Author: Liu Fan (Director of the Film and Television Arts Department of the School of Arts, Southwest University)
Recently, the animated film "Legend of Mountains and Seas" was launched on CCTV Comprehensive Channel (CCTV-1). This work takes the ancient mythical hero Yu as the main character, and through the youthful and lively narrative voice and the magnificent and romantic aesthetic style, it tells the story of the character's growth from a young hero to a legendary figure fighting against floods and delimiting Jiuzhou.
Turning over the long scroll of Chinese culture, fairy tales are the romantic and flexible chapters. The seemingly unconstrained narration contains the basic model of the Chinese ancestors' initial understanding and imagination of the world, and is a unique feature that distinguishes the Chinese nation from other nations in the world. The animated film "Legend of Mountains and Seas" takes ancient myths as the source of inspiration for artistic creation, and tries to stimulate the audience to think about philosophical issues such as "who we are, where we come from, and where we go" through Yu's story. In order to get rid of the "hard bone" of ancient history creation, the creator carried out two years of desk work before the creation of animation. He drew historical, geographical, cultural and other relevant materials from classics such as Shanhaijing, Shiji, Yuejueshu, and Houhanshu, sorted out the ancient time and space system and character pedigree, and deeply studied Yu's life experience, flood control process and methods, To build a real picture of the ancient world, the story can be relied on and the characters can be tested. Although it is fictional, it is not false. Through clear and complete story clues and worldview framework, the audience went deep into Xie Yu's heroic deeds, as well as the good qualities of the Chinese nation such as diligence, courage, peace loving, perseverance, self-improvement, and formed a certain understanding of the customs and social styles of ancient times.
How to turn the paper records into fresh audio-visual images is one of the most challenging topics in the creation process of Legend of Mountains and Seas. The creator uses a variety of artistic techniques to create a magical and magnificent world of ancient myths, and on this basis, adopts a youthful and individual narrative perspective to tell specific and vivid stories about "people". Yu's father Gun stole "Xirang" in order to stop the flood and save mankind. He was condemned by heaven, and his mother was washed away by the flood. Yu, who was still in the swaddling clothes, was adopted by Zhu Long and lived in Yuyuan, a cold place. As Yu grew up day by day, he became more and more curious about his life experience, so he said goodbye to the candle dragon and embarked on a journey of exploring the life topic of "who am I?". The work shows Yu's process of constantly expanding his vision, making friends, experiencing setbacks, and gaining growth on his growth path, making the mythical hero "grounded". At the same time, other characters such as Agu, the iron eater, also have their own characteristics. Sometimes they are cute enough to make people laugh, and sometimes they expose small shortcomings such as carelessness and conceit, which are closer to the acceptance habits and thinking patterns of the audience, especially young people.
Young Yu is handsome and energetic. Tao Wu is as strong as a tiger. Xing Tian, who has no head, has two breasts as his eyes, and his navel as his mouth. The names "Zhuan Xu" and "Gong Gong", which are somewhat obscure to the audience, are also different in temperament and vivid in image. In terms of characterization, on the basis of being faithful to the distinctive characteristics of mythical figures, Create an original animation image. The works are also designed according to the specific plot and cultural background. From the presentation of Yuyuan and Yimu, to the patterns on clothes, symbols on utensils and architectural details, they are as close to the characteristics of ancient times as possible, highlighting the unique aesthetic orientation of Chinese people, so that the audience can more quickly integrate into the narrative situation constructed by cartoons. The score is also brilliant. In particular, the lyrics of the song ending the film were adapted from Qu Yuan's "Tianwen", and the cry of "Who preached at the beginning of the ancient times?" was issued in the children's chorus, which complements Yu's spirit of exploring the five worlds and challenging the possibility of destiny all the way.
While taking root in the excellent traditional culture of China, the creators conduct cross media secondary coding of ancient books. With the help of exquisite characterization, vivid artistic style and rich audio-visual effects, they creatively integrate traditional Chinese art techniques and modern animation forms of expression, help old stories radiate new vitality, and stimulate the public's sense of national pride and cultural identity.
