You didn't leave, you just changed places to continue playing basketball. @Nai Nai Sister
A tragedy that shook the world on January 26, 2020, saw former NBA legend Kobe Bryant die in a helicopter crash at the age of 41. Many friends woke up from sleep, still unwilling to believe that this is true, and some netizens could not help but leave tears when sorting out Kobe's photos. Yes, this big boy who loves basketball, Kobe Bryant, has accompanied many people's youth, and how can the sudden departure be accepted.
Dear Basketball is an animated short film written and voiced by Bryant himself, inspired by a letter kobe published on The player's Tribune website on November 19, 2015, titled Dear Basketball. In this letter, Kobe Bryant announced that he was retiring after playing the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The letter also recounted that he had fallen in love with basketball since he was six years old, and he had devoted his mind, body, soul and spirit to basketball without reservation, although he wanted to continue to play, but his body could not keep up, and he was as determined as he was, and he knew that it was time to say goodbye. Thank you Basketball for giving him a dream and are sincerely grateful for all they have given each other on this journey. The letter caused a huge response, because it was not only Kobe Bryant's retirement declaration, but also expressed their love for basketball for those who loved basketball, and also expressed their hearts for all those who pursued their dreams.
"Dear Basketball" is an animated short film directed by Gran Keane and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2017, with a length of just 5 minutes and 22 seconds. Its plot is simple, telling the story of a 6-year-old boy Kobe Bryant's love of basketball and his struggle and ultimate success on the road to basketball. Originally, it was made primarily to be broadcast at the Lakers' home stadium where Kobe Bryant's jersey retirement ceremony was held. However, it won the 90th Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film and the 45th Animated Annie Award for Best Animated Short Film, with a Douban score of 8.0.
"Dear Basketball" won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film is very controversial, many people think that this is just because of Kobe's celebrity effect, and even some political factors caused by the result, and this animated short film itself did not meet the requirements of the Oscars, a bit unworthy of the name. However, I feel that although this film is a performance of Kobe's basketball career and dreams on the surface, behind it contains an inspirational belief in people's dreams, and the rough but smooth hand-drawn lines highlight the distinctiveness and delicacy of this film. In this article, I will analyze why this film won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film from four aspects: Kobe's love letter to basketball, the shaping method of animation, the legendary production team, and the moral behind the movie.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 "Dear Basketball" is Kobe Bryant's love letter to basketball, I love you, until death</h1>
1, I love you, from the age of 6, and willing to dedicate my life to you
I believe that even if you don't like sports and don't understand basketball, you will know Kobe Bryant, a basketball superstar. His life can be said to be accompanied by basketball and integrated. Kobe Bryant, who has loved basketball since he was 6 years old, has proved this with more than 30 years of time and practical actions, basketball belongs to him, and he also belongs to basketball.
At the beginning of the film, we see 6-year-old Kobe Bryant rolling up his father's stockings into a basketball, fantasizing about throwing a winning goal on the court, and from that moment on he fell in love with basketball. Every shot, every victory, every scramble, every goal score in his growth process is his response to the call of basketball, and every game in return makes Kobe Feel the meaning of basketball in his life.
2, I use my grades to return my love for you
Kobe Bryant, a former American professional basketball player nicknamed "Black Mamba," played for the NBA Los Angeles Lakers throughout his NBA career (1996-2016) and was the son of former NBA player Joe Bryant. In 2007, ESPN's sports reporter voted for the greatest scoring guard of all time, and Kobe Bryant came in second only to Jordan. Bryant is a prolific scorer who averaged 25 points per game in his career, as well as 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals, and is the first player in NBA history to score 30,000 points and 6,000 assists, and is considered one of the NBA's most well-rounded players.
On April 13, 2013, Kobe Bryant broke Achilles' tendon during the game, but still insisted on making two free throws before going down for treatment. Due to physical discomfort, on April 13, 2016, the Lakers against the Jazz became Kobe Bryant's retirement battle, in which Kobe Bryant led the team to a reversal victory and scored 60 points. Bryant used his actions and achievements to draw a successful end to his basketball career and expressed his love for basketball.
"Do you know what it's like at four o'clock in the morning in Los Angeles?" This is kobe bryant's inspirational words that people talk about. Even after two years of retirement, Bryant still maintains the habit of getting up at 4 a.m. to practice. He loves basketball, but not just lip service, he expresses this love with his own practical actions.
No one can succeed casually, and neither can Bryant. Behind the brilliance, in addition to the persistence of the dream, there is also the unremitting effort, this tenacity is the most touching and inspirational place in Kobe's bones. This "Dear Basketball" is also a summary of his basketball career, in this sad time, this film has also become Kobe's masterpiece, seeing it, can't help but heartache, a generation of superstars fell.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 Hand-drawn animation is the purest art in Kobe's mind and the highlight of the film</h1>
In fact, there are many kinds of ways to express animation films, in the pursuit of extreme computer technology and fine pictures in animated short films today, compared with Disney cartoons' exquisite character shapes, bright and colorful clothes, gorgeous backgrounds, and even the characters, animals in the film, every hair, every pore can show the delicate appearance. "Dear Basketball" does the opposite, using hand-drawn sketches to show the work, this short film is created in the form of pencil sketches and hand-drawn, with rough lines, unrestrained brushstrokes, distinctive characteristics, using the simplest lines to show the purest love, simple and direct, but touching people's hearts.
Bryant has his own understanding of this way of shooting, and the reason why he insisted on making this film in the style of hand-drawn is because he feels that hand-drawn is the purest art. And "Dear Basketball" expresses the purest love for basketball, showing the purest dream of Kobe Bryant's life, so dreams cannot be shortcuts, they must be stacked step by step, just like hand-drawn.
The scenes that appear in the film seem to be messy hand-drawn draft construction, including the hand-drawn manuscripts shown to you by director Gran Keane in a later interview, those lines that are like a draft version show Kobe Bryant's successes and failures in chasing his dreams, laughter and pain, reflecting a perfect and imperfect contrast, through the smooth lines strung together to form a power-like display.
As Bryant commented on this form of expression: "It's important to present it with hand drawing, because the essence of the film is to construct a dream, you can't skip the steps, you have to build it slowly, so the film has to have such qualities, perfect, imperfect, smooth lines, the film has to be able to present that feeling." 」 ”
"Dear Basketball" perfectly shows Kobe's hope for this film, using the seemingly most direct, primitive, simple and rough animation expression to convey to the audience the most simple, down-to-earth no shortcut to the persistence and struggle, which is also one of the main reasons why it can win the Oscar, expressing the purest ideal in the most appropriate way.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 Behind the classic is the perfect fit between the legendary partners, which is an indispensable factor in the success of this film</h1>
1. The excellence in the details of the painting is the guarantee of the success of the work, and the worst basketball players draw the best basketball short films
"Dear Basketball" director Gran Keane is a well-known American animator, writer and illustrator. He has participated in the character production and creation of several Classic Walt Disney animated feature films such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan and Trolls. He won the 1992 Anne Award for Best Animated Character and the 2007 Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Contribution.
Gran Keane himself does not really understand basketball, to turn Kobe's every move into animation, he encountered a lot of challenges, he called "Dear Basketball" is all his work "the most difficult animated short film", every frame of the animation is black and white sketch, in addition to only a little purple and gold, purple gold represents the Lakers.
There is a 5-second shot in this animation, which requires 180 hand-drawn sketches. Since he didn't know basketball, Keane carefully studied Kobe's movements from the beginning, every frame of movements, and observed while drawing. Through this frame-by-frame observation, Keane discovered how incredible Bryant's movements were, and he could even forcibly shift direction in mid-air.
In terms of the requirements for the details in the movie, Bryant is more stringent, he requires that the posters in the animation are exactly the same as the posters he hung at home when he was a child, and each shot cannot be fictionalized. To show his father's socks when he was a child, when he rolled the socks into a basketball, Kobe Bryant really used the prepared socks to show the real scene at that time, and only began to paint after shooting the video to ensure the real restoration.
It is this strict requirement for painting details that ensures that although the film is in the form of animation, it makes people have a real sense of involvement, don't look at this film only a short 5 minutes, but it took 8 months to create. Keane jokingly said to Kobe, "You got the worst basketball player to draw you." However, it was this "worst basketball player" who drew the best basketball short film and touched countless audiences.
2, even a short film needs exquisite music collocation to be complete and excellent
Although "Dear Basketball" is short in time, its soundtrack is unforgettable, comfortable soundtrack, not noisy, perfectly fit the picture and Kobe's voice.
The film's musician producer is John Williams, a well-known Hollywood film score master, who has scored many classic films such as "Schindler's List", "Saving Private Ryan", "Star Wars Series", "Jurassic Park", "Jaws", "Superman", "Harry Potter", etc., and has received 49 Oscar nominations (including 5 Nominations for Best Song and 44 nominations for Best Soundtrack), 5 awards, 18 Grammy nominations, 4 Golden Globe Awards, and 7 British Academy Awards.
John Williams, like Keane, has never seen a professional basketball game and doesn't know much about basketball as a well-known musician. But after he heard Kobe's "Dear Basketball" monologue, he was touched by Kobe and immediately interrupted the work of writing the soundtrack for "Star Wars" and quickly threw himself into the work of the "Dear Basketball" soundtrack. It took him just two weeks to complete the soundtrack for Dear Basketball, the first time he scored a traditional animated film. But it is precisely because he joined the production that this animation has a perfect soundtrack, injecting the soul of music into "Dear Basketball", without him, there would be no Oscar for this movie.
It can be said that it is precisely because Gran Keane does not understand basketball that he can more carefully and meticulously study Kobe Bryant's every action on the basketball court to the extreme, drawing an unparalleled effect. Coupled with John Williams' classic soundtrack and Kobe's strict and meticulous requirements, the perfect cooperation of the three has created this classic masterpiece.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >04 Only by understanding the meaning behind the movie can you really understand the movie, not forget the original intention, and go all the way</h1>
1, this is a movie that will grow up with you, and you will see different feelings for yourself at different ages
From the age of 6 to adulthood, the short film condenses Kobe's entire basketball career. And this kind of growth will make people of different ages see different feelings.
16-year-old youth is young, feel the charm of basketball, Kobe's passion, let you also rush to the love and pursuit of basketball, fantasize that you can also become another Kobe, with skillful basketball skills, sweat on the field, harvest glory.
30-year-old workplace struggle, will always encounter a variety of difficulties, at this time watching this film to feel is Kobe Bryant not afraid of difficulties, the strength to move forward, he is our model to overcome difficulties, give us the courage to face all kinds of pressures in life.
SeeIng Kobe Bryant again at the age of 40, I hope to be someone who has a positive influence on the world like him.
When I came to see Kobe Bryant at the age of 60, I felt the passion and youth of my youth, and I missed everything that was once there, and the kobe bryant in my heart forever.
Therefore, this short film of more than 5 minutes is a film that will grow with the change of time, and different people will get their own different understandings from it, which is the charm of a good movie.
2, do not forget the original intention, all the way forward, Kobe Bryant has is "dear basketball", what we have can be our "dear everything"
The reason why the "Dear Basketball" short film can touch people's hearts is not because it tells the glorious career of Kobe Bryant, a legendary star, or to promote his great achievements to fans, but in such a way to remind every audience of what their dreams and original intentions were, and what did we pay for our dreams?
"Dear Basketball" shows Kobe's love for basketball, Kobe Bryant has had a basketball dream with him since he was 6 years old, and he is willing to work hard for it. What about us? Looking back at our 6 years old, do you have a dear dream with us? Dear writing, dear painting, dear engineer, etc. Just as director Keane arranged a picture of a big and a small Kobe bryant appearing at the same time in the film, it is precisely to express this point. For Keane, his dream since he was a child is to become an animator, and he is also working hard for his dear animation, why is the "Kobe" in this short film not himself?
Because this represents not just a small short film about basketball, but in this way to remind the audience, in fact, we are like Kobe Bryant, there is also a 6-year-old full of ideals of their own, and with the hardships of life, many people lost their original dreams and lost on the road of life. What we have to do now is to find our once 6-year-old self, the dream of 6 years old, let it accompany us, and work hard with it, even if we can't become Kobe, but we can enjoy the happiness of pursuing our dreams like Kobe Bryant without reservation.
If you want to paint, you may not be a great painter, but we can now pick up a pen, regain our childhood dreams, and immerse ourselves in the joy of pursuing painting. Want to write, but also to regain the pen of hope of childhood, began to write their own world, even if it is impossible to become a literary world craftsman, but we enjoy this happiness of pursuing dreams when we act, is this not the real purpose of this film?
summary:
For this short film, many people think that there is nothing but emotion, although the emotion is real, but there is no highlight. But I read Kobe Bryant's inner world from that smooth and rough line, his love for basketball is just the simplest insistence and chase, just like these lines, simple but composed of a beautiful picture, making up today's Kobe. Just never thought that this short film became Kobe's masterpiece, Kobe did not leave, just changed a place to play, may you continue to bloom your glory on the basketball court in paradise.