What are the characteristics of Canadian animation?

More than 60 years ago, Norman McClellan started animation activities at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). McClellan is an active artist and an outstanding film experimenter. He allowed those animations with different styles, artistry and enthusiasm to occupy a place, so that decades later they became the cornerstone of NFB's mission. Since then, the animation development of NFB has always included experimental space, including trying to use different art media, such as paint, sand or computer, or challenging the structure and boundary of animation form, whether there is narrative or not. Whether it is the cultivation of emerging potential, different cultural reflections, beautiful stories or artistic scenes, there is always room for them. This tradition includes animations that challenge social problems and movies that make us laugh. This is essentially a respect for the central role of the creator/director (director). These cartoons reflect the inclusive national identity on Canadian soil. Just like small cultural ambassadors, they easily crossed the borders around the world.

After American cartoons gained world fame, European animators could not and would not copy their styles. They rarely criticize human failures, social conditions, or psychological entanglements, leaving the general trend of the world to politicians and writers to deal with. As long as these films keep up with the fashion trends, the situation and content need not be too complicated. The morality in the movie is very simple, and goodness will overcome evil. Before World War II, American cartoon factories also extended this set of values to all parts of the world.

Many talented cartoonists broke into the war in the propaganda film, such as Bob Krepert, tex avery and the young Fritz Freeland. However, after the layoffs, Disney Film Studio went all out to produce navy videos and short films for the government. With limited funds, it is not easy to complete a short film with both war information and ideology. But even in this case, Disney Studio released a long cartoon animation "Air Force Victory", which successfully publicized American moral consciousness.

World War II destroyed the commercial distribution and production channels of cartoons, but the classification of the world market did have another meaning, that is, different countries and regions began to have the opportunity to develop their own animation forms.

The war created a lot of market demand for national propaganda, especially in the United States, Canada and Britain, the Soviet Union and Japan. Many countries have established animation production centers, and this situation remained until the 1950s. After the war, Donghua became a worldwide expression medium.

In Europe, Hua Dong has made great progress in Britain. 1930 The mass post office has trained a group of outstanding young animators. The new animation company "Halas and Bachelard" was recruited by the "Intelligence Bureau" and filmed a series of cartoon short films supporting the war, such as the warehouse parade (194 1) to save metal and iron for making guns and grow vegetables for victorious farming (194 1). They filmed 70 films during the war. At the end of the war, in order to tell the changes and reforms of the national social structure, they still publicized through animated media. These films are designed according to the common sense of the public, adopt the adult's point of view, and use rational debate instead of perceptual humor to identify and understand. Later, this form was widely adopted by the film industry, so the connotation and appeal of animation were also expanded, reaching new goals. Then, animated media are used for public relations, corporate advertising and education, not just interesting and dynamic stories. In other countries in western Europe, another new animation design style was developed later.

194 1 year, Disney's animation industry suffered a huge blow. Animators affiliated with Disney want to organize trade unions to resist Disney's long-term exploitation. Disney is powerful and elegant. Therefore, the long-term fierce debate between the two sides led to both losses. As a result, a number of animations, including John Hubley, left Disney and established United American Production Company (UPA) at 1943. Their ideal is to reform the existing animation style. UPA has little capital to start a business, and most of its artistic value is little or even paid for his office. UPA originally adopted the partnership system, which consisted of Janchelli Sneiko, David Hebman and Steve Boucharst, who originally belonged to Disney. Their first film, Lien Chan Bang, was a campaign film shot by franklin roosevelt, a municipal party committee, funded by American trade unions and directed by Chuck Jones.

The tenth work pays more attention to three-dimensional expression and realistic route, while UPA prefers plain, stylized and popular line design, replacing Disney's beautiful romantic fairy tales with criticism of social politics. Brothers and the Hanger is the best example. Because of lack of funds, they can't afford the gorgeous cost of Disney, so they can only create in the form of "limited animation", use fewer books to come to China, strengthen key actions, and use strong story and powerful sound design to drive the development of the plot.

UPA has changed people's views on animation in the past. After winning the prize, UPA soon had its own spokesperson. Such as Mr. Magu (1949), Boeing Boeing (195 1). John Hubley's bright and clean painting style captured people's hearts, and his painting style also influenced Disney's works. In 1950s, Hollywood cartoon films gradually declined. Because of the high cost of animation production, few short films can recover their costs by cinema screening. Although large film studios proposed to "buy flowers" by time, that is, when buying strong films for cinemas, they also asked the other party to buy another drama and a cartoon or news film, which temporarily saved the way for comic short films, but this sales promotion technique was later banned by the High Court. As a result, the animation departments of big companies were dissolved.

At this time, another new media, television, eased the dilemma of cartoon production. Major manufacturers have sold the rights to broadcast football cartoons to TV stations, accumulating a lot of financial resources. Over the past 30 years, the ratings of these replayed cartoons have been considerable, which has also prompted TV cartoons to become a new production form.

However, due to the time pressure of TV, production is often in short supply, so limited animation and flexible scripts must be adopted. It was Joseph Babela of William Hanna River who started to keep TV cartoons off track. They won the Oscar short film award for Tom and Jerry. 1957, their new company launched an adventure story about a dog and a cat, Rove and Reddy, which is more limited than the limited animation of UPA, but its color and ingenious painting style are very popular with the audience. Then yogi bear, Mo and other primitive people followed suit, and TV cartoons became new entertainment tools.

The 1960s was a dark period for American animation, because the forms of animation had been stereotyped as "weekend morning TV programs" and "children's favorite programs". With the increase of production cost, the quantity is getting less and less, and the quality is getting worse. Television stations gradually fill in the gaps with movies-this trend continues to this day.

After World War II, Japanese animation was in full swing, from Osamu Tezuka's cartoons to the rise of Miyazaki Hayao. From the establishment of individual independent production route to the establishment of animation industry, Japanese animation not only swept the domestic market, but also formed a whirlwind in the world.

While the cartoons of Hollywood film studios are declining, independent filmmakers, advertising animators and small studios in the United States and Europe are gradually emerging, showing a special aesthetic style, especially Zagreb Studio in Yugoslavia and the Canadian National Film Bureau.

After World War II, many animation factories were established in Eastern Europe, and animators had more freedom to express themselves. People often refer to Zagreb schools in Yugoslavia.

Zagreb Film Factory was established in the mid-1950s and consists of a group of artists and animators inspired by UPA films. They try their best to try limited animation and develop interesting stories and unique lines. For example, 196 1, an animated short film that stood out in the Academy Awards, was based on Kandinsky's lines and was freely displayed. Zagreb school animation is famous for its charm and shocking power, which has had a far-reaching impact on the development and artistic play of world animation in the 1960s.

The Animation Department of Canadian National Film Board was established in 1942, which was launched under the auspices of creative animator norman mclaren De. Although the purpose of NFBC is to "explain Canadians to Canada and other regions", by the end of 1960s, the Film Bureau had become the vanguard of transnational free animation. He recruited famous animators from all over the world. In the late 1960s, he replaced Zagreb as the home of animators eager for personal creativity, and his position has not changed.

In 1970s and 1980s, the National Film Board of Canada made great achievements in animation and won seven Oscar awards, including Sandcastle by 1977, Strange Journey by 1978 and Every Child by 1979.

In the late 1960s, winter flowers rose again in America. In a nostalgic atmosphere, people re-examine the animation of the golden age in the 1930s and 1940s, and find that the beauty and beauty of full animation in that era are indeed incomparable to the TV cartoons made by "limited animation" later. These two films, Yellow Submarine (1967) and Felize the Cat (1972), make the old films feel worried. The former was directed by george downing, a Canadian cartoonist, who used all the animation techniques at that time to assemble the designers who were very popular at that time, including Peter Marks, an American, and Hans edelman, a German, who were invited to participate. The bold color style of the film and the Beatles' music form a sound.

Looking at the outstanding development in the 1960s and 1980s, one is the rise of the "author" and the other is internationalization.

The author is an important figure in the animation media, and there are many talented animators in this period. It is recognized that Poloz Ke (once upon a time, Mr. Teddy, Dom) and Sangliannika (Adam II, A) are two great figures at the lighthouse level, and they created the so-called "absurd animation" type.

The most obvious internationalization is the emigration of artists' resources, such as Gene Deitch, Jan Lenica and Valentin Poloz, who originally lived in Prague and later moved to Western Europe to work in France. In addition, multinational joint animation companies have mushroomed, and companies in countries with high labor costs (such as the United States) tend to sign contracts with cheaper foreign companies.

Another amazing phenomenon from 1960s to 1980s was the increase of feature films. Every country seems to have produced feature films. The most famous ones are The Arabian Nights and Cleopatra directed by Osamu Tezuka and produced by hideo yamamoto, and the restricted cartoon Felix the Strange Cat.

In the early 1970s, the American animation industry faced a talent shortage. They began to offer talent training courses in studios around the world and animation courses in colleges and universities, giving young people the opportunity to create animated films.

In addition to the regular TV and cartoon programs on weekend mornings, at this turning point, animation is also moving towards the special effects of science fiction films, such as A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back in 200 1. The depiction of the future world in science fiction movies has promoted the development and application of computer animation in drama films, advertisements and telecommunication networks.

With the increasing production cost of live-action movies, animation gradually shows advantages in production cost, especially TV advertisements and special programs. Therefore, new studios around the world combine computers with traditional animation equipment to make movies more exciting, from commercial advertisements to feature films. (A little plagiarism from Doha ... Never mind. . . )