[Critique by work category] Short Animation

The criteria for selection of this year are as follows: Whether or not the work was convincing as an independent piece of short animation; whether or not there were expressions unique to animation; and whether or not it had interesting content. While applications increased in number this year, there were many works that had not reached the required quality level, which, to our regret, made the screening process not as exciting as it could have been. However, to have found several impressive works was a great relief when screening such a large number of submitted works.
To cite some examples from among those that missed a prize, small LAND JAZZ was a traditional, experimental movie that had a brilliant idea in places, but the author could have worked more on the integration of concepts and musical composition. While FANTASTIC CELL dealt with a classical animation theme, it was an interesting piece that well displayed the monomaniac features of animation. However, it was unfortunate that it had not reached the level of Oscar Fischinger and McLaren in terms of unification of music with images, and that there was no ingenuity in musical arrangement. Although RED CATERPILLAR was not fully satisfactory in terms of quality, it was short-listed for the prize, because in the midst of so many works with a pathological approach, it clearly reflected, though we were not sure if it was a conscious attempt or not, the sense of insecurity existing in the modern society.
KOMANEKO won the Prize for Excellence for its high techniques and a good balance as doll animation. However, the content was really poor, which is a problem common to many of today's short animation works.