VIDEO MATSURI

STUDENT SHORT FILM CONTEST

2016 Judges’ Comments

たくさんのいいビデオ、ありがとうございました！

The 2016 Video Matsuri contest was a great success. It was the 8th year of the contest, and it was great to see more entries than last year. There were many excellent videos at all levels. The Junior Secondary division had the most entries as usual, and it was heartening to see that there was an increase in Primary division videos. Entries displayed great creativity and interesting ideas, effectively using existing software together with their own technical skills. In the best videos, performers used language they could handle at their particular levels, and therefore could pronounce well and deliver with confidence. Some videos carried empowering messages, others were wonderful parodies of Japanese TV shows, and there were some great examples of suspense, horror and action genres. It was a pleasure to see videos from ‘old favourites’ – schools that had participated in previous years. Please continue to send in your entries!

As we mentioned, the Junior Secondary Division had the largest number of entries, but this time the judges had difficulty in choosing an outright winner, so all outstanding videos were given a specific prize. Prizewinners displayed good use of camera, manga drawing skills, and well-choreographed action.

In the Primary division, prizewinners used imaginative ideas and great visual effects. The winning video in particular showed great originality, using Japanese parts of speech as characters in a drama!

In the Senior Secondary division videos covered a variety of themes, but what the prizewinners had in common were good scripts and good acting skills, resulting in cohesive, well-produced short films. The tertiary division winners were very authentic and had a professional touch, capturing the Japanese style of YouTubing and horror videos. They could have been on Japanese media!

This year’s contest item was ‘umbrella’, and umbrellas were everywhere. Some videos used it as a major theme, others used it for a cameo appearance. Some used the umbrella in conventional ways, others used it in very surprising ways. With each video we enjoyed seeing where the umbrella would appear…

The explanations accompanying the videos made very interesting reading. Clearly, the process of video making promotes language learning, as well as creativity, teamwork and integration of skills from other areas of study. We were delighted to read that some videos were used for assessment, particularly in the Tertiary and Junior Secondary divisions. It shows that this contest can be a useful tool for teachers in assessing their students’ learning. We hope that teachers will consider sharing their assessment methods with their colleagues.

Thank you all very much for taking part in Video Matsuri—students, teachers and all who supported your project. We look forward to seeing more wonderful videos next year!

The Video Matsuri Judges