"It's been 38 years, and it's an honor to be able to do a premiere in a movie theater." On October 27, at the Shanghai premiere of "Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition", co-director Qian Yunda said excitedly. Produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, directed by Wang Shuchen and Qian Yunda, and dubbed by Ding Jianhua and Bi Ke, the classic Chinese animated film "Tianshu Qitan" was released in 1983, when it was not widely released nationwide. With the blessing of modern restoration technology, this classic film can finally be enjoyed by more audiences on the big screen, and it is also a tribute to the older generation of animation artists.
The movie "Heavenly Book Of Wonders" tells the story of Yuan Gong in the Heavenly Palace who stole the Heavenly Book and carved it in a stone cave, but was unexpectedly stolen by three foxes, who endangered the people after practicing the Heavenly Book spell, and finally was destroyed by the swan egg turned into a humanoid egg and the master Yuan Gong, and Yuan Gong was arrested and returned to the Heavenly Court for leaking the Heavenly Opportunity. The film adopts a different creative style from the "tall and complete" character image created by the mainstream literary and artistic works at that time, focusing on the unique aesthetics of strangeness, fun and beauty.
As a representative work of China's original national style animation films, "Tianshu Qitan" pays attention to the completeness of the story and the sense of musical substitution, and invests a lot of energy in the shaping of the characters. "When I created it 40 years ago, the director asked for nationalization, asked us to let go of our hands, dare to innovate, dare to make different shapes from previous animations", the film's art design Huang Wei recalled, "Tianshu Qitan" invited Ke Ming, who studied Chinese folk art, as a modeling designer, he applied woodblock New Year paintings, sculptures, folk toys and opera faces to the film, and the team of painters then used comic techniques to simplify and exaggerate, and finally designed a character with a distinct personality. "I hope that in the future, new films can follow China's national road, obtain nutrition from folk culture and folk art, and continue to carry forward the Chinese animation school."
At that time, it took a year for the film to be filmed. After watching the "Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition", the animation design of the film, Fan Madi, seems to have returned to that busy creative years. "At the beginning of the creation, the director will communicate with each of us, tell us the storyline, the arrangement, we draw a paragraph according to the director's opinion, design the action, dialogue, expression, the director feels that it can be passed, and each shot is repeated several times to complete."
Before the official shooting, the animation designer first creates a pencil draft for the original painting and the director to review, because the paragraphs created by each person are scattered, which requires the director's strong coordination ability. What moved the animation design Xue Meijun was that when Qian Yunda read the pencil draft, he not only looked at the action, but also silently dubbed each shot to see if it could be matched, "He remembered the dialogue of each shot and made a lot of preparations." ”
Qian Yunda was already in his old age and came to the premiere scene in a wheelchair. His ear back is strong, and he can't hear him clearly when he gets close to him with the microphone, but his enthusiasm for animation has not diminished in the slightest, "After watching the movie, I feel that we have not done enough, and if we can do it in the future, we must do more new films that meet the requirements of the times and make everyone interested." ”
SuDa, director of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio, participated in the film restoration work throughout the process, "the industry and the audience have been calling to see this film in theaters, and today it has finally come true." Shangmei Film will inherit the spirit of its predecessors and create better works. ”
The wonderful dubbing of Shanghai Translation Studio played an important role in shaping the mood and character of the shots in "Tianshu Qitan". Cao Lei, the voice actor who voiced the little emperor in the film, still remembers that because the little emperor is a drooling and slightly stuttering character, the dubbing director Su Xiu taught her at the time, "When matching, with half a mouthful of water in the mouth, so that it is not good to speak", Cao Lei really has half a mouthful of water in her mouth every time, and until now, she can still find the sound state at that time. "We used to be all with foreign films, with original soundtracks and lip-sync references, and cartoons without sound, but the image is vivid, which also gives us a lot of creative space, and everyone is very energetic."
"Heavenly Book" has influenced generations of audiences and a new generation of animation creators. "Jiang Ziya" director Li Wei still remembers that when he first watched "Tianshu Qitan", he was only in his early 10s and liked the character of Yuan Gong. Every time he saw the end of Yuan Gong being captured back to heaven, Li Wei especially hoped that there would be a next one. The day before the premiere, he was still asking his peers in Shangmeiying, "Can there be a next one?" I've always had a wish to see him rescued. This is also the wish of many viewers.
In "Jiang Ziya", the hand-drawn opening of the first 3 minutes is created by Li Wei, and many of the gods in the middle refer to the classic works of Shangmeiying, which is also his tribute to Shangmeiying. After watching the "Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition", he strengthened his belief in hand-drawn animation, "Animation is not about how much investment, but about people's perseverance." "Post-80s" animation director Li Haoling is also a generation that grew up watching Shangmei Film Animation and overseas animation, "When I was a child, I watched "Tianshu Qitan", and when I watched it today, I was even more surprised that there were so many imaginative imaginations at that time, no less than or even surpassed overseas works. Classics never fall behind. As a new generation of animators, we must strive to do a good job and let the world see. ”
The final poster of "Tianshu Qitan" depicts Yuan Gong looking at the egg on the ladder from afar, and there is also a kind of meaning that the older generation of artists supports a new generation of artists and constantly climbs new peaks on the road of artistic creation. At the premiere ceremony, Wang Jian'er, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Shanghai Film (Group) Co., Ltd., gave this poster to Qian Yunda. He introduced that "Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition" has attracted much attention in the industry, and he told Wu Jing, Ma Yili, Tang Yan, Hu Ge, Guo Fan and other filmmakers that the film was released, and the other party said that this was his favorite animation when he was a child, looking forward to the next one. "We have the responsibility to inherit the spirit of artistic creation in that year, and there are also new classic works in the new era, and we hope that the audience will continue to support the creation of Shangmei Film Animation and contribute new enthusiasm."
"Tianshu Qitan 4K Commemorative Edition" is produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio and will be released nationwide on November 5.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Shi Chenlu
Source: Author: Zhong Han