ANIMATION MORE THAN A FANTASY

Creative approaches needed in artistry and business as animators face bottlenecks in traditional broadcast media, Eric Jou reports.mini storageAccording to the China Interna- tional Cartoon Network website, rev- enues from domestic animation will hit $32 billion by 2015.There is even growing demand from overseas. h e Blue Ocean Net- work has found foreign viewers start- ing to follow Chinese animations such as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.But the path to original content is long and domestic animation compa- nies have suf ered under criticism for failure to even create quality China- themed work.It took Steven Spielberg's Dream- Works studio to make the blockbuster Kung Fu Panda — and both the mar- tial art and animal are Chinese icons.So some local studios are taking a dif erent route to creating and pro- ducing original content.Dans Digital in Shenzhen has been around since 2003 and has reaped award after award for its original work. While Dans isn't pursuing ani- mation in cartoons, it is deemed an animation company in China because it works in graphics.Dans Digital founder Deng Bohong said he and his relatively small 40-man team strive to use spe- cial ef ects and computer graphics to tell a story. He said since the company was founded, there was never a desire to do outsourcing work or even full- length features."We've never done outsourcing and we don't care for it," said Deng. "Mov- ies to us also lack creativity. We use our techniques but ultimately we are work- ing to create someone else's vision."Movies and outsourced work can help cultivate skills and techniques, but ultimately they do not of er cre- ative freedom, he said.So Dans Digital has chosen to cre- ate commercials and short i lms. Most recently it won a series of awards at the prestigious Siggraph conference, which is short for Special Interest Group on Graphics.Competing with companies that have worked on graphic-intensive movies such as James Cameron's Ava- tar, Dans was the only Chinese ani- mation house to take home trophies.To Deng, it's never been about going commercial. He said all he wants to do is tell stories.While he has his sights set on rais- ing the bar, he said China's animation industry as a whole is facing an uphill battle. "I believe the problems that Chi- na's creative industry faces right now aren't about itself alone — it's the social and cultural environment.""In every nation in the world, once society and economics are stable there will be a period of cultural expansion.h ere will be an expansion in China, but right now all we can do is wait."h at doesn't mean do nothing — it means to work on other issues such social issues and values."A look at the way traditional broad- cast animation is produced in China illustrates Deng's point.For a domestically made animated cartoon to air in China, studios and art houses usually must provide 100 episodes of a show and be able to sell it to Chinese Central Television. Only at er the show is picked up by CCTV will it be viable for airing on satellite networks.That makes it very hard for ani- mation studios to break into the industry. To avoid the roadblock and create interesting work, the duo at Wolf Smoke studios self storagen Shanghai have dropped traditional media in favor of the Internet.Founded in 2006 by Yang Jinroh and Xie Xianhui, Wolf Smoke has been producing animated shorts for both domestic and Western compa- nies, but their work is their own and not an outsourced product for some- one else. They have been winning awards and clients alike.Last year, Wolf Smoke was approached by Warner Bros to create their take on the iconic Batman prop- erty. h ey brought the caped crusader to Shanghai. It was highly popular."We just like to create work with our own values and style so we started making our own original content,"Xie said.Citing issues with Chinese net- works about animated programming and how short animated i lms aren'thighly desired on Chinese TV, Xie said the Internet became the medium for Wolf Smoke to share its work.A current project called Woo Yin is a blend of martial arts fantasy and Chinese ethnic elements. Xie said the idea is to create original projects with a focus on the highest caliber and quality of animation while at the same time blending in some Chinese character."China has a long history which gives us endless source material," said Xie. "However the world has limited knowledge of Chinese original ani- mation, so we try with our original work to dig up unfamiliar parts of Chinese culture to bring the audience a special experience."We would like to present what has been overlooked in Chinese culture in the form of animation."Growing up fond of the work by Shanghai Animation Film Studio in decades past, Xie says that Wolf Smoke draws from inspiration from the stu- dio's golden age. "China has excel- lent classic animations such as In the Heavenly Palace, Nezha Conquers the Dragon King and Conch Girl," said Xie."But in recent years China has lost its momentum. When we carry on that style, we combine modern popular techniques of expression to create works both innovative and vintage."Ultimately Xie says she and Yang both feel strongly about the pursuit of original content. "h e quality of work is the most important thing," said Xie. "Our competitors aren't from the low-end — we are competing against excellent work from Hollywood and other places."Contact the writer at ericjou@chinadaily.com.cn.The names of Chinese animation studios have long been showing up in the credits of foreign products. h at might please those mentioned, but creat- ing quality content for domestic audiences has been incredibly hard with so many animation companies engaged in outsourcing. But a change is on the way as more and more domestic animation houses use their skill to produce the content they conceive. In early September, the People's Daily said more Chinese viewers are tuning in to watch domestic animations because the quality is getting bet- ter. It also stressed the need to create original content.The animated short Mountain Shu was produced by Wolf Smoke in 2008.Little Big War was produced by Wolf Smoke in 2011. Screenshot of Kung Fu Cooking Girls Screenshot of Mountain Shu Kung Fu Cooking Girls was produced by Wolf Smoke in 2011.We would like to present what has been overlooked in Chinese culture in the form of animation."XIE XIANHUI WOLF SMOKE'S FOUNDERmini storage