[Explanation] Tao Yan, born in the 1970s, is from Jiangsu. After graduating from university, he came to Shanghai and has "rooted" in investment banking and other financial fields for more than 20 years.
At the beginning of 2019, by chance, I learned from the forum that the green peacock is an endangered species, which is the national first-level protected animal. Tao Shai had an idea in his heart: Should I do something for it?
Tao Yan is a proper "action group" who immediately collected relevant information through various channels and opened up a life of normal work during the day and script creation at night.
After about a year, the "Green Peacock Dynasty" novel was officially completed, and then the search for an animator was stalled due to the impact of the epidemic.
At that time, Tao Yan was a little unwilling, so she turned from a well-paid investment bank elite to devote herself to the creation of later novels and animations.
It seemed absurd in the eyes of friends, but Tao Shai said that he did not regret it.
In order to let everyone understand the green peacock more intuitively, Tao Yan finally thought of doing stop motion animation.
She started to explore with zero foundation, making clay figurines, shooting interior and exterior scenes, post-compositing... She almost undertook all the steps of the overall creation alone, and the process was quite difficult.
[Concurrent] Tao Yan, creator of "Green Peacock Dynasty"
In 2019, I learned by chance that there are only a few hundred green peacocks left, so I thought I should do something for them, so I started all the creations.
(Before) I also considered making shadow puppets and tried it, but the shadow puppets are flat.
So after contemplating hard, I wondered if I could try to make clay figurines, and then make them slowly, but this process was very difficult, and I failed more than 100 clay figurines in the creation process, and then everything including the material of the clay Changed many times.
[Commentary] Tao Yan said that the dubbing of "Green Peacock Dynasty" was done by several of his friends who played the roles.
After receiving the recording file via WeChat, Tao Yan will hide in his closet to complete the final synthesis of the sound.
After three or four months of work, the first stop-motion animation was finally "born" on July 6, 2020.
[Concurrent] Tao Yan, creator of "Green Peacock Dynasty"
Because (before) it has been failing, even if some clay figures are made, but when you accidentally push it, it will fall down and be scrapped.
When the first episode came out, I moved myself to cry anyway. I never thought that I could make cartoons, although it was very rough.
[Commentary] According to reports, "The Green Peacock Dynasty" mainly tells a series of stories triggered by the death of the Green Peacock King after his illness.
Since domestic green peacocks currently live mainly in Yunnan, Tao Yan has also incorporated many local characteristics in script content and clothing customization.
[Concurrent] Tao Yan, creator of "Green Peacock Dynasty"
It is a kingdom of green peacocks. In that area, its neighbor may be another endangered animal. It is a bit like "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Now, in the green peacock, it is the green peacock kingdom. Some real emotions, grievances and hatreds like human beings, all these stories.
Then the clothes made are actually the costumes of Yunnan ethnic minorities. Then in the creation of scripts and novels, that is to say, the local customs and food culture of Yunnan are included in the beautiful scenery. I try my best To show it.
[Explanation] The stop-motion animation of "The Green Peacock Dynasty" has completed 20 episodes, and it has also received a lot of attention after it was broadcast on Weibo, Station B and other platforms.
Tao Shai revealed that the first season of "Green Peacock Dynasty" is expected to have 24 episodes, and he is currently rushing to produce the 21st episode of the post-production.
[Concurrent] Tao Yan, creator of "Green Peacock Dynasty"
At the end of the first season, I will take time to communicate with the animation production team about the animation, and then I still hope to find an excellent production team to cooperate, and then all my copyrights will be donated.
I hope that I will do my best to protect these animals, not to let them disappear on the earth, so that our children and grandchildren can see them, and let everyone know more about the importance of biodiversity.
[Explanation] On December 10, 1988, the green peacock was officially listed in the "National Key Protected Wildlife List": National First-Class Protected Animals; in 2013, it was evaluated as being included in the "World Conservation Union Red List of Endangered Species" (The IUCN Red List): Endangered species (EN); On May 22, 2017, "International Biodiversity Day", the Environmental Protection Publicity and Education Center of the Environmental Protection Department of Yunnan Province issued a document stating that the green peacock is listed as a critically endangered species.
Tao Shai said that in the process of learning about green peacocks and making stop motion animations, he also discovered many unknown endangered species.
In the future, she will also release more novels and animation works of other endangered species, hoping that through such dissemination, more people can pay attention to more endangered species, and thereby improve their environmental awareness and philosophy.
Reporter Xu Yin Kang Yuzhan reports from Shanghai
Editor in charge: [Lu Yan]