In our childhood, we can see a lot of old cartoons, we usually call them art films, the last one finished cartoons, this one goes on to talk about another kind of art film - puppet films.
In fact, there are many art films in this category, and there are many award-winning works, puppet films are not only limited to puppets, but also muppets, bamboo puppets and so on in the form of expression.
Puppet pieces
This category is the largest number of puppet films, and there are many representative works, such as "Laoshan Taoist", "Carved Dragon", "A Shoe" and so on.
Laoshan Taoist
Carved Dragon Chronicle
The very well-made "Carved Dragon Chronicle" has won international awards
"Liaozhai Zhiyi" was adapted and caused controversy in that year,"A Shoe"
Muppet tablets
The most famous puppet film is "The Story of Avanti". (Many places will also classify it as a puppet piece, but because of the material, I still temporarily classify it in a puppet piece)
The story of Avanti
Many people say that this work is the peak of domestic animation.
There is a good basis for saying this, because this work is the closest domestic animation to the Oscars.
Because it timed out, "Seeding Gold" (the predecessor of the Avanti Story series and the first of its works) had a duration of 34 minutes, exceeding the 25-minute length requirement for Oscar-selected films.
That's a little bit.
Bamboo puppet pieces
Bamboo puppet animation is very rare, and I have only found one of these films so far, which is related to the 1990 "Deer and Cow".
Deer and cattle
Because it is a bamboo puppet, the shape is very chic and refreshing.
In less than ten minutes, the twists and turns of the plot are expressed. In the face of crisis, deer and cattle joined hands to help, but in the face of the competition for scarce water, the friendship boat immediately overturned, thus giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it, and finally being broken one by one.
Refreshing bamboo puppet shape
Porcelain even pieces
This kind of film is also rare, basically made during the 1980s, and the more famous one is "Porcelain Doll".
This film is a real cow, not only because all the porcelain sculptures in this animation are fired from Jingdezhen, but also because they are porcelain dolls, so unlike those puppets and bamboo dolls, the joints of the porcelain dolls cannot be moved, and a lot of firing work is necessary to make the porcelain dolls move.
"Porcelain Doll" also adopts a combination of live-action and animation, which is innovative
Now, of course, it can be done by computer technology, but in that era, it was really done in a down-to-earth, minimal way.
In the early art films, there is another type of more common, that is, paper cuts.
Paper-cut pieces are derived from our folk art, such as shadow puppetry and window flower paper-cutting.
Representative works include "Fox Hunter", "Ginseng Doll" and so on.
Foxes fight hunters
Ginseng dolls
summary
Most of the early art films had a distinct chinese artistic style, and the animation masters of that year used their imagination and creativity to dedicate one after another to us.
Nowadays, animation is difficult to achieve the artistry of that time, and the types of animation have disappeared.
This is not anyone's fault, nor can it be said that it is completely the fault of the times, after all, society is developing, and there will always be new things that will appear, replacing the old things that we once liked and are familiar with.
It's like we always have to say goodbye to certain people and certain things.
Although these art films may not be available in the future, they have existed after all, existed in our hearts, and have been warm, and we have been in the years.