FilesFound!NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection
Posted on 23/07/24
Recently, I saw a very interesting CD pop up for sale for just a few dollars online. It's got quite the title - NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection.
Multimedia art from 1995...! And Award Winning Works at that!
The front of the case for NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection
The back of the case for NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection
NEC was one of the leading computing companies in Japan during the 80s and 90s, creating the popular lines of PC-88 and PC-98 computers (I wrote a previous article about putting one of these together myself). It makes sense that they would want to hold a Multimedia Art competition, since it'd be a great way to showcase what people could make using their computers and software.
You might have been able to tell from what I've wrote about here on FilesFound! so far, but I really love art from the early years of computing. Just by looking at the case of NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection alone, I could tell this was going to be a really good CD.
At it was! This may be one of my favourite finds yet...
There's so much on here to look at! 39 submissions from all kinds of people - 5 to 66 years old, individuals and families and whole school classes working together - art, animation, 3D work, programming, music - it's an amazing look into what could be done as early as 1995.
Let's start by seeing what happens when you use the CD!
After using the included installer, you can launch a program specifically made for browsing the award winning works:
Isn't that music great? It's actually an entry - there'll be more about it later.
The BGM would switch between the two different tracks that are featured on the CD, here's both of them:
You might have been able to tell from what I've wrote about here on FilesFound! so far, but I really love art from the early years of computing. Just by looking at the case of NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection alone, I could tell this was going to be a really good CD.
At it was! This may be one of my favourite finds yet...
There's so much on here to look at! 39 submissions from all kinds of people - 5 to 66 years old, individuals and families and whole school classes working together - art, animation, 3D work, programming, music - it's an amazing look into what could be done as early as 1995.
Let's start by seeing what happens when you use the CD!
Using the CD
After using the included installer, you can launch a program specifically made for browsing the award winning works:
Isn't that music great? It's actually an entry - there'll be more about it later.
The BGM would switch between the two different tracks that are featured on the CD, here's both of them:
Steel Pan
OSENTAKU
Each featured artwork has an information page that includes who made it and how, a summary of the work, their inspiration, any difficulties and highlights of the work that they wanted to mention, and a comment from one of the judges of the competition.
There's a lot of text in total, but it's all really good and adds a lot to each artwork, so I wanted to include it all...
I'm going to share the original Japanese as well as English sourced from various online translators. They've been looked over a little by a Japanese speaking friend, but not thoroughly yet. Since it'll take some time, I wanted to share what I have so far anyway - I think there's some wonky translations occasionally, but overall it's readable enough until I can update the article in the near future. Sorry for the mistakes for now (especially the names!).
Let's start looking at the award winning works of NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection!
Creators: Yukio Kuwashima and 3 others, Company Employees, 30
Computer: PC-9821Xt
Software: Director
Production Time: Approximately 1 month
Summary:
To participate in this year's Multimedia Art Grand Prize, we decided to challenge ourselves by using a manga we had written during our student days to create a computer work.
I wanted to create an atmosphere like Yoji Kuri's works, but what do you think?
The music is original.
We were careful not to lose the atmosphere of the original manga.
By the way, the mouse cursor turns into a face when you look at it closely.
I think it is interesting that it blends in with the work.
Inspiration:
I was recommended [to enter the competition] by someone and submitted it with a relatively light-hearted feeling.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Anyway, please watch the whole thing. The hardest part was how to make the manga look interesting.
Judges' Comments:
This is a well-balanced work of hardware and software. Isn't this what you mean by "mastering the use of the software"? (KONTA)
This was one of the first video files I watched on the CD, and I was really impressed! It's amazing to me that a small group of friends could have made something like this together in 1995... Even the music is original!
Did you notice the 3D model of a colourful spinning diamond in the credits?
They mentioned being inspired by Yoji Kuri - here's an animation of his from 1997 on YouTube:
Creators: Hiromi Uchiyama, Kumi Tanaka, and 3 others, Housewife, 37
Computer: PC-9821As2
Software: MultiMedia ToolBook
Production Time: Creating material data: approximately 3 months. Finalization: approximately 1 month.
Summary:
We challenged ourselves to create a homemade multimedia title for younger children from our own point of view and from the perspective of the children (7 year old son and 3 year old daughter), based on small animals, insects and their favorite indoor places and their lives as brother and sister.
The content was set up as a course for a 7 year old son and a course for a 3 year old daughter, with the daughter's course focusing on simple, easy-to-understand hexagonal, button-based actions, and the son's course including elements of storytelling and puzzle-solving, such as finding a hole with a secret technique using voice-guided hints.
We also prepared a helper character called 'Helper Mouse-kun' to assist throughout the game.
Inspiration:
We wanted to challenge ourselves to create a homemade multimedia title.
Difficulties and Highlights:
This year, the deadline [for the competition] was about a month early and I was busy. I want the kids to actually use it.
Judges' Comments:
As always, this is a work overflowing with love. The drawings are also very well done. It is a very well-made piece. (Susumu Matsushita)
Isn't this amazing?? Parents made a whole game for their children! And the art looks so lovely!
It's a shame that this CD only includes video previous of each award winning work, I want to see the whole game... I haven't looked into it yet, but maybe it exists somewhere...
Creator: Takeo Matsuura, Company Employee, 33
Computer: Macintosh
Software: Director 3.1J, PhotoShop, etc.
Production Time: Approximately 50 hours in total, 1 month
Summary:
This is a CG work that introduces drawings and 3D objects created by my son and me. The drawings and other works are stored in an album format in the order they were created, so you can see when they were made. Additionally, to make it easier to understand the production background of the works, we have included an album of production periods and commentary videos. You can also view the works as a slideshow.
Inspiration:
I made this with the intention of organizing the works I've made so far, as well as the pictures and albums my children have drawn.
Difficulties and Highlights:
User interface design, including screens.
Judges' Comments:
The sense of design for the interactive screen is excellent. It is full of ideas. As home multimedia, it is very well done. (Hirofumi Ito)
Another one I wish I could see more of!! The idea of a dad making this from the ground up for his kid is so nice... Really good BGM choices too...
Creator: Takanori Hashi, Lecturer, 26
Computer: FM-TOWNS II MX20
Software: ARTemis
Production Time: Approximately 3 months, including planning
Summary:
I wanted to express the summer that everyone has in their memories. I had originally planned for there to be two paired works, with the second one being female, but the painting was only at the drafting stage when the deadline arrived, so I only submitted one.
Inspiration:
I wanted to express the 'summer' that everyone has in their hearts. As opposed to my usual drawings, I wanted to try and create a piece that's so direct it would make you smile.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I would like you to enlarge the picture if possible. What was difficult was the size and composition of the picture. I was worried about this until the very end because you can freely change the size and composition on a computer.
Judges' Comments:
I think it's a very good piece of art. Summer colors are also coming out. A refreshing work. (Susumu Matsushita)
I wish there was more about the process of making this! How do you make something like this on a FM-TOWNS computer? How does it take 3 months? It's a lovely painting... It looks nothing like anything I've seen made on similar computers at the time...
Having the computer and software that was used being listed is useful since it lets me know what people were using at the time. Maybe I should check some of these programs out...
Creator: Yuji Fujita, Company Employee, 37
Computer: PC-9821Bf
Software: Personal LINKS
Production Time: 6 months for video production, 1 month for sound effects, approximately 2 weeks for editing
Summary:
Synopsis... When Gold-chan, a fork, was taking a walk, a barrel he had never seen before fell out of the sky.
When he called his older brother, Silver, to open it, he found the mischievous Metamo-chan inside.
Overflowing with curiosity, Silver-kun, who doesn't know anything about Metamo, reached out his hand(?) to touch him, but...
Theme...In CG animation, because the camera and objects have no weight to them, although you can have flashy camera action and move objects dynamically, the drawback is that they tend to have unnatural movements that go against the laws of physics.T herefore, in order to create a work that expresses natural movement and gravity, I tried to make a story that gave comical movements to a fork I had nearby.
Particularly, the video rendering was 6000 frames all done by trial-and-error, so the computer was left on for 6 months.
Inspiration:
After seeing the award-winning works from last year, which increased the number of animated works, I decided to submit a video this time. This is what inspired me.
In the process of creating CG, in order to achieve high quality and precision, dynamic expression becomes possible, but it becomes difficult to create natural movements.
Therefore, I decided to focus on expressing a sense of weight and natural movement this time.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Since this is CG, it's difficult to make things emotionally expressive even when they're living creatures, so having an inanimate fork express emotions was a big challenge.
"Open the barrel!" begs Gold, "Alright, got it!" responds Silver.
I would appreciate it if the viewers could try to take in the expressions of the two forks in each scene.
Judges' Comments:
Did you get a hint for the movement of the fork from the French animation 'Nature Morte'? The part where the object transforms into a metaball as it spins around the fork is visually well done. (Machiko Kusahara)
Yes!!! I always love to see early 3D animation... It's so, so brave of the creator to have made this in 1995. They had to leave their computer on for 6 months...! Absolutely worth it.
Creators: Takayasu and Michiko Yano, Self-employed, 33
Computer: PC-9821An
Software: PhotoShop, STRATA Studio Pro
Production Time: 2 weeks for planning, 2 weeks for production
Summary:
This year, I used the memories of my family trip to Hawaii and how my children felt, as well as what I thought and imagined, and expressed it through the computer. By adding 3D CG to realistic scenes, I tried to realize dreams that couldn't be fulfilled in real life. I tried to create my own spin on a modern multimedia work. What was challenging was the sheer amount of data and the long working hours for 3D CG, which was very demanding.
During production, I operated two computers almost continuously without turning them off. The human aspect involved taking advantage of the computer's processing time to eat, sleep, and rest. It was a two-week period dominated by working on the computer.
Inspiration:
As I would like to work in the multimedia field in the future, I decided to make this film as a first step.
From the beginning, I had planned to use expressive children as the main characters, but I could not decide between fairy tales, fantasy, and the world of science fiction, and finally decided to create this memorable work.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The processing and storage of the enormous amount of data with limited time and disk capacity was a major challenge. Setting up 3D models frame by frame on a movie-like timeline was also very labor-intensive. Although it is still rough, I hope you will look at the parts where the 3D CG and live-action footage are integrated.
Judges' Comments:
A dreamy home multimedia film combining CG and live action. You can feel the father's love. (Hirofumi Ito)
Absolutely amazing!! What a find... I love the ending of the camera zooming out with the other kid and the "zoo" animals...
A reoccuring theme with the works on this CD is how time consuming making this kind of content was back then. Computers have come so far since then! Someone could probably put something like this together in a fraction of the time now... But would it have the same level of charm? Hard to tell...
Creators: Yoshiharu Kobayashi and 3 others, Government Employee, 43
Computer: PC-9821Xp
Software: PC-PAINTBRUSH, SuperKID, ActGI
Production Time: In total about 2 months
Summary:
Our family loves dinosaurs so much that we often go to see big dinosaur exhibitions together.
We made a computer picture book of our favorite dinosaurs together as a family.
First, the father drew a picture of five dinosaurs.
Based on the drawings, we created a story by adding everyone's ideas to the father's. The story was created by combining the pictures, music, and programming.
The father was in charge of the pictures, music and programming.
The story was read by the mother, the brother's voice by the brother, and Ichi's voice by herself.
Due to a lack of time, the ending of the story became 'to be continued' instead of 'the end'.
Inspiration:
Our family loves dinosaurs so much that we often go to see large dinosaur exhibitions together. This time, we created a computer picture book about dinosaurs where Ichi and her older brother play active roles.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Creating the drawings and coming up with ideas was enjoyable. The challenging part was using Visual Basic, which I'm not very good at. (This time, I tried to take on the challenge of API functions.) Is there a simpler application somewhere that allows for creating interactive picture books?
Judges' Comments:
Along with Mr. Uchiyama, the Kobayashi family is a representative home multimedia family. The completeness of Mr. Kobayashi's family's work is always high. (Hirofumi Ito)
A whole family (who love dinosaurs) working together to make a book on the computer...! Really, really good...
Creators: Daisuke Matsuzawa, Taisuke Watanabe, 24
Computer: PC-9801BA2
Software: Ballade3, SC55MK2
Production Time: Approximately 5 hours over the span of 3 days
Summary:
A beautiful harmony of steel drums. I expressed the joy of a Central American steel drum orchestra in my own way.
Inspiration:
I liked the sound of the steel drum on Roland's Sound Canvas, so I decided to create a piece centered around this sound.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I think the highlight of the piece is the progression from the percussion solo to the steel drum solo that builds up in the latter half of the piece. It is difficult to reproduce the rhythmic feel of Latin music.
Judges' Comments:
I think it is very well put together. The mood is also good. (Susumu Matsushita)
Here's "Steel Pan" once again, now with a little more information! I'm glad to see it being played inside some cool looking software in the video, too.
Creator: Toshiya Mori, Company Employee, 22
Computer: Macintosh II si
Software: PhotoShop 3.0J, Dimension 2.0J
Production Time: About 2 months, including practice on how to use the software
Summary:
For the first time since being born, I got on an electric train and thought, 'When I get home, I'll just sleep. I have work again tomorrow,' but I realized that if I looked up at the sky at this hour, I'd see so many stars. I felt so happy, thinking, 'Oh, so you can see stars even in a place like this.'
I drew this thinking about when I feel better. As for the colors, I decided to just paint them in a way that felt right.
Inspiration:
The inspiration to create this came from reading the guide article for the Multimedia Art Grand Prize '95. (There were other ideas like 'I should write something like this,' but the main inspiration is as mentioned above.)
Difficulties and Highlights:
Since the work was done with a 256-color display, I'm curious about how it will look in different conditions and how people will see it. The challenging part was figuring out how to use the software, which took a lot of time, and deciding on the colors.
Judges' Comments:
I like the use of different tones of the same color. (KONTA)
Kind of sad...! The visuals of the world outside the train window are nice, I hope this guy is doing well. I wonder what all the artists would think about their work being looked at again in 2024...?
Creator: Yoshino Fujimori, Company Employee, 30
Computer: Macintosh II ci
Software: Presenter Professional
Production Time: Approximately 2 weeks (including computer rendering time)
Summary:
The fun part about CG is being able to freely manipulate the characteristics of objects. I wanted to create a fun drawing that leverages this feature.
Inspiration:
After receiving information about this prize, I thought it would be a good opportunity to test the application's capabilities.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I struggled with unexpected bugs in the application. I wanted the characters in the picture to move in a way that viewers could relate to. Creating this movement was challenging.
Judges' Comments:
This is an excellent work that leverages the potential of 3D CG. (Hirofumi Ito)
Really good picture!!!!!!!!! You love to see early 3D transparent objects with reflection/refraction... The penguin balancing on the top there is so cute and fun...
Also, I love to see so many women's works being featured!
Creator: Ai Sato, Company Employee, 25
Computer: PC-9821Cs2
Software: SuperKID
Production Time: 2 weeks (approximately 2 hours per day)
Summary:
I really like the "Uroko-no-ie" (The House of Scales), one of the Ijinkan (foreign residences) in Kitano, Kobe. The walls are made of stones that look like fish scales. When it was damaged by the earthquake, I was shocked, but I'm sure it will be beautifully restored. I want to see it again.
Inspiration:
After the Great Hanshin Earthquake, I was overwhelmed with confusion and fear and couldn't bring myself to touch the computer. However, as spring approached and I saw the restoration efforts in Kobe and the movements in my beloved "Uroko-no-ie", I was inspired by a strong desire to create a bright and cheerful depiction of Kobe amidst blooming flowers, and I painted it all at once.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I want people to see the fish scale pattern on the wall behind the picture. The challenging parts were making the surroundings of the picture look broken and weathered, and the part with the cellophane tape.
Judges' Comments:
I like the thought (KONTA)
The story behind this one is one of the strongest yet, I think.
By the way, this is what the Uroko House looks like today! It does look nice... The British telephone box is a bit strange to see.
Creator: Shozo Yamashita, Unemployed, 66
Computer: PC-9801UX
Software: SuperTableau, SuperFilter
Production Time: It took 4 to 5 days.
Summary:
While listening to the CD I bought of Debussy's 'Clair de Lune,' I tried to visualize it and connected it with paintings of familiar landscapes. It is also interesting to create a work with sound as the starting point.
Inspiration:
Up until now, my process was to create images first and then make background music (BGM), but for this work, I started with Debussy and transformed this image into a visual representation.
Difficulties and Highlights:
During the editing of the frame-by-frame animation, which took meticulous effort, I focused on removing the noise and smoothing the transitions between the scenes.
Judges' Comments:
You are creating a unique world. (Hirofumi Ito)
What a magical atmosphere...! And made in such a short time, too.
That first shot of the building at night has such a nice fantasy feel to it... I like this one a lot, it's nice to think that a 66 year old made this on their PC-98...
Creator: Shoji Matsuda, Local Historian, 32
Computer: PC-9821Cx
Software: PhotoShop, Director, Premiere
Production Time: 1 year for photographing and video recording, 1.5 months for authoring
Summary:
I previously received the Grand Prize in the Graphics category of the Computer Art Grand Prize. Since the Computer Art Grand Prize has evolved into the Multimedia Art Grand Prize, I decided to challenge myself again in the Multimedia category.
About five years ago, I attempted to create a program for an old work of mine but had to give up because the hardware at that time couldn't handle the necessary high-resolution images. I think this attempt was also in anticipation of the current challenge.
The Korakuen Garden in Okayama is known as one of the three great gardens of Japan. I have always been interested in using the latest media to express Japanese culture and traditions to the world. Therefore, I started collecting materials a year ago and took this opportunity to compile them into one work.
Inspiration:
Korakuen Garden shows its beautiful scenery to visitors in each of the four seasons. To effectively convey this beauty and understanding to the audience, I used videos to introduce the events throughout the year and employed panoramic photos.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Due to time constraints and unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to verify the interchangeability between Macintosh and Windows.
Judges' Comments:
It has excellent configuration ability and I think it's easy to operate. It's a kind of navigation system. (Susumu Matsushita)
This is something I didn't expect to see but I'm glad it was included! Someone really did go and make a whole navigation guide of the Okayama Korakuen garden over the course of a year just because they wanted to. I love to see niche passion projects like this... You know this guy was all about this garden.
Creator: Yasunari Matsumoto and 3 others, Government Employee, 36
Computer: PC-9801US
Software: MIMPI
Production Time: Actual production time is approximately 3 months (total time spent is 8 months)
Summary:
Four friends from the FMDIGI forum of Nifty Serve, a PC communication service, collaborated to create a karaoke song based on an original composition. Lyrics by Isao Hayashi, Composed by Yasunari Matsumoto, Arranged by Toshiyuki Chihoki, Image and lyrics by Shinichi Watanabe.
Inspiration:
The theme for February '94, sponsored by the Fukuoka branch of the Creators Club (Yamaha), a creative writing circle to which Matsumoto belongs, was “light,” so he wrote this song with “moonlight” as the theme.
Hayashi wrote the lyrics, Chihoki arranged the music, Watanabe provided the images & lyrics display, and when it was released on Nifty's FMDIGIORG, it was surprisingly well received, which motivated this application.
Difficulties and Highlights:
It is a snappy arrangement and two lovely hand-drawn pictures.
The best feature of this project is that all the data was exchanged by e-mail.
Thanks to the development of communications, four individuals from Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Osaka, and Tokyo, who didn't know each other's faces, were able to bring together their skills and create one cohesive work.
Judges' Comments:
I think the title screen is simple but good. I think all the “pictures” should have been silhouetted. The standard of “beauty” is different for each person! (Susumu Matsushita)
What's better than this!! Four forum friends who hadn't met in person, working together over email to make a cool original jazz song, in 1995...!
I keep saying it, but I wish this CD had included full versions of all the featured works! It seems like the video previews had to be pretty short... I haven't had the time for more in depth research yet, but maybe there was a web page or something where full versions were uploaded...
Creators: Naoya Kurusu and 2 others, University Student, 24
Computer: Power Macintosh 8100/80AV
Software: PhotoShop 2.5J, Director 3.0
Production Time: 1 month to complete
Summary:
This is a work created while using Mac's Director 3.0 for the first time. Aiming for animation that is not CG, I focused on the content and created it with enthusiasm.
(Group Name: Hand to Mouse)
Inspiration:
Since I purchased Director, I thought I'd try making an animation.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The synchronization of the sound effects with the visuals, the editing, the movement of the rain scene. The story.
Judges' Comments:
I think the work has a good balance between intention and technique. It's a little lacking in fun though... (KONTA)
KONTA!!! What the hell! "Lacking fun"...? Maybe that wasn't what they were trying to convey?? You're way too early for Bee Movie, man. I think it's an amazing animation for 1995. Take this guy away and put me on the judges team, coach.
Creator: Mieko Sasaki, Company Employee, 42
Computer: AMIGA4000
Software: Video Toadter
Production Time: 2 and a half months
Summary:
Near the end of the production, the PAR (Personal Animation Recorder) broke down, and frames began to drop. This was previewed on the IW RDS animation in animation memory. It was directly recorded from the G block. It's a poor result, but I submitted it as a record of three months of hard work. (There is no sound, which is disappointing.)"
Inspiration:
Considering how to utilize CG, I thought about what themes can be best expressed using CG effects, focusing on what can only be depicted through CG. Many things can be considered, but this time I wanted to enjoy the creation of dynamic changes in scale and imaginary events.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Creating animation means becoming the god of that world, which was a struggle for me as a human. Writing the scenario, making objects, moving them, placing them, lighting, camera work, etc. Additionally, rendering over 2,250 frames took a lot of time. Over the 2 and a half months, I only slept 3 to 4 hours a night. Please view the work generously, as it is rough overall.
Judges' Comments:
I think it's a very feminine work. (KONTA)
Oh my god, KONTA, this person spent 2 and a half months of basically sleepless nights working on this sick short movie with a UFO flying around and an amazing cyber city and your only comment is that it's "very feminine"...? I'd be so mad!
Anyway, what a great animation, hope the blue lady was okay.
Creator: Miyuki Ishii, Company Employee, 20
Computer: PC-9821Be
Software: FANTAVISION2, Z's STAFF KiD98
Production Time: 1 and a half hours per week for half a year + additional time (after school, lunch breaks, etc.)
Summary:
I felt that ASIKA could be better expressed by incorporating the animation and more effectively utilizing the text and images.
Inspiration:
I created this as an assignment for a computer class. I love animals, so I chose a sea lion as a subject because it has cute and comical movements. Speaking of sea lions, I chose a sea lion show. The content of the story expanded as I was making it.
Difficulties and Highlights:
What I struggled with was the limited number of dots available to create pictures, and the fact that the movable parts were within eight cells. Expanding the story within that range was very challenging. Also, since I can't play the piano at all, I used various sounds to convey the images.
Judges' Comments:
I enjoyed the punchline of the encore. A lovely piece, but a little difficult to understand in the middle of the film, which is a shame. (Susumu Matsushita)
Okay, now Susumu Matsushita is starting to push it. There's nothing difficult to understand, it's a funny sea lion bouncing a ball and it's great, 10/10.
Creator: Masami Ishimaru, CG Artist, 29
Computer: Quadra 700
Software: STRATA Pro, StudioVision AV, others
Production Time: 1 month
Summary:
I gathered the 3D characters I have created so far, animated them, and added original music to them.
Inspiration:
This is an experimental work.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Modeling and texture creation.
Judges' Comments:
It is very interesting and shows everything at once. The sound also synchronizes well with the visuals. (Susumu Matsushita)
Wow, so much happening in such a short time with this one...! I love the part where a giant letter E flies towards the camera. The little reindeer character is cute too, it's a shame he explodes into one million polygons multiple times.
Creator: Kawanako Shoichi, Teacher, 66
Computer: PC-9801Ds
Software: COREL DRAW!
Production Time: 2 weeks (approximately 50 hours)
Summary:
I wanted to showcase the delicate depiction and beauty made possible by utilizing the characteristic colors of CorelDRAW. I aimed to express the aesthetic beauty of traditional Japanese style.
Inspiration:
I've been creating CG (computer graphics) for two years, and with the goal of entering this competition, I wanted to back up my work.
Difficulties and Highlights:
After repeatedly adjusting the color scheme, I finally managed to create something satisfactory.
Judges' Comments:
A work that skillfully utilizes contrast differences. (Hirofumi Ito)
Gently dithered art made in Corel Draw by a 66 year old gentleman, I'll cry...! Really pretty...
Creator: Akira Kimura, Company Employee, 28
Computer: FM-TOWNS MA20
Software: PhotoShop2.5J, KPT, Painter3.0
Production Time: Approximately 1 month, about 40 hours.
Summary:
In front of a knight, a forest fairy appears, conveying the message of the country. Since this is my first fantasy work, I am worried about how well I have been able to express its atmosphere.
Inspiration:
I wanted to express the delicate colors and beauty of detailed depictions using DRAW's colors. I aimed to represent Japanese traditional beauty.
Difficulties and Highlights:
A fairy from the forest appears before a knight, conveying a message from the king. As this is my first fantasy piece, I'm unsure how well I have captured the atmosphere.
Judges' Comments:
It is a work that skillfully utilizes the differences in contrast. (Hirofumi Ito)
Hell yeah, man!! This has it all. Imagine this airbrushed onto the side of a van... I'd lose my mind.
Creator: Kiyoaki Saji, office worker, 29
Computer: PC-9821Xs
Software: SuperKID
Production Time: Approximately 1 month
Summary:
(Husband) During our children's upbringing, I imagined doing picture books and such. Technically, it is a simple work, but it is a joint production of a couple.
(Wife) The husband's creation depicts a conversation at night, while my creation depicts a conversation during the day. Today's conversation has become a mixture of day and night, similar to us as a couple.
If the work is 100% complete, 50% of it is the conversation and communication we have achieved as a couple so far. The remaining 50% will be complete if the viewers can feel something from it.
Inspiration:
When the couple bought a computer and thought of creating something together, they saw an advertisement for the NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize and decided to apply. As they discussed what to create, the theme was decided.
Difficulties and Highlights:
When I was a child, I used to paint pictures during my free time. I worked diligently on the coloring, so I didn't feel it was particularly difficult. Since this was a joint project with my partner, we paid attention to the coloring to make it harmonious. I would like you to see the night scene painting, which we are particularly fond of.
Judges' Comments:
Digital Hiro Yamagata? Good choice of colors. (Hirofumi Ito)
The artist mentioned, Hiro Yamagata, made works like this:
There's a lot of text in total, but it's all really good and adds a lot to each artwork, so I wanted to include it all...
I'm going to share the original Japanese as well as English sourced from various online translators. They've been looked over a little by a Japanese speaking friend, but not thoroughly yet. Since it'll take some time, I wanted to share what I have so far anyway - I think there's some wonky translations occasionally, but overall it's readable enough until I can update the article in the near future. Sorry for the mistakes for now (especially the names!).
Let's start looking at the award winning works of NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection!
ボクの彼女はダイヤモンドが良く似合う / My Girlfriend Looks Good in Diamonds
Creators: Yukio Kuwashima and 3 others, Company Employees, 30
Computer: PC-9821Xt
Software: Director
Production Time: Approximately 1 month
Summary:
To participate in this year's Multimedia Art Grand Prize, we decided to challenge ourselves by using a manga we had written during our student days to create a computer work.
I wanted to create an atmosphere like Yoji Kuri's works, but what do you think?
The music is original.
We were careful not to lose the atmosphere of the original manga.
By the way, the mouse cursor turns into a face when you look at it closely.
I think it is interesting that it blends in with the work.
Inspiration:
I was recommended [to enter the competition] by someone and submitted it with a relatively light-hearted feeling.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Anyway, please watch the whole thing. The hardest part was how to make the manga look interesting.
Judges' Comments:
This is a well-balanced work of hardware and software. Isn't this what you mean by "mastering the use of the software"? (KONTA)
This was one of the first video files I watched on the CD, and I was really impressed! It's amazing to me that a small group of friends could have made something like this together in 1995... Even the music is original!
Did you notice the 3D model of a colourful spinning diamond in the credits?
They mentioned being inspired by Yoji Kuri - here's an animation of his from 1997 on YouTube:
ねこじゃらし ２ / Cat Toy 2
Creators: Hiromi Uchiyama, Kumi Tanaka, and 3 others, Housewife, 37
Computer: PC-9821As2
Software: MultiMedia ToolBook
Production Time: Creating material data: approximately 3 months. Finalization: approximately 1 month.
Summary:
We challenged ourselves to create a homemade multimedia title for younger children from our own point of view and from the perspective of the children (7 year old son and 3 year old daughter), based on small animals, insects and their favorite indoor places and their lives as brother and sister.
The content was set up as a course for a 7 year old son and a course for a 3 year old daughter, with the daughter's course focusing on simple, easy-to-understand hexagonal, button-based actions, and the son's course including elements of storytelling and puzzle-solving, such as finding a hole with a secret technique using voice-guided hints.
We also prepared a helper character called 'Helper Mouse-kun' to assist throughout the game.
Inspiration:
We wanted to challenge ourselves to create a homemade multimedia title.
Difficulties and Highlights:
This year, the deadline [for the competition] was about a month early and I was busy. I want the kids to actually use it.
Judges' Comments:
As always, this is a work overflowing with love. The drawings are also very well done. It is a very well-made piece. (Susumu Matsushita)
Isn't this amazing?? Parents made a whole game for their children! And the art looks so lovely!
It's a shame that this CD only includes video previous of each award winning work, I want to see the whole game... I haven't looked into it yet, but maybe it exists somewhere...
あるばまーと 1992 / Aruba Mart 1992
Creator: Takeo Matsuura, Company Employee, 33
Computer: Macintosh
Software: Director 3.1J, PhotoShop, etc.
Production Time: Approximately 50 hours in total, 1 month
Summary:
This is a CG work that introduces drawings and 3D objects created by my son and me. The drawings and other works are stored in an album format in the order they were created, so you can see when they were made. Additionally, to make it easier to understand the production background of the works, we have included an album of production periods and commentary videos. You can also view the works as a slideshow.
Inspiration:
I made this with the intention of organizing the works I've made so far, as well as the pictures and albums my children have drawn.
Difficulties and Highlights:
User interface design, including screens.
Judges' Comments:
The sense of design for the interactive screen is excellent. It is full of ideas. As home multimedia, it is very well done. (Hirofumi Ito)
Another one I wish I could see more of!! The idea of a dad making this from the ground up for his kid is so nice... Really good BGM choices too...
雨がやんだら / When the Rain Stops
Creator: Takanori Hashi, Lecturer, 26
Computer: FM-TOWNS II MX20
Software: ARTemis
Production Time: Approximately 3 months, including planning
Summary:
I wanted to express the summer that everyone has in their memories. I had originally planned for there to be two paired works, with the second one being female, but the painting was only at the drafting stage when the deadline arrived, so I only submitted one.
Inspiration:
I wanted to express the 'summer' that everyone has in their hearts. As opposed to my usual drawings, I wanted to try and create a piece that's so direct it would make you smile.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I would like you to enlarge the picture if possible. What was difficult was the size and composition of the picture. I was worried about this until the very end because you can freely change the size and composition on a computer.
Judges' Comments:
I think it's a very good piece of art. Summer colors are also coming out. A refreshing work. (Susumu Matsushita)
I wish there was more about the process of making this! How do you make something like this on a FM-TOWNS computer? How does it take 3 months? It's a lovely painting... It looks nothing like anything I've seen made on similar computers at the time...
Having the computer and software that was used being listed is useful since it lets me know what people were using at the time. Maybe I should check some of these programs out...
The Naughty Objects
Creator: Yuji Fujita, Company Employee, 37
Computer: PC-9821Bf
Software: Personal LINKS
Production Time: 6 months for video production, 1 month for sound effects, approximately 2 weeks for editing
Summary:
Synopsis... When Gold-chan, a fork, was taking a walk, a barrel he had never seen before fell out of the sky.
When he called his older brother, Silver, to open it, he found the mischievous Metamo-chan inside.
Overflowing with curiosity, Silver-kun, who doesn't know anything about Metamo, reached out his hand(?) to touch him, but...
Theme...In CG animation, because the camera and objects have no weight to them, although you can have flashy camera action and move objects dynamically, the drawback is that they tend to have unnatural movements that go against the laws of physics.T herefore, in order to create a work that expresses natural movement and gravity, I tried to make a story that gave comical movements to a fork I had nearby.
Particularly, the video rendering was 6000 frames all done by trial-and-error, so the computer was left on for 6 months.
Inspiration:
After seeing the award-winning works from last year, which increased the number of animated works, I decided to submit a video this time. This is what inspired me.
In the process of creating CG, in order to achieve high quality and precision, dynamic expression becomes possible, but it becomes difficult to create natural movements.
Therefore, I decided to focus on expressing a sense of weight and natural movement this time.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Since this is CG, it's difficult to make things emotionally expressive even when they're living creatures, so having an inanimate fork express emotions was a big challenge.
"Open the barrel!" begs Gold, "Alright, got it!" responds Silver.
I would appreciate it if the viewers could try to take in the expressions of the two forks in each scene.
Judges' Comments:
Did you get a hint for the movement of the fork from the French animation 'Nature Morte'? The part where the object transforms into a metaball as it spins around the fork is visually well done. (Machiko Kusahara)
Yes!!! I always love to see early 3D animation... It's so, so brave of the creator to have made this in 1995. They had to leave their computer on for 6 months...! Absolutely worth it.
しょうくんのゆめりょこう / Shou-kun's Dream Travel
Creators: Takayasu and Michiko Yano, Self-employed, 33
Computer: PC-9821An
Software: PhotoShop, STRATA Studio Pro
Production Time: 2 weeks for planning, 2 weeks for production
Summary:
This year, I used the memories of my family trip to Hawaii and how my children felt, as well as what I thought and imagined, and expressed it through the computer. By adding 3D CG to realistic scenes, I tried to realize dreams that couldn't be fulfilled in real life. I tried to create my own spin on a modern multimedia work. What was challenging was the sheer amount of data and the long working hours for 3D CG, which was very demanding.
During production, I operated two computers almost continuously without turning them off. The human aspect involved taking advantage of the computer's processing time to eat, sleep, and rest. It was a two-week period dominated by working on the computer.
Inspiration:
As I would like to work in the multimedia field in the future, I decided to make this film as a first step.
From the beginning, I had planned to use expressive children as the main characters, but I could not decide between fairy tales, fantasy, and the world of science fiction, and finally decided to create this memorable work.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The processing and storage of the enormous amount of data with limited time and disk capacity was a major challenge. Setting up 3D models frame by frame on a movie-like timeline was also very labor-intensive. Although it is still rough, I hope you will look at the parts where the 3D CG and live-action footage are integrated.
Judges' Comments:
A dreamy home multimedia film combining CG and live action. You can feel the father's love. (Hirofumi Ito)
Absolutely amazing!! What a find... I love the ending of the camera zooming out with the other kid and the "zoo" animals...
A reoccuring theme with the works on this CD is how time consuming making this kind of content was back then. Computers have come so far since then! Someone could probably put something like this together in a fraction of the time now... But would it have the same level of charm? Hard to tell...
いちえちゃんのまちはきょうりゅうでいっぱい! / Ichi-chan's Town is Full of Dinosaurs!
Creators: Yoshiharu Kobayashi and 3 others, Government Employee, 43
Computer: PC-9821Xp
Software: PC-PAINTBRUSH, SuperKID, ActGI
Production Time: In total about 2 months
Summary:
Our family loves dinosaurs so much that we often go to see big dinosaur exhibitions together.
We made a computer picture book of our favorite dinosaurs together as a family.
First, the father drew a picture of five dinosaurs.
Based on the drawings, we created a story by adding everyone's ideas to the father's. The story was created by combining the pictures, music, and programming.
The father was in charge of the pictures, music and programming.
The story was read by the mother, the brother's voice by the brother, and Ichi's voice by herself.
Due to a lack of time, the ending of the story became 'to be continued' instead of 'the end'.
Inspiration:
Our family loves dinosaurs so much that we often go to see large dinosaur exhibitions together. This time, we created a computer picture book about dinosaurs where Ichi and her older brother play active roles.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Creating the drawings and coming up with ideas was enjoyable. The challenging part was using Visual Basic, which I'm not very good at. (This time, I tried to take on the challenge of API functions.) Is there a simpler application somewhere that allows for creating interactive picture books?
Judges' Comments:
Along with Mr. Uchiyama, the Kobayashi family is a representative home multimedia family. The completeness of Mr. Kobayashi's family's work is always high. (Hirofumi Ito)
A whole family (who love dinosaurs) working together to make a book on the computer...! Really, really good...
Steel Pan
Creators: Daisuke Matsuzawa, Taisuke Watanabe, 24
Computer: PC-9801BA2
Software: Ballade3, SC55MK2
Production Time: Approximately 5 hours over the span of 3 days
Summary:
A beautiful harmony of steel drums. I expressed the joy of a Central American steel drum orchestra in my own way.
Inspiration:
I liked the sound of the steel drum on Roland's Sound Canvas, so I decided to create a piece centered around this sound.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I think the highlight of the piece is the progression from the percussion solo to the steel drum solo that builds up in the latter half of the piece. It is difficult to reproduce the rhythmic feel of Latin music.
Judges' Comments:
I think it is very well put together. The mood is also good. (Susumu Matsushita)
Here's "Steel Pan" once again, now with a little more information! I'm glad to see it being played inside some cool looking software in the video, too.
アシタもガンバロ / I'll Try My Best Tomorrow Too
Creator: Toshiya Mori, Company Employee, 22
Computer: Macintosh II si
Software: PhotoShop 3.0J, Dimension 2.0J
Production Time: About 2 months, including practice on how to use the software
Summary:
For the first time since being born, I got on an electric train and thought, 'When I get home, I'll just sleep. I have work again tomorrow,' but I realized that if I looked up at the sky at this hour, I'd see so many stars. I felt so happy, thinking, 'Oh, so you can see stars even in a place like this.'
I drew this thinking about when I feel better. As for the colors, I decided to just paint them in a way that felt right.
Inspiration:
The inspiration to create this came from reading the guide article for the Multimedia Art Grand Prize '95. (There were other ideas like 'I should write something like this,' but the main inspiration is as mentioned above.)
Difficulties and Highlights:
Since the work was done with a 256-color display, I'm curious about how it will look in different conditions and how people will see it. The challenging part was figuring out how to use the software, which took a lot of time, and deciding on the colors.
Judges' Comments:
I like the use of different tones of the same color. (KONTA)
Kind of sad...! The visuals of the world outside the train window are nice, I hope this guy is doing well. I wonder what all the artists would think about their work being looked at again in 2024...?
こらっ、上、さぼるな! / Hey, Don't Slack Off!
Creator: Yoshino Fujimori, Company Employee, 30
Computer: Macintosh II ci
Software: Presenter Professional
Production Time: Approximately 2 weeks (including computer rendering time)
Summary:
The fun part about CG is being able to freely manipulate the characteristics of objects. I wanted to create a fun drawing that leverages this feature.
Inspiration:
After receiving information about this prize, I thought it would be a good opportunity to test the application's capabilities.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I struggled with unexpected bugs in the application. I wanted the characters in the picture to move in a way that viewers could relate to. Creating this movement was challenging.
Judges' Comments:
This is an excellent work that leverages the potential of 3D CG. (Hirofumi Ito)
Really good picture!!!!!!!!! You love to see early 3D transparent objects with reflection/refraction... The penguin balancing on the top there is so cute and fun...
Also, I love to see so many women's works being featured!
KOBE '95
Creator: Ai Sato, Company Employee, 25
Computer: PC-9821Cs2
Software: SuperKID
Production Time: 2 weeks (approximately 2 hours per day)
Summary:
I really like the "Uroko-no-ie" (The House of Scales), one of the Ijinkan (foreign residences) in Kitano, Kobe. The walls are made of stones that look like fish scales. When it was damaged by the earthquake, I was shocked, but I'm sure it will be beautifully restored. I want to see it again.
Inspiration:
After the Great Hanshin Earthquake, I was overwhelmed with confusion and fear and couldn't bring myself to touch the computer. However, as spring approached and I saw the restoration efforts in Kobe and the movements in my beloved "Uroko-no-ie", I was inspired by a strong desire to create a bright and cheerful depiction of Kobe amidst blooming flowers, and I painted it all at once.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I want people to see the fish scale pattern on the wall behind the picture. The challenging parts were making the surroundings of the picture look broken and weathered, and the part with the cellophane tape.
Judges' Comments:
I like the thought (KONTA)
The story behind this one is one of the strongest yet, I think.
By the way, this is what the Uroko House looks like today! It does look nice... The British telephone box is a bit strange to see.
月の庭 / Moon Garden
Creator: Shozo Yamashita, Unemployed, 66
Computer: PC-9801UX
Software: SuperTableau, SuperFilter
Production Time: It took 4 to 5 days.
Summary:
While listening to the CD I bought of Debussy's 'Clair de Lune,' I tried to visualize it and connected it with paintings of familiar landscapes. It is also interesting to create a work with sound as the starting point.
Inspiration:
Up until now, my process was to create images first and then make background music (BGM), but for this work, I started with Debussy and transformed this image into a visual representation.
Difficulties and Highlights:
During the editing of the frame-by-frame animation, which took meticulous effort, I focused on removing the noise and smoothing the transitions between the scenes.
Judges' Comments:
You are creating a unique world. (Hirofumi Ito)
What a magical atmosphere...! And made in such a short time, too.
That first shot of the building at night has such a nice fantasy feel to it... I like this one a lot, it's nice to think that a 66 year old made this on their PC-98...
特別名原後楽園 / Special Korakuen Garden
Creator: Shoji Matsuda, Local Historian, 32
Computer: PC-9821Cx
Software: PhotoShop, Director, Premiere
Production Time: 1 year for photographing and video recording, 1.5 months for authoring
Summary:
I previously received the Grand Prize in the Graphics category of the Computer Art Grand Prize. Since the Computer Art Grand Prize has evolved into the Multimedia Art Grand Prize, I decided to challenge myself again in the Multimedia category.
About five years ago, I attempted to create a program for an old work of mine but had to give up because the hardware at that time couldn't handle the necessary high-resolution images. I think this attempt was also in anticipation of the current challenge.
The Korakuen Garden in Okayama is known as one of the three great gardens of Japan. I have always been interested in using the latest media to express Japanese culture and traditions to the world. Therefore, I started collecting materials a year ago and took this opportunity to compile them into one work.
Inspiration:
Korakuen Garden shows its beautiful scenery to visitors in each of the four seasons. To effectively convey this beauty and understanding to the audience, I used videos to introduce the events throughout the year and employed panoramic photos.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Due to time constraints and unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to verify the interchangeability between Macintosh and Windows.
Judges' Comments:
It has excellent configuration ability and I think it's easy to operate. It's a kind of navigation system. (Susumu Matsushita)
This is something I didn't expect to see but I'm glad it was included! Someone really did go and make a whole navigation guide of the Okayama Korakuen garden over the course of a year just because they wanted to. I love to see niche passion projects like this... You know this guy was all about this garden.
月光美女 / MOONLIGHT Beauty
Creator: Yasunari Matsumoto and 3 others, Government Employee, 36
Computer: PC-9801US
Software: MIMPI
Production Time: Actual production time is approximately 3 months (total time spent is 8 months)
Summary:
Four friends from the FMDIGI forum of Nifty Serve, a PC communication service, collaborated to create a karaoke song based on an original composition. Lyrics by Isao Hayashi, Composed by Yasunari Matsumoto, Arranged by Toshiyuki Chihoki, Image and lyrics by Shinichi Watanabe.
Inspiration:
The theme for February '94, sponsored by the Fukuoka branch of the Creators Club (Yamaha), a creative writing circle to which Matsumoto belongs, was “light,” so he wrote this song with “moonlight” as the theme.
Hayashi wrote the lyrics, Chihoki arranged the music, Watanabe provided the images & lyrics display, and when it was released on Nifty's FMDIGIORG, it was surprisingly well received, which motivated this application.
Difficulties and Highlights:
It is a snappy arrangement and two lovely hand-drawn pictures.
The best feature of this project is that all the data was exchanged by e-mail.
Thanks to the development of communications, four individuals from Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Osaka, and Tokyo, who didn't know each other's faces, were able to bring together their skills and create one cohesive work.
Judges' Comments:
I think the title screen is simple but good. I think all the “pictures” should have been silhouetted. The standard of “beauty” is different for each person! (Susumu Matsushita)
What's better than this!! Four forum friends who hadn't met in person, working together over email to make a cool original jazz song, in 1995...!
I keep saying it, but I wish this CD had included full versions of all the featured works! It seems like the video previews had to be pretty short... I haven't had the time for more in depth research yet, but maybe there was a web page or something where full versions were uploaded...
野花(wild flower)
Creators: Naoya Kurusu and 2 others, University Student, 24
Computer: Power Macintosh 8100/80AV
Software: PhotoShop 2.5J, Director 3.0
Production Time: 1 month to complete
Summary:
This is a work created while using Mac's Director 3.0 for the first time. Aiming for animation that is not CG, I focused on the content and created it with enthusiasm.
(Group Name: Hand to Mouse)
Inspiration:
Since I purchased Director, I thought I'd try making an animation.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The synchronization of the sound effects with the visuals, the editing, the movement of the rain scene. The story.
Judges' Comments:
I think the work has a good balance between intention and technique. It's a little lacking in fun though... (KONTA)
KONTA!!! What the hell! "Lacking fun"...? Maybe that wasn't what they were trying to convey?? You're way too early for Bee Movie, man. I think it's an amazing animation for 1995. Take this guy away and put me on the judges team, coach.
1995宇宙の旅 / Journey to Space 1995
Creator: Mieko Sasaki, Company Employee, 42
Computer: AMIGA4000
Software: Video Toadter
Production Time: 2 and a half months
Summary:
Near the end of the production, the PAR (Personal Animation Recorder) broke down, and frames began to drop. This was previewed on the IW RDS animation in animation memory. It was directly recorded from the G block. It's a poor result, but I submitted it as a record of three months of hard work. (There is no sound, which is disappointing.)"
Inspiration:
Considering how to utilize CG, I thought about what themes can be best expressed using CG effects, focusing on what can only be depicted through CG. Many things can be considered, but this time I wanted to enjoy the creation of dynamic changes in scale and imaginary events.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Creating animation means becoming the god of that world, which was a struggle for me as a human. Writing the scenario, making objects, moving them, placing them, lighting, camera work, etc. Additionally, rendering over 2,250 frames took a lot of time. Over the 2 and a half months, I only slept 3 to 4 hours a night. Please view the work generously, as it is rough overall.
Judges' Comments:
I think it's a very feminine work. (KONTA)
Oh my god, KONTA, this person spent 2 and a half months of basically sleepless nights working on this sick short movie with a UFO flying around and an amazing cyber city and your only comment is that it's "very feminine"...? I'd be so mad!
Anyway, what a great animation, hope the blue lady was okay.
ASIKA
Creator: Miyuki Ishii, Company Employee, 20
Computer: PC-9821Be
Software: FANTAVISION2, Z's STAFF KiD98
Production Time: 1 and a half hours per week for half a year + additional time (after school, lunch breaks, etc.)
Summary:
I felt that ASIKA could be better expressed by incorporating the animation and more effectively utilizing the text and images.
Inspiration:
I created this as an assignment for a computer class. I love animals, so I chose a sea lion as a subject because it has cute and comical movements. Speaking of sea lions, I chose a sea lion show. The content of the story expanded as I was making it.
Difficulties and Highlights:
What I struggled with was the limited number of dots available to create pictures, and the fact that the movable parts were within eight cells. Expanding the story within that range was very challenging. Also, since I can't play the piano at all, I used various sounds to convey the images.
Judges' Comments:
I enjoyed the punchline of the encore. A lovely piece, but a little difficult to understand in the middle of the film, which is a shame. (Susumu Matsushita)
Okay, now Susumu Matsushita is starting to push it. There's nothing difficult to understand, it's a funny sea lion bouncing a ball and it's great, 10/10.
Gallery1
Creator: Masami Ishimaru, CG Artist, 29
Computer: Quadra 700
Software: STRATA Pro, StudioVision AV, others
Production Time: 1 month
Summary:
I gathered the 3D characters I have created so far, animated them, and added original music to them.
Inspiration:
This is an experimental work.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Modeling and texture creation.
Judges' Comments:
It is very interesting and shows everything at once. The sound also synchronizes well with the visuals. (Susumu Matsushita)
Wow, so much happening in such a short time with this one...! I love the part where a giant letter E flies towards the camera. The little reindeer character is cute too, it's a shame he explodes into one million polygons multiple times.
仏塔奉色 / The Color of the Pagoda
Creator: Kawanako Shoichi, Teacher, 66
Computer: PC-9801Ds
Software: COREL DRAW!
Production Time: 2 weeks (approximately 50 hours)
Summary:
I wanted to showcase the delicate depiction and beauty made possible by utilizing the characteristic colors of CorelDRAW. I aimed to express the aesthetic beauty of traditional Japanese style.
Inspiration:
I've been creating CG (computer graphics) for two years, and with the goal of entering this competition, I wanted to back up my work.
Difficulties and Highlights:
After repeatedly adjusting the color scheme, I finally managed to create something satisfactory.
Judges' Comments:
A work that skillfully utilizes contrast differences. (Hirofumi Ito)
Gently dithered art made in Corel Draw by a 66 year old gentleman, I'll cry...! Really pretty...
銀髪士に妖精の微笑みを / A Fairy's Smile for the Silver-Haired Man
Creator: Akira Kimura, Company Employee, 28
Computer: FM-TOWNS MA20
Software: PhotoShop2.5J, KPT, Painter3.0
Production Time: Approximately 1 month, about 40 hours.
Summary:
In front of a knight, a forest fairy appears, conveying the message of the country. Since this is my first fantasy work, I am worried about how well I have been able to express its atmosphere.
Inspiration:
I wanted to express the delicate colors and beauty of detailed depictions using DRAW's colors. I aimed to represent Japanese traditional beauty.
Difficulties and Highlights:
A fairy from the forest appears before a knight, conveying a message from the king. As this is my first fantasy piece, I'm unsure how well I have captured the atmosphere.
Judges' Comments:
It is a work that skillfully utilizes the differences in contrast. (Hirofumi Ito)
Hell yeah, man!! This has it all. Imagine this airbrushed onto the side of a van... I'd lose my mind.
昼と夜の会話 / Conversation Between Day and Night
Creator: Kiyoaki Saji, office worker, 29
Computer: PC-9821Xs
Software: SuperKID
Production Time: Approximately 1 month
Summary:
(Husband) During our children's upbringing, I imagined doing picture books and such. Technically, it is a simple work, but it is a joint production of a couple.
(Wife) The husband's creation depicts a conversation at night, while my creation depicts a conversation during the day. Today's conversation has become a mixture of day and night, similar to us as a couple.
If the work is 100% complete, 50% of it is the conversation and communication we have achieved as a couple so far. The remaining 50% will be complete if the viewers can feel something from it.
Inspiration:
When the couple bought a computer and thought of creating something together, they saw an advertisement for the NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize and decided to apply. As they discussed what to create, the theme was decided.
Difficulties and Highlights:
When I was a child, I used to paint pictures during my free time. I worked diligently on the coloring, so I didn't feel it was particularly difficult. Since this was a joint project with my partner, we paid attention to the coloring to make it harmonious. I would like you to see the night scene painting, which we are particularly fond of.
Judges' Comments:
Digital Hiro Yamagata? Good choice of colors. (Hirofumi Ito)
The artist mentioned, Hiro Yamagata, made works like this:
I don't think that's what this couple was going for, since surely they would have mentioned it as an inspiration otherwise. Feels like Hirofumi Ito just wanted to flex about knowing an artist (wait, why am I being so hostile to the judges...?).
Anyway, I love to see a pixel town, and I love that all the windows at night have different shilloueted. Feels like you could look at the details in this pictures for quite a while...
旅路の果て / At the End of the Journey
Creator: Kunihiko Kano, Lecturer at a vocational school, 33
Computer: PC-286
Software: RAY-TREK II, SuperTableau
Production Time: The production period was approximately one year, from April 1994 to the end of March 1995.
Summary:
When I encounter old steam locomotives preserved in parks around the country, I get a strange, nostalgic impression.
It is as if they have not completely lost the “life” they once had within them, even though they are statically preserved machines. This work was inspired by such an impression and depicts the scenery of a certain steam locomotive, which no longer moves, raising steam from its smokestack.
Inspiration:
When you encounter an old steam locomotive preserved in various local parks, it evokes a mysterious impression of "life," as if some of the dynamism it once had remains. This impression inspired me to create something with CG, which became the catalyst for this production.
Difficulties and Highlights:
1. How to draw the complex shape of a steam locomotive with the limited primitives of 3D software.
2. How to harmonize the 3D image with the scanned background and the hand-drawn adjustments with 2D paint.
3. How to split and recombine the overly large 3D data to fit within the computer's capacity, ensuring that the final composite picture has no sense of disjointedness.
The above three points were the most challenging aspects.
Judges' Comments:
Looks like a Magritte painting. A beautiful work. (Susumu Matsushita)
When you love trains so much you spend a year learning how to make them in 3D...!
Also, sorry to keep going at the judges, but I'm pretty sure Magritte wasn't involved at all here. This guy just loves trains, it's very easy. "This picture is giving Magritte vibes!" <-- Guy who's only looked at art by famous artists and hasn't met a train guy in their life.
水浴 / Bathing
Creator: Hiromi Ishikawa, University Student, 19
Computer: PC-9801DA
Software: Personal LINKS
Production Time: It took about 1 month to create, with rendering taking 2 hours.
Summary:
I tried to imagine the light of the universe melting into water.
Inspiration:
I have always been curious about the universe, so I created this piece with the theme of the universe's infinite energy.
Difficulties and Highlights:
I created it using many links, but making those in the C language was the most challenging.
Judges' Comments:
As an abstract expression, it is relatively well-organized. (Hirofumi Ito)
Yeah!! Melt the light of the universe!! Looks sick. Huge early 2000s vibes and you're years early for that scene. I gotta learn how to make stuff like this on my PC-98...
時の空間 / Space of Time
Creator: Yuri Nakaya, Kazumi Takenawa, freelance designer, 32
Computer: Quadra650
Software: PhotoShop2.5J
Production Time: Approximately 22 hours
Summary:
As long as there are human beings in any world, there will always be time.... I tried to create a mysterious room with the image of such a space.
Inspiration:
This is only our second piece, but since the first one went well and we really enjoyed the creation process, we decided to enter when we found out about the NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize.
Difficulties and Highlights:
We struggled with the painting of the ceiling. During the production process, we were hindered by insufficient memory, which made it difficult to achieve the expressions we wanted smoothly.
Judges' Comments:
It gives off an interesting feeling. (Machiko Kusahara)
This absolutely rules. We should all be making clipart style collages together with our friends (I really want to do this now, actually...).
I see that little dragon up the top there! The twin clowns. The cartoon frog figure. Maybe this is Heaven? Much to think about.
マルチメディアの小人さん（フェアリードラゴン） / Multimedia Fairy (Fairy Dragon)
Creator: Katsuya Nagasawa, Company Employee, 33
Computer: PC-9801FA
Software: Personal LINKS
Production Time: About 1 hour before bed each day for approximately 1 month. Rendering time was about 5 hours.
Summary:
This is the first CG I made with LINKS. I created the fairy using metaballs. It took the full 3MB of the computer's main memory. Initially, I intended to create some aquatic plants using polygons, but due to a memory overflow, I couldn't.
Inspiration:
At first, I was asked by the company to create something, so I made this object as practice for modeling polygons with my newly purchased Links. However, since it was my first time using the software, I couldn't use it well and faced memory shortages, so I wasn't satisfied with the final product.
(But the company staff liked it.) After that, I read the manual and understood it better, increased the memory by 10MB, and now, with the full 13MB of the computer, I was able to create a product that is vastly improved.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The dragon, which looks like a crocodile, was made using metaballs. The metaball editor is easy to use, but the polygon editor was difficult to use. It was frustrating that other parts had to be edited with a text editor. CG is like a studio. You place objects in the empty space. The position and camera angle can make it look like a different piece of work; it has depth.
Judges' Comments:
The expression of the table, the fairy, and others are well done. (Hirofumi Ito)
This is the best one!!!!!!!! I love this picture!!!!!!!!
I've come back to look at it the most out off all the featured works... So, so lovely. I need to get a desk setup like this...
幻灯 やまなし / Magic lantern Yamanashi
Creator: Urawa City Nakajima Elementary School, 6th Grade, Class 1, Elementary School Students
Computer : PC-9821BX
Software KiD98 Ver.3.0
Production Time: Approximately 1 month (24 hours during class time, with the rest during breaks and after school)
Summary:
The “Yamanashi” by Kenji Miyazawa was depicted in computer graphics with a touch of illusionism, to which a reading and background music were added. The world of “Yamanashi” was expressed fantastically. The entire class worked together to create the CG and reading, and each group discussed and completed the work as a whole.
Inspiration:
In Japanese class, we not only discussed the scenes, but also imagined the phantom light that Kenji Miyazawa envisioned and tried to create it together using the computer.
Difficulties and Highlights:
At first, each person drew their favorite scene, but to make it into one work, we had to adjust various aspects of each scene. What I particularly want you to see is how we perfectly synchronized the visuals, narration, and music.
Judges' Comments:
The images are sophisticated and convey the mood of the work well (I was surprised at the level of abstraction). （The way the reading was done shows that the artists spent a long period of time making the work their own. (Machiko Kusahara)
I gotta read this children's book...! It sounds great... Another one I wish I could see the whole video of, that background music is great, too...
So many cool class projects included on this CD!
SUPER てんたら かんた / SUPER Tentara Kanta
Creator: Yusuke Matsumiya, Junior High School Student, 14
Computer : PC-9801DX
Software Adventure School 98
Production Time: Approximately 6 months
Summary:
Matsumiya has made a game! An interactive adventure worthy of the newly established “Multimedia Grand Prize”! Will "Time" catch up with Matsuya World?! (This is meant to be a catchy tagline)
Inspiration:
I thought, “It would be nice to get another award.”
Difficulties and Highlights:
All.
Judges' Comments:
It reminds me of the picture books I read long ago. (KONTA)
This guy rules. His inspiration being that he wanted another award, and the difficulties and highlights just being "all"... Very relatable. I bet his game is great, what a cool 14 year old.
かずはいくつ / How Many
Creator: Kawasaki Municipal Suimei Junior High School Computer Club, Junior High School Students
Computer : PC-9800
Software KiT
Production Time: 1 year (Everyone drew pictures on paper, made paper puppets, and then created the program)
Summary:
Teachers, high school students, and junior high school students created this for the kindergarten children at Suimei School. It uses visuals and sound extensively to make it enjoyable and interactive, and it can be played using only a mouse.
Inspiration:
Listen to the sound using your ears. The children at Suiran School are deaf. But I thought they would respond to the up and down sounds coming from the computer, and I dreamed of creating software that made sounds.
Difficulties and Highlights:
To allow 3, 4, and 5-year-old children to use it, we included sounds and pictures, and screen switching on a single floppy disk. However, due to the old club equipment, we couldn't develop better software.
Judges' Comments:
I think it is effective as educational software. (KONTA)
What a nice reason behind making this! Another type of media I didn't expect to see featured on this CD, but really glad that it is. So interesting.
車にひかれたぼく / I Was Hit by a Car
Creator: Satoshi Takahashi, Kindergarten, 5
Computer : PC-9800
Software PariLin Land
Production Time: About 1 day
Summary:
At first, I thought about drawing various things, but couldn't decide, so I drew a line with a crayon. When I painted it with different colors, it started to look like many people lying down. "What are you drawing?" the teacher asked. "I'm drawing people who got hit by a car," I replied, and drew a road, then stamped a car on it. After that, I used a seal stamp to represent the feeling of hitting my head. It really started to feel like my head hurt. The red seal stamp above made it look like blood was flowing. What I wanted to express was that the combination of seal stamps made it look great. As I drew and painted, it started to look like people.
Inspiration:
As I was drawing lines, they started to look like the shape of a person, and when I stamped a car around them, it looked like they got hit by a car.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Writing the lines was difficult (especially the face parts).
Judges' Comments:
Interesting. A very impactful piece. Very amusing. (Susumu Matsushita)
Kids are the greatest artists of all time, no exceptions. The red diamonds all across the sky... Amazing atmosphere.
思い出のページ / Memory Page
Creator: Nakazu Town Nakazu Elementary School, 6th Grade
Computer : PC-486MU
Software SuperKID
Production Time: 1 hour per week for 3 months. Some people also worked during other breaks.
Summary:
A year's worth of 6th grade memories were compiled by event and by individual, and connected with documents, pictures, and photos to create a computer album. The events and individual pages can be selected from a menu. There is also a page with the song “Tabidachi (Departure)” sung at the graduation ceremony.
Inspiration:
At the end of 6th grade, we have to make a book report, and I wanted to do something different. My homeroom teacher's idea was to make the book on the computer.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Our group couldn't agree on ideas, so we went to the computer room during breaks and after school. It was hard to find photos of the sports day activities. Where there were no photos, we added illustrations. We included poems from friends in the foreword and afterword. The graduation page includes our graduation song. We figured out how to use the scanner, but it was tiring because there were so many pages to scan.
Judges' Comments:
It is amazing that elementary school students can now make a multimedia graduation album. And in such a short period of time after the graduation ceremony! (Machiko Kusahara)
Ahh, so cute...! The drawings that people did to replace events without photos look so good... And the singing at the end is so emotional...! Seems like everyone in this class had a good year...
料理レシピ（料理画像データベース）/ Cooking Recipes (Cooking Image Database)
Creator: Asahi Town Asahigaoka Junior High School, 3rd Year
Computer : PC-9800
Software XD-SIS
Production Time: Approximately 15 hours. 2 months, 3-4 months, approximately 10 hours
Summary:
This was done as part of a cooking practice lesson in the second year of junior high school. Each student took photos of their "family's signature dish" (both before and after cooking) and used a video scanner to create a "Cooking Recipe" database, aiming to establish a "Cooking Image Database."
Inspiration:
Since we were studying computers in class, I thought it would be a good idea to become familiar with computers, so I entered the competition. I tried to make the theme creative and memorable.
Difficulties and Highlights:
When transferring photos to the floppy disk, we had to do it one by one, which was quite a struggle. We made the text for the cooking recipes clear and easy to understand, highlighting important points to ensure anyone could follow them.
Judges' Comments:
Very practical. This also has future potential! (Susumu Matsushita)
A cooking recipe program made by a class of student! Who would have guessed that'd be on this CD? I really never know what I'm going to learn about when I look through things like this...
ミミズトリ / Mimi's Story
Creators: Izumi Yuko, Kobayashi Wakaba, Elementary School Students, 11
Computer: PC-9801BX
Software: FANTAVISION
Production Time: It took about 1 month during school classes.
Summary:
We discussed creating a cute story together. Since it was our first time making an animation, we struggled with expressing the movements of the birds and worms. The bird's pursuit was a matter of life and death, but we had to draw the worm several times to show it being happily chased. We wanted to make the worm squirm like it does in real life, but it was difficult to do on the computer. So, we used the computer to make the worm move smoothly by writing it down in order. It was very fun.
Inspiration:
Since we like animals, we decided to draw birds. We thought of having them eat something, so we made it about a bird catching a worm.
Difficulties and Highlights:
This is the worm's movement. To make it look like it was moving properly, we redrew it several times. We also made the bird look like it was chasing the worm with all its might.
Judges' Comments:
The movements are very unique and wonderful! (Susumu Matsushita)
Another top favourite for me!! Wonderful movements, top tier animation. If I made this at 11 I would have been so, so proud! If I made this now I'd still be proud!!
びっくりしてるお母さん / Surprised Mother
Creator: Mai Maima, Kindergarten, 5
Computer: PC-9800
Software: PariLin Land
Production Time: 1 day
Summary:
I decided to draw my mom's face. I learned how to use the "circle command," so I used it to draw glasses. It looked a bit too big and surprised, so I made the glasses smaller. I painted the surrounding areas with various colors because I thought it would look pretty. The difficult part was drawing the face as big as my mom's face and adjusting the surrounding colors when coloring it. The fun part was drawing the big surprised face of my beloved mom.
Inspiration:
The short-cut hair of my mother is captured and her features are used well.
*I thought it would be cute to draw flowers, squares, and circles around the mother rather than just a picture of her.
Difficulties and Highlights:
Drawing the outline of the face and the hair was difficult but fun.
Judges' Comments:
Imaginative and good composition (Tomoko Kusahara)
It's so amazing that 5 year olds were using the family computer to make art in 1995!! I'm only now noticing the shrunk down face towards the bottom there while I'm writing this and it made me laugh - really good
卒業製作「江戸川小わが町紹介」 / Graduation Production “Introduction to Edogawa Kowagamachi
Creator: Shinjuku Edogawa Elementary School, 6th grade, Class 1
Computer : PC-9821Cx
Software Super YUKI
Production Time: 1 and a half months. Time was during breaks and the computer room was open after school.
Summary:
This is a graduation project made by the children of 6th Grade, Class 1, who will graduate in March. We created software to introduce our town using the content we learned in school. The basic screen and video composition, and all the filming were done by the children themselves. The software includes drawing tools, videos, sound, animation, and other features that allow children to create freely using their own ideas. It is a software that children could make while having fun.
Inspiration:
It was my dream to see children actively working with computers and teachers. When children can express their ideas and research through games and play, they become active participants with their teachers. The children's desire to freely introduce their own town matched my dream, so we decided to create this together.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The children's drawings and videos they shot themselves are used as they are. They used stamps, made improvements, and incorporated original elements. Overall, it is a work created through mutual teaching without much intervention from the teacher.
Judges' Comments:
A work that clearly shows how enjoyable it is to create multimedia together with friends. (Hirofumi Ito)
Ahh I want to explore the town, let me in!!!
Man, I grew up in the 90s/2000s and I didn't get any cool class projects like this! We had some lessons in how to use Word and then later how to make a spreadsheet and that was basically it. I want to make a town with all my classmates!!
しまリオの物語 / The Story of Chipmunk
Creator: Keitaro Munakata, Elementary School Student, 10
Computer : PC-9801BX
Software Cube Projector
Production Time: 3 hours
Summary:
At first, it starts with Chipmunk-kun, and it turns into a story about Chipmunk and what he's doing and the adventures he goes on. Please watch because it's interesting.
Inspiration:
At first, I was thinking of a different theme, but as time was running out, I decided to go with something "simple."
Difficulties and Highlights:
When Chipmunk appears. Please pay close attention to this part.
Judges' Comments:
It's adorable, and the ending is really funny. (Susumu Matsushita)
Great animation!! I hope this kid kept drawing and animating as they grew up...
ゆりちゃんの一日 / A Day in the Life of Yuri
Creator: Yuri Mizuno, Kindergarten, 5
Computer: Macintosh Performa 575
Software: KidPix
Production Time: 3 hours
Summary:
A fun day for Yuri-chan
Inspiration:
I was told that the contest was featured in a magazine. I liked my home.
Difficulties and Highlights:
It was difficult to decide what to include on one screen. I want you to see the happiness of being surrounded by family and animals.
Judges' Comments:
I can feel the fun of dancing all day long. (KONTA)
Yuri's living the life!!!! I love that the little cat is involved too... The happiness of being surrounded by family and animals...!
OSENTAKU
Creator: Tomomi Kibuchi, Middle School Student, 14
Computer: PC-9801FS
Software: Musician's Music Classroom, CM300
Production Time: Half a year (1 hour per week in class, plus working on holidays like summer vacation at school)
Summary:
I expressed the feeling of a sunny morning and the enjoyable act of doing laundry. The gentle movement of the laundry spinning in the washing machine and the soothing sound of the laundry being washed are elements I believe will convey the experience to the viewers.
Inspiration:
I composed this during the elective music class in the second year of junior high school. The theme was to choose something bright, fun, and as close to everyday life as possible, so I chose "doing laundry."
Difficulties and Highlights:
I composed it leisurely and enjoyably, so there wasn't anything particularly difficult. I hope everyone can feel the refreshing sensation of a sunny day and the pleasant feeling of freshly washed white laundry gently swaying.
Judges' Comments:
The theme of "doing laundry" is expressed refreshingly. (Hirofumi Ito)
Here's the other song that would play when you use the software for browsing all the artworks!
Isn't it amazing that a 14 year old made this? And under such leisurely sounding conditions... I'm glad...
目がさめると / When I Wake Up
Creator: Moe Suzuki, Elementary School Student, 10
Computer: PC-9821Ne2
Software: HYPER CUBE Jr.
Production Time: About 2 hours
Summary:
This was the first time for the children to use a computer to create a work of art. The poems were written with honest feelings and illustrations were created to match the poems. Everyone was satisfied with the beautiful finished product.
Inspiration:
I had a class at school where we had to use the computer to write poems.
Difficulties and Highlights:
It was difficult to type the text.
Judges' Comments:
The folkloric style of the illustrations was very good. (Susumu Matsushita)
The featured poem is kind of sad...! It's about waking up and feeling alone. But, nice that a poem got on here.
The Sun
Creators: Sagami Harashi. Tsurumorimori Junior High School, 2nd year, Junior High School Student
Computer: PC-9801FX
Software: N88BASIC
Production Time: 1 month
Summary:
This depicts the formation of the sun and its future.
Inspiration:
I set the theme to the one I found most interesting during the activities of the science research club.
Difficulties and Highlights:
The part where you explore the properties of the sun with a mouse.
Judges' Comments:
Well done. The charts and illustrations are easy to understand and expressive. It makes you want to study. (KONTA)
Amazing aesthetic! And they made this in N88BASIC?? I looked into this briefly when setting up my own PC-98 so it's really impressive to me that they made this using it... I could barely do anything...
Competition Results
Now that we've seen all the featured works on the CD, let's look at the results! The NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 was a competition after all.
The award categories are:
Grand Prix (グランプリ)
KONTA Prize (KONTA賞)
Grand Prize (大賞)
Matsushita Susumu Prize (松下進賞)
Ito Hirofumi Prize (伊藤博文賞)
Excellence Prize (優秀賞)
Machiko Kusahara Prize (草原真知子賞)
Honorable Mention (佳作)
Grand Prix Winner
🏆It looks like the first entry featured in this article won the Grand Prix prize - My Girlfriend Looks Good In Diamonds!
KONTA Prize Winner
🏆KONTA gave their prize to How Many!
Grand Prize Winners
The Grand Prize went to three works:
🏆Aruba Mart 1992!
🏆Cat Toy 2!
🏆Magic lantern Yamanashi!
Matsushita Susumu Prize Winner
🏆The Matsushita Susumu Prize went to I Was Hit by a Car! Excellent choice!!
Ito Hirofumi Prize Winner
🏆The Ito Hirofumi Prize went to SUPER Tentara Kanta! I'm so glad this kid got his wish (to win another prize).
Excellence Prize Winners
🏆There were multiple winners of the Excellence Prize:
🏆The Naughty Objects!
🏆Shou-kun's Dream Travel!
🏆Ichi-chan's Town is Full of Dinosaurs!
🏆Steel Pan!
🏆I'll Try My Best Tomorrow Too!
🏆Hey, Don't Slack Off!
🏆KOBE '95!
Machiko Kusahara Prize Winner
🏆Machiko Kusahara awarded their prize to When the Rain Stops!
Honorable Mentions
🏆There were lots of Honourable Mentions:
🏆Moon Garden!
🏆Special Korakuen Garden!
🏆MOONLIGHT Beauty!
🏆Wild Flower!
🏆Journey to Space 1995!
🏆ASIKA!
🏆Gallery1!
🏆The Color of the Pagoda!
🏆A Fairy's Smile for the Silver-Haired Man!
🏆Conversation Between Day and Night!
🏆At the End of the Journey!
🏆Bathing
🏆Space of Time
🏆Multimedia Fairy (Fairy Dragon)
🏆Graduation Production “Introduction to Edogawa Kowagamachi"!
🏆The Story of Chipmunk!
🏆A Day in the Life of Yuri!
🏆OSENTAKU!
🏆When I Wake Up!
🏆The Sun!
That was a look at NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection! Wasn't it amazing?
Judging from what was mentioned in the artist comments, there seems to have been another competition held the previous year, and one advertised as going to be held in 1996 in the CD's manual... There's also an article online that talks about one held in 2000... I wonder if I can find CDs from these other competitions, too?
(I mentioned it previously but a quick reminder here at the end - apologies for the rough translations right now! I plan to update this article in the near future once I can get more additional help).
If you'd like to look through the NEC Multimedia Art Grand Prize 95 Award Winning Works Collection CD for yourself, you can download my Archive.org upload here.
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