CATDOLL: The comic book "The Long Song" by the beautiful cartoonist Xia Da will be adapted into a TV series

Recently, news came from the 11th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival that "The Long Ballad", created by cartoonist Xia Da from Hangzhou Xiatiandao Studio, will sign a contract with Huace Film and Television, taking the first step in adapting an original domestic comic into a TV series.

Beautiful cartoonist Xia Da

In recent years, starting with the "Pleasant Goat" series, domestic animation has repeatedly achieved great success on the big screen. For example, the movie version of "One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes" grossed over 100 million yuan, and the animation industry has become a major trend in developing in-depth IP for film, television and games.

However, these are still animated works, and the content is mostly funny and comedic, and the audience is relatively young. There is a comic version of "Tiny Times", but its original work is Guo Jingming's novel. There are currently few live-action TV series adapted from original comics in China.

The reason is obvious. Most comic works are fantasy in theme, and live-action adaptation is too expensive. Only Hollywood has the ability to turn Superman, Batman, Transformers and other works with special effects into super live-action Cosplay.

Fortunately, Hangzhou, as the animation capital, has taken a step to turn the situation around. The signing of Xiatiandao and Huace announced the birth of the first TV series adapted from a domestic comic.

Xia Da is a cartoonist very familiar to comic fans. She has created many "firsts" in domestic comics. She is the first cartoonist to serialize her works in Japan's top comic magazine and the first cartoonist to appear on the Spring Festival Gala. Readers of Qianjiang Evening News are no strangers to her because her work "Zi Bu Yu" was once serialized in this newspaper.

Xia Da's "The Long Ballad" is currently the pinnacle of original story comics in China. This work tells the ups and downs of the life of Li Changge, the daughter of Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Princess Yongning, after the Xuanwu Gate Incident during the Tang Dynasty.

Like "Startling by Each Step" and "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "The Long Ballad" has the natural conditions to be adapted into TV series: historical costume themes, a large structure, and many characters. Of course, there are also many beautiful women and handsome men.

Because of this, this work has been noticed by many top domestic film and television companies before it was officially authorized.

"Since 2013, people have been approaching us to discuss cooperation," Xiatiandao CEO Yao Feila told reporters yesterday. "We hope that The Long Ballad can become a high-standard, large-scale, quality production."

Xia Da herself is also looking forward to the adaptation and live-action of her work. While working on the manuscript, she has discussed many script adaptation issues with Huace screenwriter Yuan Shuai. One benefit of the TV adaptation is that many of her "brain holes" that she herself has not had time to draw have been realized one by one by the TV screenwriter.

The heroine Li Changge and the hero Ashina Falcon are the characters that are most valued by comic fans and Xia Da himself. For comic fans, who plays Li Changge is as important as who plays Xiao Long Nu for Jin Yong fans. Xia Da's ideal model for Li Changge in real life is Zhou Xun in The Palace of Eternal Life.

"Today, when online literature IP is overdeveloped, we have set our sights on the untapped field of original animation." Xie Qi, producer of the TV version of "The Long Ballad", said, "The Long Ballad will be Huace Film and Television's key IP project this year, with an investment of over 100 million yuan. We will invite popular idols to star in it, and use the shooting techniques of blockbuster movies and the art, costume, modeling and visual effects teams to jointly create an international high-end costume historical legendary drama. We have entered the script writing stage and plan to start shooting at the end of 2015 and broadcast it in 2016."

Xie Qi said that in addition to costume dramas, Huace will also explore more extensive cooperation. For example, another comic work of Xia Tiandao, "Lucky Migrant Worker Zhang Dazhuan", can be filmed into a fashionable and youthful online drama. "Many of Xia Tiandao's comic works have high click-through rates, especially those that are popular among young readers born after 1990, and will also be adapted into films and TV series one after another."