Text: Baozhu
From "The Return of the Great Sage" in 2015 to "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends" in 2019 to "Jiang Ziya" in 2020, these theatrical animated films have not only achieved good box office performance, but also brought new inspiration to the animation industry in terms of production process and job division.
The total number of participants in the best-performing animated theatrical film "Nezha: The Demon Boy Descends to the World" is as high as 1,600, and the production staff is composed of more than 20 animation teams all over the country.
On the other hand, in the animation drama market, even if there are many animation annual works such as "Douluo Continent" and "Perfect World", when Gu Duo discussed the topic of animation industrialization with more than a dozen animation practitioners and heads of animation drama production companies, they also directly pointed out the uneven production process and level of the current domestic animation drama production companies, as well as the expectations and worries about the next industrialization that is about to break out under the impact of AI.
With the rapid development of ten years, the industry status of animation dramas is rising day by day, and hidden dangers are also left at the same time.
When did the industrialization of animation dramas start?
Computer-drawn animation, software-based animation, and CG animation have been widely used in the production of domestic animated dramas. At present, there are only a few works like "Five Elements of the Foggy Mountains" that choose a purely hand-drawn production method, and more than 95% of the other animated dramas are basically produced by computers.
For the production companies of animation dramas, animation production technology originated overseas, and some animation practitioners and heads of animation companies will emphasize overseas animation industrialization when discussing with Gu Duo where to start with animation industrialization.
Xue Bing, deputy general manager of Xiaoink (Beijing) Animation Co., Ltd., told Gu Duo that the concept of animation industrialization should include the standardization, process, and collaborative operation of animation production. From the perspective of the animation process, the animation production process needs to have a systematic, controllable, and sustainable working logic.
Throughout the animation industry, the industrial production of overseas film and television works has been nearly 100 years old, and many domestic animation production companies also have film and television company genes, and many animation companies are following overseas creation, production, development, and production methods at the beginning of their establishment. "The question of when the industrialization of the country began is more complicated, because the industrialization process of the domestic animation industry is not achieved overnight. Xue Bing believes that the domestic animation industry has really begun to move towards relatively mature industrialization, probably from 2013 to 2015.
In his opinion, before 2013-2015, the domestic animation industry was mainly based on traditional hand-drawn animation, so the production cycle was long, the cost was high, and the efficiency was low. After 2015, many excellent animation production companies appeared in China, and the animation industry began to gradually transform to digitalization and industrialization. These companies have adopted advanced digital technology and industrial production models, which have greatly improved the efficiency and quality of animation production, while also reducing production costs.
Ruosen Digital Production Director Weng Shihua also told Gu Duo that the industrialization of domestic animation is a gradual process, and there is no exact start year. But he argues that the germ of animation industrialization can be traced back to the days of filmmaking very early on. First, when film technology was just emerging, people began to explore how to combine animation with film to make it more vivid and interesting, and second, with the passage of time, animation production gradually became more standardized and efficient, which can be said to be the initial embodiment of animation industrialization.
For example, the establishment of the Hollywood studio system by American director Mike Senat in 1912 can be seen as a landmark event in the industrialization of animated films. He introduced the concept of industrialization of film production into animation creation, making animation production more standardized and large-scale.
"With the continuous advancement of technology and the continuous expansion of the market, the animation industry has gradually realized the transformation from hand-drawn to digital, and the production process has become more efficient and sophisticated. While there is no exact year to mark the beginning of the industrialization of animation, the industrialization of animation is evolving and gaining momentum with the development of animation technology and the animation market. ”
Ni Zhenjie, CEO of Hangzhou Heiyan Technology, also believes that the industrialization of animation is a big issue, and if you want to start from the era of overseas black and white films, it has indeed experienced too many industrializations. "Pixar's 1995 Toy Story should be regarded as a landmark event in the industrialization and globalization of animation. He told Guduo that Toy Story was the first fully computer-generated animated film, and it could be said that this film ushered in a new era of 3D animation.
Since then, there have been many important milestones in the industrialization of animation, such as the 2012 animated film "The Invincible Destroyer", which was the first animation to fully adopt PBR technology, and the 2013 "Frozen", which focused on the simulation of natural physical characteristics, making animation works more artistically appealing and visually impactful on the basis of realism.
Ni Zhenjie believes that these works have each established a new industrial standard in the production technology of animated films, and promoted the progress of the entire industry towards higher quality visual expression and artistic expression.
But on the other hand, in the past two years, the domestic animation drama market has indeed been inactive, as Xue Bing said. He believes that the production level of domestic dramas has only improved significantly after the outbreak of domestic animated cinema films in 2015. According to Gu Duo's statistics, a total of 44 theatrical animated films were released this year, of which two exceeded 100 million at the box office, namely "Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" with 954 million and "Bear Infested Snow Ridge Bear Wind" with 294 million.
Xue Bing told Gu Duo that the good situation of the animation cinema film market has promoted the standardization and specialization of the animation production process, and many video platforms have also begun to enter the animation market and layout animation content around 2015, which has also had a beneficial impact on the industrialization of the animation industry.
In general, domestic animation production is affected by the introduction of overseas technology and market environment, and there is no year to officially enter the industrialization process in the strict sense. However, through a dialogue with a large number of practitioners and investigations, Gu Duo found that 2015 can be said to be an important turning point in the industrialization process of domestic animation, and before 2014, it should be counted as the embryonic period of domestic animation industrialization.
What have been the breakthroughs in the decade of animation industrialization?
In fact, since 2016, many game animation works have appeared on the market, and before that, there were only two original works of adult-oriented animated dramas, the "Qin Shi Mingyue" series and the "Painting Rivers and Lakes" series, as well as the animated drama of the same name adapted from the comics "Fox Demon Little Red Lady" and the original animation "Convex Hero" that were launched in 2015.
In 2016, more than ten animation works such as "Yixue", "Once Upon a Time There Was a Spirit Sword Mountain", "Town Soul Street" and "Spirit Deed" were launched one after another, coupled with the success of IP adaptations of film and television dramas such as "Qin Shi Mingyue" and "Painting Jianghu" and the entry of various video platforms, the number of animated dramas ushered in a big explosion in 2017.
According to the "2018 Animation White Paper" released by Gu Duo in 2018, a total of 71 adult-oriented animated dramas were launched in 2017, a significant increase compared with 42 in 2016, and in 2018, 75 animated dramas were launched.
The increase in the number of works is due to the growth of market demand on the one hand, and the audience's love for animation has promoted the attention of the platform, and on the other hand, the improvement of the level of animation industrialization has made animation production more efficient, thereby improving the production capacity of animation works.
In 2018, the determination of video platforms to enter the game is stronger and stronger. According to Guduo's white paper, in 2018, Tencent Video added 32 animated dramas and 17 solo works, and Station B launched 43 animated dramas in 2018, of which 12 were solo works. Youku and iQiyi also launched a large number of animated dramas that year, with 9 of the 41 works launched by the former being solo works, and 52 animated dramas by the latter, of which 11 were solo works.
Judging from the number of works in 2018, the production capacity of animated dramas has tripled in this year, which is the embodiment of the industrialization of animation. Hao Lili (pseudonym), the head of an animation company in Shanghai, told Gu Duo that when he first entered the industry in 2008, first, the animation production cycle was long, second, there were fewer animation talents, and third, the animation market was small, and he didn't dare to think that dozens of animation works could be launched within a year.
"In 2018, the entire industry is in a state of excitement, after all, there are many animated dramas with hundreds of millions of views in this year. As Hao Lili said, when Gu Duo counted the ranking of animated dramas in 2018, he found that there were 37 works with a cumulative broadcast volume of hundreds of millions.
However, while the industrialization of animation has brought about the multiplication of animated drama works, it has also gradually exposed new problems. "Over-emphasizing the industrial process may inhibit the development of some unique ideas, leading to some homogenization in the pursuit of efficiency. Xue Bing told Gu Duo that over-reliance on technology will lead to a lack of creativity and individuality in animation works, so it is necessary to find a balance between industrialization and creativity in order to produce excellent animation works.
Xue Bing's worries are not superfluous, throughout 2020 to 2022, the number and output of domestic animated dramas have increased year by year, but they soon fell into the dilemma of homogenization of pictures, themes, and content.
It wasn't until 2023 that platforms and animation companies began to realize the problem. "Since last year, there have been many new themes and new types of animation works, and after several years of cooperation and observation, various platforms have also begun to increase investment in some animation production companies with original capabilities, trying to incubate a number of new original animations. Hao Lili told Gu Duo that from the current point of view, if domestic animation drama production companies want to make high-quality content with characteristics that are different from most works in the market, they must pay higher production costs.
But this also indirectly improves the overall quality and competitiveness of animated dramas, and promotes the development and progress of the industry. "Although the current domestic animated dramas have presented many problems in the process of industrialization, the advantages must outweigh the disadvantages. ”
Industrialization of domestic animation production companies,
There are still gaps
When discussing the issue of industrialization of domestic animation with animation practitioners, the heads of many animation companies said that domestic animation has indeed entered the industrialization stage, but due to the different genes and positioning of each animation company, it has not yet been completely industrialized from an overall point of view.
"Each animation company is still different in terms of production process and software plug-in development, so I think the animation industry has not yet completed industrialization, or at present, there are still many animation companies that have not met the industry standards or common processes. Li Yucheng (pseudonym), who entered the animation industry in 2000, told Gu Duo that at present, many animation production companies are only a single module, which is becoming more and more mature, and there is still a certain gap compared with the international animation standard process.
On the one hand, the software used by many domestic animation production companies is basically overseas software, and on the other hand, many of the current domestic animation production companies are transformed from animation special effects companies and game CG companies. "Each company has a different history, which leads to some differences in their production processes. ”
Although Squid, the animation creative director of an animation company in Suzhou, agrees with the view that many animation production companies have not fully entered industrialization, he believes that in addition to the problems of production technology and production process, the lack of domestic animation talents is also the main reason.
"Before 2020, animation companies faced a lack of sufficient professional talents, but from 2024 onwards, animation companies will lack talents with innovative capabilities and international vision. As a senior animator who has returned from studying abroad, he believes that the reason why Pixar and other big labels can continue to deliver works to the market is that they have standardized production processes, and second, these leading labels also have their own talent training plans.
"What we should see is not only the gap that can be crossed by technology, process and industrialization on the surface, but also the solutions to deep problems, such as increasing investment in technology research and development, improving the production process, and strengthening talent training. ”
Squid believes that although there are still obvious deficiencies in the industrialization process of domestic animation, through the joint efforts of platforms and animation production companies, domestic animation will be able to gradually narrow the gap with the international level and achieve higher-quality development.