The Paper's reporter Xia Yining
On October 31, the network animation "Blessing of Heavenly Officials" produced by Bilibili (hereinafter referred to as Station B) and Dream Animation was officially launched, and the number of broadcasts has easily exceeded 35 million, and it has also aroused heated discussions on social networks at home and abroad.
The anime "Blessings of Heavenly Officials" is adapted from the novel of the same name serialized in Jinjiang Literature City since 2017 by Mo Xiang Tong stink, telling the adventure story of Xie Pi, the prince of Xianleguo who has been demoted to immortality for the third time after being degraded, and in order to seek merit, he has experienced everything, met a mysterious red-clad teenager, and solved one strange event after another with his priest friends who came to help him. The original IP of this work is extremely appealing, deeply loved by readers, and after the official announcement of animation in 2019, it has aroused the attention of the whole network, and the number of people chasing the B station has exceeded 3 million.
Poster of "Blessed by Heavenly Officials"
Before the animation was launched, Station B invited the creator to watch the film with the audience in advance and interact cordially, combined with the dreamy big screen on the bank of the Qiantang River and a thousand lanterns to make a wish, which can be described as a foot row of noodles. The exquisite and aesthetic style of the animated feature film, the compact and bright plot, the gripping music and the steady performance of the voice actors have also won many praises from the audience, and after the start of the broadcast, it won a high score of 9.1 on Douban and became a remarkable presence in the 2020 national animation circle.
Recently, The Paper chatted with animation director Li Haoling, animation dubbing director and voice actor Jiang Guangtao, and voice actor Ma Zhengyang.
From the second from the left: Li Haoling, Jiang Guangtao, Ma Zhengyang
Li Haoling: The level of appreciation of domestic animation audiences is constantly improving
Even though he is already a well-known animation director in the industry and has directed works such as "Returning by the Wind", "Convex Hero", "Picking up the Times", "Lingqi" and so on, Li Haoling is still uneasy about what kind of feedback the audience will get from the animation "Blessing of heavenly officials". Hearing the screams and applause of the audience at the advanced screening, Li Haoling was slightly relieved, but a few hours before the official launch of the B station, he led the production team to quickly refine it again, "liver to the last moment".
When it comes to the adaptation process of the novel to the animation, Li Haoling said that the plot of the original book of "Blessings of heavenly officials" is very exciting, and the narrative rhythm is also very suitable for adaptation into animation, so the degree of reduction can be achieved in the adaptation, "We now have a relatively high degree of arrangement for the animation paragraphs and the chapters of the book, and it is relatively smooth to shoot along with the rhythm of the book." ”
Stills from "Blessed by Heavenly Officials"
We are well aware of the weight of this IP in the hearts of fans, from the details of the characters, lines to plot arrangement, etc., the production team is extremely careful and rigorous, "I know that many viewers like screenshots, so I hope that every plot, the face of everyone's favorite character, is as good as possible, so I am constantly optimizing the details." ”
In the character settings of the two protagonists Xie Pi and Huacheng, they first found a lot of information and solicited opinions from the fans and friends around them, and the senior painters first made the original character cases, and then the painting supervisor made the animation personnel. It is worth mentioning that the entire design process is basically completed by female painters, and most of the pre-production team is also female members.
"I believe they know the aesthetics of their fans better." Li Haoling said. When designing the characters and paintings, the production team placed special emphasis on the characters' slender fingers and delicate collarbone. In the end, the two protagonists who jumped on the screen were beautiful and heroic, and the other character images also had their own characteristics, which won the praise of fans.
At the end of the first episode of the animation, the encounter between Xie Pi and Huacheng, as well as the interlude "One Flower and One Sword" that runs through the entire clip, detonates the bullet screen, which is also Li Haoling's carefully designed and favorite clip.
"When I saw the original here, I had a strong sense of picture. The smile at the end of the animation actually contains a lot of deep meaning. For book fans, what they see is a reunion after a long absence; for the average audience, they may wonder whether Flower City is good or evil. With what purpose? Audiences from different angles will make different interpretations. Li Haoling said, "In fact, the end of the first episode has not fully revealed the identity of the characters, and most of the audience can still watch it with conjecture." As for whether the follow-up is really as everyone thinks, we have to continue to chase down to get verified, which is the fun of reading books and chasing fans. ”
The list of "lights" at the top, the data "soaring", the animation "Blessing of the Heavenly Officials" has achieved a good response, but also let Li Haoling more determined, the appreciation level of domestic animation audiences is constantly improving, as long as the effort, spend effort to produce, the audience can be identified and give support, "This is also a very positive driving effect for our animation industry." ”
Jiang Guangtao and Ma Zhengyang: The animation industry is taking off, and the existence of voice actors is more valuable
On the day of the meeting, the voice actors of the two protagonists, Jiang Guangtao and Ma Zhengyang, also came to the scene and shared their understanding of the characters and stories.
Jiang Guangtao, the voice actor of Xie Pi, believes that Xie Pi has a Kind of Buddhism after "a thousand sails are exhausted", and how to show the purity of the character is the difficulty. For Huacheng, voice actor Ma Zhengyang said that he is a believer who has achieved the ultimate in obsession and faith, and this emotion not only touched Xie Pity, but also deeply touched every audience.
Jiang Guangtao said that in the process of formal dubbing, the voice actors saw the animation semi-finished products that were still in production, so everyone was not as shocked as seeing the finished products on the spot for some famous scenes that the audience reacted to. "But even the small details that are not easy for the audience to notice must be done with great care." Only by putting all your energy into the performance and greeting it with the fullest posture can we achieve the best results and make every plot possible to become a famous scene. Ma Zhengyang said.
For the audiovisual effects of the animation "Blessing of heavenly officials", the two voice actors did not hesitate to praise, and said that director Li Haoling's professionalism and meticulousness made them full of confidence in the work. "There are some very small details in the language that the voice actor himself may have overlooked at times, but he can notice it. When we finish the dubbing work, he will continue to confirm the picture and correct and adjust the rhythm of the film. Jiang Guangtao said.
In fact, "purity" and "faith" are also important factors in the vigorous development of the domestic animation and dubbing industry.
Ma Zhengyang said that he has been an anime fan since he was a child, and he lived in Guangdong when he was a child, where he could first come into contact with works imported overseas, and many of them realized localized Cantonese dubbing. "Overseas works, after all, come from different cultural backgrounds, even after the transformation of subtitles, many contents may not be completely accepted or digested by us, and there is still a gap in the experience brought to us." Since then, I have been very hopeful that I can see more works made by us and talk about our own traditional culture, and I have no doubt that the industry can get better and better. Ma Zhengyang said.
Jiang Guangtao recalled the flowers and applause he received when the animated film "Kuiba" was released in 2011, and he has always believed that the domestic animation industry is about to take off. Participating in the animation "Blessing of heavenly officials" this time, his heart will still be full of joy and fun because of the dubbing creation.
"Dubbing is a companion industry. Now we also have products like radio dramas, but traditionally, we call ourselves 'voice actors', which means that we are still looking forward to working in combination with the picture. We say 'audiovisual wonders', and cartoons are an integral part of spectacle. I look forward to more and more good works in the animation industry, so that we can also have more stages to fully express ourselves. Only when there are more excellent domestic animation works and the audience recognizes it, the existence of our voice actors will be more valuable. In Jiang Guangtao's view, the development of the animation industry has a very positive impact on both boosting the two-dimensional economy and enriching the spiritual life of the entire society.
It is reported that from October 31, the animation "Blessing of the Heavenly Officials" will be broadcast exclusively on Station B every Saturday at 11:00. At the same time, Funimation, Sony's world-leading animation licensor and distributor, will cooperate with Station B to broadcast the animation "Blessing of Heavenly Officials" worldwide, which is also the first time that Funimation has broadcast animation works produced in China.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Liu Wei