"Contemporary Animation" | Rethinking the Origin of "Chinese Animation School"

Author : Sun Lijun

Editor-in-charge: Tan Qiuwen

Copyright: Contemporary Film Magazine

Source: Contemporary Animation, Issue 3, 2024

Sun Lijun

Professor at Beijing Film Academy

Abstract:

This article traces the origin of the concept of “Chinese Animation School” and reiterates the practical significance of the “Chinese Animation School”. It combines the new quality productivity of current digital animation, focuses on animation art, explores the creation of new Chinese animation classics, and launches a contemporary discussion on the inheritance and innovation of the “Chinese Animation School”.

Keywords:

“Chinese animation school”, classic animation, animation art

In the 1980s, Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio initiated a discussion on “What is the surname of animation?” At that time, some people questioned who proposed the “Chinese animation school” and the “Chinese school”? Later, it was discovered that it was first mentioned by foreigners internationally. In recent years, our discipline construction has developed very rapidly. In this process, a group of theoretical researchers have devoted themselves to the animation industry, among whom “animation” is often mentioned. What is “animation”? Is it “animation” or “comics”? Such concepts are fine as a popular statement, but they need to be rigorous as academics. In the process of teaching, I told students that when doing theoretical research, they must recognize whether it is the “Chinese school” or the “Chinese animation school.” At that time, many predecessors of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio did not agree with this statement, believing that everyone was creating works of “letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend”, and there was no need for a certain “school”. Later, the academic community further clarified the “Chinese animation school”. As a scholar engaged in research, if we only mention the concept of “Chinese School” it is a bit colloquial, and “Chinese Animation” cannot represent the “Chinese School”, so we recognize the “Chinese Animation School”, at least I personally recognize the “Chinese Animation School”.

If the “Chinese School of Animation” originates from exchanges and collisions at home and abroad, then should we sort out what the “Chinese School of Animation” is? What are its artistic characteristics, representative works, and the causes of its formation? In this process, I am also thinking about how to view the “Chinese School of Animation”. Regarding the understanding of the “Chinese School of Animation”, whether it is the views of foreigners or Chinese people themselves, we should fully realize its significance. With the changes and development of the times, the “Chinese School of Animation” still has a distinct practical significance at present. Because the “Chinese School of Animation” was not proposed by a certain theorist or artist, but was naturally generated in the artistic competition between socialism and Western capitalism at that time, and it has the inevitability of contingency in the context of historical development. Mr. Te Wei led everyone to carry out collective creation at the time and proposed “not repeating oneself, not imitating others”, which is “innovation”. This is a very important spirit of the “Chinese School of Animation”, which has played an important role in the past and present.

From the perspective of “innovation”, the development of Chinese animation in the past 30 years is not really innovative. So what kind of innovation is there in our artistic style? When the evaluation system is measured by high box office, high ratings, and high production models, where is the essence of art? Compared with other art categories, animation also has a very large gap in theoretical research. In the complex and cumbersome words and sentences, our current research status is more to follow other theoretical models and routines, and there is no real in-depth research on the distinctive Chinese animation aesthetic characteristics that we have formed. The most essential things in animation art are often overlooked. The Chinese “hypothesis” proposed in the “Chinese Animation School” has not been deeply elaborated.

This is what I want to say: The practical significance of the “Chinese animation school” is very great. If we cannot understand the achievements of the “Chinese animation school” well, then there is no innovation in the current inheritance, and it is still imitation, reference, and mix and match. If we still follow the so-called evaluation, we will still face this embarrassing situation. In 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping mentioned in his “Speech at the Forum on Literature and Art Work”: “In terms of literary and artistic creation, there is also a phenomenon of quantity but lack of quality, and there is a ‘plateau’ but lack of ‘peak’.” The “peak” at the creative level that I understand is exactly China’s aesthetics and style. The so-called “new classics” of the current Chinese animation are just a title, corresponding to the “old classics”, and the two are actually one and the same. During the agricultural civilization period, many art forms appeared in my country. These art forms were also very “modern” at the time. The so-called “new classics” are the courage to face the past and the future from a critical perspective.

I have also gained some insights from the process of research and practice. First, we must not lose our way in the ontology of animation. When we talk about animation again in the context of artificial intelligence, we must revisit the classics of the past. The animated film “Snow White”, which was once made with celluloid film, is still a “classic animation” worldwide. The re-screening of the animated film made by Hayao Miyazaki 20 years ago still has a high box office. When “Howl’s Moving Castle” was halfway through production, I visited his company and learned that Mr. Hayao Miyazaki disliked computers. He believed that movies were “material”, so they were art. Computer-generated images are virtual, and he does not think that things generated by computers are “material”. During the filming of “Howl’s Moving Castle”, when I saw the light shining on his hand-painted background and the dust floating in the light beam, I understood what he meant by “material”. He believed that all these “materials” have “souls”. When I saw the dust in the air participating in the creation of the image at the shooting site, I truly understood his persistence.

Mr. Hayao Miyazaki values ​​the “material” properties of animation and has created many excellent works. So how should we view the current situation where artificial intelligence tools are involved in the field of film and television? In this case, we need to know what “classics” are. Older teachers may have similar experiences to me. One day in the middle of the night, a student sent me the news that Mr. Kon Satoshi had passed away and asked me if I cried because of it? However, at that time, two animation artists from the “Chinese Animation School” died one after another… The death of the predecessors who were in the same line with their own culture was not mentioned by young students, so I felt heavy. There are many examples like this. When we don’t know what our own culture is, taking the classic works of other cultures as “scriptures”, I think this will not go far. In this era, how can our artists learn from the experience of our predecessors, create new classics, and let future generations have real cultural confidence? When our animation output and animated film box office are getting higher and higher, I would like to say that this phenomenon is certainly good, but not the only one. In this case, everyone needs to consider “classics”. Some works are called “classics” because they can be passed down through the ages. New “classics” need to be created by new people, and whether they become “classics” is judged by future generations.

Second, from the perspective of animation art, there is an Oscar-winning work, “The Man Who Planted Trees” by Barker. In 1984, Mr. Ada showed us this film. As art students at the time, when we saw the pictures that looked like oil paintings and sketches moving on the big screen, I was inexplicably moved and decided to fight for animation in this life. About 20 years later, I talked with Mr. Barker. He said that the animations he made were different from those made by Disney. Disney’s animations make people laugh, while his animations make people think. The animated shorts he created made Mr. Barker one of the great artists in the world of animation. He said that he hoped that young people who saw this short film would respect nature and pay attention to environmental protection. He said that he didn’t expect that his animation, which was not meant to make people laugh, would be so popular with a young man from the other side of the ocean. At that time, animation was art. We entered this industry first because animation is an art, and secondly, some people turned art works into commodities. This is not inconsistent with artificial intelligence, traditional culture, classics and non-classics.

Some of the cinema films in the current market have achieved remarkable commercial success, which is certainly a good thing. However, when these films entered the world market, the evaluation of relevant practitioners in the world was not satisfactory. The “Chinese animation school” was able to shine on the international stage in the past. Students often ask me if it is okay to make “short films”? I want to say that “short films are not short”, and the connotations they carry, especially the academic value and artistic value, are very high. The length of animation is related to the investment volume. Short films are not easily affected and coerced by other factors, and at the same time, the degree of completion is high. As an art, animation was originally mainly presented in the form of short films. In the past, Chinese animation was born as an extra film ten minutes before the official screening of feature films. This was the national condition at the time. Animation artists never considered putting their works on the market, and were at ease with animation as artistic creation. Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio launched the first commercial animated film “The Lotus Lantern” in the 1990s. Before that, there were only six cinema feature films, but hundreds of short films were born. “Three Monks”, “Tadpoles Looking for Their Mother”, “Shepherd’s Flute”, “Mountain and Water Love”, “Snipe and Clam Fight”, etc., almost all animated works that can be marked by the “Chinese Animation School” are short films. Another example is “Autumn Fruit”, which is only three and a half minutes long, breaking the record of the shortest film nomination for the Chinese Film Golden Rooster Award, and was also shortlisted for the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020 on behalf of the “Chinese Animation School”. At the screening, “Autumn Fruit” received a lot of applause and laughter. In the post-screening interview, children and teenagers generally found Chinese humor particularly interesting, while adults said that they saw a different “beauty” of Chinese art. Perhaps they cannot fully understand that “emptiness” is “existence” and “white” is “black” in Chinese paintings, but through the form of animation, the audience can have endless reverie in the narrative space. This is rarely seen in Western aesthetics. Both adults and children can capture the fun in it. This is the significance of Chinese animation in the presentation of aesthetic connotations, which is appreciated by both the elite and the masses and suitable for all ages. my country’s animation education is advancing in exploration, and there is still a long way to go. The competition among animated short films on the international stage is also a great opportunity for our universities to cultivate talents.

Third, from the perspective of the audience of animation, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio once discussed who the animation served, and later this topic was gradually clarified. Today, we need to consider the national and social responsibilities in animation, and the value orientation of “animation serves children” cannot be changed. Our underage children want to see animation, so how should they be enlightened? What do we rely on to express our Chinese aesthetics? The Shanghai Animation Film Studio follows the theme that animation films should first serve children, and Disney has always emphasized the production of family-friendly works with the themes of truth, goodness, and beauty. Similarly, we cannot fight and kill for the so-called “visual feast” for a mere box office or broadcast volume, regardless of its impact on minors. I once took the animation I made to Ganzi area and screened the animation for more than 100 children in the open air at the Gegenba Central Primary School in Litang County, which is 4,032 meters above sea level. After watching it, the teachers and students there said that they saw a different Chinese movie and saw the characteristics and feelings that Chinese animation should have. This process was filmed in the form of a documentary and screened in domestic and foreign universities. Many teachers and students present were moved to tears and finally stood up and applauded. This is why I have been insisting on making animated short films like an ascetic for a long time. I want to learn from my predecessors in the form of short films and tell younger teachers and students that art needs to be experienced with life. If art is experienced as a commodity, it will be difficult to feel the charm of art.

The fourth point is the creative level, that is, we must keep doing it. Artistic creation means constantly “starting again”. I still remember when I was studying at the Beijing Film Academy, “Class 7 and 8” left an unwritten rule - if you have not shot 35mm film, you are not worthy of being a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy. I graduated at the age of 24 and waited until I was 38 before I had such an opportunity. In the true sense, I made a 35mm film directed by myself, “Little Soldier Zhang Ga”. You can recall, was there a film industry in China in 2000? No. In the early stage of this film, no one actually invested a penny in me. At that time, I took such a plan to consult, and the answer I got was that it was not possible to make such a children’s film now. After listening, my attitude was still to do it. Later, I raised funds by myself to sign the copyright and started the “dream journey” of Little Soldier Zhang Ga. It was originally planned to be completed in three years, but it took six years. At that time, the average age of the team members was 26 years old. Most of them had not systematically studied animation. Some of them were trained in some companies by relying on masters to bring apprentices. From south to north, there are seven animation companies, and the most difficult minute was given to the animation company in North Korea. When the film was later taken to the theater for screening, the theater manager told me that if 500,000 yuan was invested in publicity and promotion, there would be 1.5 million yuan in box office, but as a producer, only one-third of the box office could be obtained, which means that the cost of the film’s release was only 500,000 yuan, and the other initial investment could not be recovered. This was the early days of the Chinese film market. Under such difficult circumstances, this film was still the first digitalization in China, using three-dimensional rendering of two dimensions, and then part of it was completed in 2005 using process animation. “Little Soldier Zhang Ga” took six years to sharpen a sword, and finally polished it. Mr. Buck spent his entire life making animated short films in a studio of only eight or nine square meters, and became a national treasure-level animator in Canada. In our current market, in an environment of “high” production and box office, how many people can really endure loneliness to do one thing and learn the “fine” craftsman attitude of Japan? In addition, as for how Chinese animation can “go global”, we still have to continue to do it, summarize the experience of failure, and then start again. The 2011 film “Legend of the Rabbit Hero” only had a box office of 18 million yuan in China due to scheduling and other reasons, but the copyright was sold to 100 countries at the Cannes International Film Festival. It was one of the earliest attempts by Chinese animation to be released to Hollywood. If you always hold on to hope but don’t do it, the idea will only be a castle in the air. There is no problem with animation expressing realism, but traditional live-action feature films are relatively better at it. On the contrary, animation is good at breaking through the content that other images cannot do. After the work is released, people can see your design, your color, your action, your performance, your theme, etc. Our works should have the authenticity that artists should have. They cannot seem to have personality, but in fact they are copying or imitating something that the West had 30 years ago. All kinds of themes such as reality, mythology, magic, science fiction, etc. are needed. If there is great love in the work, more emphasis is placed on commonality, less on the small self, and the meaning of the big self is truly realized, then we can gain the respect of the world.

The last point is about the impact of artificial intelligence. In my latest painting book “AI Painting”, I painted with AI. About 90% of the paintings were drawn by me, and 10% were drawn by AI after it recognized my paintings. So far, among the 10% of paintings completed by AI, I think some of them are better than my own paintings, but there are still quite a few that are not as good as mine. Why? AI big data has the characteristics of optimization, but its innovation ability and artistic personality have not yet reached a certain level. Its emergence has indeed had a devastating impact on those works that have no innovation ability and no unique artistic aesthetics. Therefore, we must learn the true things of art, and the goal is to create and innovate. First of all, AI is our helper and partner, but we ourselves must have determination. The emergence of artificial intelligence should be said to essentially promote the transformation of China’s animation and film and television industries. In the past, we called animation production frame by frame. In the early 1990s, after the emergence of 3D software, some people began to question it, so it became frame-by-frame generation, and later it became real-time rendering. In fact, as I just said, the definition of animation has changed. The second is the change in images. More than a decade ago, I said that “Avatar” changed the model of our movies. McLaren once said: When more than 50% of a film uses animation technology, it can be called an animation, no matter what the subject is. Less than 5% of the real-life scenes in “Avatar” do not use animation technology. This change has already happened 15 years ago. In 2023, my postdoctoral fellow and I wrote an article saying that “Avatar” is an animated film. Why not? The so-called boundary between animation and traditional movies is gradually disappearing. The application of AI technology, the emergence of Vincent images and Vincent videos, once again tell us that with the advent of the era of big movies, the only thing we have to consider is content and aesthetics. What exactly does your work want to convey? It needs to be thought about.

Figure 1. Drawing by the author

Figure 2. The painting drawn by AI after learning the author’s painting

Figure 3. The left side is drawn by AI, and the right side is drawn by the author

The predecessors who focused on animation art accidentally gave birth to the inevitable “Chinese animation school”. As a member of a cultural power, as an “artist” who inherits and innovates the “Chinese animation school”, we have reason and responsibility to pass on animation as an art. These excellent animation works with Chinese aesthetic characteristics will bring vitality to China’s animation industry in the true sense and convey the beauty of Chinese animation on the world stage.

(Edited with permission)

This article is compiled based on Professor Sun Lijun’s speech at the “Ink Dance and Painting Rhythm-Sun Lijun Academic Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Animation School Cultural Inheritance and Digital Animation New Quality Productivity Academic Forum” held at Nanjing University of the Arts on May 8, 2024.