Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 243 This is called professionalism! (Two chapters in one)

(The title of the film review article was changed in the last paragraph of the previous chapter) "Is the 'foreignization' of Chinese films a good thing or a bad thing?" Although no names were mentioned, the core point is:
【Chinese filmmakers must first make good Chinese stories. If they are obsessed with how good foreign countries are, or even invest their own money to make a foreign story, it will be of no benefit to the development of China's film industry, no matter how many gimmicks there are or how high the box office is. …】

This "accusation" was entirely directed at Zhang Chao before the Chinese version of the trailer for "Your Name" was officially released and Zhang Chao expressed his view of "telling the Chinese people's own stories well."

"Your Name" is clearly a Chinese story written by a Chinese writer, but it was taken to Japan and made into a Japanese animation. Zhang Chao invested money in it, and he wants to introduce it into China. Isn't this a clear case of "eating from one's own country" or "worshiping the West and fawning on Japan"?

But now it has become a pointless move. Zhang Chao used Japan's advanced animation production technology to produce a groundbreaking Chinese animation, and also took the opportunity to cultivate his own animation talents.

Spent little money and accomplished great things - in 2006, this was definitely a mature and patriotic move!
But publishing such an important article in "Popular Movies" can't be aimless, right?
So everyone started looking for the movie that "used their own real money to shoot a foreign story".

Wang Zhongjun broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the change in public opinion. He immediately stopped the recent high-profile promotion and publicity activities for "The Banquet" for fear that someone would notice them.

But as one of the two most watched domestic blockbusters this year, how could "The Banquet" be hidden? Soon, the media pointed the finger at it.

The reason is very simple. "The Banquet" is a "Shakespearean story" in a disguised form. Its prototype is "Hamlet", but the background is set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

First of all, the character relationships in "The Banquet" are a complete reproduction of the character relationships in "Hamlet": Prince Wu Luan corresponds to Prince Hamlet, Emperor Li corresponds to Claudius, Queen Wan corresponds to Gertrude, Qingnv corresponds to Ophelia, and Yin Shun corresponds to Laertes.

Even the ghosts in the movie appear almost exactly the same as the wronged ghosts in Hamlet.

Secondly, the story line and plot development of The Banquet cannot be said to have nothing to do with Hamlet, it can only be said to be a one-to-one clone. They are all based on "the old emperor died suddenly - the prince had to be recalled to the palace in a hurry - found out that his mother remarried - tested each other - "play within a play" - revenge... and finally blood was spilled in the palace."

Even the murder, poison, love and conspiracy in the story have a "Shakespearean" feel.

Feng Xiaogang, the director of The Banquet, did not shy away from admitting this. In a previous interview, he mentioned that The Banquet was the result of the creative team and Shakespeare "doing it once" and the resulting film was another "Hamlet".

So this was originally the "selling point" of the movie, but after Wang Zhongjun's operation, it became the "risk point" of the movie.

In the same issue of "Popular Movies", there was an article titled "The Banquet: A Groundbreaking Attempt at a Chinese Version of Hamlet".

This caused a huge uproar in public opinion. Just before the premiere of The Banquet on September 9, the cultural and entertainment sections of major media outlets were discussing one thing:

Can it be considered "worshiping foreign things" for a company like Huayi to use China's own real money and precious historical images to film a British court story from 400 years ago?

The tragedy of The Banquet: When will Chinese filmmakers be able to be confident? ——Youth Daily

Is it that Chinese directors are disqualified, or that Shakespeare has taken over? —— Yangcheng Daily

We are not afraid of learning from others, but we are afraid of not innovating or not daring to innovate! —— "Nan Guo Daily"

To tell the story of China well, we must first stand up straight! ——Economic Morning News

……

After a round of public opinion bombardment, not only Wang Zhongjun, who was in the vortex, was confused, but even Zhang Chao was confused.

What he said in Japan did leave room for a verbal battle with Huayi, but why hasn't he made his move yet? It looks like "The Banquet" is going to flop.
Although many reporters came to him and hoped that he would express his views on "Night Banquet", Zhang Chao rejected them all.

When it comes to the war of public opinion, he prefers to either charge into battle or dig holes and bury people. It is indeed a bit boring to do things like kicking someone when they are down.

Besides, he has important things to do.

It turned out that the leaders and veteran painters of Shanghai Animation Studio had also seen the trailer of Your Name and were very interested in the animation production method in it. Through the New Sprout magazine in Shanghai, they invited Zhang Chao to come to Shanghai for "technical exchanges."

After receiving the invitation, Zhang Chao was actually a little hesitant. On the one hand, as a person born in the 80s, he has a special feeling for Shanghai Animation Film Studio. As the only art film studio in New China, it has created so many animation works that fascinated people born in the 70s and 80s.

Whether it is the ink-and-wash animations "The Tadpole Looking for His Mother" and "Shepherd's Flute", or the perfect combination of mythological stories and drama elements "Havoc in Heaven" and "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King", or the Dunhua mural-style "Nine-Colored Deer"... there is also the humorous "Three Monks", the touching "Snow Child", the whimsical "Monkey Catching the Moon"...

In short, as long as the opening credits with green background and gold letters appear on the screen, all the children will hold their breath and enjoy those wonderful dozens of minutes with the utmost concentration.

But on the other hand, investing in "Your Name" and regularly sending people to Japan to participate in production and learn technology also cost a lot of real money. The Shanghai Mei Factory just came to "exchange technology" in this way, which seemed a bit familiar.

In terms of psychological age, Zhang Chao has basically passed the stage of paying for emotions.

"What are you thinking about?" Wang Meng asked. Zhang Chao was visiting Wang Meng when he received a call from Zhao Changtian of New Sprouts. He took time out today to send invitations to several teachers and seniors at Yenching University, inviting them to attend the premiere of Your Name.

Zhang Chao told the company that Shanghai Mei Factory wanted him to go to Shanghai for "technical exchange" and his own hesitations.

After listening to this, Wang Meng laughed twice, and then said to Zhang Chao: "Do you think that the current Shanghai Film Studio is still the studio that puts 'art first'?"

Zhang Chao didn't know much about the inside story, so he asked curiously, "How do you say that?"

Wang Meng said: "The current Shanghai Animation Studio is like a government office that is overburdened with heavy workloads. Although it still produces some cartoons every year, it has essentially become a government office. Think about it, if a government office comes to hold a meeting, can they really learn your technology?

If they have the ability to upgrade their technology, they would have done it long ago. You can use this invitation to create momentum for your own movie!"

Zhang Chao was also awakened by Wang Meng's words. In the past decade, the world's animation technology has developed rapidly, and the most advanced 3D animation has been available for more than 10 years, but has Shanghai Animation Studio shown any signs of learning from it?
In the 80s, Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata visited China with a "pilgrimage" mood. They specifically visited the Shanghai Animation Film Studio and presented the film of "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" to the studio.

However, during the discussion between the two parties, the leaders of Shangmei Studio were not interested in technical issues at all. Instead, they asked in detail about the salary system in the Japanese animation industry and the salary system of Ghibli, as well as how to make money in a short film quickly and easily.

This completely disappointed Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao.

So Zhang Chao finally agreed to have a "technical exchange" with Shanghai Animation Studio, but it was not Zhang Chao who went to Shanghai, but Shanghai Animation Studio sent people to Yanjing. Shanghai Animation Studio agreed immediately without any hesitation and sent a list of visitors. At the same time, the event also invited the media to participate, and gave it a high-sounding name - Chaoxi Culture & Shanghai Animation Studio "Your Name" Preview and China Animation Industry Technology Upgrade and Transformation Seminar.

The time was set on September 9, the day before the premiere of The Banquet. Since the premiere of The Banquet was at 9:9 on September 10, the red carpet walk and other activities were naturally held on the evening of September 0, so it was equivalent to being held at the same time, with a strong sense of tit-for-tat.

The media, with their keen sense of smell, immediately smelled the gunpowder smell between Zhang Chao and Huayi. Hadn't Zhang Chao always cooperated happily with Huayi before? Both "Better Days" and "Cliff" were well received by the audience. Everyone thought that Zhang Chao would form the "troika" of Huayi with Feng Xiaogang and Wang Jinghua.

How could this friendship ship capsize so easily?

Wang Zhongjun was already very upset by the controversy surrounding The Banquet, and now he had to respond again: "We have a very pleasant cooperation with Zhang Chao, and there are no problems. The seminar and the premiere of The Banquet were arranged on the same day, which is purely coincidental. Don't make excessive associations."

Zhang Chao maintained his usual attitude and did not respond to any related questions - but not responding to this kind of thing was equivalent to responding. Everyone also confirmed that the relationship between the two sides had indeed broken down.

This was more explosive news than any movie premiere. So on September 9, a large part of the media resources were diverted from the premiere of The Banquet to the seminar between Tide Culture and Shanghai Meichang.

This is another heavy blow to The Banquet. If a blockbuster fails to attract the vast majority of entertainment media resources on the first day of its release, it is an extremely dangerous signal for the box office.

On the afternoon of September 9, Zhang Chao led Xia Da and other colleagues from the art department of "Tide Culture", as well as more than a dozen guests including the director, director, and animator of Shanghai Animation Studio, and reporters from more than 10 media outlets to watch the Chinese version of "Your Name" in the special theater of Yanjing Jinyi Cinema.

When the first scene of the feature film appeared on the screen, the audience began to exclaim. Although the trailer had been released in the media and on the Internet for more than ten days, seeing it in person still shocked every audience member at the scene - after all, the visual tension of the small screen cannot be compared with that of the big screen.

It's not like everyone hasn't seen beautifully produced Japanese animations, and Hayao Miyazaki has countless fans in China. However, his light hand-painted style is not as good as Shinkai Makoto's strong light and shadow contrast and color modulation in terms of "first glance".

The smooth narrative rhythm, delicate emotional expression, and beautiful reproduction of Chinese scenes of the entire story refreshed the perceptions of visitors to the Shanghai Mei Factory and on-site reporters time and time again.

“It turns out that animation can be shot this way…” murmured an old artist who has worked at Shanghai Animation Film Studio for 30 years.

Then he couldn't help being curious, and regardless of the animation still playing, he turned around and asked the artist from Tide Culture, "Why are the changes in the water surface in those few frames so realistic? Did you draw them one by one?"

The young man was asked this question for the first time, and he was a little flustered. He looked at Zhang Chao who was two seats away. Zhang Chao also noticed it, understood what was going on, and nodded slightly.

The young man then whispered, "Of course, it's not a series of paintings. We first find the right waterscape... and then... break it down into several pieces... and then... process the details... For coloring, we use... and then... render..."

The old artist at the Shanghai Fine Arts Factory looked confused after just hearing the beginning. He could not understand the various Chinese and English terms and computer software names that the young man kept saying.

We can only roughly know that if we want to process such delicate changes in light and shadow and texture on the water surface, it is almost impossible to rely on manual painting under cost constraints, and computers must be used extensively.

He participated in the production of "The Lotus Lantern", which included a few seconds of footage of Chenxiang passing by the foot of the Leshan Giant Buddha. The Shanghai Animation Film Studio even sent people to Leshan to take the scene, and after repeated consideration and a lot of manpower, the entire process was presented perfectly.

According to what this young man said, it doesn't have to be that complicated. Just send someone to the scene to take a few more photos and then process them on a computer?

But how much do computers cost?
Even Director Jin of the Shangmei Factory was interested and whispered to Zhang Chao beside him, "Can you tell me the production cost of this cartoon?"

Zhang Chao hesitated for a moment, stretched out his right hand, spread out his palm, spread out all five fingers, shook them, and said, "Five hundred million..."

Director Jin almost jumped up from his chair, but luckily Zhang Chao immediately added: "...Japanese yen." He breathed a sigh of relief, but soon realized -

5 million yen, calculated at the exchange rate in 2006, is just over 2000 million RMB? A cartoon like this only cost over 2000 million?

Director Jin was unbalanced again. In 1999, Shangmei Factory sold everything it had and tightened its belt to produce The Lotus Lantern, which cost more than 1200 million yuan and took three years to complete.

"Your Name" was produced in Japan and took only more than 8 months and more than 2000 million. Judging from the results, it is a product of two completely different eras compared to "The Lotus Lantern".

Zhang Chao explained: "Originally it wouldn't have cost that much. Because we had to produce both a Chinese version and a Japanese version, the cost increased by nearly 1 million yen..."

Director Jin knew that this was not the time to ask detailed questions, so he could only sigh a few words in his heart and continue watching the movie quietly.

After the 110-minute movie was over, everyone except Zhang Chao was immersed in complex emotions for a long time, unable to extricate themselves. Even the staff of "Tide Culture" who participated in the production were the same. This was also their first time to watch the movie on the big screen.

After a long time, applause broke out at the scene. Although it was not as thunderous as there were only a few dozen people, it lasted for more than 2 minutes before it died down.

There was even a sentimental female reporter who burst into tears. I don’t know whether she was moved by the plot of the animation or shocked by the scenes of the movie.

But everyone is certain of one thing: the "China Animation Industry Technology Upgrading and Transformation Seminar", which originally seemed a bit exaggerated because only two units, "Chao Tide Culture" and "Shanghai Animation Factory", participated, has now been fully implemented.

Compared with Hollywood's 3D animation technology, which costs hundreds of millions of dollars to invest, Xinkaicheng's production concept seems to be more suitable for the upgrade and transformation of Chinese animation today.

Of course, only Zhang Chao knew that it was hopeless! Judging from the experience of the previous life, Chinese animation finally broke out a new path, relying on 3D technology. But that was 10 years later.

However, this did not prevent Zhang Chao from sharing the animation production terms of "Your Name" that he had "crammed" in the past few days with the people in the Shanghai Mei factory and reporters during the subsequent seminars and interviews.

Everyone was drunk and felt as if they had learned everything, but also as if they knew nothing. This feeling can be summed up in one word for Zhang Chao and "Tide Culture":

“This is called professionalism!”

The next day, media reports praising "Your Name" occupied the main pages of the relevant section of the newspaper. Almost all reporters used all the corny words they knew to praise "Your Name" to the sky.

Not only did it once again raise the national audience's expectations for this animated film, it also completely made the media popularity of "The Banquet" become lukewarm.

Wang Zhongjun finally lost control and smashed a cup: "You are unkind, and I am unjust! Zhang Chao, let's wait and see!"

(End of this chapter)