From "The Great Protector" and "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes to the World" to "Jiang Ziya" and then to "Chang'an Thirty Thousand Miles", domestic animated films have maintained a strong development momentum. At the beginning of the new year, many animated films have already received new news: "Heavy Rain" is currently in theaters, "Bear Infested: Reverse Time and Space" will be released during the Spring Festival, "White Snake: The Floating Life" is scheduled to be released on the Chinese Valentine's Day, "Down to Earth" and "Xiao Qian" ”, “Lion 2” and the sequel to “Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes to the World”, “Nezha: The Devil Boy Havoc in the Sea” and other films are also expected to meet the audience this year...
In 2017, the animated film "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World" was directed by Bu Sifan. The release of "The Great Protector" opened a new chapter in domestic adult animated films. Because the film involves some violent scenes, at the end of the poster and trailer, there is a "pg-13" rating mark, which is a special guidance level: it is recommended for people over 13 years old to watch.
After more than six years, Bu Sifan is back with his new work "Heavy Rain". The box office has just exceeded 10 million in the five days since its release. From the dark violence of "The Great Protector" to the father-son relationship of "Heavy Rain", what is the underlying reason for this change? ? Recently, Bu Sifan accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Red Star News.
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Speaking of Bu Si Fan, many movie fans are familiar with it. In 2004, he directed his first animated short film "Blackbird", which received a Douban score of 8.4. The film is short and concise, incorporating the ink complex and chivalrous spirit, and is full of strong Chinese style. In 2008, Bu Sifan resigned from the telecommunications bureau where he had worked for 13 years and began to do animation full-time; in 2014, he began to create "The Great Protector". The film was released in July 2017, with a box office of 91.66 million yuan, and was ranked first on Douban Rating of 7.8 points.
The movie "Heavy Rain" is the second animated feature film directed by Bu Sifan after "The Great Protector". Speaking of the original intention of the film, Bu Sifan revealed that when he was a child, he and his cousin often went to the mountains to play in the water. A heavy rain will wash away the whole village and make it look brand new. The heavy rain seems to wash away everything. Therefore, he incorporated his childhood emotions towards the heavy rain into the film. In Bu Sifan's view, "The Great Protector" is a description of human nature, and "Heavy Rain" is his own understanding of the world.
The film tells the story of father and son Oguzi and Mantou, who learned that there was a suspected treasure in a drum boat that had sunk for 5 years, and went to the sunken place to hunt for treasure together. During the treasure hunt, Da GuZi was captured. In order to rescue Da GuZi, Mantou boarded this mysterious ship. On the boat, Mantou met all kinds of "actors" and became friends with them. But in an accident, Mantou was told that there were only dead souls on the opera drum boat...
Da Guzi was actually Mantou's adoptive father, and his biological father had died during the war. Speaking of the "father and son" theme of the film, Bu Sifan said that the very common theme of "father looking for son" or "son looking for father" is a way that everyone can understand directly. The film is not just about Mantou looking for his father. In fact, the father and son are going in both directions. "Da Guzi is actually like a child. He needs to be comforted and they need to redeem each other."
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Compared with "The Great Protector", "Heavy Rain" There are many scenes that seem familiar to the audience. Bu Sifan mentioned that the protagonist Mantou in "Heavy Rain" had reference to the image of the Great Protector at the beginning of his design; in addition, the ultimate torture of the Great Protector "Where did I come from" and the upcoming question of "Where am I going" that Mantou will face? The troubles are emotionally similar.
Regarding the question of "Why not "The Great Protector 2" but "Heavy Rain", Bu Sifan said: "I don't think the time has come yet." However, he also said that some of the things he wanted to express in "The Great Protector 2" have been incorporated into the movie "Heavy Rain". The movie "Heavy Rain" is Bu Sifan's insight and thinking about the world. As Bu Sifan said, "heavy rain" symbolizes not only a disaster, but also an opportunity. Different people reshuffle their cards and hit the road under the heavy rain.
The biggest difference between "Heavy Rain" and "The Great Protector" is the reduction of violent scenes. The few violent scenes in the film are also shot through with long shots.In Bu Sifan's view, "The Great Protector" looks at the world from a cold perspective, while "Heavy Rain" focuses on the emotions between father and son. "It was also an attempt for me, because when I was working on "The Great Protector", there were Some people think that maybe my shots are too emotionless, and I also want to make some growth."
From the audience's point of view, the previous "The Great Protector" was an adult movie, but this time "Heavy Rain" can also be used by children. Watched. "I even wonder if "The Great Protector" is a cartoon," Bu Sifan said. When he was making "The Great Protector", he was more to please himself, "This time I want to make a cartoon that has a relatively animated feel. , so there are more presentations in the traditional sense, and I feel that children can also watch "Heavy Rain"."
As for the feelings the movie conveys to the audience, Bu Sifan believes that everyone has their own perspective, and the creators try their best to explain The world view in the film, but there is no attempt to preach. In his works, most of them focus on how individuals find themselves, which is a relatively core thing.
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The movie "Heavy Rain" continues Busifan's consistent two-dimensional hand-painted production, which is the artistic style that Busifan's team is good at. Previously, the extraordinary ink-style short film "White Bird Valley" won an award at the Annecy Animation Film Festival in France, known as the "Oscar of the Animation Industry". Its splash-ink landscape art style amazed the judges and the audience at the scene. It is understood that in the animation industry, there are fewer and fewer 2D painters. Bu Sifan said frankly, "Despite the difficult environment, I will still persevere" because "the happiest time is when the audience says 'I like 2D'".
"Heavy Rain" has a lot of inheritance and innovative exploration of traditional culture. For example, the character design incorporates Chinese drama facial makeup elements; in the scene design, Nuo opera masks, oil-paper umbrellas, old-fashioned signboards, water patterns and cloud patterns are added. Chinese elements.
After watching the movie, many viewers discovered that the film also paid tribute to classic animations such as "Havoc in Heaven" and "Nine-Colored Deer". According to Bu Sifan, unlike the early ink animations of Shanghai Art Film Studio, "Heavy Rain" uses computer graphics. The painter used ink-like brushes to draw the scenes, and also used the feeling of ink painting to innovate the description of water in animated films.
It is worth mentioning that Chen Hao, the dubbing director of "Heavy Rain" (the voice of "Da Guzi" in the film) is also the dubbing director of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Comes into the World".
From "Bear Infested: Accompany Me "Bear Core"" and "Deep Sea" to "Chang'an 30,000 Miles", the animated film market has gained momentum in the past year. This year, animated films are still highly anticipated, but how to balance the form and content of animated films has always been a problem facing creators. This is also a question that director Bu Sifan wants to find an answer to. Now, he is also groping forward on this road, "I think as a controller, such as a director, he may need to go through a long learning and digestion process, and he needs to have a strong balancing ability. On the other hand, he also needs to get more participation With the help of members, I feel that only a strong group and a strong creative core can work together to create a truly balanced work."
Director Bu Sifan said bluntly that he is looking forward to the audience's feedback on "Heavy Rain", which will make He got to think and learn, "Of course there will be some uneasiness, because after all, so many years and so many people have worked hard on this work. I also hope that it will have relatively good results, but I can't think too much, so maybe It’s too much trouble for yourself.”
Red Star News reporter Zhang Shihao, intern Wu Sixuan, editor Wang Liqiang
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