This Paper Man's Strange Stories is an animation that combines live-action and animation. It is twelve minutes long and has a voice-over. It is made by the three brothers Wan Guchan.

This is the first time Lin Zixuan has seen a domestic cartoon from the Republic of China period and is quite curious.

Since he controls the theater, most movie screenings in Shanghai require the arrangement of star film companies.

Lin Zixuan is not interested in ordinary movies and doesn't care much about these things, but when he heard that someone had made an animation, he still wanted to have a sneak peek.

The person who accompanied him to watch this movie was Wan Guchan, the director of Paper Man's Troublemaking, and is also the actor of the painter in the animation.

Wan Guchan was born in 19oo, the same age as Lin Zixuan, is from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He graduated from Shanghai Art College in 1920.

In January 1925, he worked as a drawing teacher at the Commercial Printing Museum Art Apprentice School, and in July he transferred to the Film Department to engage in art design.

It was at this time that he learned how to shoot a movie and had the idea of ​​shooting a domestic cartoon.

After leaving the event film department, Wan Guchan and his two brothers made this Paper Man Troublemaking Story together.

He didn't hide anything from Lin Zixuan.

The inspiration for this animated film was from the animated short film shot by the American Max Fryhue brothers. Although it has some references, they have all studied the shooting techniques themselves.

Because manufacturers of European and American animation companies strictly keep the animation production technology strictly confidential.

At this time, cartoons in Europe, the United States and other countries have already had a long-term development, and Chinese cartoons are still in a blank space.

Lin Zixuan did not pay attention to this direction before. After all, the market for cartoons is not big. He thinks it is not too late to wait until comics are popular in the United States or after TVs become popular before studying cartoons.

Wan Guchan and Lin Zixuan think differently.

He watched foreign cartoons and believed that what foreigners can do can be done, and Chinese people can do it better.

Their process of making this cartoon was extremely difficult.

The three brothers of the Wan family live in a seven-square-meter pavilion room in Sanfengli, Tiantong'an Road, Zhabei District, Shanghai.

The pavilion room is a unique residential culture in Shanghai. It is located above the stove room, under the balcony, behind the main room, and in the middle of the stairs.

The space of seven or eight planes is facing the north, narrow and dark. It is hot in winter and hot in summer, and bakes on and drys on the ground, which is a place for the low-income people who cannot afford to buy or rent high-end houses.

The reason why the pavilion room is mentioned is that many literati in Shanghai have lived in pavilion rooms before they became famous.

Pavilions are the choice of second- and third-rate writers in Shanghai. They have a short income and live in poverty, so they have to live here temporarily.

This is the same as the basement of the later Beibing migrants living in later generations.

Lu Xun also lived in the pavilion room in Shanghai. His collection of essays from the pavilion room was written in the pavilion room. His neighbors at that time also included Ye Shengtao, Shen Yanbing, Zhou Jianren and others.

Later, Luxun felt that the sound of playing mahjong in the alley was too noisy, so he moved to Beichuan Apartment.

Many northern literati lived in pavilions when they first came to Shanghai. Liang Shiqiu wrote in his career in pavilions.

"When killing chickens in the kitchen, no matter where you hide, you can hear the chickens crowing. When cooking fish in the kitchen, you can smell the fish. When setting fires in the kitchen, you can see wisps of blue smoke rising from the cracks in the floor."

The pavilions have become a culture in Shanghai, and the various life patterns of this city are recorded in a small amount.

The three brothers of Wan lived in a narrow and dark pavilion.

They converted their seven-square-meter house into a studio for painting, washing, printing, and screening, and saved money by saving money. They bought an old camera and converted it into a camera.

It was learned from hundreds of failed experiments and finally produced this animated short film.

They found a celebrity film company with a try-through mentality and wanted to screen the short film in the theater, so they were known to Lin Zixuan.

After watching the Paper Man's Memories, Lin Zixuan said that although the effect cannot be compared with the mature animations in later generations, it is already very amazing as China's first animation.

Especially in one of the scenes of paper people fighting, paper people are extremely flexible and the picture is vivid and interesting.

He remembered many classic cartoons from later generations, such as Snow White, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Cat and Mouse, and could copy the classic animation images of Disney in the United States first.

There may not be Disney company in the future.

Although the market for cartoons is not big, most of the audiences they face are children and require high investment. After a long period of polishing, it may take several years to carefully produce an American animated film in later generations.

But it's certainly a profitable deal.

First make the comic, then the cartoon, and finally the live movie

This is a very large industrial chain.

Thinking of this, Lin Zixuan's eyes looked at Wan Guchan with a hot look.

He said that he was extremely supportive of China's animation industry. Celebrity Film Company will set up an animation department and work with the comic department to create the Chinese animation world.

The connection between animation and comics has always been very close, and the hero comics he published in the United States have gradually gained sales.

Wait for another three years and enter the 1930s, these comics will become popular among American teenagers.

Because the United States was in the Great Depression at that time, generally speaking, the economic depression was a period of rapid development of the entertainment industry, which was called the "lipstick effect".

The "lipstick effect" refers to an interesting economic phenomenon that caused the hot selling of lipsticks due to the economic depression.

Or it is called "low-priced products prefer trend".

In the United States, whenever the economy is in a downturn, the sales of lipsticks will rise sharply.

This is because, in the United States, people believe that lipstick is a relatively cheap consumer product.

In the economic downturn, people still have strong consumption, so they will switch to buying cheaper goods. As a "cheap, non-essential commodity", lipstick can play a "comfort" role in consumers.

This economic theory was proposed during the Great Depression of the United States.

The "lipstick effect" is also established in the entertainment industry.

During the economic depression, the unemployed population surged and everyone was doing nothing, and people's income and expectations for the future would decrease.

The people's life pressure is increasing, and they need to temporarily get rid of reality and relax their spirits. They have no money to go on vacation, so they can only choose some cheap entertainment activities.

For example, watching a movie or buying a comic to find happiness and comfort.

Hollywood songs and comedy films were popular in the United States in the 1930s, precisely to cater to the audience's mentality of avoiding reality.

At this time, level heroes will be welcomed because people who lack security need protection from level heroes, or teenagers fantasize about becoming level heroes.

This is exactly what the times create heroes.

Lin Zixuan knew that three years later would be the season of harvest. Whether it was comics or movies, he could make wealth in the United States. (To be continued.)

◆You can get the view after going to the ground and come to the pavilion.◆ Mobile users, please visit http://m.piaotian.net
Chapter completed!