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There is an animated short film like this:
It is 16 minutes long and taken more than 3 years to produce by a Chinese guy on his own;
It has swept the Internet and has been called "the best work of domestic animation" and "the most bullish original animation short film of Chinese" by many netizens;
It has participated in various animation short film selections at home and abroad, and the big and small awards are simply soft.
But what is shocking is that such a great domestic animation work actually came from 10 years ago.
In 2008, an animated short film produced by Dumpling knickl (formerly known as Yang Yu) came out.
On the Douban score, the score of "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon" is as high as 8.6 points, and even some people believe that there is no one in the domestic animation short film.
So, what kind of a short film can make everyone so stingy and praiseworthy, can it really bear such a reputation?
"The biggest weakness of Chinese animation is 'not good-looking.'" The author, Makiri, says so.
In his view, the root cause of the decline of Chinese animation is not that people usually say that investors are eager to make quick profits, the industrial chain has not been formed, or piracy is rampant, but that Chinese animation itself is "not good-looking".
He has always believed: "Now is the era of the eyeball economy, Chinese animation to be really good-looking, it is difficult to think of profit." ”
(Author "Dumplings")
And we all know that for an animation to look good, good ideas are crucial.
The superiority of "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon" is first reflected in creativity.
As an anti-war animated work, it has a cool beginning:
Against a dark red background, several fluttering cards are captured by dense cobwebs, accompanied by tearing sound effects, and a spooky atmosphere is smudged.
Combined with the later part of the animation, it can be seen that the cobweb has a profound metaphorical significance:
It represents both the turbulent political situation and the living environment in which we depend but are trapped by it.
Immediately after the sudden change in the style of painting, the two leaders in the black and white scene face the camera politely.
Together they approached the room and came to the negotiating table with the map drawn.
The continents on both sides of the map are in the shape of two dog heads, and the islands above resemble bones sandwiched between dogs.
The two sat down, first engaged in a "commercial blowing", with elegant manners and a kind face.
Gradually, the topic shifted to the core of the negotiations — the ownership of the middle island.
Unable to reach a consensus on how to divide the island, the two finally tore their faces.
When they stood up again, they had both changed into their battle robes and drew their swords at each other.
The most creative part of the animation, the card battle, has since begun.
Presumably, many people fantasized when they were young, using the cards in their hands as thousands of armies and horses to simulate a war, right?
The author of "Fight, Hit a Big Watermelon", Dumpling knickli, just perfectly integrated his imagination of card combat into the animation.
Thus, we see that with the "buzzing" sound of the propeller turning, the two-dimensional plane on the card suddenly becomes semi-three-dimensional and flies obliquely into the sky:
In the vast desert, the team of card tanks came with great momentum.
On the other side, the fleet on the sea is like a dragon going out to sea, like a raptor crossing the river.
Submarines under the surface of the sea have fired missiles, shining with golden light.
These armies, land, sea and air, without exception, are manipulated by two people at the negotiating table and constantly attack each other.
Even the originally simple shuffling has become a duel process.
The card depicting the battleship is on fire, which is equivalent to the battleship being hit.
The torn card depicting the soldier represents the demise of life.
Later, the war intensified, and the card soldiers who charged on the battlefield were burned to ashes by the scattered flames of war and became "real cannon fodder".
Although "Fight, Play a Big Watermelon" is a war in the form of cards, it can be made very concrete and create a sense of blockbuster.
It is a very bold and remarkable idea to really feel the turmoil of war.
In addition, the animation has also been carefully polished in terms of details, and there are often some small surprises that make people shine.
For example, during combat, the device called "life-saving straw" that pops up on the plane is very lifelike.
In the animation, the bridge section between two pilots who love and kill each other contracts the main laugh point of the short film.
Because of their unique shape, they are called long jaws and square brain shells.
As the pilots of the card plane, the two cargoes have been playing treasures in the air when they are fiercely fighting, and the long chins still rush to the audience in front of the screen from time to time than "V".
After the two planes were destroyed together, the long chin and square brain shell fell together to the desert island, and began to fight each other with bare hands.
In the process of fighting, even if the two clumsy people were accidentally tied together, the long chin stubbornly pressed the head of the square brain shell into the sea water by spraying nosebleeds.
In the end, the long chin triumphed.
Funny, when he broke free of the rope and looked around, he found himself trapped in the vast sea.
His gaze touched the half-dead fang brain shell on the side, and the long chin immediately decided to save the square brain shell.
With the effort of the long chin, the square brain shell woke up.
In the days that followed, the deserted land of the island in the sea became their paradise.
In this way, the two people who resembled savages lived a life without shame and shame, and the years were quiet.
During the day, they go up to trees to pick fruit, go down to the sea to catch fish, and use fish bones to cut each other's hair:
At night, while smelling each other's feet, they have untold dreams and fall asleep soundly.
Days go by day by day. Until one day, they inadvertently saw ships coming towards them at sea level in the distance.
Realizing that they were about to be saved, the cheering two couldn't help but spin, jump, and close their eyes, as if they had crossed over to the scene of an Indian song and dance film in a second.
A few shells fired shattered their happiness.
It turned out that the ships had not come to save them, but were in the midst of war.
The long chin and the square brain shell looked at each other, not knowing what expression to make at this time.
From falling off a desert island after the war to facing war again, the encounter between the two can be described as a twist and turn.
This scene naturally makes us as the audience laugh, but after laughing, we may touch the sad background.
Nick Burke once gave an example:
A man sentenced to death pointed to the gallows before he was about to go to the gallows and asked the executioner, "Are you sure this thing is strong?" ”
This form of humor is called "humor under the gallows," also known as "black humor."
The same goes for stories of long jaws and square brain shells.
Their struggles seem to be performing an absurd comedy for us, soaked in this kind of black humor everywhere, which is chilling.
Many times, because animated short films are relatively short, people find it difficult to take on the narrative of grand themes.
And "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon" has made many people start to look at the form of animated short films.
It is to convey the author's anti-war ideas, because the form of expression is unique, and the content complements each other, so as to avoid empty preaching and impress people.
Regarding the title of "Fight, Hit a Big Watermelon", the usual saying is that at the end of "Deer Ding", the treasure hidden when Manchu Qing entered the customs was revealed, and the greedy people were desperately working hard for a "wealth" word, and Xingye, who played Wei Xiaobao, felt it:
"Hit it, hit it with a big watermelon!"
In a brutal war, politicians are like gods in high positions with the power to kill and live, turning clouds and rain in the vortex of power.
However, the gods fought, and the people suffered.
All soldiers are just cards in the hands of politicians, which can be played at will.
They are no longer human individuals with souls, but have become cold tools of warfare.
Someone once said, "War is how to kill your countrymen efficiently." ”
In the animation, the killing scene is abstracted into the destruction of the card pile, which seems to alleviate the bloodiness of the war, but once we think that these cards are actually metaphors for living people, we will still hurt them and feel shocked, as if we see a huge meat grinder.
Human beings have evolved so far, and they always like to think of themselves as civilizations.
But in the course of war, the humanity and civilization of which we are proud seem to be lost.
The authorities are confused, and the bystanders are clear. In the anime, he temporarily broke away from the square brain shell and long chin of the battlefield, and began to look at the war from the perspective of a third party, thinking about what he had been "fighting for".
Therefore, they chose to stay on the island, allowing the war outside the island to be fought and played chess calmly.
Ironically, compared to the so-called "civilized people" outside, these two scruffy "barbarians" seem to be much more cute.
At the end of the animation, the broken net symbolizes the square brain shell and long chin breaking through the shackles and escaping the fate of being a pawn.
The author is good and anti-war.
Through the final awakening of the two of them, he shows us that there is still hope for humanity.
Human beings are small, but they have the dignity of being human beings, and they should not at any time leave their thinking ability at the mercy of others.
Choose war or peace? Please think about it carefully and then answer.
PS: For the convenience of everyone, I have collected the animation resources, Interested friends click [Learn more] below to see it ~ ~ ~