In week 9 we were introduced to the ‘Chinese Animation’ style in class where we watched different short videos showing several different styles of animation, from those that only contain sound effects without any speech to those with conversations.
Videos:
Where is Mama (1960)
Xiao Kedou Zhao Mama | Also known as Little Tadpoles Looking for Mama follows the exciting adventures of a group of tadpoles who are looking for their mother. The simple story yet filled with Chinese aesthetics is a perfect animated work for children. The 15-minute long film was animated under the artistic guidance of Te Wei, who is experimenting to go outside the influence of Western animation style and ended up delivering the film through ins-wash and brush-painting style which was influenced by the works of Qi Bais
Buffalo Boy and the Flute (1963)
Mu Di | This 20 minutes long Chinese anime film is also known as The Cowboy’s Flute, and The Cowherd’s Flute. This is an enchanting story about a boy with extraordinary skill to play flute and his buffalo companion and will revolve around the special bond they shared.
Havoc in Heaven (1961, 1964)
Da Nao Tiangong | Also known as Uproar in Heaven, The Monkey King, Sun Ukun: Uproar in Heaven, and Sun Wukong: Havoc in Heaven is the most well-known animated film from the Golden Age of Chinese animation. It was directed by Wan Laiming where he adapted many features from Chinese stage art that he used for the environmental and character designs, and even had referred to Peking opera’s military-style movement.
Site: https://www.yualexius.com/2021/06/golden-age-of-chinese-animation.html
After some research and having understood a little more about the Chinese animation style I started to find very well producing the animations with good context, history and productions that the films and short films showed in the details; well produced details.
Group:
After we learnt more about Chinese animation we had to start assembling groups of five people where we were going to make a poster about different styles of animation. Yuan showed a quick and basic way how each one in the class had the option to choose who they would like to make the group with and what animation you would like to work on!
In my group I selected the ‘Japanese Animation’ style where I was together with Joyce, Chloe and Jessica. From the very beginning when we got together we started organising ourselves about what we were going to talk about on the poster and how we were going to communicate.