profile above
Umbrella
傘 / Kasa / 4’37”
“In the world of constant black rain, people live under umbrellas' protection. One day a man threw his umbrella away, which [brings] him a green plant. . . People desire his plant and start to scramble for it.”
Wenrui HUANG (黄雯睿 / コウ・ブンエイ) – profile above
Braid
あみこみ / Amikomi / 3’23”
“A girl braids her classmate’s long hair. She remembers moments [from the past] with her friend. . . Did [any] of these actually happen?”
Nozomi KOYASU (子安のぞみ, b. 1991)
Born in Osaka. She has a degree in Information Design from Tama Art University (2014). As of 2017, she still in the graduate animation programme at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Mayumi
まゆみ / Mayumi / 5’36”
“Mayumi is a spoiled girl whose parents buy her anything she wants. She names. . . everything she receives ‘Mayumi’ and her room is gradually filled with many Mayumis. Mayumi herself gets swallowed by the characters of her name.”
Chinami TANIGUCHI (谷口ちなみ) – profile above
Radio Wave
3’09”
“Numbers stations were prominently used during the Cold War. A boy was tuning into the radio [on a snowy] mountain and happened to tune [into] the shortwave of codes.”
Ryōtarō MIYAJIMA (宮嶋龍太郎) – profile above
Milky Ways
牛乳の麓 / Gyūnyū no Fumoto / 8’07”
“A woman pours milk from the top of the mountain. At the foot of the mountain a man milks and pours it into a tank. One evening his pigeon doesn’t come back as usual and finally, it brings back [a] small miracle from a woman.”
Honami YANO (矢野ほなみ) – profile above
Man of Many Arms
腕の多い男 / Ude no Ōi Otoko/ 5’37”
“Many arms cling to a man. He doesn’t like it but he believes the situation will never change.”
Moeka YAMAZAKI (山崎萌花) – profile above
Brick Games
3’22”
“[A] little girl [lives] with her brother in a city full of skyscrapers. One night, when there [a]re playing their favourite game Jenga, something strange happen[s].”
Man Yee LAM (林文薏 / リン・マンイ) – profile above
Nothing for Them
4’14”
“A woman and man speak over the telephone. From the woman to the man, from the man to the woman, their feelings, love and hate get mingled.”
Kenshirō WADA(和田健士郎, b. 1991)
Born in Tokyo. He has a degree in Graphic Design from Tama Art University (2014). As of 2017, he still in the graduate animation programme at Tokyo University of the Arts.
sei no Kodo / 4’35”
2017 Cathy Munroe Hotes