My Animation Era

"Martin Martin, every morning you wake up~Martin Martin, there is a character waiting..."

As soon as she arrived at the company, Gu Miao heard her own singing echoing in the empty office. It was like a lingering sound.

"Who played the song?"

After taking off his down jacket and hanging it to the side, Gu Miao asked the secretary Xiao Wang beside him, "You didn't release it, did you?"

"This is the song ordered by Mr. Zhang."

Xiao Wang looked embarrassed and said: "He calls on everyone to go to Wangyiyun Music to listen to your single, and play it at home if possible."

Gu Miao: "..."

What does it mean?

Do you really want him to debut as an idol? He admitted that the songs he sang were really nice, but there was no need to repeat the song, right?

"Hurry up and change to another one...forget it, just turn it off. What song are you listening to so early in the morning?"

After waving her hand, Gu Miao walked to her desk, sat down, and turned on the computer on the desk.

Today is the twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month.

The war between the movies "The Dog Comes with Fortune" and "Monster Hunt 2" was still going on. On the way to the company, Gu Miao received a call from an intermediary.

The content of the phone call was to convey the "truce" intention of the producer of "Monster Hunt 2".

To put it simply, they hope that Wanbao will not catch "Monster Hunt 2" again, and both parties should unanimously target the popular "Operation Blue Ocean".

Unfortunately, Gu Miao did not agree.

what? It was you who started this thing, so now it’s time to stop the war?

What's more, with the two fans divided like this, is this a grudge that can be resolved with a truce? If nothing else, fans will still argue even if the two films are released.

The beam is finally settled.

But the good news is that the box office of both movies finally exceeded 2 billion. Among them, "Gou Lai Fu Wang" was slightly higher than "Monster Hunt 2" by several million.

Don't underestimate the box office of these millions, this will be the last straw that breaks the camel's back!

Considering that the Spring Festival holiday is over, the ranking of new films released during this year's Spring Festival has also been released, and Operation Blue Ocean is undoubtedly ranked first.

Then there are Gou Lai Fu Wang and Monster Hunting 2, ranking second and third respectively.

As for the fourth and subsequent films, there is no need to mention them at all. The box office gap between them and the top three is really too big.

The first place, Operation Blue Ocean, ended with 3.6 billion, and the second and third places also had more than 2 billion each.

These three films have almost divided up the entire domestic box office during the Spring Festival. The combined box office of other movies in the same period was not even half as high as the third-placed Monster Hunter 2.

"Movie market, winner takes all!"

After the bloody battle during the Spring Festival, Gu Miao had a deeper understanding of this sentence.

It is indeed too cruel!

Movie viewers don’t have as many choices as TV viewers. You can only watch whatever movies are scheduled in the cinema.

So this leads to the fact that if there are two or three hot new movies in this schedule, then the other new movies released in this schedule can almost wait to death.

Because theater chains will give priority to blockbuster movies that are more popular. As for new movies that no one knows about, just stay wherever they can.

Unfortunately.

During this Spring Festival, almost all eyes are focused on Operation Blue Ocean, Dog Laifuwang and Monster Hunt 2.

For other movies, I didn’t make any money.

This even includes "Dragon Ball: World No. 1" produced by Wanbao Pictures!

The first theatrical version of Dragon Ball performed well overseas, but it really didn't do well in China. It only took in more than 20 million yuan at the box office after half a month of release.

In fact, the production is not bad.

Even Du Hao, the general manager of Wanbao Pictures, said that the production of Dragon Ball The Movie is very sophisticated. Except for the plot being a bit "TV-like", it performs well in all other aspects.

But again, domestic audiences don’t seem to like watching this kind of theatrical animated movie.

Or maybe, the timing is wrong!

If it's not the Spring Festival, would it be better to switch to the summer vacation?

Gu Miao didn't know the answer. Anyway, he only knew that all three animated movies produced by Wanbao did not lose money.

This is enough!

Originally, the theatrical version was a continuation of the TV version. As long as there were no losses, we could continue to make it. Temporary gains and distortions were nothing.

If I really want to talk about it...

Wanbao is based on the foundation of the animation industry, which is actually TV animation. As long as this business is stabilized and nothing happens, animated movies can be made.

"Speaking of TV animation, Martin's Morning is really good."

"The original version is indeed a Sino-French co-production. It really has something to it. The Frenchman's animation foundation is quite strong..."

Gu Miao felt a little emotional.

The key to the success of the animation "Martin's Morning" lies in the script and script, and in terms of animation animation, to be honest, it can be done by substituting other people.

As for the script, if he remembered correctly, the original version seemed to be written by a French person, and the Chinese side was only responsible for the animation part.

This is the difference!

It seems to be a co-production between China and France, but who has contributed the most and who is the most important to this animation can be seen by the audience even if they are not blind.

“French animation is quite strong.”

Huang Kun, who was summoned to the office by Gu Miao's phone call, couldn't help but comment: "Their achievements in artistic short films have also been extended to the field of animation, and almost all short animations are excellent."

You have to admire this.

It is true that they cannot produce many long-form masterpieces, but in the field of short-form animation, it is undeniable that the French are strong.

Trivia!

In fact, in a sense, "Battle of Two Cities", the highly acclaimed LOL adaptation animation, can also be said to be a "French" animation.

Yes, this is true.

Riot Games is a North American company, but when they produced the animation "Battle of Two Cities", there were many French animators on the team.

In fact, Gu Miao knew this after seeing the unique Art Deco style displayed in the Piltover scene.

One of his former friends had to pretend to understand, saying that the art style of "Battle of Two Cities" was "American Manga style", which left him speechless.

It’s so obviously steampunk and French Art Deco style, how come it’s American comics?

It can only be said that French animation is indeed amazing, but too many people don’t understand it. When I see something that looks familiar, I won’t think of French animation.

European animation is no worse than North America.

But North American animation is backed by Hollywood, and its reputation and influence are greater than that of European animation. Therefore, many people feel that Hollywood is the best animation company in the world.

This is actually a misunderstanding.

The artistic style of an animation does not depend on where it is produced, but where the producer, that is, the director comes from.

About half of the artistic styles of classic Hollywood animations are deeply influenced by European animations, and most of the directors or producers of these animations are from Europe.

"Europe is quite strong."

Gu Miao nodded and said: "But they despise the industrialization of animation, which is destined to lead to the decline of their animation industry and the outflow of talents."

"Yes, we at Wanbao have many foreign animators from various European countries."

Huang Kun lamented: "Talents can be cultivated, but most of them will go to Hollywood. This is the most embarrassing thing about European animation."

If you have the opportunity, you can actually go to Europe to find a niche. There are still many animation masters who are engaged in art there.

This is the proposal given by Huang Kun.

Gu Miao thinks it makes sense. There are indeed many top animators in Europe. Just poaching a few will be enough to keep Wanbao idle for decades.

But that's not the point. The reason why he used "Martin's Morning" to talk about French animation was mainly to ask Huang Kun if he was interested in taking over Baby Bus Studio?

Wanbao's newly established Baby Bus Studio focuses on European animation art style. Its first work is "Thomas and His Friends".

This style is not easy to control.

After thinking about it, Wanbao Animation only has Huang Kun, the old Biden, who can take control of the overall situation.

"Me? I'm not suitable!"

Huang Kun scratched his head: "I really don't understand the artistic style of European animation! If I remember correctly, Europe should like stop-motion animation very much?"

"Yes, stop-motion animation."

Gu Miao affirmed.

European children's animations, especially animations such as "Thomas and Friends", like to make stop-motion animations.

I don’t know what their obsession with stop-motion animation is. Anyway, as long as it is animation, any subject can be made into stop-motion...

"Since it is stop-motion animation, Liang Xiaodong is more suitable than me!"

Huang Kun said with a smile: "He is a veteran in this field. He can do everything from puppet animation, paper-cut animation, stop-motion animation to clay animation."

"Liang Xiaodong..."

After Gu Miao muttered something, she felt that what Huang Kun said was reasonable.

If I have to say it, Liang Xiaodong and his puppet studio are the most suitable production team for the animation "Thomas and Friends".

But the problem is...

Liang Xiaodong is the general manager of the puppet studio! Transfer him to the newly established Baby Bus Studio, what about the Puppet Studio?

"Doesn't he have a junior brother?"

"His junior brother has been with him for so long and has participated in the production of many animations. It should be no problem to take over the overall situation from Liang Xiaodong, right?"

Liang Xiaodong’s junior brother? !

Gu Miao thought about it seriously, then picked up the landline phone on the table and called Liang Xiaodong.

Not long after, Liang Xiaodong came to Gu Miao's office and met Mr. Gu and Huang Kun.

When he learned that Mr. Gu wanted to transfer him to Baby Bus Studio to produce the animation "Thomas and His Friends" as the person in charge and director, he was stunned.

"Yes, yes..."

"That's fine, then it's decided. You pack up and go directly to the Baby Bus to report, and get the production team up as soon as possible."

Gu Miao didn't wait for him to finish, and made a decisive arrangement: "Before June this year, I want to see Thomas the train galloping on the TV screen."

"Okay, Mr. Gu!"

Although there were many doubts in his heart, since Mr. Gu had made the arrangement, Liang Xiaodong could only nod in agreement.

As for the puppet studio, as Mr. Gu said, since his junior brother is still here, there won't be any trouble.

“The baby bus is important!”

Worried that Liang Xiaodong would not take this project seriously, Gu Miao explained: "Most of the audiences covered by this studio are preschool children."

"The influence of this type of animation is exaggerated. If it is done, it will not be worse than SpongeBob SquarePants in the future."

"And you can think more broadly. Baby Bus's works don't have to be animations!"

"Ah! It doesn't have to be animation?"

Liang Xiaodong and Huang Kun were both stunned.

What's the meaning? Is it possible that a work produced by an animation studio is not animation?

"certainly!"

"I have already said that your goal is to reach as many preschoolers as possible. As long as it can attract their attention, any work will do."

Gu Miao shrugged and said, "As long as these preschool babies like to watch live-action TV series, you can also film them."

Let’s not talk about Peppa Pig.

What Gu Miao wants to express is actually special works like "Teletubbies" and "Garden Babies" that are between live-action TV series and children's animation.

These two works are often included in the category of "children's animation".

But the original version was played by real people.

This is very embarrassing. You say it's a live-action TV series, but it doesn't quite fit. You say it's a children's animation, but that's not...

That's why Gu Miao asked Liang Xiaodong to open his mind wider and stop thinking about animation.

In the eyes of preschoolers, the boundaries between children's animation and children's programs are not so clear to begin with. They can be said to be of the same nature.

not to mention.

Gu Miao originally approved the establishment of the "Baby Bus" studio with the idea of ​​"Teletubbies" and "Garden Babies" in mind.

"Thomas and His Friends" is just a test of the waters, a simple test of whether the waters of preschool cartoon animation are deep.

After testing the depth of the water, it’s time to use big killers like Teletubbies and Garden Babies to brainwash kindergarten friends around the world.

Peppa Pig will also be there!

The style of this pig is actually quite good, although the painting is indeed very abstract and does not meet the aesthetic taste of most viewers.

But this is a cartoon animation for young children! I didn’t make it for you to see, so what’s there to complain about?

Of course, this is limited to the early Peppa Pig.

"Peppa Pig" a few years ago is indeed a god among gods, and it is reasonable for it to sweep the world and become a phenomenon-level animation work.

But the latest seasons...

As "Peppa Pig" added "same-sex couple" characters to the animation, and the producers went crazy with private goods, Gu Miao guessed that this IP was going to be ruined.

Regardless of the private goods and suicide attempts in the later period, if you only look at the early stage, "Peppa Pig" is indeed pretty good. As an animation for children, its popularity and influence are amazing.

You may not have seen the anime, but you must have heard of it.

You may not be interested, but when you see the pink "hairdryer" piggy, you will definitely recognize it as Peppa Pig.

This is a manifestation of influence.

Works like Teletubbies and Garden Babies may not be particularly compatible with Wanbao Animation.

But "Peppa Pig" is definitely a perfect fit. After all, isn't this a natural thing for animation companies to engage in animation?

"Good job!"

Gu Miao patted Liang Xiaodong on the shoulder and encouraged: "Not many viewers may know about the Puppet Studio, and not many children like your previous works."

"But Baby Bus is different. Every animation you produce here will be a world-renowned super IP, sought after and loved by countless children."

Liang Xiaodong is famous both at home and abroad if he really produces works such as Peppa Pig, Teletubbies and Garden Babies.