The animated film "Falling into the Mortal World", which was released on July 12, was directed by Zhong Ding and adapted from the folk legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. It tells the story of Jin Feng, a descendant of the Weaver Girl, who came down to earth to conquer the stars and accidentally met the girl Xiaofan. The man and the god formed a "star-collecting" alliance and joined hands to embark on an exciting adventure on the human world.
Every summer season, there is a stage for domestic animations that have been "reborn" from myths and legends. "Falling into the Mortal World" has its own unique aesthetic creativity and growth path. The predecessor of the film was a graduation project of students from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts that was widely praised on the Internet four years ago. The 13 students of that year, led by teacher Zhong Ding, created a story based on the legends of the stars and the Milky Way, telling the story of a serious and responsible god who "releases stars" and a naughty sister.
Poster of "Falling into Dust"
The short film imaginatively links weaving with the stars and constellations in the sky, inheriting the mythological elements of traditional culture and boldly expanding and innovating on this basis. The fairy palace in the story is built on water and surrounded by ginkgo trees, giving a sense of the remote and profound "Lingxiao Guanghan". The fairy brother is meditating and practicing, casting a spell to turn water into silk, and the stars rise into the sky along the weaving to form embroidery. The sister mischievously lets the fire monkey out to play, but it causes an accidental crack in the sky, and the stars escape from Lingxiao and go to the human world...
Stills from the short film "Falling into the Mortal Realm"
In addition to the interesting story, the film's worldview of combining heaven and earth in textile embroidery, the aesthetic concept of integrating tradition and modernity, the interesting images of stars, and the sophisticated three-dimensional animation effects all make people sigh that "the young are formidable."
As soon as the short film was released, it amazed thousands of netizens and quickly became a short film with tens of millions of views on Bilibili. It also won the Silver Award of the 2020 Little Universe Rising Star Project, the Best Art Work, the Bronze Award of the 17th China Animation Golden Dragon Award for Best Academy Animation, and the Nomination Award for the Best Animated Short Film of the 13th Golden Dolphin Award of the Xiamen International Animation Festival. Hundreds of thousands of netizens urged for more in the comment area, some were curious about the whereabouts of the stars, and some were full of expectations for the fate of the brothers and sisters.
In fact, the model of joint creation of graduation projects by Guangdong Academy of Fine Arts for the combination of industry, academia and research has been going on for many years. "Falling into the Mortal World" is a case of fruition after years of deliberate accumulation. In the short film stage, the film had already been produced by a local old animation company in Guangdong. After it became popular, it attracted professional companies and platforms such as Bilibili and Alibaba Pictures to join in the joint development.
"Falling into Earth" Shanghai premiere
"Falling into the Mortal World", which is heading to the big screen, meets the production standards of domestic first-line animated films. The whole film has more than 1,600 special effects shots, and brings together more than 2,000 outstanding artists to participate. It has a first-class animation screenwriter, animation post-production and dubbing team. Kang Fu, a young writer who has published many best-selling novels, joined as a screenwriter, and A Kun, a famous music producer who has composed music for "The Wandering Earth" and "A Bite of China", became the original music composer of the film. Ajie, a big name in the dubbing industry, whose representative works include "Big Fish and Begonia" and "The King's Avatar", served as the dubbing director of the film.
The legend of the Weaver Girl descending to the mortal world has been re-arranged from the perspective of later generations to be grand and tortuous. The Weaver Girl in charge of the 28 constellations is no longer the "love-brained" woman who is tempted by her mortal heart in traditional cognition, but a powerful goddess who sacrificed herself to protect the peace of the world. The 28 constellations switch between cute pets and rampaging beasts, adding fun and visual impact to the film. "Emotions are the magic of mortals", as the core of the film, gives myths and legends an emotional connection with the current audience. "Falling into the Mortal World" has a strong oriental style in visual expression. The film's art style shows the essence of traditional Chinese culture. The poetic presentation of the sky, the design of architecture and clothing are all full of oriental aesthetic elements.
Stills from Falling to Earth
On the day the film was scheduled to be released, one of the student creators who participated in "Falling into the Mortal Realm" posted a note on his social media, excitedly saying "Friends, we succeeded in rubbing a nuclear bomb by hand", which has received nearly 10,000 likes so far.
Director Zhong Ding has been teaching animation at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts since 2008. As a teacher with a dream for animation, he has not only witnessed the transformation and advancement of "Falling into the Mortal World" from a college graduation short film to a commercial movie, but also witnessed the development and changes of China's animation industry.
Director Zhong Ding
From short films to feature films, the film production process faces huge challenges. The academic experimental innovation and the demands of industrialization and commercialization are bound to conflict, and it is necessary to strike a balance in creativity, time, cost, etc., which also leaves many regrets.
Before the film was released, director Zhong Ding accepted an interview with The Paper, talking about the journey from his graduation project to reality. He felt that although he had been teaching in school for a long time, entering the film industry was like going to college again. At the premiere of the film in Shanghai, he said, "This is my graduation project."
【dialogue】
"Weaving" a new version of a legendary story
The Paper : Myths and legends seem to be a favorite direction for animation adaptations. What innovations does "Falling into the Mortal Realm" have in this regard?
Zhong Ding : Indeed, there have been predecessors who have made very successful cases in this field, using legendary elements to adapt the works. I think this field is determined by a comprehensive balance between the need for the dissemination of traditional culture and the cost that the audience can accept and understand.
We decided to go down this track from the beginning because there are already more case samples proving that this is a viable business route. However, for us, we definitely want to do something different. I want to be creative and make some innovations.
Fortunately, we found clues about the children of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. They were recorded in reality, but they were all glossed over without much development. So we decided to tell the story of their children derived from the legend, and at the same time tell the emotional direction of family affection, and also incorporate some of my own insights into life at this stage.
Family love is the core of the film
The Paper : The setting of the twenty-eight constellations scattered around the human world in the movie is also very interesting. What were the considerations behind this creative idea?
Zhong Ding : The stars are actually a very complex element of cultural tradition, which has gone through thousands of years of development, so we have referred to a lot of books in this process, but we need to summarize and organize it into something that the audience can understand better. It really took a lot of effort to optimize it conceptually.
Nowadays, many young people are familiar with the 12 zodiac signs, which were once widely spread through the Japanese anime "Saint Seiya". We Chinese have our own zodiac culture, which I think is very important. Its cultural attributes are closer to us Chinese people and more local, and it is something that can form a zodiac cultural effect. So it is very meaningful to develop this thing and make the audience curious about it.
The design of the Star Palace in "Falling into the Mortal Realm"
The Paper : What is the specific process for designing the images of these constellations?
Zhong Ding : As an animation, we need to externalize its image first, because the twenty-eight constellations themselves have so-called animal attributes, such as the Taurus, the Kui Wood Wolf, the Zi Fire Monkey, etc., all have corresponding animal attributes, but these animals may be different from some of the animals we usually understand, so we need to do some research. For example, there is a Di Tu Raccoon in it, which is a bit like a panda, but if you don’t do research, you may not know what it is.
We will classify the images of these animals according to the four symbols to which they belong, namely the Azure Dragon in the East, the Vermillion Bird in the South, the White Tiger in the West, and the Black Tortoise in the North. According to the cultural logic, we will group them into groups of seven, corresponding to the zodiac signs of their own constellations, and then combine them with the images of the animals to create.
For example, the Taurus, the most common ox in the film, is a combination of an ox and a turtle. Because it belongs to the side of Xuanwu, its image is very interesting. It is not a simple ox, but has the characteristics of both an ox and a turtle.
Cute pet form of Taurus
At the same time, each constellation has a rampaging state and a cute pet state. From a commercial perspective, the cute pet state can easily arouse the audience's interest, and the rampaging state reflects its power as a mythical beast. We also spent a lot of time on this process. But there are too many twenty-eight constellations, so we extracted a few that are more typical and involved more in the plot, such as the Taurus Bull, the Tailed Fire Tiger, the Winged Fire Snake, and the Female Earth Bat. These are more typical.
Winged Fire Snake in rampage
The Paper : I personally think this part is very interesting, but I also feel a little regretful that it was not expanded upon, and I feel a little unsatisfied.
Zhong Ding : Because there are indeed too many 28 constellations. In fact, the 28 constellations are a clue in our story. What we want to express are things like emotions and family affection, so the constellations are like a handle, connecting the entire story as a clue, from collecting the constellations, to unfolding the story around the constellations, to the search for the truth around them, and finally the constellations become an important help in solving the crisis.
The Paper : The movie has an interesting setting, which is a world of "textiles". The design of all the sets and action scenes is highly related to this setting. How did you consider this?
Zhong Ding : This may be considered to reflect our "academic" side. For our entire film, starting from the short film, we have a complete world view. We decided on this world view very early, that is, the gods, including magic, and these elements in our film are all developed using the logic of thread and cloth. So everything in it, including the entire world, is on two pieces of cloth, which are sewn together, so there is a sky curtain. There are 28 constellations in the middle of the sky curtain. This is our own logic for interpreting mythology, which is also equivalent to our innovation.
This complete world view not only serves the visual design of all aspects, but also the architectural style, magic tricks, dynamics, special effects and other things are all designed on this basis. Including the use of a two-dimensional animation in the middle, the process of the brother and sister traveling to recover the stars, we used the concept of embroidery and sewing to present it to the extreme.
2D animation segment with "embroidery" texture
Industry-university-research practice yields fruitful results
The Paper : Was this project decided to be made into a movie after the short film became a success, or was the short film itself a preview of the movie?
Zhong Ding : Actually, when we were creating the short film, we were planning to make a movie. We just used the graduation short film as a test to show our creativity. The effect was quite good and attracted everyone's attention. We also built up our confidence, so it was natural for us to make a movie. When the graduation project was coming to an end, we had already started writing the script for the feature film.
The Paper : What is the difference between making a short film and a feature film? What is the biggest challenge in transitioning from a short film to a feature film?
Zhong Ding : Short films are relatively more unrestrained. But there is actually no particular essential difference. I prefer to think of it as a process of testing the waters to see if such an idea is feasible and whether the audience can accept it? As a teacher, all I want to do is to hope that students' creativity and ingenuity can be further developed after graduation, and they can be seen by more people, rather than simply being used as a case for finding a job, or a small work that everyone finishes their four-year university life. After graduation, it seems that it will never be taken out again. I would think it is a pity. This is also the reason why I want to do this.
The biggest difference when it comes to feature films is that the size is completely different. A short film is only six or seven minutes long, while a feature film is nearly two hours long. The huge change in size is a challenge for us. This is also my first time making a film. In this process, there are many things that need to be learned and improved.
Stills from Falling to Earth
The Paper : From working in the academic field to collaborating with professional industry partners, what areas need to be adjusted?
Zhong Ding : When our short film was recognized by everyone and also by investors, and more and more professional companies joined in, it gave us great confidence and made me feel that our ideals are not so far away and that dreams can be achieved through hard work.
When we were in school, we were teachers and students. Of course, there were many artists from companies who supported us in our creation, but the perception and learning of the more professional industrial operations was still in the film stage. For me, these four years were actually like going to college again. I learned a lot. Every link, whether it was the internal production staff or the external outsourced teachers, was equivalent to my mentor.
When the scale is large, all links must respect the industrial process. Short films are more concerned with creativity, are relatively more willful, and pursue "good looks". But once it comes to the stage of big movies, what you need to do is more about narration, serving the whole story, expressing the theme and emotions in it, and all designs and creativity must be integrated into the whole process. At the same time, this process is within the constraints of industrialization, and it must not only have creative presentation, but also consider time, cycle, and cost budget.
We have cooperated with more than 50 outsourcing companies. In terms of the process cycle, we rely heavily on the coordination of production management. Whether it is business or creation, production must be scheduled well. Indeed, our entire production team provides us with great support.
The Paper : How did the students who participated in the film later perform in this film?
Zhong Ding : There were 13 students involved at the time. After graduation, three students stayed because of different selection conditions. They brought the DNA of the film and continued to provide core support in art design, visual development, etc. It was like a student who grew up to become an artist after graduation. Including in the following four years, about a dozen students, including graduates and students, also joined the development of the entire film as co-artists or interns.
Well-made short film
The Paper : In the past, most of the works by students at art academies tended to explore aesthetics and experiment, but Falling to Earth was designed to be more commercial and popular while still in school. Why did you choose this?
Zhong Ding : Education should be diversified, not just pure business or pure art. There are more than 30 people in my professional class this time. When they graduate, they will be allowed to freely choose their creative direction. They can do artistic creation or something that combines industry, academia and research with a relatively commercial model. The school will definitely allow them to have their own direction.
We have been trying the school-enterprise cooperation model with Yongsheng Animation since 2015, but the previous attempts were not so easy to commercialize and remained at the level of an excellent student work. This time, based on the accumulation of previous experience, we have achieved a production result.
But after that, the students also went their separate ways. Some stayed in the group until the film was completed, some went to game companies, some went abroad for further studies, and some chose other different majors. The meaning of our education is definitely not to be homogenized. It is not to ask students to flock to do commercial things or to have some academic label.
I think this model is a good example. It raises our students' expectations of their own abilities, and everyone will be more confident that they can make better things. In the industrial process, with more professional technical support, our creativity and design can be recognized by the society. It is not just an academic thing, but can be well integrated with business, which is also an improvement.
Poster of "Falling into Dust"
The Paper : After completing a four-year cycle of real industrialization, what kind of inspiration have you gained from your teaching career over the past decade?
Zhong Ding : In my teaching work, I have always emphasized practice and commercialization. Therefore, in the process of commercial practice this time, I also learned some cutting-edge knowledge that is closer to the forefront of the industry. This is also the meaning of my doing this. As a college teacher, I have also met a large number of artists through practice and worked with them wholeheartedly. The experience gained in this process is then used back in my teaching. It is a good process of feedback. For students who are willing to develop in this area in the future, I believe that it can also better pave the way for them.
The Paper : There is a rumor online that this project is a “hand-rubbed nuclear bomb”. How do you understand this metaphor?
Zhong Ding : It was mainly because several of our classmates who stayed behind witnessed the whole process. They described the process as "hand-rubbing a nuclear bomb". The so-called "hand-rubbing" is more based on our experience. It may be a bit idealistic in the early stage, but we have to face reality, so we have to think of various ways, even some unconventional ways to solve it. I think "hand-rubbing" should be a positive word, accumulating the feelings and efforts of everyone, starting from every small detail, and comprehensively condensing into such a crystal.
For students’ previous school assignments, movies are indeed a “nuclear bomb-level” thing. This is the dream coming true. Now that they can complete it, the “nuclear bomb” has actually been made.
Before the film was released, it returned to the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts for an advance screening
