论文部分内容阅读
Amidst a yellow flower sea， the China Pavilion of Milano Expo 2015 looks like rising and falling wheat waves. Walking up the stairs， the audience will be exposed to a large field of wheat created by LED lights. At the venue， Reunion， the theme film of China Pavilion attracted many tourists， some of whom waited as long as a half hour to have a chance to watch it. In line with Chinese traditional aesthetics， the 8-minute national publicity film presents a story about land， Chinese people’s attachment to their homeland， and reunions， underscoring “agriculture and food，” the theme of the Expo.
Directed by Cui Xuefeng of China Film Co.，Ltd.， the film tells the story of a sister and two brothers， who live far away from their hometown， going back to celebrate Chinese New Year with their parents. The three lead characters are engaged in farming， catering and artistic work， respectively. At the most important Chinese festival， they get together to taste delicious food， pay respect to nature and inspire hope.
The film is one of the most important components of the China Pavilion. The first problem the production team faced was how to use simple， condensed but accurate style to display China’s national image in only eight minutes. “Land of Hope， Food for Life，” the theme of the China Pavilion， first reminded Cui of Chinese people’s close family ties and strong affection for their homeland and country， which he believes nurtures Chinese culture as well as serving as the root and essence of it.
“Chinese ideas about family and country make up Chinese culture， its agricultural civilization and the theory that humans are an integral part of nature，” explains Cui. “Chinese people uphold filial piety and heritage. These ideas concerning family and country keep Chinese culture productive and vital through the ages.”
To translate such Eastern value to narrative form， Cui faced two choices： live-action or animation. He thinks today’s methods of visual expression and narration are built by Westerners. If Western narrative stems from Western oil painting， Chinese painting is also capable of inspiring a narration mode featuring Chinese characteristics. With this in mind and 25 years of experience making animation at his disposal， Cui decided to blend Chinese painting and animation to tell his story.
“Most of our crew has made animation for decades and every member has a special understanding about Eastern culture，” says Cui. “So this film is an ideal group project. Actually， it’s basic but totally new， with Eastern flavor that contrasts Western aesthetic logic.” After finalizing the script late last year， the team began production. The entirety of the animation is manually drawn and sated with Chinese elements， a rare feat in China’s animation circles. According to Cui， the film focuses more on expressing abstract ideas， so many things don’t align with Western aesthetics like spatial logic and color science， which requires the team to keep open minds and aim high.
In order to better demonstrate Chinese attachment to family and homeland， the production team adopted approaches that combine live-action with animation， master screen with subsidiary screens， and film with live singing and dancing. For the live-action， the team ventured to Yunnan Province， China’s southwesternmost province， to shoot Hani Terraced Fields and record dances and songs of the Hani ethnic group. In Cui’s opinion， the unity of ethnic groups and strong adhesive force between family members， core concepts of the ancient civilization of China’s Central Plains， reinforces the theme of the film and additionally creates a strong visual impact.
“The dancing and singing is divided into three parts，” notes Cui. “The first is lezuo dancing， which evolved from the happy living and production activities of the Hani people. The second is poetic chanting of the history of the Hani ethnic group featuring their formerly nomadic lifestyles and settlement in such a beautiful place. Hani people have no written language but have recorded their history through song. The third is fan dancing， a performance similar to Han dance.”
In the last days before the curtain rose on Milano Expo 2015， Cui and his team were still busy mixing sound and polishing the cut. According to Cui， they made countless small revisions， over thirty big changes to the script and even two rewrites. “We faced many challenges，” remarks Cui. “We introduced created-in-China LED display technology that enables us more control points， which can in turn help document the content of Eastern culture. We could not look to past experience and had to handle all emerging problems ourselves.”
In the language of Chinese aesthetic logic， Cui’s film shows Chinese attachment to land and respect for nature， national pride and hope to share the nation’s time-honored civilization， nailing the theme of this year’s Expo – Feeding Planet， Energy for Life.
Directed by Cui Xuefeng of China Film Co.，Ltd.， the film tells the story of a sister and two brothers， who live far away from their hometown， going back to celebrate Chinese New Year with their parents. The three lead characters are engaged in farming， catering and artistic work， respectively. At the most important Chinese festival， they get together to taste delicious food， pay respect to nature and inspire hope.
The film is one of the most important components of the China Pavilion. The first problem the production team faced was how to use simple， condensed but accurate style to display China’s national image in only eight minutes. “Land of Hope， Food for Life，” the theme of the China Pavilion， first reminded Cui of Chinese people’s close family ties and strong affection for their homeland and country， which he believes nurtures Chinese culture as well as serving as the root and essence of it.
“Chinese ideas about family and country make up Chinese culture， its agricultural civilization and the theory that humans are an integral part of nature，” explains Cui. “Chinese people uphold filial piety and heritage. These ideas concerning family and country keep Chinese culture productive and vital through the ages.”
To translate such Eastern value to narrative form， Cui faced two choices： live-action or animation. He thinks today’s methods of visual expression and narration are built by Westerners. If Western narrative stems from Western oil painting， Chinese painting is also capable of inspiring a narration mode featuring Chinese characteristics. With this in mind and 25 years of experience making animation at his disposal， Cui decided to blend Chinese painting and animation to tell his story.
“Most of our crew has made animation for decades and every member has a special understanding about Eastern culture，” says Cui. “So this film is an ideal group project. Actually， it’s basic but totally new， with Eastern flavor that contrasts Western aesthetic logic.” After finalizing the script late last year， the team began production. The entirety of the animation is manually drawn and sated with Chinese elements， a rare feat in China’s animation circles. According to Cui， the film focuses more on expressing abstract ideas， so many things don’t align with Western aesthetics like spatial logic and color science， which requires the team to keep open minds and aim high.
In order to better demonstrate Chinese attachment to family and homeland， the production team adopted approaches that combine live-action with animation， master screen with subsidiary screens， and film with live singing and dancing. For the live-action， the team ventured to Yunnan Province， China’s southwesternmost province， to shoot Hani Terraced Fields and record dances and songs of the Hani ethnic group. In Cui’s opinion， the unity of ethnic groups and strong adhesive force between family members， core concepts of the ancient civilization of China’s Central Plains， reinforces the theme of the film and additionally creates a strong visual impact.
“The dancing and singing is divided into three parts，” notes Cui. “The first is lezuo dancing， which evolved from the happy living and production activities of the Hani people. The second is poetic chanting of the history of the Hani ethnic group featuring their formerly nomadic lifestyles and settlement in such a beautiful place. Hani people have no written language but have recorded their history through song. The third is fan dancing， a performance similar to Han dance.”
In the last days before the curtain rose on Milano Expo 2015， Cui and his team were still busy mixing sound and polishing the cut. According to Cui， they made countless small revisions， over thirty big changes to the script and even two rewrites. “We faced many challenges，” remarks Cui. “We introduced created-in-China LED display technology that enables us more control points， which can in turn help document the content of Eastern culture. We could not look to past experience and had to handle all emerging problems ourselves.”
In the language of Chinese aesthetic logic， Cui’s film shows Chinese attachment to land and respect for nature， national pride and hope to share the nation’s time-honored civilization， nailing the theme of this year’s Expo – Feeding Planet， Energy for Life.