Chapter 283 Founding a School

There are two large bright windows in the exhibition hall of Meiying Factory.

Compared to the bustle in the house, the window view with snowflakes falling seemed even colder.

For business units in this era, winning a gold or silver medal, or winning a provincial and ministerial award is often a political task that cannot be shied away from.

For example, Jiangshan's public service advertisement "Famous Paintings" won an award at the Dongjing Advertising Festival.

At the beginning of the production of the advertisement, the superior also issued a written notice of "fighting for the award".

Under normal circumstances, when faced with the word "strive for" in the notification letter, subordinate units will all implement it according to "must".

"It has been several years since our unit's film won an award on the international stage,"

Tewei is really happy today: "I originally thought that "Nezha Naohai" would make some noise, but I didn't expect that the good news of "Mudi" was waiting for me."

Jiang Shan just wanted to be a qualified listener for a while.

But the news scenes that kept popping up in his mind kept reminding him: the animated films released by American Film Studio in 1979 will all achieve impressive results this year and next.

Dai Tielang said at this time: "Director, the first work of our unit to win an international award should be the puppet show "Magic Brush", right?"

"Yes, that's it,"

Te Wei still knows a lot about the studio’s first internationally recognized film:

"The film "The Magic Brush" was aimed at winning awards. At that time, the factory prepared for two years to film this colorful puppet show."

"Two years?" Xu Ju was shocked.

He really didn't expect that something that was so trivial in his eyes would actually take so much time.

"It won't take our bureau so long to build a factory!"

"That's right," Tewei also admitted. "Not to mention your department, there are not many in the world with the construction speed of Minhang Street!"

Xu Muchun waved his hand: "Not to mention Road 1, with a construction army of 100,000 people, it would be strange if there is no miracle!"

In 1959, it was still an era of hybrid gasoline and electric lighting.

One hundred thousand workers in Pujiang not only built an asphalt road on a piece of farmland in just 78 days, but also erected 13 buildings along the road.

After that, it took less than three months to complete the 18 buildings in the second phase of No. 1 Road.

Since then, the reputation of "Minhang No. 1 Road" has become completely famous.

Like the nine buildings in Xuhui New Village, these two landmarks will inevitably appear in the lens of any documentary filmed by Pujiang.

After hearing what Xu Muchun said about a hundred thousand troops, Te Wei also smiled.

"You have to be clear about one thing. When we were preparing for "Magic Brush", our unit had not yet built a factory!

It's just an art team in a studio, and the whole team does not exceed 20 people.

The art team, who had never been exposed to puppet theater, had to start everything from scratch. "

The shooting cycle of Pujiang Meiying Studio's art films has always been long.

The reason is, first, because of the meticulous craftsmanship and patient polishing of the production team.

Another point is that many film production techniques are explored while shooting.

In other words, the works produced in the years before and after the establishment of the factory were a process of learning and growth.

"Do you know how many awards "Magic Brush" won that year?" Tewei stretched out a hand to Director Xu:

"Starting from the first prize at the Venice Film Festival in Italy, "Magic Pen" has won awards in five countries."

"Really? That's pretty awesome."

"In order to ensure that this puppet show can produce results, our crew decided to put more effort into traditional arts such as ancient architecture, ancient furniture, gardens, Feng Shui, and farming..."

"Wait a minute," Director Xu said, confused: "When making a cartoon, do you still need to pay attention to Feng Shui?"

"It's not that cartoons are about Feng Shui," Te Wei explained:

"It's that the scenery in the film must pay attention to Feng Shui. It's not possible if you don't pay attention to this thing. Do you think it's so easy to win foreign awards?

The puppet show "The Magic Brush" itself is a stop-motion art film.

Our positioning of it at that time was to make every set of freeze-frame images a work of art.

Otherwise, where does beauty come from? "

"But..." After hearing this, Jiang Shan also wanted to ask: "Where should a puppet show reflect Feng Shui?"

"Yes," Chen Peisi was surprised: "Isn't this just a superstitious activity?"

"Little comrade," Qian Jiajun helped answer the question:

"Feng Shui has been said since ancient times. Feng Shui covers a series of knowledge such as geography, astrology, meteorology, etc. It is both a kind of knowledge and an artistic conception."

"For these artistic conceptions, we worked hard. There is a back chair with a longevity pattern, which the crew couldn't carve properly.

In the end, we hired a professional carving master to meet the requirements.

Although it is not as big as a fist, in our eyes, it can definitely be called a work of art. "

The most amazing thing about "Magic Brush" is its setting.

It is obviously a small puppet show, but its skill in transformation is no less than that of later large-scale productions.

Whether it is the sophistication of the Chinese-style scenery or the verisimilitude of the props, it can be called a masterpiece.

The zigzag pattern on the moon cave door in the garden, the tilted head table and footrest, the longevity pattern patch on the official uniform, a sword hanging high on the west side of the hall, the red lacquer carved sparrow...

Let’s not talk about the sayings, just these hall-level props are enough to make people love them.

“Are these props still in existence?” Jiang Shan asked Wang Wang: “If they are still there, I would like to see them.”

“They are in the showroom,” Wang Wang said: “After the meeting, I will take you to see them.”

“Then please, I have never seen these small film and television props!”

“The shooting props of our factory are well preserved like the drawings. After “The Magic Pen” won the award, it is more meaningful to keep them.”

At this point, Director Wang suddenly laughed: “In fact, there was another film that won an international award that year, but our director was embarrassed to mention it.”

“Why should I be embarrassed to mention it?”

Seeing Jiang Shan and Chen Peisi pursing their lips to hold back their laughter, Te Wei immediately responded: “Not only do I have to mention it, but I must also emphasize it.”

“Don’t be too It's a bit of a stretch, everyone has their own troubles," Director Xu seemed to be trying to smooth things over, but the next second: "But I'm confused, it's already won the award, why can't I mention it?"

"Don't listen to their nonsense," Te Wei's cup of water began to shake:

"But... it's a bit embarrassing. In the year when "The Magic Pen" was filmed, our unit also filmed an animation called "Why Crows Are Black".

Speaking of which, this film is the first color animation in our country!

But when it was sent out for competition, it was treated as a Soviet animation by the organizer.

Afterwards, the Ministry of Culture was so angry that they slammed the table and ordered us to make a film in our own style. ”

If it was mentioned like this, Jiangshan had some impression.

I remember that the teacher talked about this matter specifically in school.

Not to mention the film "Why Crows Are Black", even the several black-and-white animations shot before were all Disney-like.

Therefore, this cartoon, which was mistaken for a Soviet work, was an embarrassing period for the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and also a historical node that opened up the glory of our domestic animation films.

"Since then, our studio has been determined to make our own animation!"

A celebration party for "Shepherd's Flute" reminded the old director of many past events.

"What is the national characteristic of our country? Of course, it is Peking Opera."

"I still remember "The Proud General" clearly," Director Xu's eyes lit up: "So this is how this film was produced!"

"Speaking of which, I took the lead in shooting this animation film,"

When talking about his proud work, Te Wei started to name names again:

"Yan Dingxian and Lin Wenxiao were only 19 years old at the time, and Duan Xiaoxuan was only 20 years old. They were all rookies who had just graduated from school and joined the group..."

In 1956, the generals of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in later generations were just interns who had just been employed at the time.

In Jiangshan's view, this color animation filmed right after "The Magic Pen" can be called the pioneer of our country's national animation.

After the script came out, Yan Dingxian often took several interns to the theater to watch Mei Lanfang's Peking Opera.

At the beginning, a group of young students were not very willing.

But after watching it several times, they all felt deeply inspired.

Later, they were even fascinated!

Unfortunately, the unit could not provide too much support for a ticket that cost several yuan.

However, several master-level temporary workers were also found for the crew.

Shang Changrong's teacher Chen Furui served as the action director in the crew.

Chen Gexin, the author of "Congratulations", was not only responsible for composing the music for "The Proud General", but also personally conducted the Shanghai Film Orchestra to play the soundtrack.

The animated film "The Proud General" was considered a big production at the time.

The film describes a general who began to neglect martial arts and indulge in pleasure after returning victorious.

In the end, when the enemy surrounded the city on all sides, he began to sharpen his gun before the battle.

Chen Gesin arranged a song "Ten Sides of Ambush" at the end of the film. Even though no soldiers were seen, the atmosphere of "dark clouds pressing down on the city and destroying it" was still perfectly interpreted.

In order to let the world take a good look at what Chinese style is, Te Wei not only led the crew to Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and other places to collect folk songs.

He also cleverly integrated ancient architecture with the major elements of the national quintessence Peking Opera into this drama.

Not a single ticket or theater ticket was wasted at all.

"Your "Proud General" is not just a national style,"

Jiang Shan looked at the old director sincerely. If expressed in the words summarized by later generations: "It is simply the creation of a school!"

Te Wei's heart was raised: "Created a school?"

"Yes," Jiang Shan nodded affirmatively: "The pioneering work of the Chinese animation school, if your work is not considered, let alone other films."

When Jiang Shan finished the last word, all the comrades at the party looked at their old director.