Author: Sauce Beef Tendon /Anitama Cover Source: Utopian New Seeds and Millennium Magic
On November 25th, the Japan Film Week, co-sponsored by the Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs, the China Film Archive, and the Beijing Film Academy, was held in Beijing. Held on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, the film week aims to promote exchanges between Chinese and Japanese filmmakers and Chinese audiences' understanding of Japanese film culture.
The 2009 Japanese animated film Utopian Shinko and Millennium Magic was released mid-week. The film's superintendent Naofumi Katafumi and producer Tomohiko Iwase personally came to Beijing to attend the fan interaction event held after the screening of the China Film Archive and the Beijing Film Academy. Among them, the film academy held a lecture on the theme of "Animation and Reality" after the screening. Taking the preparation of "Shinko" as an example, Katabuchi supervises a large number of valuable materials and explains how to integrate field-based content into the characters, art settings and style of the work in the animation production. This lecture is of a very high level, whether it is an inspiration for creative ideas or a reference role for actual creation, it is the best one among the dozens of animation supervision lectures that the author has attended over the years, and there is no one.
At this event in Beijing, Anitama also conducted in-depth interviews with Katabuchi supervisor and Iwase producers about the work "Utopian New Son and Millennium Magic". The interview involves a large number of core spoilers, and it is recommended that you read it after watching the main film.
--Thank you very much for coming to Beijing. Originally, today's interview questions were all prepared around "In this corner of the world". However, yesterday I watched "Utopian New Son and Millennium Magic" for the first time at the China Film Archive, and I was so moved that I changed all the interview questions to "New Son" overnight. Today's 30-minute interview time, I hope to talk to the two of you in depth about this work. Please pay attention to both of you.
Iwase is so nice (laughs). Please take more care of it today.
Katabuchi (laughs) I think we will definitely have the opportunity to do another interview on "In this corner of the world" after that. And this time, "Utopian New Son" came to China first, and I also think this is very appropriate.
Yesterday was the first time I watched "Utopian New Son", and personally, this is the work that has made me think the most in the past two or three years. I even think I'm thinking a little too much, so if I'm going to behave next, please include both of them.
It doesn't matter. There are people in Japan who have similar ideas, and many of them have watched "Shinko" many times, and some have even watched it more than a hundred times.
Speaking of which, you also mentioned at the post-screening event at the China Film Archive yesterday that "this work is worth watching for the second time." And now at this point in time, "Xinzi" is being released at the Beijing Film Academy for the second time in Beijing, and I watched the first ten minutes before sneaking out for an interview. As a result, these ten minutes have made me see a lot of content that I didn't notice for the first time. For example, the different lengths of colored pencils remind me of Kiiko's preference for color use. When Shinko enters Kiiko's room and sits on the bed, she is very concerned about the spring under the mattress. These bits and pieces are indeed new discoveries that can only be found after watching it a second time.
Katabuchi yes, that's why I recommend watching it many times. The second time you can really see a lot of new things.
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I am Katabuchi Sushi Nao, this is my first time in Chinese mainland. I've been working in animation for over 30 years, and I've made three films in my career, each of which took an average of about eight years (laughs). But although these works take a lot of time, I can say with great confidence that the content of each work is fully worthy of the time spent on them. I also hope that my friends in China will have the opportunity to watch the three animated films I supervise one by one in the future.
——I hope that "Princess Aletti" will be released in China one day. Then please Mr. Iwase.
Iwase I was Tomohiko Iwase, who worked as an animation producer in Aihui, and I was also in Chinese mainland for the first time. In fact, the first work I participated in after entering Ai Hui was this "Utopian New Son and Millennium Magic". Although I was involved in this film at an early stage, I did not follow it from the beginning of the project. But looking back now, eight years have passed since the film was released, and the producer at that time is the only one left (laughs).
Katabuchi had several producers in this film, but they all changed to other positions, only Iwase has been there.
Iwase yes, and I think I will always be. I have also been involved in many works in my professional experience, but only this work can get everyone's attention for such a long time and steadily. The superintendent has always followed the work closely, and basically when it is released, I will go to the local event with the superintendent.
- Thank you very much. So can you first ask about the establishment of the animated film "Utopian New Son and Millennium Magic"?
Iwase Japan had an animation company called MADHOUSE, and the president at the time, Shungo Maruda, was from Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. He had an idea to make an animation work set in Yamaguchi Prefecture. To this end, he found "Utopian Shinko" (Japanese original title: マイマイ新子) by Takaki Nobuko, and took the animation proposal to Katabuchi Suzunao.
President Katabuchi Maruda's evaluation of the original "Utopian Shinko" is that it is a novel that reminds himself of the playful feelings of childhood. When I heard this, I thought, it is true that there are very few anime like this in Japan today. As we all know, there are more Japanese anime students who are protagonists in high school.
I think of the audience question session of yesterday's post-screening event, and a Chinese audience member asked such a question: Why would such a "humble" work be chosen for animation.
Katabuchi (laughs) But this also means that in Japan, animated films in which elementary school students play the main characters, depicting the hearts and plays of children, rarely have a chance to appear. I thought this would be a good opportunity.
As an investor, Iwase also felt from a business point of view that this kind of work was very rare at that time, so it was possible to open up new fields. First of all, as an entry point, we have Katabuchi supervision, which ensures that the quality of the work cannot be bad. Coupled with the novelty of this category, this makes us feel that this project is feasible.
Katabuchi and from a worldwide perspective, the premise of animation works is actually "children's eyes".
- Only Japan is different.
Katabuchi Japan is very special (laughs). So we had the problem of making an animated film for children, and it turned out that the child audience had no access to know that there was such an animation. In other words, in Japan, such a special environment that lacks children's animation, someone suddenly pops up to make an animation for children, and it is impossible to get attention immediately.
You mean that there is a flaw in the propaganda system.
Katabuchi is not so much a defect in the system, but rather that the children's work we made is difficult for the audience to predict. So our promotional strategy shifted to "make this work more permanent." Although everyone cannot expect the emergence of such a work, a small number of people will gradually convey the message of "there is such a work" to more people after seeing this work. So I think this work should be shown to adults first, not children. After adults have seen it, after forming a topic on the Internet, someone may take their children to the cinema to watch this work.
Iwase, so we also created an advertisement for "with my daughter and with my mother" in the initial publicity, hoping that adults would bring their children to the cinema to watch.
(Translation: When this game was first released, as Iwase producers said, the advertising campaign was mainly aimed at parents and children rather than core animation users. Coupled with the fact that the release schedule is mostly placed during the day, it is difficult for ordinary people in society to withdraw from watching. These two points are the main reasons for the early audience and early offline in the early stage of the release. After that, the work once again attracted attention, as the supervisor said, the high quality of the work itself made some core fans word of mouth, and after forming a topic, the Internet began to collect signatures to request re-screening. This led to the agreement of several cinemas to continue to be released, and the release time of the game was eventually as long as two years. This was also mentioned in a 2015 Interview with Katabuchi Supervisor by Anitama: Interview with Katabuchi Supervisor (5)
- Thank you very much for your introduction, we move on to the next topic. You mentioned that this work was produced by President Maruda of MADHOUSE for his hometown of Yamaguchi Prefecture. To be honest, as a Chinese, I have been to Japan a lot, but I don't know where Yamaguchi Prefecture is.
Iwase (laughs) That's not it. Even japanese people do not know the exact location of Yamaguchi Prefecture.
--So my question is that after watching "Shinko", I learned that a very beautiful place is described in the work, but I did not feel the "inevitability" of the stage of the work in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
Katabuchi said in reverse, in fact, the stage can be placed anywhere. But there is one thing that in Japan, when we mention the countryside, it is to plant "rice" and grow rice. When Japanese people talk about the Japanese countryside, their first impression is definitely that of mizuta. However, the farmland scenery in the novel "Utopian New Son" is different, and Yamaguchi Prefecture is planted with "wheat". In the past, when depicting rural Japan, rarely used the scenery of yamaguchi's large wheat field ocean.
- That's the way it is. Yesterday I saw the large wheat field in the movie, and I wondered if yamaguchi Prefecture was located in the north of Japan, and the temperature was so low that I didn't grow rice but wheat.
Katabuchi is actually the opposite, Yamaguchi Prefecture in southern Japan, the climate is warm. Therefore, you can plant wheat in winter and rice in summer, which is called "two-stage cropping" in Japanese. Wheat cultivation can be said to be a very obvious feature of Yamaguchi Prefecture.
(To be continued)
<h4>Utopian New Son and Millennium Magic</h4>
Hara: My My New Child and the Magic of the Millennium
Original story: Nobuko Takama ("Shinko Imaginary (My My New Child)"MAGAZINE HOUSE, Published by Fumiaki Shincho)
Supervision and Script: Katabuchi Musta
Character Setting and General Drawing Supervisor: Tsuji Shigehito
Director: Kunio Katsuki, Fumie Muroi
Screen composition: Chie Uratani
Art Supervisor: Shinichi Uehara
Color design: Ken Hashimoto
Photography Supervisor: Yuki Yuki Motomoto
CG 监 system: Kentaro Yayama
Editing: Yoshishiko Kimura
Otoki: Hidekiyo Murai, Minako "mooki" Obata
Support: Japanese culture
Executive Producer: Shungo Maruda
Chief Producer: Yojin Takaya
Katakata: Tomohiko Iwasaki, Miho Ichii, Ryoichiro Matsuo
Animation: MADHOUSE
Producer: "Utopian Shinko" Production Committee (Ai Hui Entertainment, Shochiku, MADHOUSE, Yamaguchi Broadcasting)
Publisher: Shochiku
Main sound distribution: Mayuko Fukuda (Shinko Aoki)
Nanako Mizusawa (Takako Shimazu)
Mori Nagai (Noko)
Manami Motokami (Shinko's mother)
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Original: m.anitama.cn/article/4f904c102afce7fd?utm_source=toutiao