CATDOLL: Can new media break through the current landscape of China's animation industry?

Ten days after its release, the animated film "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes", which was derived from the popular online animated series of the same name, has secured its title as a "dark horse in the cinemas", earning over 100 million yuan at the box office with almost no hard advertising. This film, which has gone through the process of "comics-online animation-cinemas", has completed the transformation of Chinese animation to a younger audience, and has also caused many animation people to reflect.

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Last November, the classic manga "Naruto" written by cartoonist Masashi Kishimoto came to an end. "15 years of watching and waiting have come to an end, and the youth of a generation has ended." Many "Naruto fans" sighed.

"When I was in the second year of high school, I climbed over the wall and left school countless times to rent Naruto comic books. After ten years, Naruto (the protagonist of the comic) is no longer the kid who only knows how to scribble with paint and play pranks, and I am no longer the naughty kid who racks my brains to avoid the teacher's search." After seeing the news that Naruto has ended, Zhao Guoxiang updated his status on WeChat Moments: "Salute to Kishimoto and say goodbye to youth."

After graduating from graduate school, Zhao Guoxiang has been working at Qilu Securities. Even though he is busy at work, he insists on watching the updates of "Naruto" every week. "This has become a habit of mine and a part of my life." When asked how many domestic animation works he has watched, he frowned and said, "I am a fan of Naruto, not anime, but I hope China can also produce a Hayao Miyazaki and a few more "Naruto" movies."

"Storytelling is a science. It is not easy to tell a story in 15 years. Japanese comics are very original. Good original stories can attract readers to watch them episode by episode." In the view of Hong Fangkun of Zaozhuang Yijia Animation Production Co., Ltd., China does not lack good stories, but lacks people who can tell stories. "There are too many people working in the animation field, but there is a shortage of animation talents."

"The dimensions of time and space are broad, the imaginary world is full of three-dimensionality, the story is suspenseful, and the characters are fictional but full of flesh and blood." Zhao Guoxiang talked about the highlights of "Naruto" and said, "The story about friendship and love, loyalty and betrayal, life and death brought me a throbbing heart and resonated with me."

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"Although the Chinese animation market is now flooded with Japanese and American animations, from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, mainland animations were far superior in content and artistry to Japanese and American animations of the same period." Deng Youli, honorary chairman of the Taiwan Animation Creation Association, still remembers the booming Chinese comic book market in the 1980s. "In 1982, mainland comic book publications once reached more than 860 million copies, but just three years later, the comic book market collapsed, 64-page comic books (commonly known as small people books) withdrew from the stage of history, and a large number of excellent comic book artists lost their jobs and changed careers."

Since 2005, under the wave of rapid development of cultural and creative industries, various animation exhibitions and forums have sprung up in China, animation bases have been set up in various places, animation has instantly become popular all over the country, and the animation industry has become a "gold mine waiting to be developed."

"In fact, the strength of mainland China's animation industry should not be underestimated. The fact that several domestic animated films such as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf and Boonie Bears have grossed over 100 million yuan in consecutive years is a good proof of this." In Deng Youli's view, compared with five years ago, Chinese animation has taken a big step that is "worthy of applause."

"In terms of output, China's annual production of 270,000 minutes of animation is not inferior to any other country in the world, but in terms of production capacity, these 270,000 minutes are less than one-third of Disney." At the 2014 Cross-Strait Cultural and Creative Industry Development Forum, Wang Ying, vice president of the China Animation Society, made no secret of the fact that Chinese animation has not yet had a clear path to industrialization. "Some animation directors make up stories based on their own ideas, then do marketing and publicity based on the stories, and then go to the gambling market, while foreign countries mostly do market research first and then decide on the content of the filming."

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Although many viewers complained that "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes" was "not coherent and the jokes were not prominent enough", as a movie that followed the style of the online animation series "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes", it still received "likes" from many netizens.

"The new media era has injected new vitality into the animation industry, both in terms of broadcasting and exhibition platforms and content creation." Wang Liuyi, secretary-general of the Asia-Pacific Animation Association, believes that new media has changed the landscape of the animation industry and is expected to become a new breakthrough for Chinese animation.

“In the past, it was unimaginable that Taierzhuang could reach a cooperation with Taiwan’s first animation company, China Cartoon, but new media has made it all a reality.” On October 28, 2014, the Cross-Strait Animation Research and Creative Talent Academic Research and Exchange Base was unveiled in Taierzhuang. In Hong Fangkun’s view, new media has built a “golden bridge” for cooperation between the two sides.

At the end of 2014, the comic version of the famous online novel "Swallowed Stars" was published. Just like the extremely high popularity of this novel on the Internet, the comic version of "Swallowed Stars" was sought after by many netizens and also triggered a new round of "animation" of online novels.

"New media is not a hotbed for animation, it is a new round of battlefield, with more intense competition and higher elimination rate." In Deng Youli's view, new media animation is not simply broadcasting traditional animation on new media channels, but to develop new animation products with new media characteristics. "It requires higher creativity, the film should be short, the narrative should be complete and the thought should be profound."

According to Zhang Guangying, director of the China Animation Industry Alliance, new media animation needs more "brainstorming". "How to stand out from the tedious and complex information has become another test for animation practitioners."