French-produced animation has always been unique in the world animation landscape with its artistry, and there is no shortage of fans in China. As early as the 1980s, works such as "The King and the Bird" were all the rage and are still talked about by fans. After entering the 21st century, whether it is the spicy and warm Sylvain Chomet ("Crazy Dating Beauty", "The Magician") or michel Ocelot ("The Prince and the Princess", "Azul and Asmal"), who has rediscovered the paper-cutting style, almost all the works from their hands can be equated with "masterpieces", providing different options for domestic audiences who are tired of hollywood stereotyped animation.
Relatively speaking, Jacques-Rémy Girerd seems to be less famous than the above two. Perhaps, this is not unrelated to the fact that in his forty years of animation career, he has only directed three feature films. However, as the founder of the French "Folimage Animation Studio", he has worked quietly for many years and, as a producer, has helped to promote the young animation directors to the stage. Moreover, he has a long relationship with the city of Shanghai, has come to participate in exchange activities many times, and this year he visited again as the chairman of the jury of the Golden Jubilee Award animation unit of the Shanghai International Film Festival, and recently accepted an exclusive interview with The Paper.
Jacques-Remy Jared Visual China Image
Jacques-Remy Jared has blue eyes and a rounded figure, which reminds me of the naughty Migu in his work, whether he was painted in the mirror. Although he served as a jury member at the film festival this time, he still did not change the artist's uninhibited behavior, put on a short-sleeved plaid shirt, wore a pair of beach pants, and came to the interview room barefoot with a pair of slippers.
Jared, 66, was born in Mars, a town of five or six hundred inhabitants in the Loire department of central France. At the age of 22, he enrolled at the École des Arts and Crafts de Lyon, where he began working on stop-motion short films. In 1981, he founded Folimage, and in 1999 he set up his own animation school, all in a cultural center converted from an old munitions factory in the small french town of Bourg-lès-Valence.
For more than 30 years, Mad Shadow has produced a large number of animated shorts, cartoon series and animated feature films, including 2003's La prophétie des grenouilles , 2008 'Mia et le Migou ] and 2010 'Tante Hilda ' – three feature films directed by Jared himself. Among them, "The Frog's Prophecy" won a special prize at the Berlin Film Festival; "Miya Miguren" won the European Film Award for Best Animation by defeating "The Secret of Kells".
Poster of The Frog's Prophecy
In addition to the director's work, Jared has also discovered and promoted a large number of new talents through "Crazy Shadow" and its animation schools, bringing out many excellent animation creators. For example, michael Dudok de Wit, the director of "The Red Turtle", was the producer of le moine et le poisson (The Monk and the Flying Fish) that year. There is also the 2010 Oscar-nominated film "Une vie de chat" (Cat in Paris), which was also escorted by jacques-Remy Jared behind the two young directors.
For a long time, Crazy Shadow has adhered to the traditional hand-drawn method, where each picture is drawn by an animator and then digitized. Feature films like "The Frog's Prophecy" (which cost 6 million euros, took six years to produce alone, with more than 200 people participating) had to draw up to 1 million hand-drawn manuscripts.
Jared said in an interview that it was this protracted approach to creation that gave him the idea of retirement, "Now I want to spend more time on more personal things, such as painting, writing, playing the piano, and hiking around Rhode Island." During the conversation, he also took out a sketchbook for reporters to look through, which not only had the scenery of Lyon, the floor plan of Rhode Island, but also the silhouette of Shanghai and the opening ceremony of the film festival that he had just drawn in the past two days. However, when talking about the touch of Shanghai's changes earlier, he still can't help but conceive new works in this way. Since Miyazaki, who is 11 years older than him, cannot give up his work, perhaps one day in the future, we can see Jared's new works.
Sketch by Jacques-Remy Jared By The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun Picture
【Dialogue】
The Paper: From the short film series Ma petite planète chérie to Tante Hilda, the style of your work is constantly changing, and each one is different. Is this because you deliberately want to try different styles, or is it determined by the story itself?
Jared: It's based on the story. When it comes to drawing styles, the United States and Japan, the two largest animators in the world, have their own fixed forms, the United States is cartoons, and Japan is manga. In my opinion, this is largely due to commercial considerations, which form of box office is good, animation companies will continue to use. But if I had to do that, I would feel particularly uncomfortable. For me, every work should have its own style – it should be the story that determines the style, not the style that follows the story. So when I'm creating, I choose a style that matches the story.
"Aunt Hilda" poster
The Paper: Why is the theme of each of your works revolving around the relationship between man and nature? Never thought of shooting other subjects?
Jared: Actually, every time I want to change the theme, but every time I can't help but come back to this theme. As a director, first of all, I am a person who pays a lot of attention to the present, cares about what is happening around me, cares about the fate of people, so it is like a kind of fate, and the theme of each time I create is ultimately related to the nature that I care about the most. That being said, I didn't want to preach in the movie, I just wanted to exchange ideas with the audience about the relationship between man and nature.
Recently I also had new ideas in Shanghai. In fact, I had been here as early as ten years ago, but this time I obviously felt that the whole city was less polluted, the environment was getting better, and the main thing was that it became quieter, as if the sound of car horns could not be heard on the street. Last night, while walking, I thought that if I were to make a film about Shanghai, "the reduction of sound pollution" would be a good theme. Because Shanghai is obviously an international metropolis, but it is so quiet, people feel so peaceful, this makes me feel very deeply.
The Paper: You set up Crazy Shadow Studios in 1981 to create hand-drawn animation. When it comes to the world's most famous hand-drawn animation studios, we also think of Japan's Ghibli Studio. Ghibli's staff are paid a fixed monthly salary, because Miyazaki and Takahata believe that this allows the staff to devote themselves to their work without worries. What is the situation of "Crazy Shadow"?
Jared: The situation in France is slightly different, but there are similarities. In France, a two-track mechanism is implemented: animation practitioners are paid by the animation company when they produce works; when you don't have a project on hand, the public foundation gives you money until you receive a new project, so you are still more secure. (Editor's note: In France, for French citizens engaged in the film and television industry, as long as they join the relevant trade unions, when they do not have a project, the government's public foundation provides funds that can meet the needs of normal life, which is aimed at ensuring that professionals in the film and television industry do not change careers for the sake of livelihood and avoid brain drain, but the directors and screenwriters are not funded by public funds. ）
Poster of "MiYa MiGu Ren"
The Paper: So how many people are there in the "Crazy Shadow" at present?
Jared: In fact, "Crazy Shadow" is no longer the one that was originally established, but has absorbed 15 related animation agencies, including a special animation school, all in a cultural center that was once a military factory, called "La Poudrière", and now there are about 500 people. Probably because of the name, our studio's work is still more radical (laughs).
The Paper: I watched an English-speaking French animation last year called Ballerina, which looked like a parody of Disney animation. For a French animation, it makes me feel sad. Hand-drawn animation is obviously more artistic and more different, but now CGI and 3D have become the mainstream of animation production. In your opinion, what is the reason for this?
Jared: I've never heard this animation you're talking about. Actually, I don't hate 3D animation, and I like it when it's done well, like Pixar's. But if you don't master the 3D technology enough, the animation is a disaster! Of course, I agree with you that hand-drawn animation is indeed warmer, more poetic, and more humane.
The Paper: All of Mad Shadow's soundtracks are written by the French musician Serge Besset, can you talk about working with him?
Jared: It should be said that all the feature film music is matched by him. He's an old friend of mine, we've known since the 1980s and often work together. He's very, very talented. Because he did a great job and we communicated very well, I didn't have to go to anyone else to work with. But, like me, he's a little older now. In the future, the new director of "Crazy Movie" will cooperate with new composers, which is actually very good.
The Paper: There are many young people in China who are engaged in the field of animation, and many want to be directors. In your opinion, what qualities should an animation director have?
Jared: Well... To have a deep understanding of various cultures, to be very interested in movies – and not limited to animated films. To become an animation director, it is not that you have the will to learn through a set of formulas and achieve your wishes. You have to go through a cumulative process, you have to watch a lot of books, a lot of movies, a lot of theater, and you have to have an open mind. When you have been brewing for many years, your ability as a director will be stimulated. Let me give you an example, you don't have to be scared, in fact, being a director is like making love. We don't go to a special school to learn how to make love, right, and it's the same with being a director.
The Paper: So what about the "Arsenal" animation school?
Jared: We don't have a full-time teacher in this school, only the best people in various fields of the film and television industry to teach for a day or two, or a week or two, and then leave. Sometimes there are well-known filmmakers who help students with their creations. Why use this model? Because in our industry, if you teach in school for ten or twenty years, you will inevitably be out of touch with the times.
The Paper: So in your opinion, is the model of the "arsenal" animation school impossible to replicate in other places, such as China?
Jared: I was told before that there was an animation school in Beijing with 20,000 students. A school of this size, there must be full-time teachers inside. Our school model is more suitable for small-scale teaching of nine or ten people, and students do not come to us to get a diploma. However, the students who come out of such a small class are very powerful. Because we don't select students based on their financial strength – our school is completely free, but based on whether the student has talent, or whether they have a lot of knowledge, such as having traveled the world, because then you can apply these experiences to the creation of works in the future.
The Paper: You've been a producer for all these years, and it's been four years since "Aunt Hilda", have you started a new directorial work?
Jared: I'm older now. It takes about seven years for me to produce a work, and I can't predict that I will still be able to do the job as a director in seven years' time. For the past four decades, I have been uninterruptedly and completely dedicated to my work, and now I want to spend my time more personally, such as drawing, writing, playing the piano, and hiking around Rhode Island. I also have a small farm to take care of, with lambs and small fish.