There are two large bright windows in the exhibition hall of Meiying Factory.
Compared to the bustle in the house, the window view with snowflakes falling seemed even colder.
For business units in this era, winning a gold or silver medal, or winning a provincial and ministerial award is often a political task that cannot be shied away from.
For example, Jiangshan’s public service advertisement "Famous Paintings" won an award at the Dongjing Advertising Festival.
At the beginning of the production of that advertisement, the superior also issued a written notice of "fighting for the award".
Under normal circumstances, when faced with the word "strive for" in the notification letter, subordinate units will all implement it according to "must".
"Our unit's films have not won awards on the international stage for several years,"
Tewei is really happy today: "I originally thought that "Nezha Naohai" would make some noise, but I didn't expect that the good news of "Mudi" was waiting for me."
Jiang Shan just wanted to be a qualified listener at this moment.
But the news scenes that kept popping up in his mind kept reminding him that several animated films released by American Film Studio in 1979 will achieve impressive results this year and next.
Dai Tielang said at this time: "Director, the first work of our unit to win an international award should be the puppet show "Magic Brush", right?"
"Yes, that's it,"
Te Wei still knows a lot about the studio's first internationally recognized film:
"The film "The Magic Brush" was aimed at winning awards. At that time, the factory prepared for two years to complete the production of this color puppet show."
"Two years?" Xu Ju was shocked.
He really didn't expect that something that was so trivial in his eyes would actually take so much time.
"It won't take our bureau that long to build a factory!"
"That's right," Te Wei admitted. "Not to mention your bureau, there are few in the world with the construction speed of Minhang Street!"
Xu Muchun waved his hand: "Not to mention Road 1, with a construction army of 100,000 people, it would be strange if there is no miracle!"
In 1959, it was still an era of hybrid gasoline and electric lighting.
One hundred thousand workers in Pujiang not only built an asphalt road on a piece of farmland in just 78 days, but also erected 13 buildings along the road.
After that, it took less than three months to complete the 18 buildings of the second phase of the No. 1 Road project.
Since then, the reputation of "Minhang No. 1 Road" has become completely famous.
Like the nine buildings in Xuhui New Village, these two landmarks will inevitably appear in the lens of any documentary filmed by Pujiang.
After hearing what Xu Muchun said about a hundred thousand troops, Te Wei also smiled.
"You have to be clear about one thing. When we were preparing for "Magic Brush", our unit had not yet built a factory!
It's just an art team in a studio, and the entire team does not exceed 20 people.
The art team has never been exposed to puppet theater, so everything has to be started from scratch."
The shooting cycle of Pujiang Meiying Studio’s art films is always very short.
The reason is firstly because of the meticulous craftsmanship and patient polishing of the production team.
Another point is that many film production techniques are explored while shooting.
In other words, the works produced in the years before and after the establishment of the factory were a process of learning and growth.
"Do you know how many awards "Magic Brush" won that year?" Tewei stretched out a hand to Director Xu:
"Starting from the first prize at the Venice Film Festival in Italy, "Magic Pen" has won awards in five countries."
"Really? That's pretty awesome."
"In order to ensure that this puppet show can produce results, our crew decided to put more effort into traditional arts such as ancient architecture, ancient furniture, gardens, Feng Shui, and farming..."
"Wait a minute," Director Xu said, confused: "When making a cartoon, do you still need to pay attention to Feng Shui?"
"It's not that cartoons are about Feng Shui," Te Wei explained:
"It's that the scenery in the film must pay attention to Feng Shui. It's not possible if you don't pay attention to this thing. Do you think it's so easy to win foreign awards?
The puppet show "The Magic Brush" itself is a stop-motion art film.
Our positioning of it at that time was to make each set of freeze-frame images a work of art.
Otherwise, where does beauty come from?”
"But..." After hearing this, Jiang Shan also wanted to ask: "Where should a puppet show reflect Feng Shui?"
"Yes," Chen Peisi was surprised: "Isn't this just a superstitious activity?"
"Little comrade," Qian Jiajun helped answer the question:
"Feng Shui has been said since ancient times. Feng Shui covers a series of knowledge such as geography, astrology, meteorology, etc. It is both a kind of knowledge and an artistic conception."
"We put a lot of effort into these artistic conceptions. There is a back chair with a Tuan Shou pattern, which the crew couldn't carve properly no matter how hard it was.
In the end, we hired a professional carving master to meet the requirements.
Although it is not as big as a fist, in our eyes, it can definitely be called a work of art."
The most amazing thing about "Magic Brush" is its setting.
It is obviously a small puppet show, but its skill in transformation is not inferior to the big productions of later generations.
Whether it is the sophistication of the Chinese-style scenery or the verisimilitude of the props, they are both outstanding.
The zigzag pattern on the door of the moon cave in the garden, the tilted head table and footrest, the longevity pattern patch on the official uniform, a sword hanging high on the west side of the hall, the red lacquer carved sparrow...
Let’s not talk about the explanations, just these palace-level props are enough to make people fall in love with them.
"Are these props still alive?" Jiang Shan asked Wang Chang, "If they are still there, I would like to see them."
"It's on display in the showroom," Wang said, "I'll take you to take a look after the meeting."
"Excuse me, I've never seen these small film and television props before!"
"The shooting props in our factory are well kept, as are the drawings. After "Magic Brush" won the award, it has even more meaning to preserve them,"
Speaking of this, Director Wang suddenly laughed: "Actually, there was another film that won an international award that year, but our director was too embarrassed to mention it."
"What am I embarrassed to mention?"
Seeing Jiang Shan and Chen Peisi purse their lips and suppressing smiles, Tewei responded immediately: "Not only do I have to mention it, but I also have to mention it emphatically."
"Don't force it too hard. Who hasn't had something bad to do?" Director Xu seemed to be trying to smooth things over, but the next second he said, "But I'm confused. I've already won the award, why can't I mention it?"
"Don't listen to their nonsense," the water glass in Tewei's hand began to shake:
"But...it is indeed a bit embarrassing. In the year when "The Magic Brush" was filmed, our unit also filmed a cartoon called "Why Are Crows Black?"
Speaking of which, this film is our country’s first color cartoon!
When I was sent out to compete, the organizers mistook it for a Soviet cartoon.
Afterwards, the Ministry of Culture was so angry that they slapped the table and gave us orders that we must produce films with our country’s own style.”
When it was mentioned like this, Jiang Shan was somewhat impressed.
I remember that the teacher specifically talked about this in school.
Not to mention the movie "Why Are Crows Black?", even the few black-and-white cartoons made before have a Disney flavor.
Therefore, this cartoon that was mistakenly attributed to the Soviet Union is not only an embarrassing end for American Film Studio, but also a glorious historical node for our domestically produced art films.
"Since then, our factory has determined to produce our own cartoons!"
A celebration party for "Mu Flute" reminded the old factory director of many past events.
"Then what is the national characteristic of our country? Of course it is Peking Opera."
"I still remember "The Proud General" clearly to this day," Director Xu's eyes lit up: "That's how this film came about!"
"Speaking of which, I took the lead in filming this art film,"
As soon as he talked about his favorite works, Tewei started to name them again:
"Yan Dingxian and Lin Wenxiao were only 19 years old back then, and Duan Xiaoxuan was only 20 years old. They were both novices who had just graduated from school and joined the group..."
In 1956, all the generals of the American Film Studio were just newly employed interns at that time.
In Jiangshan's view, this color cartoon filmed immediately after "Magic Brush" can definitely be called the originator of our country's national animation.
After the script came out, Yan Dingxian often took several interns to the theater to watch Mei Lanfang's Peking Opera.
At the beginning, a group of young students were reluctant.
But after watching it a few times, I felt deeply inspired.
Afterwards, I became obsessed with it!
It's a pity that the work unit cannot give much support to a theater ticket that costs a few yuan.
However, we also found several master-class temporary workers for the crew.
Shang Changrong’s teacher Chen Furui serves as the action director on the crew.
Chen Gexin, the author of "Congratulations", was not only responsible for arranging the music for "The Proud General", but also personally directed the Shanghai Film Orchestra to perform the soundtrack.
The cartoon "The Proud General" was considered a big production back then.
The film describes a general who, after returning from victory, began to neglect his martial arts and pursue pleasure.
At the end, when the enemy troops besieged the city on all sides, the story of sharpening their guns in battle began.
Chen Gexin arranged the song "Ambush from Flying Daggers" at the end of the film. Not a single soldier was seen, but it still accurately interpreted the atmosphere of "dark clouds are threatening to destroy the city".
In order to let the world have a good look at what Chinese style is, Te Wei not only led the crew to travel to Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and other places to collect styles.
It also skillfully integrates ancient architecture and major elements from the Chinese quintessence of Peking Opera into this drama.
Not a single train ticket or theater ticket was wasted at all.
"Your film "The Proud General" not only captures the national style,"
Jiang Shante looked at the old factory director sincerely. If he could express it in the words of later generations: "He simply created a school of thought!"
Te Wei thought: "Created a school of thought?"
"Yes," Jiang Shan nodded firmly: "If this work of yours is not considered the pioneering work of the Chinese art film school, let alone other films."
When Jiang Shan said the last word, all the comrades at the party looked at their old factory director.
