It is said that Lang Lang, a piano prince who recently entered the palace of marriage, once said that his fate with the piano and the rich body movements when playing were derived from the "Cat and Mouse" series of works "Cat's Concerto".
In recent days, NetEase's new work "Tom and Jerry: Happy Interaction" mobile game, the top of the list of APP Store free list, this "Tom and Jerry" authorized by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment "Tom and Jerry" the latest IP-related products, "Tom and Jerry" is back, but also evoked countless people's memories of childhood.
Animated short films, opening the way to the advanced level of classic IP
In 1940, the first animated short film in the Tom and Jerry series, Sweet Home, was officially released, and the little guy, who was still called "Jasper" and "Jinx", was nominated for "Best Animated Short Film" at the 13th Academy Awards as soon as he appeared. But the response to this work was mediocre. From the second episode of "Midnight Snack", Tom and Jerry officially became the names of the two protagonists, and since then, in the chase and fight between Tom and Jerry, "Tom and Jerry" has opened the way for the Golden Classic IP Attack.
▲ Midnight Dim Sum American Edition poster
The 114 works from 1940 to 1958, produced by the team of start-up Joseph Barbera/William Hanna, belonged to the classic series, and later, the Chuck Jones team repackaged and edited the 114 theatrical animated shorts between 1965 and 1972 to form a TV version of Tom and Jerry, which with a score of 9.7, became the highest score of Tom and Jerry in Douban to date. The television version was broadcast on CCTV in the early 1990s.
▲ Works from the period 1940-1958
The early 114 works can be said to have laid the absolute value of the big IP of the "Tom and Jerry" series. The average score of Douban reached more than 8.86 points, of which 42 works scored 9.0 points (inclusive) or more, accounting for 36.8%. 18 years, 114 works, each of which has a double harvest of traffic and word of mouth.
From 1940 to 1958, the "Tom and Jerry" series of animated short films was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film 12 times, including "Yankee Dud Rat", "Mouse Trouble", "Quiet Request", "Cat's Concerto", "Little Orphan", "Mouse Double Swordsman", "John Mouse" 7 works, successfully won back the little golden man.
▲Award-winning works
In the 1950s, the American film industry was in crisis, and in 1957, MGM dissolved the company's animation department, the founder of Tom and Jerry was dismissed, and the production of the Tom and Jerry animated short film was discontinued for the first time. Mgm later discovered that the potential commercial value of "Tom" and "Jerry", a pair of joyful rivals, was very good, and the company assigned Gene Deich as the producer of the animation to continue to work on Tom and Jerry.
From 1961 to 1962, a total of 13 "Tom and Jerry" animated short films were produced, but the animation of this period, whether it was the style, design or plot setting, did not win the hearts of the audience, and many viewers said: "The animation style is unacceptable." Ip Value Officer (ID: IP-Valuer) statistics found that in the 13 works from episodes 115 to 127 in this period, it became the hardest hit area for the "Tom and Jerry" series of animated short films with less than 8 points, of which 4 fell below 8 points, and the average rating just reached 8.0 points, becoming the lowest rating range in the history of the "Tom and Jerry" animated short films.
▲ Gene Deech period
In 1963, MGM Pictures accepted Chuck Jones, who had come out of The Warner Bros. Animation Division. The Tom and Jerry animated series kicked off the Chuck Jones era.
According to the IP Value Officer (ID: IP-Valuer), from the beginning of episode 128 to the end of episode 161, Chuck Jones's team produced a total of 34 Tom and Jerry anime series. During this period, the popularity and reputation of the "Tom and Jerry" series of animations rose again, and the audience still bought the painting style and brain hole of this period, and the performance was very stable.
In addition, with the development of the times, science fiction elements such as space stations and planets appeared at this stage, and works such as "Cat Sounds of the Solar System" and "Progress and Mechanization" are all stories that take place in space.
In 1967, MGM closed the animation production team for the second time after Charza had made 34 Tom and Jerry cartoons.
In 1975, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera couldn't bear to see their golden pair on the screen forgotten, so they began working with Saturday Morning Cartoons. They produced 48 7-minute animated shorts that aired on ABC. In this version, the two protagonists of "Tom" and "Jerry" are less hostile in the anime and become a united and fraternal cat and mouse.
From 1980 to 1982, Femson partnered with MGM Pictures to continue producing cartoon animations for cats and mice. Since then, due to MGM, the road to diversified development has been opened, and the "Tom and Jerry" series has also come to an end temporarily.
Multi-dimensional expansion and exploration, classic IP wants to rise again
In the 1990s, the "Tom and Jerry" series of animation was introduced to China, setting off a boom in China and becoming a classic animation in the minds of many people. From this stage, the "Tom and Jerry" animation IP has begun a multi-dimensional expansion strategy on the basis of continuing the original animation, in addition to the traditional "book + toys", the "Tom and Jerry" IP expansion is also constantly innovating.
1, Q version, legend, new version, classic IP tricks interpretation
First of all, the "Tom and Jerry" series IP did not give up its original advantages and continued to deepen its cultivation in the field of animated short films, but the works of the early 90s gave the view a completely different feeling.
On September 8, 1990, Hanna and Barbera produced the tom and Jerry Kids show for the third time in the Tom and Jerry Kids show, which was officially broadcast on Fox Television in the United States. However, unlike in the past, the violent scenes in cartoons have been greatly reduced, the characters tend to use various objects to fight skillfully, and the image of cats and mice has also changed, they are more cartoonish, smaller, more like two children, we affectionately call "Q version of tom and mouse".
But this overall change, especially the change in the image of cat and mouse has caused a lot of controversy, some people think it is not as interesting as the big version, some people think that this design is also very cute, fortunately, the overall story structure is very OK, and the overall results are still relatively bright.
After MGM was acquired by Warner Bros. in 2005, it continued to play Tom and Jerry's advantage in animated short films. Tom and Jerry is a 2006 short story series produced by Warner Bros. The anime is set in three short stories, each about 7 minutes long, for a total of 22 minutes. This series became Warner's new attempt to promote the "Tom and Jerry" series first internationally and then domestically. At present, our country can watch the first season of the legendary series on Mango TV.
In terms of pictures, the production has switched to the layout of the film, and the color and visual effects have been better, but when it comes to the story content, many people think that it is inferior to the crazy scenes in the classics, giving people a childish feeling.
In 2014, at the age of 75, Tom and Jerry's new production of the new series, the new series of "Tom" and "Jerry" is still a friend and foe relationship, but this time the new story of "Tom and Jerry" adds more action-adventure components, the background stage will change from ordinary family to medieval fantasy world, from the castle of the Dark Witch to the laboratory of the mad scientist, etc. In July 2015, the film premiered on CCTV-14 channel. Like the Legend series, in recent years, the new fan is also constantly being updated.
2, cross-border big screen, IP effect superimposed, but the record is worrying
It is said that as early as 1945, Tom and Jerry had already made cameo appearances in big movies, and into the 1990s, the "Tom and Jerry" series IP officially opened the road to big movies. Tom and Jerry's first big movie premiered in Germany on October 1, 1992, and officially landed in the U.S. market on July 30, 1930, with a box office record of $3.6 million that year.
Since then, the Tom and Jerry series has basically maintained the rhythm of one big movie a year. The IP Value Officer (ID: IP-Valuer) statistics found that the "Tom and Jerry" series of big movies will be "on the shoulders of giants" in the name. For example, works such as "Tom and Jerry: Pirate Treasure Hunt", "Tom and Jerry: The Legend of the Nutcracker", "Tom and Jerry Meet Holmes" and other works are borrowed from previous classics, resulting in IP superposition effects from the name.
However, the "Tom and Jerry" series IP, crossover big screen does not seem to be very optimistic. From the official release of the first big movie in 1993 to 2017, a total of 14 film works, the average score of Douban is only 6.98 points, which is far from the overall performance of the series of animated short films; look at the individual works, from 2014, they have fallen below the passing line and have not yet rebounded; the overall trend has been downward.
▲ "Tom and Jerry" series of big movies and rating charts
Such achievements are worrying, netizens have also said: "the plot is watery, not as good as imagined" "There is no feeling of watching cartoons when I was a child"... Now that the live-action CG movie has also been announced to be scheduled for 2021, everyone may be like Xiao V, very much looking forward to it, but a little worried.
3. "Mobile game + meme", a new attempt in the era of mobile Internet
On June 1, the latest IP-related product "Tom and Jerry: Happy Interaction" developed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment authorized by NetEase was officially beta- and the classic big IP + official promotion was strong, and "Tom and Jerry: Happy Interaction" attracted a lot of attention, and for many consecutive days, it dominated the top of the FREE list of the APP Store. A week after the list, Little V found that the game is still very good at TapTap, and as of 17:00 on June 7, "Tom and Jerry: Happy Interaction" is still at the top of the hit list, with a rating of 8.3.
As early as 2015, Warner Bros. classic animation "Tom and Jerry" IP has authorized NetEase to develop the mobile game of the same name, from the initial stand-alone version, to today's multiplayer online interactive version, Tom and Jerry is not only back, but also more fun. In recent years, NetEase is also constantly laying out the IP field, why will it reach cooperation with Warner Bros., NetEase said: "NetEase Games has been deeply engaged in IP operations, its classic Journey to the West series of games and the new Yin and Yang Division mobile games have carried out cross-border cooperation with the physical industry, and also made non-player groups aware of these IP through the production of animations, movies, musicals and other ways." Through operation, IP can get more fans and attention, which is exactly what Warner wants. ”
In fact, in the classic IP gamification development, "Tom and Jerry" has always kept up with the times. In 1996, "Tom and Jerry" developed GBA/GB-side games, in 2004 the PC game "Tom and Jerry Fighting Edition" was launched, and in 2015, "Tom and Jerry" seized the opportunity of mobile Internet to open the mobile game market. Judging from the response, the overall cat and mouse game score is good, and the potential is very good.
In addition, "Tom and Jerry: Happy Interaction" has a special setting - make emojis, players can click the "Make Emoji" button in the lower left corner after logging in, you can select pictures, text to make. This can be said to give full play to the advantages of cats and mice, cats and mice exaggerated, interesting performances, and memes are very compatible, and this embedded mobile game, may be a good attempt to empower classic IP with small ideas.
Of course, the classic IP of "Tom and Jerry" is also the favorite of various fashion brands, in January this year, "Tom and Jerry" announced and fashion brand LeSportsac launched a cooperative bag, a total of 49 models of various sizes, netizens complained: "If this is all bought, it is appropriate to go bankrupt." Recently, Converse and "Tom and Jerry" the first joint name of this summer's latest canvas shoes are also officially launched.
Spanning 80 years, still so active, perhaps from the longevity of "Tom and Jerry" this longevity big IP, Chinese animation IP can gain insight into something.
Borrow the classics, make good use of body language,
Empower IP creation
Studying China's relatively long-lived animation IP in recent years, "Pleasant Goat and Gray Wolf" and "Bear Haunting" can be regarded as the animation IP that China can take. Born in 2005, "Pleasant Goat and Gray Wolf" has been 14 years, and "Bear Haunting" born in 2012 is only 7 years old today, compared with "Tom and Jerry", an 80-year-old predecessor, China's animation IP has a long way.
With the birth of animated short films, continuous production of animated dramas, the development of large film fields, and a variety of cross-border attempts, it can be said that the Chinese animation IP represented by "Pleasant Goat and Gray Wolf" and "Bear Haunting" is extremely similar to "Tom and Jerry". The study found that the ability of the big IP of "Tom and Jerry" to "borrow classics and make good use of synaesthesia" is very prominent.
"Tom and Jerry" is very good at "taking advantage of the situation", which is very evident in the soundtrack part of the work. As an animation with almost no character dialogue close to silent films, music plays a very important role, according to statistics, the animated version of "Tom and Jerry" uses no less than 30 world famous songs. For example, the soundtrack "Anchor Song" in "Rats Come to Dinner", the U.S. Navy military song, composed by Charles Zimmerman, and lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. The song was passed down to the Republic of China during World War II, and after Chinese lyrics, it became one of the naval songs of the Republic of China; the "Cat's Concerto", which once triggered the "Great Controversy", the cat transformed into a tuxedo player, took to the stage to play Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, and more importantly, each key touched by Tom when playing corresponded to the note of the song itself. With the help of the world's famous songs, the LEVEL of the entire work of "Tom and Jerry" has been raised by more than one level.
▲"Cat's Concerto"
"Tom and Jerry" can cross cultural barriers and be loved by the whole world, which is closely related to the way the work itself is expressed. Spread across time and space, language and the values conveyed are the most difficult to change, and "Tom and Jerry" for so many years, has been taking the route of "silence is gold", especially the popular series of animated short films, the blessing of the world's famous songs, the combination of necessary sounds, "at this time silent" is the best way, "Tom and Jerry" exaggerated, interesting "body language" is the world can understand the expression.
Of course, whether it is borrowing classics, or rational use of body language, it is necessary to take solid content as the premise, "smart women are difficult to cook without rice", no matter how good the classic, and then funny general expression, if there is no good content as support, it can not get market recognition, just like the "Tom and Jerry" series of big movies, even if there is a world-class classic IP empowerment, but the content is weak, the audience will not buy it.
Article reprinted: Director Gang