In 2022, Chinese animation will go through a hundred years.
This long story spanning a hundred years witnesses the past of Chinese and Japanese animators learning and growing up from each other, and also records the traces of friendly exchanges and mutual learning of civilizations between the two countries.
Among these imprints, there are the cross-century handshake between Sun Wukong and Astro Boy, the childhood memories of Xiao Nezha and Brother Yixiu, and the beauty of Chinese ink painting and Japanese style.
How can classic animation reflect the core of Chinese stories?
How does animation build a bridge for Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges?
Where is the development of the animation industry?
Recently, China News Agency's "East-West Question, Sino-Foreign Youth Dialogue" invited Chen Bo, Deputy Director of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, Chen Yan, Ph.D. Fujikiji started a conversation.
An excerpt from the conversation follows:
How does the national style appear in the world?
China News Service reporter: Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio has contributed more than 500 works in more than 60 years. Why can these classic animations become the memory of the times? Which milestone works are there?
Chen Bo:
Looking back at the history of Chinese animation for a hundred years, it is actually the long growth path of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Meiying").
As the birthplace of Chinese animation films, Shanghai's openness and diversity have cultivated a profound cultural soil for animation creators, inspiring generations of animators to realize their dreams.
During this period, Shanghai Meiying contributed a lot of "firsts": the first color cartoon "Why the Crow is Black", the first international award-winning Chinese art film "The Magic Brush", the first color puppet film "The Magic Brush" "Little Heroes"... These excellent works created a glorious era of Chinese animation.
From the perspective of artistic aesthetics and artistic accomplishment, the older generation of animators deeply explored Chinese traditional culture, combined with Chinese folk stories, pursued their roots in art style, kept improving, and created ink animation, paper-cut animation, puppet animation, etc. Form, and constantly explore a more "Chinese style" national style, laying the foundation for the development of Chinese animation, many familiar works have also become childhood memories of generations.
Data map: The symphonic film concert "Fantasy Books" jointly produced by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio was unveiled at the 2018 Shanghai Summer Music Festival.
Photo courtesy of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
China News Service reporter: Which animations from China have successfully gone overseas? How are these works created?
Chen Bo:
Animation works based on traditional Chinese stories, such as "Havoc in Heaven", "Nezha in the Sea", "The Fight between Sandpipers and Clams", and "Three Monks", have won awards internationally for many times, and they can be said to be household names.
Taking "Havoc in Heaven" as an example, this animation reproduces the Chinese-style mythical hero Sun Wukong on the screen. work".
The reason why Chinese animation can attract more and more overseas audiences is because the unique dramatic elements and painting styles present different animation expressions for everyone. This is a highly refined "nationality", the art of film Expression transcends languages, borders and time, creating classics.
From the creative point of view, behind the classic animation contains the thinking of the older generation of artists on life, the world, and artistic aesthetics.
Whether it is from the delicateness of the performance, the structure of the plot, or the art skills, excellent works must be able to last for a long time, stand the test of time, give people the feeling of often watching and always new, and bring different levels of thinking to the audience.
Data map: The image of Monkey King in "Havoc in Heaven".
Why did Chinese and Japanese animation hold hands for a hundred years?
China News Agency reporter: As a researcher of Chinese and Japanese animation, what do you think is the connection between Chinese animation and Japanese animation?
Chen Yan:
Animations in China and Japan started at a similar time, and they are both imported products. Although the two have their own styles, they interact closely in terms of technical exchanges and talent training.
Japanese animation is full of Chinese elements with oriental charm.
In 1926, Japanese animation director Noburo Oto created Japan's first "Journey to the West, Monkey King Story" comic.
Some Japanese animators also went to China to create and live. Chiyong only lived and created in China under the Chinese name "Fang Ming". The "Thank You Xiao Hua Mao" directed by him in 1950 has been passed down to this day and has made important contributions to the development of new Chinese animation. .
It is worth mentioning that in 1958, Japan's first full-length color animation "The Legend of the White Snake" also told a Chinese story.
In the 1980s, animation exchanges between China and Japan became more and more close, and the typical representative was Osamu Tezuka, the "God of Japanese Comics".
Tezuka entered the industry after watching "Princess Iron Fan" directed by Wan Laiming, and was deeply influenced by it all his life.
Three months before his death, Tezuka still endured his illness and went to Shanghai to visit Wan Laiming.
His first animation theme is from Journey to the West, and his last work is called "My Monkey King".
During this period, Japanese TV animations entered the Chinese market, from "Astro Boy" to "Doraemon" to "Smart Yixiu", these works are the wonderful childhood memories of generations.
At present, the exchanges between the Chinese and Japanese animation circles are becoming more and more frequent. In addition to the production of joint animation projects, there are also contacts between creators and interaction between audiences.
"Tezuka Osamu Monogatari My Monkey King" promotional poster
China News Service: 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations. How does the animation industry promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Japan?
Takaji Endo:
Animation is an important industry in cultural dissemination. Japan and China are both Asian countries, with similar cultural values and social environment, and it is easy for the public to resonate.
Chinese animation is unique in character dialogue, interpersonal relationship, world view, diet and emotional expression. Japanese audiences will develop a strong interest in Chinese culture through exposure to Chinese animation.
Therefore, I think it is necessary to create and expand opportunities for people-to-people exchanges between Japan and China, and to strengthen cultural ties between people to seek new development.
Chen Yan:
Most of the exchanges in the animation industry are spontaneous activities of the people.
Therefore, strengthening the contacts and exchanges between Chinese and Japanese animation creators will enable more excellent works to emerge in the industry, so that Chinese and Japanese audiences will become friends with similar cultures and hobbies, discovering the beauty in each other's cultures, and they will naturally find the best way to communicate , this communication method may be a dress or a character, which is the charm of animation beyond language.
How can the animation market continue to write legends?
China News Agency reporter: With the expansion of the animation market, it is inevitable that there will be products that only watch the box office and not the production. In your opinion, how can animation achieve a win-win situation between content and market?
Takaji Endo:
The animation industry is in the ascendant. To achieve a win-win situation between content and the market, we must first cultivate the original comics and novels market.
The mode of adapting popular original works into animation will not only further develop the value of the works, but also the animation market will become more and more active.
Secondly, the success of animation works depends not only on the choice of story theme, but also on the creation of character IP.
Charismatic characters are the key to attracting consumers and ensuring business profits.
For example, Studio Ghibli's work "My Neighbor Totoro" was not as good as expected at the box office at the beginning of its release, but it succeeded in making a profit through the derivatives of various peripherals.
This cute thing that looks very suitable for hugging has also become Japan's "Mickey Mouse". It can be seen that the secondary development and utilization of peripheral products and copyrights can become the backbone of the animation industry.
Finally, I think it is very important to look at overseas markets. Character products are very popular around the world, which can bring popularity and help to the animation content and market.
China News Agency reporter: How can more excellent works emerge in the domestic animation market?
Chen Yan:
In my opinion, the ecology of the domestic animation industry needs to be further improved.
We need not only good creators, but also good teams and investors.
"The Return of the Great Sage" is an example of a virtuous circle in the industry. The audience pays for high-quality animation, and the investor's funds are recovered, so more funds are willing to flow into the animation industry and feed back a suitable creative atmosphere.
In this environment, creators are more willing to showcase their works, providing investors with the possibility to discover "dark horses".
Source: @Journey to the West: The Great Sage Returns Official Weibo
Chen Bo:
Many classic works have been created in the history of Chinese animation, but the commercialization of animation is still in its infancy.
The exploration of animation art requires a lot of time and money. The creator must not only understand the relevant history and culture for in-depth understanding and innovation, but also dabble in communication, sociology, and psychology.
On the basis of ensuring the level of painting, practitioners should also build an interdisciplinary knowledge system.
Commercialization should provide financial support for animation creation, and classic IP will bring market value. Now China has a good market environment. How to carry out new packaging in IP development, tell good stories to consumers or brands, and let more people To generate emotional resonance and feed back animation creation is an urgent problem for the commercial team to solve.
In the long run, creation is still the core of the animation market. Only with excellent works can the animation market develop well.