"Stories must be the most important, but cartoons should also pursue unique aesthetics and advanced technology."

On the first day of the New Year, the animated film "The Deep Sea" directed by Tian Xiaopeng was released, which tells the story of a modern girl who entered the deep sea world by mistake and met a unique life journey. What does "deep sea" mean? What was the original creative idea? What are the difficulties in making the "particle ink" visual effect? Recently, Yiqiao, the producer of the movie "Deep Sea", revealed the creative story behind the film.

"Abandon the past experience and take a step forward"

"The Deep Sea" is a new work of director Tian Xiaopeng who challenges the original modern theme seven years after "The Return of the Great Sage".

Why did you choose to create such a work? Yi Qiao introduced that at that time, director Tian Xiaopeng hoped to abandon all previous experience and go forward to create a new work. "What is the style of Chinese animation, what is the way of telling stories, and where is the core technological innovation? This is a greater driving force for us."

The film creates a mysterious deep sea world with gorgeous colors. According to Yi Qiao, the deep sea here is more a symbol of the heart, a world hidden in everyone's heart. The story of the film is also from the perspective of a little girl. "She is a little sensitive. She usually uses a red sweater hat to cover herself, which is somewhat isolated from the outside world." Yi Qiao describes the heroine's night stay.

The names of the leading roles and heroines, Nanhe and Shensu, originated from the director's love of watching stars. "Tian Dao is an astronomer, especially interested in 'Nanhe 3' and 'Betelgeuse 4'." Yi Qiao explained that the heroine's name is very similar to the meaning of the sea. There are infinite waves hidden under the sea, just like a small girl in a movie. She has her own inner world and independent thinking about life, which is also what the film wants to express.

"All visual effects are designed to serve the story"

More than 2 billion particles collide and more than 200 colors converge... In this animated film, the Chinese style "particle ink" technology, which took the production team two years to develop, once attracted the attention and discussion of the fans of the national cartoon.

"Ink painting is a unique form of painting in China, which is very freehand, abstract and vivid, but it is too contradictory when combined with 3D. One should be freehand blank, and the other should be objective and realistic, so we want to know how to combine these two things together." Yi Qiao introduced that after having this idea, the team tried a lot of experiments, It was not until I tried to stack countless particles into the form of ink and wash that I finally restored the sense of elegance and breathing of ink and wash painting.

"In addition to developing new aesthetics, we still hope that innovative technology can be perfectly integrated with the core of the story we want to express." Yi Qiao said that these particles are also piling up the world where the heroine sleeps, which is pieced together by the memories of her life.

In Yiqiao's view, visual effects and aesthetic design are a new step in their pursuit of animation, but all technological innovations are ultimately intended to serve the story and emotion. "Whether the emotion of the story can move the audience is the core competitiveness of this film. If it does not move, we will not do it."

Past reviews:

Exclusive dialogue with Zhang Yimou and the stars of "Red River": revealing the way to break the situation of "comedy+suspense"

Dialogue with the main creator of Wandering Earth 2: put science fiction wings on Chinese stories

Share to let more people see