Original title: The dreamland of sound and painting and the innovation of content of domestic animated films.
Since the release of domestic animated films, they have encountered polarized word-of-mouth differences. Undoubtedly, affirming and supporting the development of domestic animated films is the premise for everyone to comment on Legend of Deification. However, this kind of affirmation and support should not be influenced by the surging patriotic feelings, but should be rationally analyzed and thought within the scope of art. In this way, domestic animated films can find a correct and healthy way of sustainable development without being swayed by loneliness or being confused by sweet words.
Fantasy of sound and painting: the game between the advantages and disadvantages of animated films
Compared with live-action movies, animated movies show the characteristics of media materials themselves, showing a very personalized image style. With the continuous popularization and promotion of digital technology, animated films are more fluent and skillful in creating the illusion of sound and painting. Legend of Deification, which has been created for four years, gives the audience a brand-new "deity world" in visual presentation.
In the past, the Youdu Mountain, Guixu, Ladder and Beihai, which existed in myths and legends, were all rendered and displayed in an all-round way in a complete paragraph in Legend of Deification with a form of great visual impact. Compared with the daily connection brought by "truth" in live-action movies, animated movies rely on lines and color blocks to create an image world, which is more mysterious in the unknown world. In other words, even if it appears in a concrete form and image, people still can’t compare it with the objects in their lives because of stylized media materials, so they can maintain the integrity of a unique aesthetic world.
On the other hand, due to habitual cognition, animated films are often simply equated with cartoons. In fact, animated film is not only a children’s film, but also a film type. Look at the screening halls in Legend of Deification. Children under 14 are everywhere. This is unimaginable for a live-action movie. The decline in the threshold for watching movies means that animated films may have a far-reaching impact and are more conducive to the realization of cultural shaping functions. At the same time, animated films can also be strongly related to the popular secondary culture, and can be widely spread through the cooperation of various sub-groups. The illusion of sound and painting created by animated films is quite attractive to young people.
However, the high dependence of animated films on technology also produces instability. Once the technology is insufficient, it will lead to the rupture of the illusion of sound and painting. This kind of rupture is fatal to animated films, which will interrupt the closed state of the audience in the process of watching movies, thus greatly reducing the viewing experience. It can be seen that in Legend of Deification, technical support has done its best, and many scenes show the progress of current animation technology. However, there are still many obvious defects that need to be repaired. For example, when Jiang Ziya was running towards the market with a girl in his arms, his feet were suspended from the ground and lacked the necessary strength and speed. In addition, Jiang Ziya in close range also lacks the necessary upper body details. This is not consistent with the running state. In the absence of corresponding action performance, the vividness of the voice is embarrassing. Because when you obviously can’t see the running state of the character, there is a hard gasp in your ear. This embarrassment will inevitably weaken the attraction to the audience and eventually become the Achilles heel of the work.
New Content: Modern Narration of China’s Story
Telling the story of China well is the mission of contemporary literary creation. Legend of Deification is the modern narrative of China’s story. In the form of animated films, it presents a fairy tale circulating in the blood of China people’s culture. The film tells the story of Jiang Ziya, including not only the remolding of the characters, but also the overall adjustment of the story structure.
The image of Jiang Ziya, the hero, has gone through three stages: youth, middle age and old age. The work shows the process of Jiang Ziya’s belief from establishment, breaking to remolding, instead of directly appearing as the familiar image of "Jiang Taigong", giving the audience a new historical explanation. In addition, there are obvious differences in the image-building of other characters such as Su Daji, Zhou Wang, Nine-tailed Fox and Shen Gongbao. Su Daji has changed from an adult female image that has brought disaster to the country and people to an innocent girl image. All these, to name a few. The drastic change in image gives people a refreshing feeling.
In the story structure, Legend of Deification also has many bright spots. First of all, the focus of the film story is no longer Zhou Wang, da ji and King Wu, but Jiang Ziya’s repeated trials of personal beliefs. The story broke away from the original historical level and continued to speak to the mythical level. Cutting becomes an opportunity, and the key lies in whether to kill the nine-tailed fox. Jiang Ziya’s indecision is an individual’s vigilance against the loss of human nature in the process of evolving into the so-called "God". Secondly, the film takes the nine-tailed fox as the opponent’s strength, and displays it with rich colors, which endows it with tragic color to a certain extent, but from a more essential level, it is to help Jiang Ziya complete the experience of breaking the authority. When Jiang Ziya began to doubt whether "one person" and "sentient beings" were more important, the master who was originally in his heart had actually fallen off the altar.
The change of these two dimensions not only changed Jiang Ziya’s historical narrative, but also changed Jiang Ziya’s behavioral motivation as a mythical figure, and finally shaped him into a modern man. Not afraid of authority, keeping the original heart, became the summary of Jiang Ziya’s spirit.
Literary and artistic works are bound to change, but the changes need to be balanced. Changed, the character story is beyond recognition; Change less, and it’s the same old tune, which is boring. On the whole, Legend of Deification is a relatively successful work. However, there are still some shortcomings in theme refinement and narrative rhythm. The film takes Jiang Ziya’s "personal and ordinary people" inquiry as the core theme, which to some extent lacks resonance with the general audience. Moreover, Jiang Ziya’s inner changes in the film lack great ups and downs, and the protagonist can’t actively promote the progress of the story, which leads to the story being relatively dull, falling into the cliché of narrative procrastination and disordered rhythm, and weakening the strength of the characters. In addition, too many big scenes and a little tired relationship construction make the story telling slow and heavy. This enlightens us that, for China animated films along the way of Princess Iron Fan, Making a scene in Heaven and Lotus Lantern, with the support of rich historical and cultural resources and advanced digital technology, we need to continue to work hard and strive for perfection. (Author Teng Xiaojuan, a lecturer in college of nanjing normal university)