Text/Gemini
2015's "Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" was born out of "Journey to the West", one of the four famous works of Contemporary China, this animation not only created a unique art form that distinguishes Chinese animation from Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, but also boosted the confidence of the entire industry practitioners in the rise of domestic animation through the box office performance of 957 million yuan, achieved a double harvest of word-of-mouth and box office, and won the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival Film Channel Media Award, the 7th China International Film and Television Animation Copyright Protection and Trade Expo Animation "Golden Sheep Award" The 30th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Award, the 12th Chinese Animation Golden Dragon Award, the 13th Sichuan TV Festival "Golden Panda" International Animation Works Award, Tokyo Animation Award and many other domestic and foreign awards can be said to reflect the highest level of Chinese animation films at that time.
The reason why it is well-known, the most important point is that director Tian Xiaopeng integrated the unique aesthetic style of the Chinese nation into the well-known traditional story of "Western Heaven Taking the Scriptures", subverting the image of Sun Wukong in the minds of the audience who was mischievous and loved to be in the limelight, so that many viewers had a new understanding of the character of Sun Wukong after watching it, and this innovative way was once again confirmed in "The Devil Boy of Nezha", which also benefited from the construction of the Nezha image design and picture composition provided by Director Tian Xiaopeng to Director Dumpling It can be seen that the aesthetics of the picture have an indelible contribution to the shaping of characters and the theme of the story.
This article will analyze the unique aesthetics of this film from the three aspects of image design, picture composition, and traditional culture, as well as the differences and the innovation and charm of past animations.
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > uses the suggestive effect of color to shape the lonely image of Sun Wukong, borrows the opera face to abstractly deform the face, and adds new Chinese elements to the classic image. </h1>
The film takes the traditional animated character of Sun Wukong as the starting point and uses the change of color to enrich the character image. In the traditional impression, Sun Wukong's yellow hair, mighty masculinity, the director used a dark yellow tone when dealing with the image of Sun Wukong, and the coat wore a bright yellow coat, which distinguished the traditional Sun Wukong shape in the past, symbolizing the supreme power like imperial power and at the same time appearing a little lonely inside.
Sun Wukong is commonly known as the "Monkey King", his flexible eyes and flowing behavior in the 86th edition of "Journey to the West" make Sun Wukong very beautiful in behavior, but in the work, his face shows the characteristics of square face and narrow cheeks, the tone is dark red, the round and handsome face seems to have undergone abstract deformation, which deviates from the image in the traditional impression, but it is very consistent with the image of the work, which is very consistent with the image of the untamed, just and upright, it can be said that this image draws on the traditional Chinese personality characteristics of the inner circle and the outer side. Although it is not as beautiful as the original, the subversive and innovative design makes the characters vivid and three-dimensional.
On the contrary, the villain Demon King Chaos, the main color is dark black, the white face and accessories make the two form a huge contrast, highlighting his cunning, suspicious, serious and cold-blooded personality characteristics, the use of this color will make his image appear high and cold, excellent portrayal of the chaotic complex and changeable inner world, the color of the hint to the extreme. The image of Chaos refers to Cao Cao's pale eyebrows and sharp eyes in traditional Chinese Peking Opera and the monster image in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and the image of the big insect after the transformation has the image characteristics of Japanese animation, which can be said to meet the requirements of innovative development in appearance.
Jiang Liu'er adopts the shape design of bald head, red fluttering face, and big eyes, this image design will be the character and plate of the little monk's loyal and dutiful duty, both a well-behaved and cute side, but also a steady and honest reflection, and the continuous harassment of Sun Wukong after that, without any regard for his boredom.
The image design of the Eight Precepts of the Pig and the Mountain Demon are full of fat flesh and a sense of substance, but the head of the Eight Precepts of the Pig is relatively small, and the two ears are larger, so that the anthropomorphic image is well controlled, without the spitting ugly face of the Mountain Demon, and enhances the characteristics of his body being overburdened, this design method pays attention to the god rather than the shape, and faithfully shows the behavioral characteristics of the mythological characters.
Chinese aesthetic spirit relative to Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States pay more attention to the long-term and majestic mood, emphasizing the exploration of the important meaning of life, aesthetic foothold is self-reliance, enhance their own self-cultivation, so Sun Wukong a lofty look, very in line with the "poor are good at their own" self-cultivation ideas, he does not want to participate in the worldly disputes, and in the image design, we must pay attention to the form and plot direction, the purpose is not only to make the film good, but should be based on humanistic care, This is the delicacy and warmth that flows from the oriental civilization.
Compared with the exquisite beauty of Japanese and Korean animation and the exaggerated magnificence of European and American animation, the film shows a simple salvation value from both the master and the shape of the little girl, they are nothing more than green clothes, round faces, buckets, and pigtails, but the addition of this Chinese element has a detached spirituality, there is a kind of cultural consciousness of the four voids and universal beings, which is actually the difference in the level of artistic conception reflected in different cultural backgrounds.
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<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the main characters in the picture structure using the middle and side two ways to show, the use of picture structure to the audience to give psychological hints, so that the characters are more flexible and free. </h1>
The artistic sense and drama of the film are often equally important, and the artistry lies not only in the characters, but also in the shaping of the environment and the psychological description, such as the smoky mountains and mountains, the smoke rising farm yards, which are like a light ink style painting to bring a high aesthetic experience to Western audiences.
Jiang Liu'er rescued Sun Wukong when he was in distress, encountered the Eight Precepts of the Pig, the scene at this time is the moon bending, the moon occupies most of the picture in the whole picture, and the flying fireflies and dandelions scattered with the wind give the audience a quiet and comfortable environment atmosphere, this picture composition with obvious traditional Chinese artistic conception reflects the leisurely character state of mind in ancient China.
In the traditional Chinese painting aesthetics, there is a kind of "swimming" technique used on chaos's body, using the upward shooting method, highlighting the tall and mighty momentum of chaos, highlighting the severity of obstacles, and showing the arrogant and indomitable character of the demon king.
In the film, in addition to the wandering of the lens, the picture also adopts the composition of the center placeholder and the two sides of the placeholder, the center placeholder can attract the attention of the audience, with the close-up of the close-up, can strengthen the image characteristics of the protagonist, often in the center of the form of expression.
For example, after Sun Wukong was released from the seal, he constantly sought to open the hand seal, and that hysterical feeling was maximized by facing the characters directly, and when Jiang Liu'er went to rescue Sun Wukong when he encountered a crisis, the picture also adopted the central placeholder method, showing his dedication to saving people in the face of danger.
When occupying positions on both sides, the characters are often on one side of the picture, such as when Jiang Liu'er and Sun Wukong just met, both were not in the center, each located in one-third of the two sides, and in the picture of Sun Wukong saving Jiang Liu'er, there was not even a two bodies, but Sun Wukong's hand tightly held Jiang Liu'er's hand as the main picture, obviously this picture layout implied the two protagonists, strengthened the true feelings of the two people's life and death, and the two side occupants can well highlight the brotherhood or the enemy and us, and better show the situation of many parties.
Picture structure design can sometimes create an obvious psychological hint effect, such as when the river is chased by the mountain demon, inadvertently broke the seal of Sun Wukong, then the picture renders Sun Wukong in the background of the Five Finger Mountain, the tone is blue-black, the cave inside and outside are some vicious strange stones, there are strange rattan hanging above, these pictures have a strong depth effect, giving the audience a sense of desperate experience, the portrayal of the character's situation is very helpful.
After the end of the fight between the Eight Commandments of the Pig and Sun Wukong, the picture is mainly green, the two plus Jiang Liu'er, the three are in the same picture, forming a three-legged posture, at this time the light is abundant, the flowers are blooming, and the sun shines through the trees to emit dazzling light, this bird-singing atmosphere is very different from the previous fight scene, making the characters more flexible and vivid in such scenes, and enhancing the dramatic elements of the characters.
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<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > adds a strong Chinese cultural color, drawing on many elements of Confucian Buddhism and Chinese folklore, and giving the calm and introverted and loving spiritual essence to the image of the character. </h1>
The aesthetic style of "The Return of the Great Sage" is different from the domestic animation of the 1960s and 1970s, when Chinese animation often relied on traditional national mythology, which was not rich in the form of expression, the content was too single, mainly through speculative dialogue to highlight the characters and plots, often the character image was not full enough, and the integration of traditional Chinese culture also had one-sided characteristics.
Compared with the previous forms of expression, in recent years, Chinese animation has gradually explored a path suitable for self-development, taking the return of the Great Sage as an example, in terms of character personality, the character is not a single good and evil, but to dig deep into the complex and changeable inner world of the characters, and borrows the twists and turns of the plot to show the breadth and depth of traditional Chinese culture, and the more prominent point is that the characters have traditional Chinese cultural ideas.
Confucianism pays attention to benevolence, righteousness, and wisdom, Jiang Liu'er saved Sun Wukong, although it is said that it is pure and accidental, but it contains the component of benevolence and righteousness, in terms of self-discipline, Jiang Liu'er did not stay at the level of hanging high, but took the lead in thinking of others when the crisis occurred, with the great righteousness of punishing evil and promoting good, sacrificing life for righteousness, this positive and enterprising attitude towards life also inspired Sun Wukong, and then completed the ideological transformation, which is actually the realistic reflection of traditional culture of "throwing in the peach, repaying it with Li".
Buddhism pays attention to the four major voids, focuses on reality, and has the spirit of the present world, so Jiang Liu'er chants and meditates every day, listens to the teachings of his master, and actively does good deeds to save the sentient beings, although his strength is weak, he is extremely tall on the spiritual level, which can see the far-reaching influence of Buddhism.
Taoists pay attention to the rule of inaction, man and nature should live in harmony, Sun Wukong broke this balance, one side is too strong will inevitably lead to a group attack, and the addition of Jiang Liu'er and the Eight Precepts of pigs reflects the power of collective wisdom, from birth to entry into the world, the completion of the transformation from Taoism to Confucianism, the prototype of the film is placed in the temple of Datong, Shanxi, but also the temple of the unity of the three religions of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, but also implies the unity of the three spirits.
The film is an effective breakthrough in traditional animation, not only the gentle and moving of Confucian culture, nor the traditional aesthetics of mourning without hurt, anger without resentment, Sun Wukong has the folk characterization of eliminating evil and promoting goodness and facing difficulties, this change in character temperament integrates the heroic character characteristics of Western culture, and well promotes the cultural integrity of the Chinese nation.
Jiang Liu'er's liveliness and cuteness, the mischievous mischief of the Eight Commandments of pigs, and Sun Wukong's fearlessness are all condensed national spirits, which are integrated into the development of the storyline, giving the characters vivid and vivid image portrayal, and also achieving the standout of this animation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks:</h1>
"Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage" has a distinct Chinese aesthetic, borrowing the color, tone changes and the design of the picture composition to bring the character into this new story situation, the most eye-catching of which is the portrayal of the character of the cultural connotation, which is not only full of tension, but also makes the characters more agile and free, bringing the blood vein expansion and winding viewing experience.