The author believes that from the perspective of animation art alone, 1963 ink animation Moody can be regarded as the pinnacle of animation art in China for three reasons:
1, the top painting art.
2. The highest score.
3. The artistic conception is profound.
This paper introduces the ink animation Moody.
First of all, Moody's creative background is the second in the world.
After the world's first ink animation "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" created by Shanghai Film Studio came out, the second ink animation work was ready to come out, inspired by high honor and numerous favorable comments.
When I was still writing "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom", Shangmei Film Studio had already started to cooperate. Besides painting tadpoles, frogs and crabs, horses and cows, it also distributed various animals to different people to tackle key problems.
The tadpoles and shrimps in "Little Tadpoles Looking for Mom" are all based on Qi Baishi's paintings, and the level of two-ink animation can't be lower. The material chosen for this trip to the American film studio is the cow of the famous painter Li Keran.
In order to experience life, the creative team of Shangmei Film Factory stayed in rural Guangdong for more than two months, and went out with local shepherds and buffaloes every day to observe the movements of buffaloes and the shepherd's state, as well as bamboo forests and scenery, which were all reflected in the cartoons.
Finally, after 50 people 15 months' efforts, Moody, the second ink animation in the world, was born.
Second, the plot of Moody is simple and clear.
Realistically speaking, although Moody occupies a high position in the history of animation in China, its story is very simple, so simple that there is almost no story.
A shepherd boy went to herd cattle. He rode a buffalo across the river. Whenever the flute in the shepherd boy's hand rings, the buffalo is immediately attracted.
The shepherd boy fell asleep in the tree. In his sleep, he dreamed that the buffalo was lost.
The shepherd boy asked the fisherman, other shepherd boys and the woodcutter, but they couldn't find the lost buffalo.
Under the mountain stream waterfall, the shepherd boy finally found the buffalo, but the buffalo lingered in the landscape and refused to follow the shepherd boy back.
In desperation, the shepherd boy found a purple bamboo. He made a shepherd's flute and blew it.
The shepherd's flute sounded again and the buffalo returned to the shepherd boy.
The shepherd boy woke up and found that it was a dream. He rode a buffalo and went home at dusk with the sound of a flute.
This story has no specific time, no specific place, no specific identity, and even no dialogue. Only landscapes, mountains and rivers, bamboo forests, ponds, trees, buffaloes and shepherds. The story is very simple, much more interesting than a tadpole looking for his mother.
So why did Moody choose such a simple story?
Third, the beauty of advanced artistic conception
Moody's position in the history of animation in China comes from his high artistic attainments on the one hand, and his advanced artistic conception on the other.
In Moody's, there is no earthly disturbance, no preaching, no competition, no noise, only a leisurely walk in the country, only picturesque scenery and melodious flute.
In other words, Moody's world is an illusory paradise, which reflects the most desirable realm of China's literati for thousands of years.
In other words, Moody's has gone beyond the traditional comics' emphasis on plot, morality and popular science, and is completely showing a kind of "beauty". In addition to picturesque scenery, there is also a beautiful mind and a beautiful realm.
This is also the source of Moody's bad luck.
Fourth, the fate of Moody.
After the publication of Moody, although it won the gold medal in the Danish Fairy Tale Film Festival and won honor for the motherland, at that time, the fate of this beautiful artistic conception was not good.
Some people question and even criticize Moody's concept. A world without competition and struggle does not exist. This is a work of nihilism, and what is divorced from reality has no value.
Of course, what I wrote was only academic criticism. As for those absurd criticisms, such as "riding an ox and playing the flute equals bragging", I can't comment.
Practically speaking, is academic criticism meaningful? It makes sense. Moody is really beautiful, too beautiful to look directly at, and it will make people feel sad.
Sadly, even half a century later, there seems to be no room for Moody's works with advanced artistic conception. Not many people will appreciate an aesthetic work with a simple plot. More viewers like sensory stimulation that is more directly attached to the face. Parents prefer animation with educational science and even English teaching. The artistic conception expressed by Moody is still out of reach.
And even if someone wants to copy a work like Moody's, I'm afraid the high cost is beyond the reach of ordinary film companies.
Fifth, the cooperation of top masters brings ultra-high costs.
First of all, Moody's labor costs are very high. This is the result of the hard work of 50 people in Shangmei Film Factory 15 months. The same labor force, it is estimated that we can shoot several films now.
Secondly, Moody's inherent art cost is even higher than that of ordinary companies.
"Little Tadpole Looking for Mom" is based on the works of Master Qi Baishi, while "Moody" is simply a manuscript drawn directly by Mr. Li Keran.
When it was decided to shoot Moody, Shanghai Film Studio specially asked Li Keran for guidance and help. Li Keran, who is good at drawing cows, drew fourteen original pictures for the crew. These original paintings include mountains and water, shepherds and buffaloes, which are Moody's earliest blueprints.
Many paintings in Li Keran were auctioned by hundreds of millions in modern times. What is the value of these fourteen original pictures?
The background landscape designer of Moody is Fang Jizhong, one of the representative painters of Chang 'an School. He is one of the three disciples of Zhao Wangyun, a famous painter, and once served as the president of Shaanxi Provincial Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting.
Moody's melodious flute comes from Lu Chunling, which is known as "China Magic Flute". The first inheritors of Jiangnan silk and bamboo, a national intangible cultural heritage, are the representatives of Nandi School.
Note that Moody's shepherd boy plays the flute with the same fingering as the real fingering, and this rigor is simply outrageous.
Being able to gather experts from Li Keran, Fang Jizhong and Lu Chunling, plus American film studios, the cost of this cartoon will be astronomical in modern times.
The cooperation of top masters has brought China's animation masterpiece Moody, which has set a height that later generations can't reach and copy, both in art and cost.
Sixth, are you still insisting on high and low?
Generally speaking, Moody's situation is a high and low musical state, whether it is artistic conception, art or cost.
Then, from the perspective of artistic creation alone, is it necessary to continue to create such works with advanced artistic conception and little room for market survival?
The author believes that art itself should be ahead of the times. If a craft is called art, whether it is film or calligraphy, whether it is cross talk or calligraphy, as long as it belongs to art, it must have works that are ahead of the times while adapting to the market rhythm and demand. Art itself is forward-looking and instructive
Even if it can't be realized, we should still yearn for Moody's artistic conception, which is the charm of art.