Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Ai Xiuyu
Figure/Interviewee
Recently, one of the sub-projects of the Bilibili National Animation Support Program "Light Hunting" "Capsule Plan" was launched. With the theme of "prick, desire, joy, fantasy, numbness, tears, and burning", the program invited 14 animation teams to create works in different forms and styles.
As one of the invited short films, "Kiman the Curious Man of Space" (hereinafter referred to as "Kiman") tells the story of the hot-blooded teenager Kiman fighting the "strange head" according to his subjective ideas and wanting to save the world. After its launch, "Kiman" received more than one million hits.
Behind the film is a creative team from Guangzhou - He Yu Wenshi. A few days ago, the Yangcheng Evening News reporter exclusively interviewed Liu Yuchen, the chief director of the short film, to listen to him tell his feelings of paying tribute to youth with "Kiman" and the behind-the-scenes story of short film production, and explained the current soil of Guangdong animation and the trend of "the rise of national comics" from the perspective of insiders.
【Origin】
A work of nostalgia and dreams
"Kiman" gathers He-Man, Sailor Moon, Skeleton King, Saint Seiya and other animated characters who have left a deep imprint on the childhood memories of the "post-80s" generation in the form of a "hodgepodge", and interprets a new story with a parody nonsensical deconstruction.
Liu Yuchen said that with the iterative update of technology and aesthetics, the animation style and characteristic design of the 80s and 90s of the 20th century have faded out of everyone's vision: "I hope that through "Kiman", the audience who has grown into adults can temporarily escape reality in these 9 minutes and recall the pure joy of watching animation in childhood." ”
Yangcheng Evening News: Please introduce yourself first.
Liu Yuchen: I am a native of Yinchuan, Ningxia, born in 1988, graduated from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, and originally worked in the film and television industry in Beijing. In 2012, my brother Cinnabar and I came to Guangzhou to undertake game-related business, and later co-founded an animation company. Now, we have been rooted in Guangzhou for 10 years.
Yangcheng Evening News: What is the creative team of "Kiman"?
Liu Yuchen: The creative team of this film is about 60 people, divided into different types of work, such as director, screenwriter, producer, and production. Everyone is basically the post-80s generation, people from all over the country who love three-dimensional animation.
Yangcheng Evening News: Where is the inspiration for such a brain-opening story?
Liu Yuchen: It has something to do with me, I myself am a very nostalgic person, after leaving home when I was a child, I went all the way from Tianjin and Beijing to Guangzhou. Occasionally, when I go home, I will find that my hometown is constantly changing, and the old houses and streets are basically gone. It makes me a little sad, but people have to face reality and move on. Fortunately, animated images like He-Man, Seiya, etc. in my childhood can place my nostalgia for the old days.
In addition, I like stories with big brains, and I want to add some allegorical memes that adults find interesting in the film. In the end, I chose to put the two completely different feelings of "nostalgia" and "brain hole" into "Kiman" and play with the audience!
Yangcheng Evening News: The elements in "Kiman" are very rich, and before you started, you had ambitions to diversify this short film?
Liu Yuchen: Yes! I've wanted to try this for a long time – what would it be like to combine all the previous animated characters together and put them in one film? What are the possibilities of mixing two-dimensional, three-dimensional and different styles of painting together? Kiman made this idea come true.
【Production】
"Try as you go" in the process
"Kiman" adopts stylized three-dimensional animation production, in just 9 minutes, including the American black and white animation style of the 20th century and 30s, the TV animation style of the 80s of the 20th century and the popular cool high-definition CG effects, and there are many characters in the film. Liu Yuchen said that it is really not an easy task to coordinate the overall style of the film during the production, condense the original characteristics of the characters, take into account the interestingness, and connect the elements in the film with the narrative.
Yangcheng Evening News: Did the project start go smoothly?
Liu Yuchen: At the beginning, many team members were completely confused, I struck, everyone didn't react, the whole field was silent, haha.
Yangcheng Evening News: Do you have a bottom in your heart? How to lead a confused team to rush forward?
Liu Yuchen: Yes, I know very well what kind of film I want to make. But the challenge was how to turn my personal feelings into a story. In addition, the form of the film itself is more complicated, how to present this complex form?
We spent a lot of time in the early stages, and around July last year we started planning, writing the script, figuring out the storyboard, lighting and color design, and character setting. Character setting is the longest grinding. Shan Jiman made hundreds of schemes, and we finally combined the space barbarian theme represented by He-Man and Conan and some design elements of early sci-fi films of the 50s to present this character.
However, after clarifying the idea, the production progressed relatively quickly, officially entered the production in May this year, and completed the film more than 4 months later.
Yangcheng Evening News: What are the main challenges in the production process?
Liu Yuchen: In terms of production management - there are a total of 9 main characters in the film, each of which has more than one variant, and each character needs to present a different form in different scenes, what role is paired with what form, and which scenes and scenes are used... On the one hand, it is necessary to try to maintain the style of painting that pays tribute to the original, and also to do some integration in different styles, so as not to put the picture elements together too jumpy and contradictory. This made production management extremely difficult, more cumbersome than any project we've ever done before.
Yangcheng Evening News: What method was used to solve this problem in the end?
Liu Yuchen: We spend a lot of time trying and testing, and this process of "trying while doing" is very important.
Yangcheng Evening News: What technical accumulation and experience of the team played a key role in the creation of short film animation?
Liu Yuchen: The main process of "Kiman" is three-dimensional animation, which is the main direction of our daily technology accumulation and talent accumulation. In addition, we also need to create a story and arrange character interaction to make a promotional video for Party A. So, storytelling is also our forte. We used all of this accumulation in the production of Kiman.
【Repercussions】
Achieve "sympathy" with netizens
After the personality of "Kiman" was launched, many netizens shouted "so weird" while choosing to "watch it again a hundred million times", and some people wrote down their feelings after watching and interpreting many hidden memes and deep meanings such as "peace and war" and "good and evil" in the film. This made Liu Yuchen feel moved and satisfied: "Not only fulfilled my careful wish, but also found many resonators, which enhanced our confidence in making original feature-length animation." ”
Yangcheng Evening News: There were many animated images active on the screen in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century, what are the commonalities of these few selected for film?
Liu Yuchen: The commonality is that it is "particularly typical" and "can catch the audience back to that era". Even if you are not particularly familiar with He-Man, there is a high probability that you will have a cartoon hero image of "muscle man raising sword for power" in your mind. Including Saint Seiya, as soon as it is said that the image of him wearing armor will appear in everyone's mind. In addition, the style of these images is relatively ancient and simple, which is now rare, and can especially bring a sense of nostalgia.
Yangcheng Evening News: After reading it, netizens on station B gave various interpretations and brain holes. Do you think these interpretations are in place?
Liu Yuchen: To be honest, the feedback from netizens surprised me, whether it was the memes buried by the screenwriter, the content we reshaped, and my personal thoughts, the audience basically caught them all, and the interpretation was correct, although it may be a little more, but not too far off. We can be regarded as finding a deep resonance with netizens.
Yangcheng Evening News: As a creator, is there anything you regret about "Kiman"?
Liu Yuchen: Because of time, some effects were not particularly satisfactory, for example, the battle scenes could have been richer and the visual effects more shocking. In addition, due to space constraints, we cut a lot of bridges and used smoke and other methods to cover them. But the overall effect we think is not bad.
Yangcheng Evening News: "Kiman" is the first completely free and autonomous creation, has it aroused your greater original ambition?
Liu Yuchen: Yes, in fact, most animation people, in the final analysis, still want to make something original and truly their own, and we are no exception, at present, we are also cooperating with Yongsheng Animation in the animated film "Falling Dust". This time, I tried an original with "Kiman", and also tested whether the thing we wanted to do had an audience. The positive feedback from netizens makes us more confident to make a long-form animation of our own.
【Observation】
"The Rise of National Comics" is truly established
In recent years, the "rise of national comics" has become a hot topic. In Liu Yuchen's view, the statement of "the rise of national comics" is true, "It does provide good opportunities for animators, it encourages many animation companies to boldly develop quality content, and the market is very much in need of good works to meet public expectations."
Yangcheng Evening News: "Kiman" gathers many classic animation images, but they are basically imported products. The influence of foreign animation on your generation of animators is not insignificant. In this situation, how do we slowly grow our own things?
Liu Yuchen: There is no doubt that the impact will definitely exist. However, if the cultural soil is different, the way of thinking is different. Image and technology can be learned from each other, but our ideas and expressions are definitely Chinese. For example, when it comes to "heroism," foreigners and ours are certainly defined differently. Therefore, as long as we animators sink our hearts into telling our own hearts, what will be produced will definitely be our own story.
Yangcheng Evening News: We seem to have implanted some Cantonese elements in the film?
Liu Yuchen: Yes, in the dialogue between "Seiya" and "Athena" in the film, we used plastic Cantonese. Some streetscapes and architectural styles are also references to the Guangzhou urban area. We were originally a creative team rooted in Guangzhou, hoping to present some Guangzhou style.
Yangcheng Evening News: When it comes to Guangdong's animation industry, everyone often thinks of "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf". As an insider, do you think there have been any new changes in the Guangdong animation industry in recent years?
Liu Yuchen: Now the Guangdong animation industry is generally developing into a more popular and adult audience. In the past, Guangdong's animators, whether they were pleasant goats or pig man, did rely on young animation to gather popularity, develop and grow, and also gained affirmation. But everyone also very much hopes to make more popular large-scale animated movies, such as "White Snake: Origin" or "Nezha: The Demon Child Descends". Through the trends of Guangdong's animation industry, you can also truly feel the "rise of national comics".
Yangcheng Evening News: The animation majors of various colleges and universities have been expanding year by year, and many latecomers have devoted themselves to this industry. What is essential for practitioners?
Liu Yuchen: We must have hard work and a strong desire to learn, and we must love and really like it. In this way, you will have a motivation, whether it is overtime or hard work, you want to do things well, and you want to make a particularly good work for everyone to see.
Yangcheng Evening News: Last question, will there be a follow-up to "Kiman"?
Liu Yuchen: Actually, we already have a general idea of the content of the sequel. If we have the opportunity, we will definitely be willing to continue doing it.