The 4K restored version of the classic animated film "Tianshu Qitan" has been released in mainland theaters on November 5, and this film, which has been violating 38 years, has triggered a movie-going boom, the style of the film is smart and interesting, and the production behind it is full of stories. However, for a long time, there have been many misinterpretations of "Tianshu Qitan" in the information on the Internet, such as inaccurate creation information and unclear introduction to the production process. It is not fair to the animators who actually make this animation, and the discussion of the spiritual inheritance of animation is not very objective.
In this regard, the Beijing News reporter exclusively interviewed Xue Meijun, who was responsible for the animation design of "Tianshu Qitan", and the relevant responsible persons of Shanghai Film Art Studio (hereinafter referred to as Shangmei Film), and asked them to share with us the story behind this animation legend. In "Heavenly Book", the cute egg student carries a piece of cake, puts the cake on his head, turns it around, takes a bite, eats a piece of cake and grows up, fully showing his cuteness. And this classic shot is painted by Xue Meijun, who has told the Beijing News reporter many times that she is proud to be able to participate in "Heavenly Book Qitan".
Poster of the 4K restored version of The Book of Heaven.
Thanks to the BBC for "messing around" for not being able to make a co-production
Instead, it makes pure entertainment fun
"Tianshu Qitan" and "Big Haunting Tiangong" and "Nezha Noisy Sea" are known as the three major animation film treasures of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, as the third color animation feature film in China, it has a certain milestone significance, which is also the first time that Shangmei Film highlights entertainment in creation, and the whole film is full of strange, interesting and beautiful. Xue Meijun, who is engaged in the animation design of this film, went up to Meiying before 1962, and she said that it was the heyday of the studio, and she seemed to have opened the door to a new world after graduating. The strong creative atmosphere made a deep impression on Xue Meijun, when a group of young animators in order to produce animation together, in a room, you inspired me, I inspired you, and jointly created a fun and beautiful world belonging to "Tianshu Qitan".
Classic animation IP linkage poster on the United States.
"Tianshu Qitan" was originally produced by the British BBC company invited by Shangmei Film to produce together, and the script was also recognized by the British BBC after the completion of the script, but then the BBC suddenly withdrew its investment, "Tianshu Qitan" could only be independently produced by Shangmei Film, and the film changed from a Chinese-foreign co-production to a Chinese-foreign original, so it unexpectedly obtained a relaxed creative environment. Before filming began, director Wang Shuchen had a recurrence of waist injury, and in order to ensure the progress and quality of creation, Qian Yunda was found as a co-director. Qian Yunda once said in a public interview: "This play still has to 'thank' the BBC, without them, we would not have thought of doing it this way from the beginning, but the BBC made this mess, we took this opportunity to emphasize the fun, play a pure entertainment, very interesting." ”
Familiar with the script and familiar with the animation life was the daily work of the animation workers in that period. In Xue Meijun's memory, when doing "Tianshu Qitan", the most important thing for everyone was to communicate, the director handed over the script to the animation designer (that is, the original painting), and what he gave could trigger the imagination of the painter, and also gave a lot of space for them to enrich. "After the plot is understood, it depends on your play, in which communication is very important, and many unexpected things can be run out." For example, the fight between the fox spirit and the egg student is not in the previous animation, this is the director's ability to conceive, he gave the foundation of animation design, we will think about the action according to the script and the director's narration to understand the plot. There was a lot of discussion and screening waiting for us, and many people were young people at that time, and the director was very hard in this situation, because they had to see every picture. ”
More than 300,000 frames were painted in four years
The fox's design was inspired by dance teachers
Xue Meijun said that every minute and every second at that time was contributed to animation, and every day after his work was completed, he would also take his work home to continue to create, not only painting in the unit, but also conceiving the content behind at home. More important than painting is imagination, thinking every minute during the animation period, coming up with expressions that match the plot and characters, and being meticulous every minute. In fact, many people who make "Tianshu Qitan" are young people, fortunately, the main bone Qian Yunda cares about everyone, and many shots are conceived with everyone, "What is good, what is not good, how to refine together, he has put a lot of effort into running with us." ”
The architecture that appears in the Book of Heaven is very elaborate.
In September 1980, more than ten main creators such as the film crew of "Tianshu Qitan" went to Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and other places to collect scenery, they visited many buildings, such as Chengde Summer Resort, Qufu, Yongle Palace, and saw all kinds of bodhisattvas and Buddha images, so now there are many temple scenes in the film. At the end of the year, the art style of the whole film was basically determined.
According to relevant records, "Tianshu Qitan" took nearly four years to complete, the animation pictures are all drawn one by one, after two shooting of the character lines and pictures, a total of more than 300,000 frames of pictures were finally filmed, and more than 40 animation production personnel spent more than a year to draw more than 80,000 character action pictures; six painters spent more than a year to draw the background of the picture, and some scenes were even painted on silk; in addition, more than fifty tracing line color personnel, with more than half a year to deploy dozens of colors, Fill in the character and its shape.
In particular, the fox's action performance is difficult to create, during this period, the director specially invited two dance teachers from the dance academy to give lessons to the creative staff, and tell everyone how to use dance movements to express the character of the character. Xue Meijun said, "At that time, there was a very strong atmosphere of discussion, we were too interested in the content of the teacher's speech, and at that time, watching the teacher's performance was a whole day, which had a very big impact on the design of the fox." No one feels tired or tired, only that novelty has vitality. ”
Lou Ye is not an artist of "Heavenly Book"
He is mainly involved in the animation of "Golden Monkey Descending Demon"
Screenshot of the credits of "Tianshu Qitan" in the Douban movie.
Now there is a saying that the director Lou Ye was involved in the creation of "Tianshu Qitan", when the Beijing News reporter checked the entire credits of "Tianshu Qitan" on the Douban movie, he found that it also marked the artist of "Tianshu Qitan" as Lou Ye, so some viewers will think that Lou Ye is a big director born from this movie, but this statement is actually not accurate. The relevant people of Shangmei Film especially asked Lou Ye to verify this matter, she told the Beijing News reporter that Lou Ye initially studied animation production, he entered the Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio with excellent results, where he was exposed to the painting work of the finishing "Heavenly Book Qitan", and then served as an animation position for the animated film "Golden Monkey Descending Demon". In fact, when Lou Ye completed the internship period in Shangmei Film and officially entered the factory, "Tianshu Qitan" was basically completed, when their students participated in some of the shots and modification work, but at that time, "Golden Monkey Descending Demon" was in full swing, which was the film that Lou Ye was more involved in the production.
Screenshot of Lou Ye's signature in the "Golden Monkey Descending Demon" credits.
The relevant person of Shangmei Film said: "Lou Ye in the past two years of Shangmei Film, in the "Golden Monkey Descending Demon" crew is to Chang Guangxi and other senior animation design (that is, the original painting) to add animation, at that time can give senior animation design and animation are more outstanding people, Lou Ye was also selected into the original training class to learn the original painting. In addition, there is no position of artist in shangmei film, which belongs to the category of practical art, and it is inappropriate to call him an artist. ”
Honestly draw, can not have a little speculation
(The following is from Xue Meijun's dictation)
"Heavenly Book Qitan" animation design Xue Meijun.
Director Qian Yunda is rigorous and easy-going
I can't remember which scene it was. It was a scene involving the waves, and at the time I had no idea how the waves started, but director Qian Yunda was particularly patient, and he took me to the data room to go through the information. Which forms of expression can be adopted, the choice is discussed together. At that time, I thought that Qian Lao was particularly difficult, because he did not forget to care about us all the time under the heavy burden and heavy tasks of his own. Although he is strict with everyone, his work attitude is extremely meticulous and he is very easy-going. He was very helpful to us in making this movie and impressed me deeply.
Everyone jumped on one leg to find the feeling of the "lame fox"
"Heavenly Book" fox a abduction poster.
The image of the egg is lively and bold, and Yuan Gong is steady and upright, which will refer to many interesting folk images to paint. To say that the hardest thing is the lame fox A turn. It is the funny bearer in the film, he is greedy, stupid, often accidentally sabotage the plans of the fox mother and the fox girl, usually can only rely on one leg to jump around, funny actions make this villain more memorable. At that time, Qian Dao said that how to behave as a cripple can only be known if you have experienced it yourself. So at that time, each of us had to jump on one foot, jump until we had feelings before we could move. When jumping, you should experience happiness or anxiety according to the plot performance, but also jump to the right rhythm, too exaggerated, too restrained and not right, it is after repeated attempts, screening, selection, to draw properly is very testing.
"Take it back and change it"
I was very impressed by director Qian Yunda's memory, and I remember that there was an animator who handed over his own drawings to Qian Dao, who was not very satisfied with it at that time, and said that each draft had to be revised. Later, this animator forgot about the revision because of too much work, put the drawing aside, and resubmitted it again after a month, and Qian Dao found out on the spot: "No modification, take it back and change it again", so he remembers a picture vividly, it is very clear, everyone only tightens the strings, honestly draws, can not have a little speculation.
Work hard to show the "dah" of the fox girl walking
"Heavenly Book" beauty demon fox poster.
For many animated images, it is necessary to think about all aspects, such as the fox girl walking is very "taunting", but because this image is not positive, so if it is more taunting, almost turning around, which is quite complicated. We should also be meticulous and realistic when creating, such as every action, if it is the kind that involves the whole body, it is also necessary to rotate and look down at 360 degrees, and the original animation must also show the details in all directions. These pictorial expressions require us to have a deep foundation in art.
Qian Dao read the pencil manuscript while reciting the dialogue
After the pencil draft is drafted, it is necessary to shoot it for examination, and each painting must check whether the action is correct, fast or slow. Director Qian Yunda watched how the action was drawn, and his mouth moved with it: he would memorize the corresponding dialogue and dub it himself to see if the action and lines matched. Every time I examine a pencil manuscript, I have to look at hundreds of shots, which is very hard, he was already in his 50s at that time, and we think about his job.
Zhou Huixiaowan, a senior reporter of the Beijing News
Senior Editor Huang Jialing Proofreader Wei Zhuo