Summer Highest Score! Why is this film possible?

From the wonderful lives of poets Li Bai and Gao Shi to the beautiful famous sentences of Tang poetry; From the prosperous scenery of Chang'an City, to the poetry of the moonlit night in Jiangnan, to the golden iron horse of the battlefield in the border city, the animated film "Chang'an 30,000 Li" shows a vast and magnificent epic picture of the Tang Dynasty, and the current Douban score has risen from 8.0 to 8.1, becoming the highest-scoring movie in the current summer file. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, the film was released in 5 days, and the total box office exceeded 300 million yuan.

Recently, the film's directors Xie Junwei and Zou Jing were interviewed by "Variety" to talk about the behind-the-scenes story of the film's production. "Animation is a distillation and generalization of the real world, much like poetry. "Chang'an 30,000 Li" hopes to explore the endless treasures of Chinese culture in the form of animation, and tell the unremitting pursuit of ideals by individuals in the thick history. Director Zou Jing said when talking about the original intention of creation.

Zou Jing

Follow historical sources and imagine reasonably

Gao Shi recalls the past of his life with Li Bai

Set against the background of the history of the Tang Dynasty, "Chang'an 30,000 Li" tells the moving friendship between him and Li Bai spanning decades from the perspective of the Biansai poet Gao Shi, showing the story of Gao Shi, Li Bai, Du Fu and other famous literati chasing ideals and realizing their ambitions in life under the magnificent scenery of the Tang Dynasty. The film also appears "Poetry Buddha" Wang Wei, He Zhizhang, Zhang Xu, Li Li, Cui Zongzhi in "Drinking the Eight Immortal Songs", Biansai poets Wang Changling and Cen Sheng, Li Bai's friends Cen Fuzi, Dan Qiusheng, Tang Dynasty famous generals Geshuhan, Guo Ziyi, Princess Yuzhen and other historical figures.

The film is the first work in the "New Culture" series of chasing light animation. When it comes to the "New Culture" series, the creative team first thinks of the free and inclusive Tang Dynasty and the ethereal and romantic Tang poetry. "My child has a book called 'Primary School Students Must Remember 129 Ancient Poems', and when he recited 'Spring Sleep Without Dawn', I naturally connected with 'Smell birds everywhere, the sound of wind and rain at night, and know how many flowers fall.'" At that moment, two generations build an emotional connection, and that's the transmission of culture. This film gives me the opportunity to show the stories of Li Bai, Gao Shi, Wang Wei and other Tang poets to the next generation, which is a great happiness for me. Director Xie Junwei said.

Xie Junwei

The title "Chang'an 30,000 Li" is derived from Chen Zilong's poem "Dreaming of Chang'an 30,000 Li, the sea breeze blows off the west head of the moraine", and at the same time reflects the theme of the film - "Chang'an" represents the "ideal place" in the hearts of poets such as Gao Shi and Li Bai, and "30,000 li" is the distance between them and the ideal. In the eyes of the creative team, Li Bai is a genius and a "fairy", and Gao Shi's struggle process is closer to ordinary people. The main creator hopes to make the audience more substitutionary through a suitable perspective.

Under the premise of following the historical context, the film develops a reasonable imagination of historical gaps and controversies. According to records, in history, Li Bai and Gao Shi met after the age of 40, and the two in the film met when they were young. This design comes from Du Fu's writing "Drunken Autumn Quilt, Hand in Hand in Hand in Japan", describing the scene of Li Bai, Gao Shi, and Du Fu traveling together. During the investigation, the main creative team found that Li Bai and Gao Shi had been to the same area at a similar age, so it was speculated that the two may have known each other when they were young. In addition, the reason why Gao Shi is set up as an image of dyslexia and stuttering since childhood in the first half of the film is because history has less records of the teenager Gao Shi, and the main creator said that Gao Shi is a late bloomer and may have encountered many difficulties when he was young.

15th edition Li Bai 25th edition Gao Shi

Design images of characters of different ages

"Chang'an 30,000 Li" has created two completely different poets: the young Li Bai is full of spirit, whether it is galloping with Gao Shize horses, or fighting with friends for hundreds of poems, they all show a heroic and free "poetic immortal" style, middle-aged and elderly Li Baishi's path is not smooth, but even in the trough of life, the poems are still magnificent; Gao Shiwen could write poetry and kill enemies in martial arts, and he had no way to serve the country in the first half of his life, but in the end, he became the most outstanding poet of the Tang Dynasty.

The visual image design of the film is based on the concept of "Tang style, poetry, magnificence and sophistication", and the character modeling refers to the proportions and shapes of characters in Tang Dynasty murals and other works, and pursues the texture of Tang figurines. In the film, the middle-aged Li Bai, who has experienced the ups and downs of the world, is closer to the familiar image of the audience, and the main creative team hopes to show the dashing and unruly of the young Li Bai, so they designed the image of a partial swordsman for him.

Young Li Bai, middle-aged Li Bai

Due to the large time span and the images of different ages of the characters, the main creative team designed 15 and 25 character images for Li Bai and Gao Shi respectively. Taking Gao Shi as an example, the film shows his life experience from 8 to 60 years old, the image of young Gao Shi is close to his straightforward and introverted character, middle-aged Gao Shi adds a bit of perseverance, and the old Gao Shi who becomes a temperate envoy is full of majesty. Different versions of the character design have different costumes, shapes, skin textures, and even horse mounts.

The youth is highly suitable and the elderly are highly suitable

"Chang'an 30,000 Li" shows Li Baizhong's unsmooth career in his later years, and his struggle between birth and entry into the world is very well expressed. Xie Junwei introduced that the film shows the world's unremitting pursuit of ideals, "From Li Bai and Gao Shi, we can see that changes have always been there, anxiety has always been there, but they insist on what they want to do." The film conveys the attitude of 'no matter how the outside world changes, stick to what you are pursuing'. Zou Jing said that the film tries to touch some eternal themes of human beings, that is, the relationship between ideals and reality. Regarding the theme of 'change and immutability', what has changed is the torrent of the times, and what has not changed is our proud heart standing between heaven and earth. ”

Romantic reproduction of "Will Enter the Wine" "The World of Poetry"

The flower-filled Chang'an City, the beautiful and gentle Yangzhou, the illuminated Yellow Crane Tower, the majestic Tongguan... "Chang'an 30,000 Li" shows the magnificent scenery of the Tang Dynasty in the form of animation. Xie Junwei revealed that during the preparation stage of the film, the main creative team not only observed the restoration map of Chang'an City at the Shaanxi History Museum, but also went to Songpan, Tongguan and other places to collect styles, visit experts and scholars, and consult a large number of books on Tang Dynasty culture.

From left to right, top to bottom: Chang'an, Yangzhou, Yellow Crane Tower, Tongguan

Based on historical evidence, the film shows many details of Tang Dynasty clothing, etiquette and social life. In the film, Li Bai, Cui Hao and other poets inscribed poems on the poem board of the Yellow Crane Tower, which comes from real history; Gao Shi took the post to Chang'an City to make a living, and the style of the post was also derived from references; The film also restores the wine chip game between the literati of the Tang Dynasty based on relevant documentaries. In addition, the ornaments of Princess Yuzhen, the patterns, textures, and colors of various character costume fabrics refer to the excavated cultural relics.

While presenting the style and humanistic style of Tang Dynasty poets, the film also cleverly integrates Tang poetry into the storyline and character dialogue. "Don't worry about the road ahead without knowing yourself, who in the world does not know the king", "Born I will be useful, thousands of gold scattered and come back", "Stroke the long sword, raise your eyebrows"... More than 40 Tang poems have appeared in the film.

The most difficult scene in the whole film is to visualize Li Bai's famous "Will Enter Wine". This poem is rich in emotions, intertwined with Li Bai's frustration and ambition, grief and heroism. The production team decided to present the "world of poetry" in a surreal way of expression, and in the passionate verse, Li Bai and others rode the crane and soared into the sky, like entering a fairyland. Xie Junwei revealed, "The project was conceived in 2020 to completed in June 2023, with a total production cycle of three years, of which the production time span of "Will Enter Wine" is close to two years. From storyboarding, design, animation performances to special effects and dubbing, every aspect of this scene is difficult, and the phrase 'the water of the Yellow River comes from the sky' alone has tried many versions. I hope that many years later, when you mention this poem, not only famous artists interpret and dramatize interpretation, but also think of a group of people who have presented these ancient famous sentences with animation. ”