Let's focus on China in the 1920s, when China was being carved up by the great powers. At that time, China was undoubtedly impacted by foreign countries in politics, economy and culture. And this semi-colonial and semi-feudal society is also opening people's eyes to the world. Then, at this moment, animation began to jump into the eyes of Chinese people.
In the early 1920s, American animation such as Popeye landed in China. These touching pictures make China people shine at the moment, especially the Wan brothers-Wan Laiming, Wan Guchan, Wanhe Atlas. After being influenced by American animation, Wan Brothers set the first milestone for China animation with the belief of creating China's own animation.
1922, with the help of a frame-by-frame camera modified from an old camera, Wan Brothers made the first advertising cartoon Shu Zhendong's Chinese Typewriter in China after arduous exploration and development, and then made animated commercials such as Yili soda and monosodium glutamate. Although it is an animated advertisement, it has accumulated a lot of experience for the Wan brothers who made animation for the first time. Subsequently, in 1924, China Film Company produced an animated film "Dogs Treat" and Shanghai Tobacco Company produced an animated film "Chinese New Year". Although these two films were the earliest cartoons in China, it was not until 1926 that the Wan brothers drew the first animated short film, "Making a scene in heaven" that they had an impact. 1935, Camel Dance, the first animated film in China, was also born under Wan Brothers.
However, these are not the pinnacle of Wan Brothers' career, so1September 1942, Wan Brothers produced an animated feature film "Princess Iron Fan" in Shanghai Xinhua United Film Company. Princess Iron Fan is the first time that China animation has gone out of China, becoming the second animated feature film in the world after Disney's Snow White. Princess Iron Fan, based on the story of "borrowing a banana fan three times" in China's classic The Journey to the West, has been warmly welcomed in China and even in Southeast Asia and Japan. What is worth mentioning is the story of Princess Iron Fan and Osamu Tezuka, the originator of Japanese animation. At that time, Osamu Tezuka loved animation very much, but the strength of American animation and the vacancy of his own animation career made Osamu Tezuka once give up his dream. But when he saw Princess Iron Fan, Princess Iron Fan seemed to be a shot in the arm, which strengthened Osamu Tezuka's animation dream. Thus, Osamu Tezuka, the father of Astro Boy, was born. It was said that Wan Brothers were their first teachers, which shows that Princess Iron Fan had a great influence at that time.
Unfortunately, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, Wan Brothers was forced to interrupt animation creation, and the embryonic period of China's animation film development also ended.
Moreover, at that time, China was in social unrest and the traffic was inconvenient, so we could only watch cartoons in a big city like Shanghai. Most of the animators in China at that time embarked on this road because of their personal hobbies. Such social conditions doomed that there would be no animation enterprises like Disney in the early stage of animation in China. Therefore, although Wan's animation was a strong player at that time, the whole animation industry in China did not develop, and the quality of animation did not improve significantly in these years.
The first peak of animation in China (1947 ~1978);
As early as 1947 ~ 1948, Chen Boer, a people's artist, and Fang Ming (Tadahito Mochinaga), a Japanese animation expert, filmed the puppet film "The Emperor's Dream" and the animated film "Catch a turtle in a jar" at the Northeast Film Studio. Although there were insufficient personnel and poor equipment at that time, it laid the foundation for the development of animation after the founding of New China, and also opened the curtain for the development of animation in New China.
The establishment of194910/People's Republic of China (PRC) finally provided a stable social environment for the development of animation in China.
Later, China animation began to serve children in theme, mostly fairy tales, such as Catfishing, which was shot at 1952. In terms of style, China's animation has embarked on the road of nationalization, such as "The Magic Pen of Puppet Movie" made by 1955, "General Pride" made by 1956, etc. Technically, it changed from black-and-white film to color film, such as 1953 China's first color puppet film "Xiaojie" and 1955' s first color traditional cartoon "Why is the crow black".
Shanghai Animation Film Studio was established in 1957, making China the first professional factory to independently produce art films. A large number of artists and writers have joined the industry. Since then, Chinese cartoons have entered the first prosperous period. Guided by Mao Zedong's literary policy of "letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend" and inspired by the slogan of "exploring the road of national style", artists' enthusiasm has been fully mobilized, and artists have absorbed nutrition from China's traditional culture and art, and strived to show China's unique style and characteristics, thus making China's animation production enter a period of prosperity and development. The output of animation has increased, reaching an unprecedented level in artistic and technical quality. As a result, many films won awards at international film festivals and became a world-recognized animation school in China.
Since then, the types of animation in China have been increasing. 1958 The trial production of the first Chinese origami Pig Eat Watermelon was successful. 196 1 The completion of the first origami "Smart Duck" and the birth of the first ink cartoon "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" added the most to the animation film circle in China and even the world. Among them, "Little Tadpole Looking for Mother" gives Qi Baishi's ink painting a fresh "life". Originally just a group of tadpoles with ink spots, now they swim out of the charm of China's landscape painting in rhythmic movement.
196 1 year, the world-famous classic blockbuster "Make a scene in Heaven" (Part I: 196 1, Part II: 1964) was born. 1963 produced the ink cartoon Moody, which used ink to express people, animals and scenery, expanding the expression field of ink cartoon. These two animations are world-renowned and push China animation to a peak.
Although the works such as Making a scene in Heaven, Little Tadpole Looking for Mother, Peacock Princess, Pig Eating Watermelon and Golden Conch are not as high-quality as American and Soviet cartoons, they carry forward the national culture and characteristics of the Chinese nation.
Among them, "Make a scene in Heaven" is the masterpiece of this period, which caused a sensation in Europe and America, and was distributed in more than 40 countries and regions, setting a record for the output of China fine arts films. It has almost become synonymous with chinese comic in the eyes of foreigners. Although the conditions were simple at that time, the image, background, action and plot were first-class. A lot of Peking Opera elements have been added, such as Facebook. Action is a typical Beijing opera program. The whole "Make a scene in Heaven" is simply a masterpiece of national quintessence.
1957 ~ 1965 is the golden age of China animation. During this period, Shanghai Animation Film Studio, as the only animation studio in China, produced a total of films 105, including 40 cartoons, 37 puppet films, 3 newspaper clippings 16, 3 origami films, 9 puppet documentaries and more than 380 employees, which trained a large number of outstanding animation original talents.
From 1966 to 1976, China entered the Cultural Revolution. Because animation manufacturers all over the country are constantly "stopping production and revolting", the development of animation in China lags behind. 1972, Shanghai Animation Film Studio took the lead in resuming production. Until the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, * * * produced 17 cartoons. The cartoons of this period all describe the revolutionary war before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the class struggle, the line struggle and the ideological struggle in socialist society, and praise the workers, peasants and soldiers, such as 1973 The Trumpet, The Little Eighth Road and The East China Sea Sentinel. On the other hand, it follows realism, such as "Bamboo Shoots Growing in the House" filmed by 1976, which skillfully combines China's ink painting with folk paper-cutting, adding a new seedling to the world comic garden.
However, it should also be noted that the planned economy has not only brought about the scale of animation creation and better working conditions in China, but also cleared up the increasingly developed market concept in the minds of animators without hesitation. Operators can neither take advantage of scale to embark on the overall development path, nor consider how to operate the animation industry from the product structure. Animation is no longer a commodity, but a political need. The audience is no longer God, but the object they want to educate. Obeying the leaders' intention to educate the audience has become an ancient tradition in China? The natural continuation of the role of literature education in China's animation.
Ten years of Cultural Revolution also almost gave China animation a devastating blow. Although a group of talented China animators have produced top international animated short films and won many awards in the world, behind the light, China animation has not been guided to the right track. Instead, these artists think that winning the prize is the first, and it doesn't matter whether there is an audience or not.
The second peak of animation in China (1978 ~1989);
From the end of 1978, China entered the era of reform and opening up. Animators' creative enthusiasm is rising again. This period was the most prosperous in chinese comic in the 20th century.
During 10, a number of new animation production departments emerged, which changed the dominance of Shanghai animation film studio.
* * * 2 19 movies and cartoons were produced nationwide, and a number of excellent films representing the highest level of Chinese cartoons were produced. For example, what makes the sea noisy in 1979, wonders in the sky in 1983, Luming Literature in 1982, mountain scenery in 1988, and fox hunting in 1978. 198 1 year monkey fishing for the moon and Mr. Nan Guo, 1983 snipe and clam fighting with 1983 butterfly spring, 1983 Huo Tong and 1948 ~ 65438.
With the popularity of TV, a series of animated short films meet the requirements of TV, so TV cartoons and animated series are produced for the first time, among which there are many excellent works that are deeply loved by the masses, such as 198 1 ~ 1988's The Story of Two Generations of Love and1984 ~1.
The animation theme is broader, and there are many artistic cartoons with profound contents, sharp meanings and shortcomings, such as 1080' s three monks, 1986' s super soap and newly dressed doorbell, and 1989' s cow source. This is of great significance to correct the prejudice that "cartoons are children's films" and expand the audience of cartoons. At the same time, the social influence and international reputation of Chinese cartoons have also greatly jumped, winning wide acclaim.
Among them, Ina Nao Hai is the representative work of this period. The film is based on the list of gods, eliminates the dross containing superstitious elements, focuses on the contradiction between Nezha and the Dragon King, and shapes the heroic image of Nezha who dares to sacrifice himself. At this time, the shooting technology has improved a lot compared with "Make a scene in Heaven", and the traditional national style and characteristics passed down from one vein have not decreased. For example, 100 shots of many waves are all painted in the country of China, which makes people know at a glance that this is the sea of China.
The new period of China animation (1990 ~ now);
The 1990s witnessed the expansion of animation industry in China. The exchange of experience with foreign animation manufacturers, the massive involvement of digital production methods, the diversified development of various system production units, and the continuous growth of multi-functional animation talents have made China animation production leap in quantity and quality. Especially since 1995, China Film Projection Company no longer implemented the planned economic policy of unified purchase and marketing for cartoons, which pushed the animation industry to the market, changed the production state and business model of cartoons, and gradually established the concept of win-win social and economic benefits. These undoubtedly injected new vitality into traditional animation, thus promoting the development of animation industry.
At the same time, China animation began to turn to large-scale animation series, and turned to the international trend of large-scale, continuous and serial TV cartoons. During this period, except for several animated feature films such as Lotus Lantern by 1999 and some animated short films such as Twelve Mosquitoes and Five People by 1992, most of the animated works were animated serials, such as Shuke and Beita and1989 ~1.
In production, computer technology has been popularized and developed in animation, especially in two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer animation. China animation began to form a new concept of "big animation system" from planning, creation and dissemination to series product development.
After entering the 2 1 century, the output of animation companies, animation production enterprises and cartoons in China has continued to grow. Art animated film short films are on the rise. Computer animation and network media animation have developed rapidly. For example, "Blue Cat Naughty 3000 Questions" is all made by computer, and the Flash animation in the network is deeply loved by young people. Animation in this period is still dominated by animation series, such as Return of Tiger, Legend of Nezha, Young Di Qing, I am crazy about singing, etc.
At the same time, more and more colleges and universities offer animation majors. Animation programs and channels are also constantly improving, which is valued and supported by the government. In 2005, the first China International Cartoon & Animation Festival was also held in Hangzhou, China.
However, with the rapid development, the problems in China animation industry are equally prominent. During this period, the number of classics that can be compared with animation, such as "Make a scene in Heaven" and "A drop in the ocean", decreased significantly. Most of the people in the anime are rough and the plot is relatively dull. Moreover, due to the influence of the ten-year "Cultural Revolution", there is a gap between the contemporary high-level animation talents in China. Although there are many new generation animators, there are also few truly successful people. Moreover, due to the slow recovery of animation from private investment, the domestic animation is still mostly made by the state.
Coupled with the impact of well-made and interesting foreign cartoons, China's cartoons are eclipsed in the international market. Many domestic animators are engaged in animation processing industry, so China lost a new force in the animation production.
Obviously, in this new period of China animation, China animation is facing unprecedented challenges. However, the power of China animation is also growing. When we look back on China animation from its birth to today, we have reason to believe in China animation, because the roots of China animation were deeply rooted in this Chinese land that gave birth to the Chinese nation as early as 80 years ago. China's animation, like its people, can't be beaten, and it can't be beaten. As long as there are people like us who love animation, and as long as there are people who are interested in China animation, China animation will surely usher in glory again.