my country's cartoons have a long history, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. Not only are there a wide variety, but the content and artistry are much higher than those in Japan and the United States at the same period, especially in Japan where many cartoons Early animations were influenced by Chinese animation. However, since the 1990s, my country's animation has begun to decline. Now the Chinese animation market is almost exclusively Japanese and American animation. By doing this research study, I hope that young people who are now interested in Japanese animation can understand the glorious history of Chinese animation.
The three Wan brothers, the pioneers of China's animation industry in the 20th century, began to study animation production. They produced the first Chinese homemade human-painting performance "Havoc in Heaven". In 1936, China's first An audio animation "Camel Dance" was released. In 1941, influenced by American animation, China's first large-scale animation "Princess Iron Fan" was produced. In the history of world movies, it ranks after the American "Snow White", "Lilliput" and "Pinocchio" The fourth animated art film marked that China's animation level at that time was close to the world's leading level.
The early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China - a period of vigorous development (from the founding of the People's Republic of China to 1965)
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's animation industry has developed very rapidly. There are many, and there are many high-quality products. From one animation in 1950 to the 1960s, more than ten animations were produced every year. Among them, "Havoc in Heaven" produced from 1961 to 1964 is particularly worth mentioning. "Havoc in Heaven" can be said to be the pinnacle of domestic animation at that time, reaching the highest level in the world in terms of characters, actions, pictures, sound effects, etc. In 1947, our country produced the first puppet animation "The Emperor's Dream"; in 1958, we filmed the first paper-cut animation "Zhu Bajie Eating Watermelon"; in 1960, we completed the first ink painting cartoon "Tadpole Looking for Mom" ; In 1962, the first origami animation "A Cabbage" was completed. With the addition of new animation forms, China's animation industry has also reached a peak.
Silver Age (1976~1990)
After the Cultural Revolution, the animation industry was naturally greatly affected, and the 17 animations shot by American Films between 1972 and 1976 are as follows: "Trumpeter", "Little Eight Road", "Little Sentinel of the East China Sea", etc. have cast a serious shadow on subsequent animation creations over the years! Realism and educational purposes have made cartoons positioned as extracurricular teaching materials full of educational significance for children. This idea not only continues, but is also deeply rooted in the hearts of most people. It is this concept that created the later The embarrassing status of cartoons.
After the Cultural Revolution and the opening up, cartoon production entered a prosperous era. In the ten years from 1978 to 1989, these production units produced 219 cartoons, such as "Nezha Naohai", "Nezha Naohai" Excellent works such as "The Golden Monkey Conquers the Demon" and "Tales from the Heavenly Book" were produced during this period, and TV cartoons such as "Calabash Brothers", "Black Cat Sheriff" and "The Story of Afanti" were also produced during this period. " and other works that have left a deep impression on people. On the whole, this is a relatively average era. There are a small number of art films for all ages, and a large number of films purely for children like "Black Cat Sheriff" It is a mainstream educational cartoon, and its production techniques basically follow the genre pioneered by the Wan brothers of Meiying. There is not much innovation, and it does not draw on the advanced experience of the outside world. The high output of this section has just caused the production of the work to be insufficiently refined. Moreover, because the starting point of the production is for children, the dubbing and soundtrack are obviously not as careful as before. , and at the same time, Japan was developing steadily from the stage of simple processing of European and American animations, and gradually learned and absorbed European and American experience and created its own unique style.
The Black Iron Age (1990~2002)
First of all, in the 1990s, major animation production manufacturers began to communicate and cooperate with the international animation industry. The inherent self-proclaimed style of the Silver Age The situation has stopped. Digital production methods have replaced the previous manual drawing methods, greatly improving production efficiency. With the diversified development of various institutional production units, the number of productions has increased. Various professional and multi-talented talents have entered the industry, which has facilitated The number of productions has also increased significantly compared with the past, but even if the quantity and quality have increased, due to the concept of making cartoons mainly for children, there has not been a big breakthrough in the subject matter and content.
Secondly, since 1995, the China Film Projection Company has no longer adopted the planned policy of monopolizing the purchase and sales of cartoons, bringing animation to the market, changing the production status and management methods of cartoons, and establishing social benefits and The concept of win-win economic benefits turns out to be an excellent opportunity for the commercialization and development of the animation industry. However, it is also limited to the production concept issues mentioned above. The producers can only create educational things suitable for children, but they dare not and cannot have them. It has made a breakthrough, and even proudly declares in the relevant textbooks that "Compared with Japanese and American animations, the content of Chinese animation is healthy and spiritual, and it is a work suitable for educating children."
So the Black Iron Age is because TV stations introduced a large number of European, American and Japanese cartoons in order to meet the problem of broadcast time. In comparison, domestic cartoons are inferior in terms of content, pictures, characters, etc. Serious deficiencies have been exposed, especially in cartoons produced using traditional educational concepts, where some children are often serious and do not speak in childish words, causing the teenagers who were supposed to be the audience to favor foreign cartoons. On the surface, it seems that with the production The number and quality of productions seems to be improving with the increase of units, but in fact it is during this period that a large number of viewers "flee" and no longer watch cartoons, and regard them as a symbol of childishness and clumsiness.
Throughout the history of animation development, China has gone from glory in the beginning to decadence in the middle period, and now is back in action. Every step has touched the hearts of Chinese animation fans. China's animation industry has a broad market and bright prospects. As long as it is well utilized and developed, it will become an important part of China's tertiary industry. Although there are still a lot of shortcomings in China's animation industry today, such as the animation industry not having a clear positioning and grading system. , lack of talents, lack of professional schools and channels to cultivate such talents, etc.
In short, the prospects for Chinese animation are still broad. China has a group of patriotic young people. Although they are attracted by foreign things, they still consider China’s development and future. Shan Wei, Lin Xi, Ding Bing, Lin Ying As well as the thousands of people who work hard for the Chinese animation industry, although they are not masters, they are the seeds of the masters. They allow us to see the hope of the future of Chinese animation.
At that time, looking back at the sky, our Chinese animation workers will surely make a heroic declaration:
It’s gone. Let’s count the romantic tasks and look at the present!