For many people born in the 2000s who grew up watching 2D hand-drawn and 3D CG animations, stop-motion animation may be a somewhat unfamiliar term. Unlike 2D and 3D animations, all characters in stop-motion animations are real, usually made of puppets, clay puppets, or a mixture of multiple materials. Animators will manually adjust the movements of these puppets, shoot the puppets' movements frame by frame, and then continuously project them to form a coherent picture using the principle of visual persistence.

After the founding of New China, many classic stop-motion animations were produced in China, represented by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, including "The Magic Brush of Ma Liang", "The Great Thief", "The Story of Afanti", etc., which accompanied the post-80s and post-90s generations through their happy childhood.

Avanti riding a donkey

In foreign countries, stop-motion animation is also widely used in movie special effects. In the 1933 science fiction film "King Kong", the giant King Kong that climbed the Empire State Building was produced by stop-motion animation. In the 1980 "Star Wars 2: The Empire Strikes Back", the impressive giant four-legged robot was also produced by stop-motion animation.

Since the 1980s, with the rapid development of computer technology, the production efficiency and quality of 2D and 3D animations have been greatly improved, and CG special effects have completely replaced stop-motion special effects. Compared with the beautiful pictures of 2D and 3D animations, stop-motion animation based on real objects seems to be too simple and even outdated. Coupled with the time-consuming and laborious production process (only a few seconds of footage can be produced in a day), stop-motion animation has gradually become a niche art form.

Although there are still some long-running commercial stop-motion animations abroad (such as Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, etc.), in China, after 2000, there are basically only experimental stop-motion short films left. It has been a long time since a stop-motion feature film has entered the public eye.

The martial arts stop-motion animation "Lantern Blade" released on Tencent Video this month can be said to be a long-awaited large-scale stop-motion animation feature film in China (three episodes totaling 67 minutes).

Poster of Lantern Knife

Unlike many family-friendly stop-motion animations that are suitable for all ages, "Lantern Blade" is a rare mix of hard-core martial arts and fantasy horror, and it is quite large in scale.

"Lantern Blade" is adapted from the comic of the same name by cartoonist Gui Qi. The story background is an imaginary dynasty. The world view at the beginning has a strong flavor of Cthulhu mythology: At the beginning of chaos, there was the Mother of No Birth, who was immortal and formless. The Mother of No Birth would create parasites, and people infected by the parasites would become irrational living dead. The only one who could destroy the Mother of No Birth was Black Tai Sui, and countless disputes were fought over the fight for Black Tai Sui.

One day in a remote town, a red-dressed girl named Liu Ruyan dragged an unconscious swordsman to an inn to stay. Liu Ruyan was the only survivor of the Liu family massacre two years ago. It was rumored that the Liu family was targeted by the living dead and exterminated because they secretly hid the Black Tai Sui.

Stills from Lantern Knife

The unconscious swordsman is the "Lantern Swordsman" in the title of this film. He was chosen as the guard of Black Tai Sui by chance. There is a small lantern hanging on his sword, which will light up when he encounters the living dead. The principle of the Lantern Swordsman is very simple: kill people when the light is on, and kill all the living dead.

Two years ago, Lantern Knife rescued Liu Ruyan in Liujiaji, and Liu Ruyan has followed him since then, hoping that he can lead her to revenge. In Lantern Knife's view, Liu Ruyan is just a nagging little girl who will only hinder him from hunting the living dead. Lantern Knife's current target is the mysterious old man Gushan hiding in the town, and he is trying to summon the Mother of No Life to the world.

Stills from Lantern Knife

On the other hand, the government's secret force for dealing with the living dead, the Horseshoe Group, also entered the town. They received intelligence that most of the residents in the town had disappeared inexplicably, and suspected that there were dangerous elements in the town related to the living dead. In the eyes of the Horseshoe Group, people like Lantern Blade who hunted the living dead privately were also dangerous elements. So in this town, various forces related to the living dead are about to set off a bloody storm.

The main plot of "Lantern Knife" is not complicated. It can be seen as a martial arts version of a zombie movie. The several super developments at the end are quite exciting. I won’t spoil it here. I would rather talk about the highlights of the production of this film.

The production team chose a theme that can well reflect the characteristics of stop-motion animation. Although stop-motion animation is not as gorgeous and flamboyant as 2D and 3D animation, everything in it is made of real materials, which creates an extremely real rough texture, which fits the atmosphere of the film similar to westerns very well, and reminds people of classic martial arts films of the last century such as "Ashes of Time" and "The Swordsman of Double Flags Town".

The endless vast hills and piles of weeds, the dilapidated tavern, these classic scenes from martial arts films make people feel "right" as soon as they appear.

Stills from Lantern Knife

The twisted human body and the sticky blood on the floor also make people feel a biting cold.

Stills from Lantern Knife

As a film with Cthulhu elements, various terrifying monsters are of course indispensable. The terrifying shapes combined with the unique "frustration" of stop-motion animation give off a full sense of weirdness.

Since it is a martial arts film, fighting scenes are naturally a major attraction. The production team designed different fighting styles for different characters. The lantern knife is full of wildness and swing, and the members of the horseshoe group each have their own special weapons. For example, the bald giant of the horseshoe group, Lantie, usually hits people with a hammer in his hand, but in a critical moment, the hammer can actually transform into a machine gun and shoot. Although it is completely inconsistent with the background of the times, it is definitely full of fun.

In the big battle at the end of the film, the production team even put in a show-off long-shot fight scene, which, accompanied by the exciting soundtrack, was so exciting to watch.

However, we have to admit that the natural "stuttering" of stop-motion animation makes the fighting scenes look less smooth. Whether this is a style or a shortcoming is a matter of opinion.

As mentioned before, the development of computer technology has greatly improved the production efficiency and quality of 2D and 3D animations. In "Lantern Blade", we can also see the technological progress of stop-motion animation in recent years: high-definition digital cameras have replaced bulky film cameras, 3D printing technology can produce characters and props faster, and advanced puppets have more delicate expressions and more flexible movements. It is precisely because of these new technologies that we can see so many vivid characters and wonderful fighting scenes in this film, and the expressiveness is much higher than that of stop-motion animation in the past.

However, even if the technology develops, stop-motion animation is still far less efficient than 2D and 3D animation, and mainstream audiences probably find it difficult to accept its visual style, and the niche status of stop-motion animation will not change. Even so, as long as an art form can provide a unique aesthetic experience, its existence is meaningful.

At the end of the animation, Lantern Blade and Liu Ruyan, who survived the fierce battle, set out on their journey again. Now Lantern Blade no longer regards Liu Ruyan as a burden, but as someone worth protecting with his life. Maybe one day in the future, we can continue to see their story.

Stills from Lantern Knife