重庆邮电大学移通学院本科毕业设计（论文）
附 录
一、 英文原文
DEVELOPING DIGITAL CHINESE WATER-INK
ANIMATION
Yue Zhou
Introduction
Water-Ink painting is a Chinese traditional art and is considered the most representative style of Chinese art. In the 1960’s, water-ink style animation was created during a Chinese period of animation industry prosperity, and the style grew from obscurity to be easily recognized in the world of animation. Ironically, as world interest in Chinese animation was growing, at home, development of animation was being stymied by political change. The situation was made more complicated by a growing interest in foreign animation that continued into the end of 1980s. At that time, Chinese interest in traditional ink painting began to wane. In comparison of the prosperity period of Chinese animation industry in the 60s and 80s, today China’s animation is at its develop stagnation period. Money becomes an important constraint of the animation industry, discouraging the true development in the art of animation.
As we enter into the 21st century, Chinese water-ink animation has been showing signs of revival and may regain its prominence through globalization and modernization. With technology advancing across the globe, Chinese water-ink animation has been adapted and tailored to fit in digital world. Digital water-ink animations produced in the style of traditional Chinese ink painting provide excellent examples of how technology has merged with old media. Currently, there has been international teams and individuals using the digital technology production in water-ink animation. A few pieces were recognized by the international media. For example, both Ode to Summer (2003) and INK (2009) digital water-ink animation focuses on the relationship between ink and water, using 3D software to simulate the effects of ink in water with non-rice paper background to create the style of water-ink animation.
However, after investigation on water-ink painting and water-ink animation’s history, rice paper stands as an important status in the art of water-ink works. As for the painting, the four primary tools are Brushes, Chinese ink, rice paper, and Ink Slab, which are called the ”four treasures” in study. Chinese scholar Moruo Guo describes
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重庆邮电大学移通学院本科毕业设计（论文）
the relationship between rice paper and painting is that: ”rice paper is an artistic invention created by the Chinese labor working people, Chinese calligraphy and painting cannot be separated with rice paper or it would lose its artistic charm.” Prodigious painting master Daqian Zhang has praised that, ”rice paper is the lifeline of the traditional Chinese painting”. In addition, another well-known Chinese painter, Baoshi Fu, consider ”rice paper as an important element in tradition Chinese painting. which is the most excellent materials among all the calligraphy and painting, possibly even the most dominating element of representing traditional Chinese art.” Therefore, I believe that through the development of digital water-ink animation, these traditional elements should have been kept. Thus, my thesis explores digital water-ink animation of the style with rice paper background, focus on the effects of ink spread on the paper.
The appearance of Chinese water-ink animation
This chapter will introduce the history of Chinese animation industry, and the appearance of Chinese water-ink animations and how Chinese politics influenced its growth and development.
History of Chinese Animation Industry
The appearance and development of Chinese water-ink animation are closely related to Chinese politics. Many history books and theses centering on the topic of ink animation often teach by using significant historical events in China. According to JiLin Art College’s Animation History Around the World 1879 2002, Chinese animation can be separated into six time periods.
1. 1922 to 1945 is the early stage and era of discovery 2. 1946 to 1956 is the stabilization period of Chinese animation 3. 1957 to 1965 is the prosperity period of Chinese animation 4. 1966 to 1976 is the darkest period of Chinese animation (Cultural Revolution) 5. 1976 to 1989 is the Second prosperity period of Chinese animation 6. 1990 to present is the mass expansion of the Chinese animation industry.
In Animation in China chapter 1- Animation in Asia, Lent uses major historical events as guidelines to the development of Chinese animation. The period before the establishment of People’s Republic of China; Early days of establishment; Golden Age of Chinese Animation, Culture Revolution (the darkest period of Chinese animation) and Post Cultural Revolution and Opening (Second prosperity period of Chinese animation).
The years 1922 - 1945 marked the early age, an age of animation exploration. In 1918, the first American animation film Out of the Inkwell was introduced in China. During that time, American animation had high recognition; therefore, many Chinese were interested in learning animation production. Shuzhendong Chinese Typewriter 1922, by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan is the first Chinese animation ever made. In the next few decades, Chinese animation addressed various topics. In 1924, Zhonghua Film Company created the animation Dog Treat, and Shanghai Tobacco Company created New Year. These two films were among the earliest of Chinese animations in the history. However, they failed to make an impact and the film that really caught everyone’s attention was the film Studio Scene created in 1926 by Wan brothers. In
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重庆邮电大学移通学院本科毕业设计（论文）
1935, Wan brothers produced the first animation with sound: The Camel’s Dance. In 1941, they went on to make the first full feature length animation: Princess Iron Fan.
The years 1946 to 1956 were the stabilization period of Chinese animation. In 1946, China Northeast Film Studio was established in the Heilongjiang province. Their vision at the time was clear and their aim was to service the military and farmers. Their primary focus was to produce documentaries. In July of 1949, Northeast Film Studio formed a Meishu film team, headed by famous comic artist-TeWei.
Upon the formation of the People Republic of China, the government was initially very interested in the development of animations. The government assembled a twenty-man animation team and sent them to the Soviet Union to learn animation techniques. This team later became the China Northeast Film production crew, which was later moved to Shanghai and changed its name to Shanghai Animation Film Studio in 1957. This ended up being the only government sponsored animation studio before the economic reform. During this time period, Chinese animation’s creation and production had the following characteristics: in terms of topics, fairy tales were used to attract children and youth, Cat Fishing (1952) and similar animations were made. In terms of style, Minzu style was employed, creating puppetry films like Magic Brush (1955) and animation film like The Proud General (1956). In terms of technology, black and white films changed to color, and they produced the first color puppetry film in China Litter Hero (1953) and the first color traditional animation Why is the Crow Black-Coated (1955).
The years 1957 to 1965 were the first prosperity period of Chinese animation. In 1957, Shanghai Animation Film Studio was created and it was the first independent studio to create Meishu films in China. Through guidelines of Let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend by Mao Zedong, artists were encouraged to produce different kinds of artworks. Animation production increased and overall aesthetic value and technology improved. Many films in this era won awards and accolades from international film festivals. The animation produced during this time period was constantly concerned with unique Chinese culture and was recognized globally as a legitimate movement. The Chinese animation movement sought to express artistic Minzu qualities.
At the same time period, world renowned classic Havoc in Heaven was produced. New films continued to flood the market: in 1958, the first Chinese paper-cut film Pigsy Eats Watermelon was successfully made. In 1960, the first origami film A Clever Duckling was made. In 1961, the first ink animation Tadpoles Looking for their Mum was made.
In 1963, another water-ink animation The Cowboy’s Flute was able to use ink to express characters, animals, and the environment, expanding the horizons of ink animation. In this roughly ten-year span, quite a lot of innovation happened in Chinese animation style. This included paper-cut animation, water - ink animation, and puppet animation.
The years 1966 to 1976 were the Cultural Revolution. The revolution engulfed all of China and was the greatest catastrophe in terms of Chinese art. Between the
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重庆邮电大学移通学院本科毕业设计（论文）
years of 1965 to 1972, China did not produce a single animation. The entire crews of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio were assigned to farming and other forms of labor, halting all development of animation production. After the Cultural Revolution, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio created many more pieces of work, but the style remained fairly similar and stagnant.
In 1972, Shanghai Animation Film Studio was the first to resume production and they were able to produce 17 animations before the end of the revolution 1976. The films of this era like Little Trumpeter (1973), Little 8th Route Army (1973), Little Sentinel of East China Sea (1973), and water-ink with paper cut technique animation film Bamboo Shoot Grown in the House (1976) did not have many breakthroughs in terms of style or technology. These films were predominantly used as propaganda for the government.
1976 - 1989 was the second period of prosperity for Chinese animation. On October of 1976, the new leader of the Communist Party ended the ten years Cultural Revolution. Towards the end of 1978, China entered a period of Opening. This period is considered to be the most prosperous period for Chinese animation. During these 10 years, when the Reform and Opening period occurred, the Chinese government weaned the few existing studios from total state support, encouraging them to subcontract for overseas companies and become more commercially oriented, and greatly increased their production quota to satisfy the voracious programming appetites of the increased numbers of television stations.
In this period of China, after the 80’s did television slowly become integrated into society, and Chinese interest surged in demand for animation. The country produced 219 animated films, generating large amount of high quality Chinese animation. This included water-ink animation works such as The Deer’s Bell(1982), Feeling From Mountain and Water ( 1988)The Fight Between the Snipe and Clam (1983). Feeling From Mountain and Water is the last non-digital water-ink animation work in the Chinese animation history.
The authors of World Animation History 1879-2002, published by Jilin Art College, believes that in the post-1990’s the stage was set for the Chinese animation industry to expand. However, this might actually be a lost period for Chinese animation development. At the end of 1980’s and early 1990’s, commercial animation from Europe, North America and especially Japan was imported to China. The first imported foreign animation film Astroboy was shown on China Central Television on December 1980. Since this new type of animation could be mass-produced, it quickly took over the market. In Japan, the success of the theatrical versions of the Yamato and Gundam series were seen as the beginning of the anime boom of the 1980s, which many consider the beginning of the ”golden age of anime”. This anime boom also marked the beginning of ”Japanese Cinema’s Second Golden Age”, which would last until around the beginning of the 2000s. These animations that were created in Japan in the 80’s, and were mass imported to China in the 90’s.
In the 1990’s, encouraged by competition from other countries, Chinese animations started a non-traditional path, using digital production techniques. During the digital age, Chinese animation traded the production of ethnic, art movies for the
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重庆邮电大学移通学院本科毕业设计（论文）
expansion and con8 tinuity of television animation. These larger productions include: Lotus Lantern, Music Up, Haier Brothers, Heroes in Sui and Tang Dynasties. However, these pieces are mostly imitation of foreign animation style and do not contain much of Chinese national/ethnic elements. For example, after the 90s, Music Up had an emphasis of Japanese anime look. Heroes in Sui and Tang Dynasties only imitated the glamorous Japanese clothing and aesthetic appearance of the characters, but it does not establish unique characteristics with Chinese spirits and Minzu. Lotus Lantern completely follows the Walt Disney Animation Studios creative process and production, however, the film did not make a great impression to its audience. During this period, Chinese animation is at the stage of imitation and begun losing their own of animation style.
Throughout the development of Chinese animation, among the most ethnic water-ink animation appeared during the developmental stage before the Cultural Revolution. During the Revolution, there was a hiatus in the development of Chinese animation. Thus, the production of water-ink animation did not appear again until after the Revolution. After the 1990’s, a combination of government policies to stimulate TV animation production, social benefit, and business value, continued to stymie the production of water-ink animation
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