Shanghai, 6 June (ZXS) -- Chinese animation master Lin Wenxiao: A lifetime of warmth into "painting"

Written by Fan Zhonghua

On June 6, Shanghai was rainy, and the famous Chinese animation artist Lin Wenxiao passed away at the age of 7.

"She took the childhood memories of the '80s' and flew away with the 'snow child'." "I still remember crying sadly when I saw the snow children melt when I was a child." "The Adventures of Shuk Beta", "Trouble in the Heavenly Palace", "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" ... Thank you for making our childhood so good! ”...... Messages on social media continue to pour out, remembering the innocent spiritual wealth left by the animation master who directed and participated in the creation of more than 50 works.

Lin Wenxiao. Photo courtesy of Shanghai Meiying

Chang Guangxi, former director of Shanghai Art Film Studio, national first-class animation designer and famous Chinese animation director who has cooperated with Lin Wenxiao for decades, said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East-West Question": "Mr. Lin is small and has a very strong heart. She has struggled with illness for nearly three years, and every time she visits her, she is always optimistic and laughs with us. At the end of last year, her husband, animation master Yan Dingxian, passed away, and half a year later, Mr. Lin also left. Pray that Teacher Lin and Teacher Yan will reunite in heaven and continue their animated relationship! ”

Make a "warm and delicate" national animation

In 1953, Lin Wenxiao, as the first graduate of the animation major of Beijing Film School, was selected to work in the art film group of Shanghai Film Studio (independently for Shanghai Art Film Studio in 1957) to do apprenticeship in the film "Proud General". At that time, the director of the film, Tewei, put forward the slogan of "taking the road of national style", and the film integrated the art of Peking Opera faces, the drumming and soundtrack of Chinese opera, contrasting traditional color matching, and ink brush-style scenes, etc., becoming the pioneering work of the "Chinese animation school". "Doing national animation" has also become Lin Wenxiao's lifelong belief.

"Proud General" poster

From the 20s to the 60s of the 90th century, Chinese animated films bloomed in a hundred flowers, the first color puppet film "Little Hero", the first color cartoon "Why is the Crow Black", the first color paper-cut cartoon "Zhu Bajie Eating Melons", the first ink cartoon "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother", as well as "Three Monks", "Nine-Colored Deer", "Snow Child", "Mindless and Unhappy", "Black Cat Sheriff", etc., with the popularity of television into the childhood of thousands of children in China, becoming China's "post-70s" and "post-80s" The collective memory of the crowd.

Among them, Lin Wenxiao, who directed "Snow Child", Yan Dingxian, who directed "Nezha Troubles the Sea", Hu Jinqing, who directed "Snipe Mussel Dispute", Xu Jingda (Ada) who directed "Three Monks" and Dai Tielang, who directed "Black Cat Sheriff", are the backbone of Shanghai Art Film Studio (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Meiying") and have made outstanding contributions to Chinese national animation.

"The departure of Mr. Lin means the final curtain call for the second generation of Chinese animated film directors represented by these 'five great directors'," in Chang Guangxi's eyes, "they are my leaders in animation career, and they are also teachers and friends for me." ”

He clearly remembers that the first film "Trouble in the Heavenly Palace" participated in by Shanghai Meiying was to serve as an assistant in the original painting group of Yan Dingxian and Lin Wenxiao, the second cooperation was "Little Sisters of Grassland Heroes" with Lin Wenxiao as the leader of the original painting team, and the third time was Lin Wenxiao's first independent directed animated film "Snow Child", "Our cooperation is very frequent and very happy".

"Working with Ms. Lin gives her a sense of humanity, she respects the ideas and creations of others, and encourages bold innovation." Chang Guangxi was originally the original art design of "Snow Child", but Lin Wenxiao encouraged him to try to do character design, "which is equivalent to 'fixing' the character, plus the background design, you can determine the art style of the entire film."

Under the guidance of Lin Wenxiao, Chang Guangxi drew a very bright and bright color matching style from traditional arts such as Chinese New Year paintings and Wuxi clay dolls, conveying a lively and pleasant visual experience against the background of cold winter colors in ice and snow.

Not only that, Lin Wenxiao cleverly used the natural phenomenon of "snow melting into water and water evaporating into gas" to arrange an ending for "Snow Child" that is enough to soothe the hearts of young children: at the end of the film, when the crying little audience saw the snow child evaporating from the melted water, holding hands with the rabbit as before, happily passing through the clouds, and turning into a fat "snow child" again, they would laugh at the beautiful ending of "it has always been with us".

"She very delicately integrates the feminine tenderness and warmth into this film, telling a very simple story full of emotion and deep philosophy, both deep and warm, which is her very distinctive characteristic." Chang Guangxi said.

"Snow Child" poster

Do not imitate others and do not repeat yourself

In the early days, the birth of an animated film relied on the collective cooperation of "shoulder to shoulder", and in the animation creation link alone, there were multiple processes such as original painting, animation, scene painting, line tracing, and coloring, which was extremely cumbersome. But this does not stop Lin Wenxiao's meticulous attention to detail and continuous innovation.

In an interview before his death, Lin Wenxiao once said that every time he created, he would "carefully analyze the plot and characters, and slowly show what this picture is in my heart, what the character image is, do not conform to the rules, and never be satisfied with the status quo."

"At that time, 'do not imitate others, do not repeat yourself' is a phrase often mentioned by the creators of Shanghai Beauty Film, every film must be updated and more extreme," Chang Guangxi said, "Mr. Lin was the original art designer when he was very young, the original painting is the character action performance, Mr. Lin is very good at mastering the emotions of the characters, and has put a lot of effort into portraying characters with actions."

In 1961, Shanghai Meiying created "Trouble in the Heavenly Palace", as the original painting design, Lin Wenxiao and Yan Dingxian painstakingly read the original text of "Journey to the West", went to the temples in Beijing, went to Dunhuang and other exterior scenes, and repeatedly pondered their demeanor in the mirror... In 2009, the 3D version of "Trouble in the Heavenly Palace" was about to be produced, and Yan, Lin and Chang Guangxi were invited to serve as art consultants. Professor Chen Zhihong, one of the film's directors at the time, recalled that the new version of the film needed to change the rhythm of the action according to the current aesthetic. At that time, Yan and Lin were over the age of antiquity, but they could still explain the ins and outs of modeling and action design in detail in the actions of characters such as Sun Wukong and Seven Fairies, and gave a lot of suggestions on details such as character performance and camera connection, "which is enough to see the depth of research kung fu back then."

3D version of "Trouble in the Heavenly Palace" poster

Lin Wenxiao also talked in an interview that "Snow Child" specially designed the plot of the snowman and the rabbit entangled for half a day because of a nose, emphasizing the childlike fun of children; "Little Tadpoles Looking for Mother" designed a scene where a group of small tadpoles swim back and forth close to the shore and closely follow the footsteps of the chicken and the chicken mother, reflecting the envy when seeing the chicken have a mother.

"This is an extremely sincere creative attitude, Mr. Lin really stands in the perspective of children, understands their hearts, lowers his posture to communicate with them, even if it is shown to today's children, it is still a perfect story that can resonate." Chen Zhihong said.

China's first ink animation "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" stamp was released on June 2013, 6. Photo by Hao Qunying

Why did the "Chinese animation school" create glory again

Shangmeiying's eulogy wrote: "Cartoon is the ideal and pursuit of teacher Lin Wenxiao's life, she has witnessed and participated in many 'firsts' of Chinese animation: China's first color animated feature film, the first ink animation film, the first widescreen animated feature film... In the creation, she expresses the feelings of the characters with meticulous movements, gently integrates 'truth, goodness and beauty' into animation works, sows the seeds of beauty in the hearts of children, and makes important contributions to Chinese art films, 'Chinese animation school', and Chinese national animation. ”

In fact, in the "pioneer era" of Chinese animation that Lin Wenxiao participated in and witnessed, Chinese animated films have won many international awards. Yan Dingxian said in an interview before his death that it was precisely because the story content and artistic treatment of Chinese animation at that time had a unique artistic style, which was different from Disney and other animations in the United States, so it was praised as the "Chinese animation school" by the West.

The precious original manuscript of "The Great Trouble in the Heavenly Palace" is on display in the Shanghai Center. Photo by Tang Yanjun

Chang Guangxi recalled that despite repeated awards abroad, Shanghai Beauty filmmakers at that time were indifferent, "I didn't think there was anything remarkable." He mentioned that as a member of the International Animation Association, Lin Wenxiao often communicates with foreign countries, but has always maintained his understanding and "determination" of animation. Lin Wenxiao has also said many times that he is not opposed to imitating foreign countries, but he wants to become his own after learning, and "it is not possible to use it directly."

In Chen Zhihong's view, Chinese animators at that time were very "daring to think": "First, technical imagination, such as daring to develop and apply new technologies, creating different styles such as paper-cut animation, puppet animation, ink animation and so on; The second is the imagination of the story, using comedy stories to convey China's traditional spirit of diligence and bravery, friendship and tolerance, without preaching; The third is to absorb foreign animation technology, concepts and other nutrients, but will break the 'shell' of imitation and do their own creativity; fourth, the creators have a sincere attitude and really make animation for children, not for the box office and awards. ”

In recent years, Chinese animation has ushered in a new round of creative boom. At the beginning of this year, Shanghai Meiying's new work "China Strange Tan" reproduces the charm of the combination of Chinese imagination and Chinese aesthetics, which is considered to be the latest inheritance of the "Chinese animation school" and has become a "phenomenal" work. Chen Zhihong believes that if the new generation of animators can calm down, learn from their predecessors the pure artistic spirit and creative attitude, get rid of the constraints of too fast iteration technology on artistic creation, Chinese animation with a broad era stage and film market "will definitely appear more good works in recent years". (End)