80 said: I am very fortunate that my childhood was "Cat and Mouse". The post-90s said: I am very fortunate that my childhood was also "Cat and Mouse". After 10, I am very fortunate that my childhood is still "Cat and Mouse."
This 7-minute, 0-line, god-level animation has swept the world as soon as it was broadcast. It has won 7 Oscars for Best Animation Awards and created a legend in the history of animation. 60 thousand people scored 9.7 points on Douban. Super high score. Since
was introduced and aired in the 1970s, it has been in the altar for decades and is an indispensable part of the childhood of countless people.
As everyone knows, the Oscar is the highest hall of honor in all kinds of films, and Xiao Li has run for more than ten years to get the Oscar. Why is it that "Cat and Mouse" with 0 lines in just 7 minutes can be nominated 5 times and won 7 prizes "without effort"?
Because we all "lied" to it, when I was young, I just watched the excitement, but didn't see many hidden efforts behind the scenes. Just like the saying: You must work very hard to look effortless. Few people know that this god-level animation, which has been popular for more than 80 years, was abandoned and hidden in the snow four times in the early stage of its creation. The main creators were unemployed in the winter, the copyright was sold several times, and the adaptation failed. The ups and downs in the middle were ups and downs. The ridiculous plot no less than cat and mouse.
"Cat and Mouse" is produced by MGM, the screenwriter is William Hannah, and the director is Joseph Barbera. In 18 years, they co-created more than 200 Tom and Jerry animations, won 7 Oscars, and created the golden age of cats and mice.
William was born in 1910. When the Western Economic Depression began in 1930, William went to university during the financial crisis, studying construction, and dropped out of school due to lack of money. Then I entered an animation studio and started to work in animation production.
and the director Joseph used to be an accountant. After being unemployed due to the economic crisis, he entered the comics section of an organization, and later started the conception of the cat and mouse prototype story.
"Tom and Jerry" (Tom and Jerry) is a slang term often used by young Londoners in the 19th century, which means "a swinger who eats, drinks and has fun." The earliest originated in Pierce Egan's "Jerry Hawthorne and His Elegant Friend Collins Tom".
Because there is no dialogue, the advancement and development of the plot relies to a large extent on background music and body movements. You have to draw everything with a smile, every move, and the workload behind this is far beyond the reach of people.
In order to draw the most vivid and vivid expressions, the animator Irv Spence made various exaggerated expressions in the mirror while drawing them.
In order to imitate the action of the character, the director William Hanna stood on a high chair in the script meeting and imitated the action again and again regardless of his identity and image. Every detail in the
animation can withstand scrutiny, as small as the layout and structure of Jerry and Teffi’s residence, the small table lamp, their respective names on the bed, the small carpet, the bed made of cans, the chair made of tea cups, and the curtains of
The beautiful lace, the shadow area cast by the sun shining on the window,
, all kinds of mouth-watering food in the refrigerator, are all meticulous, delicate and delicate.
In addition to expressions and actions, background music is particularly important. It not only enhances the atmosphere, but also promotes the development of the plot, emphasizing the inner dynamics of the protagonist. There are many world-class classic music hidden in this animation.
John Strauss "The Blue Danube", Chopin "The Great Waltz", Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", the Second National Anthem of the United States "Yankee Dudell", the U.S. Navy Military Anthem "Anchor March"...
According to statistics, there are more than 50 classical music in "Cat and Mouse", including Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Bizet, and John Strauss Jr. The works of many musicians including Si. Someone said: "The Cat and Mouse isMy teacher of classical music enlightenment. "
even changed the life trajectory of many people under the influence of "Cat and Mouse".
, the famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang, once expressed his fate with the piano, as well as the abundant body movements during performance, which are in many ways derived from In "Cat and Mouse."
Lang Lang said: "There is an episode in the cartoon "Cat and Mouse" called "Cat Concerto", which left an indelible impression on me and had a greater impact on me than "Music kingdom". Every time that episode was shown on TV, I watched it attentively. Lang Lang described this in his autobiography "A Thousand Miles Journey, My Story":
The episode "Cat Concerto" mentioned by Lang Lang won the 1947 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
Tom is about to play as a piano player. As a result, the "enemy" Jerry wanted to take the opportunity to spoof and make Tom embarrassed. Tom has to make sure that the performance is not messed up, but also to clean up the mess Jerry has made. The whole process was tense and witty. Many years later at
, netizens with music-related majors discovered a surprising secret when watching this episode again, "As a music practitioner, the piano keys and sheet music in "Cat and Mouse" The detail is really terrible..."
It turned out that Tom was playing Liszt’s famous song "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2". From the first note to the last note, all the notes in the process are the same as the original. The keys of the song correspond exactly, and most of the pitches are right. Every note is stepped on the keys, and the fingering is accurate. There is no random playing because the audience doesn’t understand the piano, unlike many movies and TV shows now. The flute is reversed, the guqin and the zither do not distinguish, lack a sense of awe, but they are exactly the same!
This is not the most terrible, don’t forget, in 1946, it was completely different from the current situation, the first generation at that time Computers were just born, let alone notebook desktops. 3D modeling didn’t exist at that time, and there was no PS tablet drawing technology. There were 24 frames of animation per second, which were drawn one by one. The animation production process is far more cumbersome than it is today.
But even when the technology is immature, the entire production team never makes excuses, never cut corners, and the characters speak and even the mouth shape of the singing can match. In "Universal Conductor", Tom’s commanding actions are consistent with the actual conductors. Both the facial expressions and backgrounds of the characters are depicted in detail. The production process of the
cat and mouse is all hand-drawn frame by frame Before drawing, we must plan the entire music completely, and let Tom focus on each frame to play. On average, an animation requires 15,000 intermediate pictures. After drawing
(cat and mouse manuscript), we need to add these Once continuous, use celluloid for coloring until it is confirmed that there are no problems in all the details. The animation detail table
is the outline of the motion, sound effects, and music in the animation. Through this chart, Let every frame of action and dialogue be synchronized with the music within one thousandth of a second.
Therefore, when playing the piano, it is very important that the fingers need to be reassigned, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of the work, and in such a difficult production environment, Can make Tom and Jerry The fights, the emotions of the characters, are perfectly integrated into the music, and there is no abrupt place, plus various detailed inspections and adjustments, how difficult it is to imagine this episode.
's early "Cat and Mouse" was first drawn on paper and then transferred to film. At that time, the price of film was very high, so at most one episode can be produced each year. In order to make this episode, 150 people The team, it took 18 months to complete.
And this is not an example, it turned out to be a "routine operation". From 1939 to the present, "Cat and Mouse" has produced more than 160 episodes, one episode of 7 minutes of animation, and the longest production cycle has reached 18 months. It takes 2 to 3 months to produce even the less difficult episodes. On average, it takes half a year for each episode to be completed.Extreme.
This animation has been created since 1939. It has been 80 years this year. In the past 100 years, Tom’s image has changed 14 versions:
In addition to these two protagonists, the supporting roles in the animation are also flexible. Now, vivid and vivid, Q’s cute little nephew Teffi wearing a diaper,
sexy and beautiful white cat,
fierce but guardian bulldog,
, a total of 116 animated character images appeared in the entire animation. Choose 2- in each episode. The three characters, matched with different personalities, combined with the cat-and-mouse nature, staged an interesting and warm comedy.
Someone said: "A story is a metaphor for life. You can find yourself in the story, vent your emotions, and even find a different possibility. After a belly laugh or cry, regain your confidence, pack your bags and step on again. On the road of life."
Do you think this is just a cartoon for children? Then you are wrong. Many principles of life have been explained long ago, but we didn't understand them. When I was young, I laughed, but when I grew up, I laughed and cried.
Children should never use flammable and explosive dangerous substances:
Don’t lose your self-esteem even if you are deeply in love. Exhausted by humanity, Tom, Jerry and Spike the big dog were tired of chasing and fighting all day long. In order to "truce", they drafted a "peace treaty".
also had peace with Le at the beginning, friendly and mutually helpful, but when they encountered a piece of fat meat, all three of them wanted to divide more, and their selfish ambitions were all exposed, and the ugliness must be revealed. The "peace treaty" was nothing but interest in the face of interest. A piece of waste paper.
Sure enough, as Churchill said: There are no eternal friends, no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.
In this cartoon, we saw Tom and Jerry falling in love and killing each other. They are natural enemies, but also friends. They are not peaceful all day long, but they are company and depend on each other. Maybe it's not that Tom can't catch Jerry, but Tom can't bear it. Grab Jerry, because Jerry can make your life more exciting and full of fun.
's exaggerated action creativity, unconstrained plot, high-level classical music, exquisite production methods, and impeccable detail processing make the animation after 80 years still look as good as it is now, and it will still be seen when you watch it again. The craftsman spirit and the humanistic care in it are moved. In that environment,
always pursues perfection, insists on faith, and upholds the spirit of craftsmanship. Such a rigorous ingenuity attitude is becoming more and more difficult to see as the animation production technology is becoming more and more perfect, and this is why it The reason why it has been so popular is that this is the power of classics.
No wonder netizens praised it: "I have been imitated and never surpassed", "I have been with me throughout my childhood, and I am not tired of watching it many times."
Over the past 80 years, "Cat and Mouse" has been constantly changing and innovating. Each episode of animation has brought us a lot of touch, and taught us to distinguish right from wrong and distinguish between good and evil. In fact, what we miss is not cartoons, but childhood that we can’t go back to. Thank you for your company and salute to the classics.
