"The story of 'Chinese Little Monster' will never stop at 8 episodes."
This is a piece of news revealed by Wang Jianer, chairman of Shanghai Film Group, during an interview with the media during the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress. As soon as the news came out, the whole network rushed to forward it.
There is only one reason, "Chinese Strange Tan" is too popular.
This collection of animated short films is jointly produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio and Bilibili.
It took two years to create, and it was launched on New Year's Day in 2023, and the number of views exceeded 40 million in just one week of its launch.
The frenzied barrage of screens and the "tap water" who flocked to major social platforms all praised the film.
On Douban, more than 7W people scored a high score of 9.5.
The internal score of station B is as high as 9.9.
"It's so beautiful, Chinese animation is on the rise" "I seem to see myself in it"...
Qi Tan is an important existence in any culture in the world. It is not just simple good or evil, but human imagination of the unknown world, and it is also a mirror of the human spiritual world.
This collection of Chinese-style fantasy short films is composed of 8 strange stories, including the little wild boar demon in the huge background of Journey to the West, "workers" staying up late to catch up with work, hair loss and other encounters that resonated with the whole network; adapted from the ancient strange novel "Continued Qi In "Goose, Goose, Goose" from Harmonious Notes, the strange phenomenon of "matryoshka" after the shopkeeper met the lame fox boy in Goose Mountain caused netizens to scramble to interpret it; Let netizens see the self who is working hard to blend into the crowd...
Birth: Pay tribute to the new century of Chinese animation with new works
In 1922, the Shanghai Wan Brothers produced my country's first modern animated commercial "Shu Zhendong Chinese Typewriter".
Shanghai Meiying also contributed a lot to the history of Chinese animation.
A series of classic animation works in our childhood memories are all from Shanghai Meiying, China's first paper-cut animation "Pig Bajie Eats Watermelon" (1958), China's first ink animation "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" (1960), China's first color animation "Big Havoc in Heaven (1964) and so on, and the paper-cut cartoon "Calabash Brothers" has become a classic in the hearts of a generation.
How to pay tribute to the centenary of Chinese animation?
Shanghai Meiying has been looking for direction since two years ago.
At that time, Chen Liaoyu also had the idea of planning a series of animated short films based on a specific theme. After the exchange, the two parties "hit it off" and the idea of making "China Strange Story" was born.
Have an idea, how to realize it?
In order to make the perspectives of the short film collection as rich as possible, Shanghai Meiying and Chen Liaoyu consciously pursued diversity during the planning stage, focusing on forming differences in the creation and vision of the director team, finding outstanding talents in various fields, and letting them play what they are good at. art style.
This is the two-dimensional flat painting style of "Little Monster's Summer", the realistic sketch of "Goose, Goose and Goose", the paper-cut freeze-frame "Xiaoman", and the even-frame "Jade Rabbit"... The painting style with strong Chinese characteristics, China Traditional crafts such as paper-cutting are perfectly integrated into the audio-visual expression of animation, vividly demonstrating the inheritance and innovation of domestic animation lens technology.
For diversity directors, how to use technology to tell Chinese stories well and make new breakthroughs is also a top priority.
Yang Mu, the director of "Lin Lin", said that although everyone has different themes and forms of expression, they will get together every once in a while to chat about progress and give advice to each other.
Production: Using new technology to present the new charm of national culture
"At that time, the chief director came to me and said that we were short of a pure 3D film. When I heard it, I was under a lot of pressure, because it is actually more difficult to make a breakthrough in 3D animation than 2D." Yang Mu recalled.
I believe everyone knows about 3D animation, Po from "Kung Fu Panda", Nick and Judy from "Zootopia"... how to use the 3D animation that has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the audience to create a Chinese charm, Yang Mu has been thinking for a long time.
"Can we just extract the way the ancients looked at things and their aesthetic core, and apply them to 3D animation? I think this is a relatively important attempt."
Based on this, many processing methods in the production of "Lin Lin" are completely different from those in the past, such as low saturation, low-contrast images, weakening of light and dark lines...
"In the processing of the background, we used some methods of scatter perspective borrowed from some Chinese paintings, and added a little brushstroke effect to many scenes, which will make the whole picture appear, which is similar to our common The three-dimensional feeling is very different, it has a bit of ink feeling, but it is not a pure ink animation."
Yang Mu also intentionally drew frames. In some passages, he adjusted the ordinary 3D 24 frames per second to 12 frames to create an atmosphere of blank space and a sense of manual clumsiness.
"This is very similar to some of our ancients' handling methods. He would not consider this kind of my dynamics. Instead, it is a quieter and more charming state. So we also made an attempt this time."
"Xiao Man" is a film made using traditional paper-cut animation techniques. Director Chen Lianhua said, "In order to increase the vividness and realism of the film, the production team communicated repeatedly, pondered and tried. In order to better present the texture of water, one point Half of the footage was shot for a full month." The studio where the film was shot was reproduced by directors Chen Lianhua and Zhou Xiaolin with limited materials based on the animation camera principle of the Celluloid era.
Seeking Roots: Transmitting Emotional Power Through Resonance
The more important reason why "China Qitan" has become popular is that it can resonate with young people in the new era.
In "The Summer of Little Monsters", the world of "Little Pig Demon" is the epitome of each of us's real life.
The little pig demon was at a loss when faced with multiple-choice questions in life, but still for the sake of justice in his heart, he reminded Tang Monk that there was an ambush; Filled with water, it conveys the power of family warmth.
In "Lin Lin", the wolf girl Lin Lin who wants to integrate into human beings is the epitome of those who want to gain self-identity. desired result.
"I also received a lot of private messages in the background, all of which were thanks from parents." Yang Mu said frankly that before making the film, he was really worried about whether the children would accept it. "I didn't expect to get so many thanks, including It also warms me up for all ages."
"Human beings have borders, but emotions have no borders. Anyone in every corner of the world can read your story, and the nation's is the world's." said Shan Chuanpeng, technical director of "China Strange Story".
Controversy: "Chinese Strange Tan" is not suitable for children to watch?
In the midst of the explosion, "China's Strange Tan" has also sparked controversy. A few days ago, a topic #parents bombarded China's Strange Tan# was posted on Weibo, attracting attention and discussion.
The parent said in the post, "A cartoon should generally be for children to watch, so what is the reaction of a child watching it? When my child watched the first episode, he was scared to cry by the crow pretending to be a ghost." , The second episode started to scare and cried within a minute. Is this filmed for children? The children definitely watched the shadow of childhood." He pointed out that animation works should play an educational role for children's audiences, but the currently broadcast "China Strange Tan" failed to play a relevant beneficial impact.
As soon as this point of view came out, it aroused heated discussions among people inside and outside the industry.
"We seem to have created a vacuum and sterile spiritual world for children, but in fact we may eventually cultivate giant babies." Ge Jing, member of the Shanghai Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, director of the Coordination and Counseling Office of Shanghai Library and Shanghai Institute of Science and Technology Information, said in a special topic The meeting also expressed its own views.
In Ge Jing's view, it is not advisable to let it go and overprotect. "Children are the future of the motherland and the inheritors of our city's spiritual character. We must not only protect the rights and interests of minors, but also loosen the constraints on creators."
In this regard, the chief director Chen Liaoyu also responded in an interview with a reporter from CNR.com a few days ago, "I think different animation works have their own different missions. As an adult, I do not deny that everyone must have the awareness of protecting children. And responsibility. However, there are not only animations as cultural products. I feel that in the face of rich cultural products, if there is a sense of protection for children, adults can do a little work here. You can judge by yourself. But I think our cartoons can be put on an open platform, which means that it has a bottom line to a certain extent, and the creators followed all the big bottom lines and frameworks before proceeding. Exploration. Even if some children see some confusion, I think adults can explain it.”
In comparison, there are many critics of the "parent bombardment", but there are also views that there is something worthy of reflection afterwards.
In this regard, some scholars believe that "("Chinese Strange Tan"), as a series of works, the overall idea of audience positioning may be further strengthened." (China News Agency WeChat public account Li Qiuying)