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5 years, for the Internet industry, the sea of ​​sang. It took five years for the movie “Where the Devil’s Angels Come into the World” from idea to line in the theater.

On August 14th, the total box office of “Where” has reached 3.654 billion yuan, surpassing “Red Sea Action” and becoming the 4th place in the total box office of Chinese movies. On August 19th, “Where” broke the box office by 4 billion, and the third place of the “Avengers 4: The Final Battle” was only about 140 million yuan. The joint issuer Huaxia Film of “Where” has issued a notice that the movie key will be extended for one month and extended to September 26. The total box office of “Which” will surpass “Reunion 4” and may even surpass “Wandering Earth” to enter the top three.

In the first half of 2019, the number of Chinese box office and movie attendants fell for the first time. Like the Chinese Internet, with the end of the “ticketing” and the maturity of the audience, the movie bonus period that can be laid to make money seems to be over.

But such an animated film, the number of people watching the movie has exceeded 100 million, and it has become the third movie after the “War Wolf 2” “Wandering Earth”. Among the top ten Chinese box office box lists, there is only an animated cartoon.

Director’s dumplings (herely named Yang Yu)Night fame, besides being happy and excited, what he said most is jealousy. He thinks that the high box office and word of mouth are more of an audience’s encouragement for domestic animated films. He gave a five-year answer to the release time of “Where 2”.

1

The famous work of dumplings is “Hit, make a big watermelon.”

This half-way medical student, Yang Yu (then also known as Dumpling Keli), squatted at home for three years, and made a 3D animated short film by one person, and won the jury of the 26th International Film Festival of Berlin International Short Film Festival. Awards and other series of awards. The name of the dumplings is in the animation circle.

After the explosion of “Where”, many media reported this past event, and it was inevitable that the situation of the dumplings was very embarrassing: a person who graduated from college and had just started his career, chose to resign at home and rely on his mother’s monthly income of more than 1,000 yuan. The pension has been “old” for 3 years.

But the dumplings were interviewed after becoming famous. They didn’t have a deep hatred for this experience. His starting point was very simple: as an animator, he stayed at home for 3 years, and his concern was that his skills were not enough. After explaining her own thoughts, the mother not only accepted it, but also helped convince her father who could not understand.

The dumplings said that they were self-study animation at the university. One was because they loved painting from a young age, and the other was that they didn’t really like medical science. He learned 3D software and hoped to work in an animation company. “Hit, make a big watermelon” makes his dream come true, and in a better way – set up his own animation company, Dumpling Animation Studio.

This is the predecessor of the Cocoa Bean Animation Studio that made “Where”. On the official website of Cocoa Bean, it also lists the commercial projects that the company has done, from the Youth Olympics propaganda to tobacco and alcohol, food. Advertising, all-encompassing. Cocoon co-founder Liu Wen explained the origin of two names in an interview: Cocoa beans were established after the company was invested in light media.Focusing on original animation, Dumpling Animation focuses on commercial projects.

The dumplings have a very grounded attitude between reality and ideals. After the release of “Where”, he is interested in animation when he participates in a podcast program: good effects artists will have a good income, if they can Waiting for a good project to succeed, you can quickly consider what you really like without having to think about money.

Even for “打打,打大西瓜”, dumplings also have their own plans. The goal of this work is “to gain a noun in order to participate in the competition.”

Like the “Tokyo” in which Trump is a real person, Sichuanese dumplings have a very optimistic attitude of accepting life and enjoying life. At the same time, he also changed his fate and created like Shen Gongbao. The ideal of accomplishment.

So, when Light Media’s company focused on animated films, the company found him, it’s a commercial project and a happy dumpling, and instantly activated the inner flame.

2

For a creator with a strong desire to express, from “playing, making a big watermelon” to “Where”, the interval between them is too long.

The dumplings actually have an original animation attempt. In 2013, Dumpling Animation Studio and Youku launched a 19-minute animated short film “The Woman of the Boss”.

This film virtualizes a film company called “Pedestrians Left”, which tells the story of the company’s “Reeling Staff”. If you haven’t heard or seen this film, you don’t have to look it up. Its Douban score is 5.4.

The film critics who are familiar with dumplings call it “the erotic transformation of dumplings,” euphemistically said. “What I hope is that the dumplings can have high clicks and give We bring more nutritious cultural consumption values, not just low-level fun that is full of eroticism and violence.” More unkind The audience was leaving a message directly at Douban:

“Playing, making a big watermelon” is entirely for self-creation, free from any interest relationship temptation, without any external pressure, spending three years of painstaking efforts to create a blockbuster. It’s a pity that it was later supported by CCTV and the government… Since then, you are not yourself, and the net has already appeared on you. Learning Cameron, rather than lacking in the past, has launched such a work in more than 4 years, let alone the audience, are you worthy of yourself?

How did this film come from?

In 2010, a micro-movie called “Old Boy” became popular in the country and became the hottest topic of the year. With the film, Xiao Yang, the advertising director, obtained the qualification to enter the coveted film industry. This film comes from Youku’s original film project, the “Youth Director Support Program” produced by Youku. It is the Internet-made content that is dominated by video websites at that time, which is the beginning of online drama.

The Woman of the Boss is also from this plan. As a representative of the cartoon, Dumpling does not receive much attention. In 2013, Youku’s “Youth Director Support Program”, which entered the fourth season, already has a relatively successful urban animated short film like Miss Puff.

Youku’s trader is Lu Fanxi, former vice president of Youku Tudou Group, after 90. Youku’s original product was originally a commercial project to convince advertisers who did not accept high-quality advertisements. In the form of online dramas, Lu Fanxi was very bold. He turned the advertising budget into the funds for filming, which made The phenomenon of micro-movies like the old boy.

There is also a story. In 2011, the theme of Youku produced is “Happiness 59 cm”. Luo Yonghao’s “Pony” is the finale of this series of micro-movies. At last, the thunder and rain are small, and the film evaluation is acceptable, but Far from meeting the expectations of “hot”.

In various reports, Lu Fanxi, who was born in the college entrance examination, “does not do business”, went to France to study movies, and was interested in all kinds of strange things. After 90, his identity made him more powerful on the Internet. Perception, with a small amount of resources to make a lot of money, Youku produced only out of him, become him.

Lu Fanxi sums up his successful experience in an interview with Yuxi because he is good at connecting Kind of characters, and discover the bright spots on them.

Before the “Old Boy” became famous, the chopsticks brothers were quickly disbanded; the beast Yi Xiaoxing made a name for himself, but he always wanted to shoot a serious movie, and he took 5 of his spare time and was not noticed by mainstream film and television companies.

The commonality of them is suppressed to a considerable extent, and they have accumulated a lot of power. They only need to open a mouth at the right time. The outbreak is certain.

3

The cartoon of dumplings is unacceptable in such a system.

I can see that he is trying to cater to the hotspots at the time: “屌丝”, spoof, erotic edge ball… Net dramas and micro-movies need to use small cost to instigate large amounts of broadcast and attention, which was the most effective at the time. Routine.

But the cartoon doesn’t work.

The dumplings introduced the current situation of the Chinese animation industry. On the one hand, the demand for foundry in the game industry and foreign blockbusters has made the domestic 3D animation special effects production a certain accumulation. On the other hand, this industry is still very immature. From creativity to concrete realization, the director often has to personally describe the effect he wants to the technician. In contrast, in a mature foreign animation system, after the director proposes an idea, the special effects company will directly give several options.

Doing high-quality cartoons is a complex project from 0 to 1, involving script creation, creativity, production, project management, financing, etc. When there is not enough reference, you can only rely on time to grind a little bit. .

The dumplings met the color strip house, which was established in 2015 by Light Media to focus on animation and fantasy movies.

Like the production of Youku, the color bar house also bet on several projects at the same time. At the press conference, the color barn announced that it had invested in 13 animation companies. There are 22 works in preparation, including Dasheng. “Return” director Tian Xiaopeng’s “Da Sheng Nao Tian Gong” and “Deep Sea”, not thinking of “Da Bao Fa”, dumplings “Where is the world”, another work of the God of the universe “Ginger Teeth”, and the younger age Fruit treasure special attack fruit escape, and so on.

As a traditional film company, the practice of color bar and internet is very different. Color Star House CEO Yi Qiao said, “There is no shortcut to animation, we can only fight quality.”

The dumplings may have the deepest experience in this. It is the script of “Where”, and he has been grinding for two years at the request of the color strip house. The dumplings called the discussion of the coloring house and the discussion of the color house as a “criticism meeting”. From the beginning of the remote communication, to the dumplings from Chengdu to Beijing again and again, he even summed up the routine of the color strip house, and I learned to use my own torture to the special effects teacher. “It’s good to say this every time, but is this better?”

Under the influence of such an acting style, the dumplings also raised their requirements for the film to the extreme. Until the film was successfully released, the dumplings did not bother to tell their media about their regrets. When he and the handcuffs held hands, his original idea was to make the rapid release of the earth’s history. “Unfortunately, it was deleted for budget reasons.”

A well-known paragraph is a technician who is responsible for the special effects of Shen Gongbao from a person to a leopard. After a few months of exhaustion, he still failed to meet the requirements of dumplings. After anger and resigned to join a new company, it is precisely The new company is also one of the outsourcing companies of “Where”. The staff member was assigned to be the special effect of Shen Gongbao because of “experience”. Fortunately, it took another few months to finally make it.

After grinding for 5 years, “Where” became, of course, the root cause is the talent and effort of dumplings, but it is also inseparable from the support of the color strip house. Of course, the light and color bar houses also have their own borders. At the same time that they announced the investment in 13 animation studios, Light also announced that it has cooperated with 360 to launch the online video website “First Look Network”, which is mainly for paying online movies and TV dramas, but this grand The plan quickly failed.

Either Youku production or the animation blockbuster of the color bar, you need the operator’s vision, determination and ability to integrate resources. The two routes are not right or wrong, but for the animated blockbuster, the mode of the color bar is obviously more suitable.

The facts also prove that everyone has a chance to relax and see the needs of spoofing dramas, and more to see the needs of big productions and high-quality top works.

In the first half of 2019, the number of box office and movie attendants in China’s film sub-accounts declined for the first time since 2011, as long as it is due to the decline of the second, third and fourth-tier cities that are known as the box office of the movie.

With the disappearance of “tickets”, the price of movie tickets is rising, and the loss of the number of people watching it has exceeded the growth of new moviegoers. Like the Chinese Internet, Chinese movies seem to have come to an inflection point. The era of barbaric growth has passed, and the demographic dividend has come to an end.

“Where” is a counterexample. It has no ticket supplements and no collective emotions other than the film itself. Like “Wandering Earth”, it has created a new situation in Chinese film types. After the film was released, the director’s dumplings repeatedly told the outside world that such a high box office far exceeded expectations, and that this quality is not the best film can not afford, but the opponent is too bad at the same time, the audience is also encouraging the country It all proves that a good movie is the best bonus for the moment.