NEWVIEW AWARDS 2018

I enjoyed seeing so many different VR projects from the current generation of creators. Experiencing so many projects made me realize how young this art form is, and how far it has yet to go. I was struck by how personal many of the projects were, many seemed to be engaged in creating spaces to represent their own mental state, which is something that does not often occur in the related field of video games. This domain of expression is difficult to execute in any medium - it can be the most powerful, but also the most likely to misfire if not treated with great care. It is not easy to control a persons experience in a virtual space, to guide a person's decisions with virtual architecture, but this distinct quality made some works stronger than others. The awards for NEWVIEW are extraordinary and I hope people pay attention and are encouraged to find more and more ways to exploit the unique constraints and perceptual effects of VR. It's very important to separate the hype surrounding VR from it's genuine strengths. I believe it's future direction will be guided not by the hardware giants but individual creators, experimenting without commercial pressure. Events such as NEWVIEW exist and help it grow in this direction. I hope the finalists are able to continue down their paths, refine their craft, and maintain their visions as this form grows and matures.

I felt that we had more works intended to attract viewers in an art-like manner than works with interactive characteristics. Some of them convey messages, others pursued realization of smooth experience, and the judging process was more enjoyable than I had expected till the end. This time, we judged by originality, user experience, and impact. Some competitors lost quite a few points even though they had good impact, due to coding shortcomings. Providing a smooth experience is important in digital art. I am looking forward to their improvements in the future, as this is something we can improve as we gain more experience.

m-flo ☆Taku


I was personally very stimulated to see high-quality VR content that presents mixtures of various fields like fashion / culture / art. All of them were full of originality, and I already wonder what kind of world I will encounter when you further brush up your technical side! I am really looking forward to that. Please stay creative and keep pursuing novel and fun things.

m-flo VERBAL

That applies to awards, too. You grope your own way around your work, and we grope our own way around our judgment. Our first judgment became a thrilling one, where all judges groped their way forward to reach a conclusion.
All the works showed how the creators groped their way, which made them all so interesting. I was particularly moved by works that took advantage of the strengths of the media, like ones that manipulated the sense of scale. I feel like there are more to discover.

The judging process proved very difficult, because there were many wonderful works with original gimmicks, such as the technology to display still images as videos just like in mobile apps, or the idea of peaking into a hole on a wall.
I think it is only a matter of time before expensive VR technology becomes available at a lower price, as they are now joining the standard repertoire in the world of gaming.
Audiovisual technology will further expand the VR world.

I was impressed by the varieties of 19 selected works in NEWVIEW project. They gave me strong belief that VR will be a new interface of modern life in the near future, and it makes me feel very excited. I wish they will keep on exploring what they believe in virtual world, and bring us to their visions.

Film, fashion, CG, music, culture, etc... They were 19 extremely impressive pieces by creators from all avenues; film, fashion, CG, music, culture, etc., with proposals in virtual experience, exhibits of creation, and the posing of social problems, pieces with a wide variety of themes were collected both from within and without the country. I think that NEWVIEW was a meaningful award that formed a bridge to the near future in which new expressions with intertwining existing creations from various fields are born, with VR as an intersection.

I really felt that the STYLY is now opening up a vast world of VR. VR in the past was for enjoying readily-available content, but now it is possible for everyone to create, publish, and enjoy works that take full advantage of the entire 360 degrees around us. All the works submitted are high-quality works that took good advantage of the VR-like extension of space, and I am certain that there will be more novel works when more content incorporates vertical movements as well.

I was constantly surprised when looking at the entries, never having thought that such expressions were possible with just using STYLY. There were many amazing pieces with superior technique with the finalists works. I also tried to use my own hand in creating, and was charmed by how STYLY allows even those not familiar with VR to instinctively create a space without stress. I would like those who felt interested in this award, as well as simply anyone, to try creating a VR space without worrying about the quality of the end result.