"White Snake 2: The Tribulation of the Green Snake" became popular in the summer. Producer: Follow the light animation to create a superhero in China
At the beginning of 2019, the movie "White Snake: Origin" launched by Chasing Animation received 469 million yuan in the box office, becoming a domestic animation film with a good reputation and a good box office.
In the summer of 2021, the light-following animation brought "White Snake 2: The Tribulation of the Green Snake".
Generally speaking, it is difficult for the sequel to achieve the success of the previous one, but "Azure Snake" has done it, and its box office has now surpassed the first one.
From white snake to green snake, from Nezha to Yang Jian, the light-following animation is slowly creating a "light-following universe" at the speed of one animation per year.
Cui Di, the producer of the light-following animation, said that the so-called "shenzhen universe" or "light-following universe" is actually a process of telling every story, one by one, to accumulate outstanding works.
Not pursuing "creating for creation" tell every Chinese traditional cultural story well
Two consecutive "White Snake" series have exploded, making many viewers full of expectations for the launch of "White Snake 3", but Cui Di believes that "a good story" is the key to continuing to create: "We will not just In order to make a work, every animation of Chasing Light is actually looking for a new point of fit to tell a good story. This is a basis for our production, although some objective conditions will also be considered, the most What matters is the creators and their expressions."
In "White Snake: Origin" and "White Snake 2: Green Snake Tribulation", there is a very popular character, the owner of Baoqingfang.
In the easter eggs at the end of the film, the owner came to the West Lake and got a box at the bottom of the lake that had been preserved for many years. Inside it was a docked tail, indicating that the owner of Baoqingfang should be a nine-tailed fox.
The story of the nine-tailed fox demon occupies an important position in ancient Chinese myths and legends, and does the ending egg indicate that there will be a story about the owner of Baoqingfang?
Cui Di emphasized that "good stories" are the key to creation, not just "personal design": "The owner of Baoqingfang is indeed a character that audiences like very much. Is it necessary to create a story for Baoqingfang? Combine the audience's ideas and feedback to plan. In fact, we have many follow-up projects. In addition to the "New God List: Yang Jian" that is expected to be released next year, there is also a new culture series that will meet with you in the future. "
In Cui Di’s view, the current series are actually deep in the field of Chinese traditional culture: "We have several series, all of which are created around the ancient Chinese traditional culture. For example, "White Snake" 1 and 2 is the "New Legend" series, but this series is not limited to "The Legend of the White Snake", but also includes other ancient legends, such as "Liao Zhai" and other well-known ancient Chinese legends. Of course, we will also consider some that are not The premise of familiar characters and stories is still whether there are new things that can be interpreted and expressed completely."
Do not deliberately create a "light-following universe" to do every work to accumulate
At present, among the works produced by the light-following animation, there are already many popular "stars", including Nezha, Yang Jian, Green Snake White Snake, and Nine-Tailed Fox. Some of them have gods and demons. The place where Xiaoqing was guarded was called Shura City, where ghosts and rakshas appeared.
Cui Di said that in the future animation series, some new "species" are likely to appear: "I think it is possible as long as it is based on traditional Chinese culture. We do not limit things at the world view level, and the goal is to tell a Chinese story. From the legends and novels handed down, find something that combines the empathy and resonance of contemporary people, and recreate a story that conforms to the modern aesthetics."
An animation is launched every year, and the light-following animation has slowly accumulated word of mouth and fans. Some people even think that the light-following animation is creating a "universe" with rich content, especially Nezha and Yang Jian, so that everyone can see the "Fengshen Universe" However, Cui Di believes that they did not deliberately create the so-called "universe", they are using their works to complete the accumulation of this "universe".
"Our series is called the'New God List'. There are stories such as "Nezha Rebirth" and "Yang Jian". "Feng Shen Bang" is only one of the world views. What we want to do is a series with rich content, which will not limit the story only. The content of Yu Fengshenbang. In the future, there may be original characters in this series. The "New Gods Bang" mainly talks about "New Gods", which is the story of Chinese superheroes with contemporary empathy." Cui Di In this way, the definition of "Fengshen Universe" is, "Actually, I think the content we create is not a so-called "New God Universe" or "New Legend Universe", but is based on a series of works, step by step. Go, go to the process of accumulating slowly."
Cover news reporter Yan Wenwen