Animated commercial wins awards in Japan

Jazz Zhou Jia, a Year Two student from the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong (CityU), won three prizes in Japan at the Gatsby CM Award 2009 for her outstanding animated commercial. Jazz claimed the Gatsby Technical Award (15/30-second commercials), the Jury’s Special Award and the Mandom Award. The awards were organised by a Japanese haircare brand.

Jazz’s creative work, titled A Gatsby tALE, vividly presented the Japanese hair product by showing a girl’s long hair merge into a tree through the clever use of graphics. Although the commercial only lasts for 30 seconds, Jazz drew more than 700 sketches for it.

“I often practice 3-D animation at CityU. However, I decided to use 2-D animation, my other favourite technique, for this competition, in the hope a different media would spark more creative ideas.”

More than 250 entries from students in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong were submitted to the competition. After the first screening and online voting, the works of 20 candidates were selected for the final round. Jazz was given the opportunity to go to Japan to gain animation and commercial experience with local advertising veterans.

Jazz’s work was commended by the adjudicators who specifically praised her excellent production techniques and creativity. They also appreciated the feminine appeal of Jazz’s work.

Studying animation at CityU, Jazz has received valuable feedback from Mr Eddie Leung Hiu-ming, Senior Teaching Fellow from the School of Creative Media, on presentation and animation techniques. Mr Leung encourages students to think beyond their previous work and apply their knowledge to different designs. He was particularly glad Jazz won the awards using 2-D animation, as she was less familiar with this medium. “Students from the Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Creative Media programme and the faculty members formed Special Interest Groups in 2007, which provided an important platform with more resources and channels for students to develop their creativity and interests,” said Mr Leung.

Media enquiries: Jenny Kwan, Communications and Public Relations Office, CityU (9306 8568 or 3442 6548).