Students' Challenges Reflect 'Reality' and Growth — Sagamachi Banban Awards 2025 College of Performing and Visual Arts Tabuchi Seminar Runner-up Grand Prix
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On Friday, March 27th, the "Sagamachi Banban Award 2025" was held at Unicom Plaza Sagamihara, and out of 13 entries, the Tabuchi Seminar (Video Production and Video Research) from our university won the runner-up prize. This marks the second consecutive year that we have received this award.
This award is a project in which university students conduct their own research and production, focusing on local information about Sagamihara City and Machida City, and share it as a video work. As an initiative that addresses the charms and challenges of the region from a unique student perspective, many works are submitted every year.
The film submitted by the Tabuchi Seminar, "The Rails Connecting Machida's Future," is a documentary about the Tama Urban Monorail, which is planned to be extended to Machida. While dealing with a theme that concerns the future of the region, the students continuously grappled with the question of "how to convey the facts."
Yasunari Sakai (Visual Arts Major, 4th year), who was in charge of production, handles everything from planning to interviews and editing, saying, "It's important for documentaries to convey what they truly are." Initially, the project was planned based on the hypothesis that there were many opposing opinions against the monorail, but during actual interviews, many positive voices were heard, forcing us to revise the structure. "While facing the gap between my assumptions and reality, I repeatedly edited to deliver a more realistic experience," he reflects. The work underwent more than seven rounds of revision within the seminar, with meticulous attention to every detail.
Meanwhile, Misaki Narazaki (Major, 4th year) was responsible for coordination with the city hall and handling interviews. The extension of the Tama Urban Monorail is a topic involving many stakeholders, with diverse opinions. "The content is sensitive, and I kept struggling with how to portray it in the footage," he said, feeling the difficulty of reporting and the weight of responsibility. Additionally, students approached the project by walking the extension route themselves, valuing the unique perspective of students.
During the production process, they also faced the challenges of creating a single work as a team. Sakai said, "I keenly felt the difficulty of sharing intentions and the weight of responsibility as a director," while Narasaki reflected, "Careful communication between both the interviewees and the team was essential to achieving our goals." Although each of them grappled with their own struggles, the experience of trial and error proved to be a valuable learning opportunity.
The completed work received high praise, with judges commenting that it was "at a level where it could be used as news footage as is." However, there were also criticisms that it "could have been refined a little more," which left the students with a strong sense of regret. Sakai said, "I thought I had done my best, but from the viewer's perspective, there was still room for improvement," and Narasaki frankly revealed his feelings, saying, "I wanted to win the grand prize precisely because I had gone through so much hardship."
That frustration has become a driving force for the future. Sakai hopes to work as a producer at a video production company in the future, and expresses his enthusiasm by saying, "I want to deliver works that can influence people's values." Narasaki also says, "I want to make use of the skills I've gained from working collaboratively as a team in the future."
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