40 Years of Tragedy: Chinese Animation's Sad Past Original Zhai Shao Zhai Always Justified
Tragic "Nezha" 40 years: the bitter past of Chinese animation qq.com
"Every time is a new time, and when he does it, he never wants to do it before." - Writer Hemingway "died on July 2, 1961" From the novel: "The Old Man and the Sea" … 01. Reveal the secret
In July 1897, American James Riccarton walked into Tianhua Tea Garden with Edison's films, which attracted the attention of all Shanghai. Among them, there is Shao Yuxuan who came to Shanghai from Ningbo to pan for gold in his early years. Seeing the changing light and shadow on the screen, Shao Yuxuan thought to himself, this thing must be able to sell for a lot of money. It is a pity that in 1920, before the movie dream started, Shao died of illness. When he was dying, he helped his son Shao Zuoweng buy the "Small Stage" theater. After his father left, Shao Zuiweng started to run civilized operas. Unexpectedly, with the influx of foreign films, the audience quickly lost. Seeing that the situation was over, Shao Zuiweng turned around to ponder movies, and founded "Tianyi Films" five years later. At the time, his brother Run Run Shaw was still in secondary school. Hong Kong's "Shaw Brothers Movie", the eight characters have not been written
Almost at the same time, in Shanghai in the early 20th century, the four Wan brothers were also attracted to movies. However, their interest is not in feature films, but in animation before the feature film. At that time, "Popeye" and "Miss Bobby" appeared in the film title in the form of interludes, which aroused the strong curiosity of the four: What kind of secret skills did the Americans use to make these hand-painted villains move? Born in Nanjing with three younger brothers, Wan Laiming was naughty and active since childhood. In order to train the temperament of the four, the mother bought pen and paper and a cigarette case and asked them to copy the painting. Unexpectedly, the four became addicted to painting and could not extricate themselves. Due to the poverty of his family, Wan Laiming dropped out of school at the age of 17 to go to Nanjing, where he made a living by transcribing handouts and began to teach himself various painting techniques. Just this year, the Commercial Press opened the film department. Wan Laiming, who has work experience in pictorial newspapers, brought his younger brother to work in "business" and was exposed to film production. The first time he saw an American cartoon, Wan Laiming was fascinated and vowed to make it. In 1919, in order to uncover its secrets, the Wan brothers wrote to European and American producers for advice, but received no response. Wan Laiming was not reconciled and felt that such a good thing cannot be left to the West alone. So the four brothers studied animation technology in a 7-square-meter pavilion in Zhabei District, Shanghai. For 4 years, they shrunk their clothes, sold their property, and endured hunger and cold. When the economy was the most difficult, I also bought a second-hand camera. After hundreds of trials, I finally understood the principle of animation production. The Commercial Press heard the news and invited them to make advertisements. The Wan brothers then drew 960 manuscripts to create a one-minute animated advertisement. But after trying several ad productions, the four turned away the merchants and stopped making money. For them, making money is secondary. To do the ideal work in mind is the real thing. To this end, the four brothers raised funds and borrowed equipment everywhere. While working, they continued to study short film production in the pavilion. Funds are tight, venues are limited, and materials are scarce, so they can only try again and again with stupid methods. The 7-square-meter pavilion is also used as a studio and a printing room. Thousands of sketches were scrapped and rehearsed, and thousands of shots were rehearsed back and forth. Another 4 years have passed. Under the condition of extremely rudimentary equipment and no technical reference, the four made a 12-minute short film "The Studio" by constantly copying American works. The first domestic animation was born. To be continued...
Several times of cold and heat, several times of spring and autumn. For these 12 minutes, the Wan brothers worked hard. The twists and turns, the setbacks, the difficulties and the joys, are hard to understand without being in them. However, this is not the end, it is the beginning of everything. In the following decades, the ups and downs of Chinese animation will far exceed the imagination of the Wan brothers. The hardships they tasted in the Zhabei pavilions in Shanghai were but the prelude to a long poem.
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