1905 Movie Network Special Article B Station B scored 9.6, Taopiao Ticket scored 9.5, and the animated film "Falling Dust" won the highest score of domestic films in the current summer file with a score of 7.7 on Douban, becoming a surprise dark horse in word-of-mouth!
Six years ago, Zhong Ding, an associate professor at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, led a team of graduates to create an animated short film "Falling Dust", which was unveiled on station B after a year of production, and quickly became a hit with tens of millions of views. Netizens also called for a movie version on the barrage.
The 7-minute short film presents the mythological elements of the 28 constellations, an oriental aesthetic world composed of weaving, a brother-sister relationship between the fairy and the naughty sister who is responsible for "releasing the stars", with original story themes, innovative animation aesthetic explorations and interesting emotional interactions.
The success of the short film contributed to the evolution of "Falling Dust" into a theatrical feature film, which lasted five years, with more than 50 production teams and 2,000 animation artists working together to create this new Chinese Chinese comic blockbuster.
The feature film can be regarded as a prequel to the short film, starting from the composition of the world view and the origin of the life experiences of the brothers and sisters, which is also the first time that a domestic animated film has put the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the myth of the stars on the big screen.
"The short film is to test the waters, to see if the audience will be interested in such creativity and character relationships, and the feedback is quite good, so we will continue to use these elements in the film." In the "Dialogue" column of 1905 Film Network, director Zhong Ding shared the creative process of "Falling Dust" from a short film to a feature film.
"The movie may not be perfect, but we are telling the story seriously, and there are many new ideas that will make the audience's eyes shine, and there are sincere emotions, and if the audience watches it, they can find resonance."
Although "Falling Dust" has a good reputation, Zhong Ding said frankly that the road to Guoman's original IP is difficult, and the audience's attention and understanding of it are not high, and the film's current schedule and popularity in the market are not as expected, and more people's support and the diffusion of "tap water" are urgently needed.
Excavation of the "Twenty-Eight Nakshatras"
The stars are one of the important parts of traditional Chinese culture and belong to the constellation culture of the Chinese.
Zhong Ding said that the 2012 cartoon "The Adventures of Grandpa with Big Ears" is the first time that Chinese animation uses the stars as the theme, but there has never been an animated film with the stars to start the story, which is worth digging deeper, and "Falling Dust" took the first step.
The starry sky is divided into seven quarters according to the southeast, northwest, and northwest, which are the "four elephants": the green dragon, the vermilion bird, the white tiger, and the Xuanwu. The stars of each Nakshatra are connected by imaginary lines to form a variety of shapes. The creative team extracted these important concepts and combined them to design them into different forms of constellation beasts.
For example, the cow Taurus belongs to the basalt system, and there is a star map pattern of the cow in the shape of the calf's sacred beast, and a turtle shell reflecting the basalt element is also added to the back. The winged fire snake belongs to the Suzaku family, so it is a red snake and also has wings like Suzaku.
Based on this logic, the image of each constellation beast has been recreated with color and attributes. However, the movie does not unfold the mythical beasts corresponding to the 28 constellations one by one, nor does it fully introduce these details through the storyline.
"The first is that it's too complicated, and the second is that that's not the point. The stars are still a clue in the movie, because of the limited space, we mainly focus on the emotions of the protagonists", Zhong Ding said, if it can be successfully developed into an IP, more stars and beasts will be shown in the future.
The storyline of the fairy brothers and sisters working together to subdue the stars will inevitably be reminiscent of "Pokémon", "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", "Dragon Ball", etc., all have similar collection settings, Zhong Ding responded that he was indeed influenced by these works, "We also think that this is a proven business model, which can be used to promote characters, and there is room for drama and derivatives in the future."
Rewrite the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
"Falling Dust" rewrites and deconstructs this thousand-year-old legend through the story of the descendants of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Zhong Ding believes that traditional stories have the limitations of the times, and the film reshapes the image of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl with concepts that are more in line with modern people.
The Weaver Girl in the movie is a character who guards the family and the balance between the two worlds at the same time, "She is not a simple love brain, but a woman with responsibilities and responsibilities, a woman with the right to self-choice and strong ability." The Cowherd rescued the Weaver Girl in an accident, and is a simple, loving, and self-sacrificing person to protect his family.
Family affection is the emotion that can most touch the heart of Chinese, unlike other films that express family affection, Zhong Ding pointed out that there are many levels of family affection embodied in "Falling Dust":
First of all, the love of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl developed family affection, Jin Feng and Yulu met in the mortal world, one wanted to atone for his mother, and the other went to heaven to find A-Niang, they assisted each other and made friends in the group for warmth, and the brother and sister recognized each other under the fetters of family affection. In the war, Jin Feng saw one family suffering, and he chose to inherit his mother's mission and sacrifice, so as to save the mortal world, presenting the context of family affection, and finally landing on the discussion of "home".
The film also uses the concept of "stitching" to tell these emotional stories layer by layer. Goldwind has experienced the "stitching" from misunderstanding mothers to understanding mothers and repairing the relationship between mother and child; He and his sister never knew each other to the two cooperated and found that each other was a "stitch"; The two worlds of man and god have also undergone a "stitching" of worldviews and values.
The movie does not replicate the "my life is up to me, not the sky" style of rebellion and confrontation, the two worlds of man and god in the film are not on opposite sides, heaven and earth support each other, but the selfishness of the villain god monarch causes disputes, and what Jin Feng finally did was to maintain the two worlds, so that the two worlds could communicate and understand each other.
"Shenjun raised Jin Feng like his father, his love and dedication are based on the fact that Jin Feng has use value and is conditional, while the sacrifice of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl to protect his children and the sacrifice of his brother to his sister are unconditional." Zhong Ding said, "As long as you have the power of love, you can become the guardian saint of your loved ones", which is the theme that the whole film wants to express the most.
Different painting styles in the divine realm and the human realm
When creating the short film, "Falling Dust" had already determined a basic world view: the ancient gods sewed the divine world and the human world into a "big cloth" through the power of the sun and the moon, and the stitched position was the "heavenly canopy". "Ayara" is the smallest energy in the whole world, and it is woven into threads and stitched together by "Ayara", and the small threads produced in it form the twenty-eight constellations, so the twenty-eight nakshatras have powerful energy.
Based on this self-consistent logic, the visual systems of the two worlds of man and god form their own references, each with its own characteristics.
Zhong Ding introduced that the design of the divine realm integrates the concept of silk thread and weaving, adopts the elegant tone of gray and white, and the architectural style refers to the Hui style architecture of the white wall and blue tile horse head wall, and the color of black and white continues to the clothing of the characters in the divine realm, achieving a cold and solemn overall atmosphere.
The visual design mainly refers to the Song Dynasty's "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" to create an ancient fireworks temperament, and also refers to the overlapping and scattered urban architecture of Chongqing.
On this basis, elements from different dynasties and even modern times are added, such as hot pot, milk tea, barrage, etc., "Our materials and craftsmanship are ancient, but some concepts are new. There was hot pot in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and there was milk tea in the Tang Dynasty, both of which have a history of development, and we have become more modern, so that the audience can smile", especially the hot pot has a strong portrayal of human life and the emotional projection of family reunion, which is more in line with the humanistic attributes of the movie.
Compared with the short film, Jin Feng's shape is no longer gorgeous, and through the headbands and tight woven belts, the characters are given a sense of restraint and better show Jin Feng's character and temperament.
The girl Xiaofan is also inspired by the image design of her sister Yulu, which comes from the magpie who calls himself "Magpie Bridge" in the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. My sister is bouncing and chirping like a little magpie, and her clothes have a long trail.
On the basis of three-dimensional animation technology, "Falling Dust" is interspersed with two two-dimensional animations: one incorporates traditional cultural elements of shadow puppetry and embroidery, narrating the process of brother and sister subduing the stars; A rock color style shows the past of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl knowing and falling in love, with a dream-like memory color.
Zhong Ding said that these two paragraphs are montage passages that deal with a large plot span, and the embroidery style of the first paragraph continues the film's visual system based on cloth, and the performance on the scroll is full of fun. The second paragraph uses a golden thread to outline the life of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the story of their family, making the movie-watching experience more extreme and more artistic.
Surprise easter eggs throughout
In "Falling Dust", there are still many details that need to be carefully excavated by the audience, among which there is a core easter egg throughout the film - Ginkgo.
The short film starts with a falling ginkgo leaf, and ends with the elder brother helping the younger sister to block the falling ginkgo leaves, and the younger sister also helping the elder brother pick the ginkgo biloba leaves attached to his forehead, which not only has an oriental artistic conception, but also reflects the harmonious relationship between the brother and sister.
In the feature film, ginkgo biloba further becomes the image of the whole theme. There are some details in the film that are linked to the short film: Xiao Jinfeng pinched a ginkgo leaf and pasted it on his sister's forehead, and after Jin Feng sacrificed, there was also a leaf on his forehead, forming an emotional echo.
Director Zhong Ding said that ginkgo biloba is characterized by "cuttings that are alive", with the meaning of "more children and more blessings", which is in line with the film's expression of family affection and blood inheritance.
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl knew and loved each other because of a ginkgo branch, and the ginkgo tree became a witness to the home, protecting them like a big umbrella. After the accident, the ginkgo tree fell and the family was destroyed. But the ginkgo leaves covered and protected her sister from being discovered by the gods. After the sacrifice of the golden wind, he turned into a ginkgo tree, and the leaves returned to their roots, regrown, and flourished.
"Falling Dust" has opened up a new world of Guoman, with fresh concepts such as 28 constellations, silk thread weaving, and the two worlds of man and god, all of which have huge space for continuous digging and expansion of the series of stories.
As for whether "Falling Dust" will make a sequel movie, Zhong Ding said that it will depend on the box office performance of this one. Compared to movies, the likelihood of being developed into an animated series in the future will be higher.