CATDOLL: 2015 China Jilin International Animation and Game Forum was held

From September 15th to 16th, the 2015 China·Jilin International Animation and Game Forum was held as scheduled at Jilin Animation Academy. As one of the highlights of the 15th anniversary of the founding of Jilin Animation Academy, this high-end industry forum, which has been successfully held for seven sessions in Changchun, has attracted widespread attention from all parties. Which "big names" in the animation and game industry were invited to this year's forum? What international cutting-edge topics will this forum discuss? What far-reaching impact has the industry platform built by the forum had on the development of Jilin Province's animation and game industries? With many questions, the reporter walked into the Cultural and Art Center of Jilin Animation Academy, hoping to find out at the two-day China·Jilin International Animation and Game Forum!

Nearly 20 experts and scholars gathered in Spring City to "diagnose and discuss"

It is said that Hollywood cartoons are good, but what can we learn from "Frozen" and "Kung Fu Panda" and other cartoons, besides sweeping the global box office? How can Chinese animation break through the dilemma of quantity but no quality, young audience, weak plot, etc., which are often criticized by the audience? Also "Made in China", who supported "The Return of the Great Sage", which earned nearly 1 billion yuan at the box office? I believe that people who pay attention to the development of China's animation and game industry cannot avoid pursuing the above answers.

In Jilin Province, whether it is the teachers and students of the first animation college in China, Jilin Animation College, or various animation and game companies in the province, including Jilin Jiyuan Space-Time Animation and Game Technology Group, they all urgently need to solve a problem - to create a platform with international vision, deep thinking, and high-level arguments. Therefore, people naturally think of the annual China Jilin International Animation and Game Forum.

The reporter saw many names in the guest list of this forum that amazed the industry. Among them, there are Miodrag Colombo, the special effects director of excellent films such as "Inception" and "Hugo", and Alex Weight, the chief animator of the animated film "Happy Feet", as well as Park Se-hyung, professor of the School of Image at the South Korean National University of Arts, Peter Vesterbacka, founder of the "Angry Birds" game and chief marketing officer of Rovio Entertainment Co., Ltd., and Kim Il, CEO of South Korea's Fanatic Heart Game Company... Nearly 20 internationally renowned scholars and experts in the animation and game industry will gather in the city of spring for two days to diagnose the advantages and bottlenecks of the development of animation in Jilin Province and discuss the new phenomena and trends on the world's animation and game platforms. Through high-standard, high-level, and in-depth discussions and exchanges among international professionals, a "chemical effect" higher than the forum itself will be produced - that is, to strengthen the ability to connect animation and game talent training with industry needs, convey the artistic charm of the world's excellent animation and game works, further strengthen cultural exchanges and cooperation between Jilin and the world, and promote the rapid development of China's animation and game education and industry.

"Collision + Exchange" three sub-forums will give you a panoramic view of the frontier

The 2015 China Jilin International Animation and Game Forum is divided into three sub-forums: Animation Forum, Comics Forum and Game Forum.

Among them, the animation forum is themed "Cultural collision of the times and experience exchange of the industry". The organizer will invite well-known scholars and experts such as Park Se-hyung, professor of the School of Image, Korea National University of Arts, and Alex Weight, an Australian animation director and screenwriter, to give keynote speeches; the comics forum is themed "The theme of the comic creation journey of creativity and dreams", and industry elites such as Hong Kong's famous illustrator Li Qiuming and Taiwan Illustrators Association director Zhan Dou Mao will make wonderful appearances; the game forum is themed "Digital Entertainment and Digital Life", and guests such as Peter Vesterbacka, founder of the "Angry Birds" game and chief marketing officer of Rovio Entertainment Co., Ltd., and Kim Il, CEO of South Korea's Fanatic Heart Game Company, will share the latest developments in the game industry with the audience.

In the era of "Internet +", domestic animation works are undergoing changes from the incubation of content creativity in the upstream of the industry to the marketization of downstream products due to the influence of the Internet. This point is reflected in various sub-forums. For example, in the animation sub-forum, Park Se-hyung, a professor at the School of Image, Korea National University of Arts, gave a keynote speech entitled "The Expansion of the Animation Field in the Era of Intelligent Media", which deeply explored the way out of animation in the era of mobile new media; and Zhu Wanzhu, a professor at the School of Image, Korea National University of Arts, gave a keynote speech entitled "The Choice of Korean Comics - The Possibility and Limit of Online Comics" in the comics sub-forum, which will provide thoughts on the possibility of the development of online comics; in the game sub-forum, Kim Il, CEO of the Korean Fanatic Heart Game Company, gave a keynote speech entitled "Thoughts on the Game Era after Mobile Phones", which focused on the new era of games developed by mobile new media.

These sharings, which embody the most cutting-edge wisdom in the industry, will undoubtedly provide guidance for the development of our province's animation and gaming industry in conjunction with the "Internet +" era. While bringing reflections and inspirations to industry professionals in our province, they will also promote a new round of development of our province's and even China's animation and gaming industry.

"Culture + Platform" helps Jilin's animation industry achieve great success

Since its establishment in 2000, Jilin Animation College has spent 15 years to establish a distinctive development path for private colleges and universities. Guided by the distinctive school-running characteristics of "open internationalization, integration of learning, research and production, and high-tech creative products", the college has been successively rated as a national animation teaching and research base, a national animation industry base, and a national cultural industry demonstration base. It has also established important research institutions such as the Jilin Higher Education Animation Engineering Center and the Game and Interactive Media Engineering Center. It has jointly established the Jilin Province Animation Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance with 21 universities and enterprises, and is a Jilin Province Industry-University-Research Cooperation Demonstration Base and Jilin Animation Culture Research Base.

It is worth mentioning that over the years, Jilin Animation Academy has not only hosted large-scale international animation and game forums such as the China Jilin International Animation and Game Forum, but also held nearly 30 cultural industry summit forums such as the global "Longxi Elite Youth Annual Peak Showdown" Advertising Creativity Summit Forum and the "Asia Next Generation TV Content Forum". It has also hired 328 high-level visiting professors and specially-appointed professors at home and abroad, including Mark Osborne, director of "Kung Fu Panda", Kent Osborne, screenwriter of "SpongeBob SquarePants", Robert Blairack, director of the 50th Academy Award for Best Visual Effects "Star Wars", and Anthony Molinara, winner of the 77th Academy Award for Best Special Effects. In December 2014, the school held the "2014 China Cultural Industry Summit", where industry elites such as Robin Li, founder and chairman of Baidu, Xiong Xiaoge, global executive vice president and president of IDG Asia, Wang Qiang, one of the founders of New Oriental and a famous investor, Yu Dong, president of Bona Film Group, and Hong Sang-pyo, president of the Korea Cultural Industry Promotion Agency, discussed the development of cultural industries in Northeast Asia and planned strategic cooperation space. It was also during this summit that Jilin Animation Academy reached strategic cooperation agreements with well-known domestic and foreign companies such as Baidu, Perfect World, iQiyi, and South Korea's top entertainment company IHQ. The holding of these international activities not only broadened the industry horizons of teachers and students of the school, introduced international high-quality educational resources, and enhanced the school's educational strength and brand influence, but also made positive contributions to the connection between Jilin Province's animation, games, design, media, film and television and other cultural and creative industries and the international community.

According to the reporter, it is precisely because of the broad-mindedness and courage of the theme of this school anniversary - "Leading the Future" that Jilin Animation Academy has formed a high-quality carrier with students as the main body and cooperated with companies such as Epoch Space and Pangu New Media in the 15-year development process. At present, Jilin Animation Academy has created animated films, 4D special films and animated series such as "Frog Kingdom", "Changbai Elf" and "No. 1 Happy Street"; 201 excellent animated short films such as "Tom and Jerry Who Will Be Buried"; and 2 large-scale online games such as "Guan Gong". Among them, animated 4D circular screen movies such as "Seed of Life" have been distributed in domestic and foreign theaters, theme parks, and science and technology museums; the original 4D circular screen movie "Fellows" represented Jilin Province and appeared in the Jilin Pavilion of the 2010 World Expo, which caused a strong response.

As for the cinema movies that can represent the forefront of the development of a province's animation industry, Jilin Animation Academy has also pioneered the production of Jilin Province's animation movies. The school's teachers and students jointly created the original 3D animation movie "Frog Kingdom 1". After the film was released on December 28, 2013, it won the "Tianma Cup" Best Action Design Award, the "Tianma Cup" Outstanding Screenwriter Award, the "Jilin Province Changbai Mountain Literature and Art Award", the 13th Spiritual Civilization Construction "Five One Project Award" of the Central Propaganda Department, and the China Culture and Art Government Award. It has also become the only Mandarin animation film in my country that has been shortlisted for the "Best Animation Award at the 8th Asia-Pacific Film Festival". So far, "Frog Kingdom 1" has been released in more than 40 countries and regions including Germany, the United States, and South Korea; "Frog Kingdom 2" has also been completed and is expected to meet the audience this year.

The achievement of the above results is closely related to the fact that Jilin Animation Academy has always adhered to the "normalization of forum culture". This is because the concept of this characteristic culture complements the three major characteristics of the academy, and has also built a cultural activity system with height, depth and breadth that is conducive to the healthy development of the school, and has played a role in promoting the school's brand influence, expanding the horizons of teachers and students, and strengthening the school's connotation construction. More importantly, these valuable "persistences" will give full impetus to the development of Jilin Province's cultural industry, especially the animation and game industries, to stride forward and keep pace with the times.