Chris Williams was already one of the indispensable and important figures in the entire Disney animation department before he officially entered Disney headquarters in 2008.

After graduating with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo in France, the young student joined Disney's Florida animation studio in 1994 and has several branches in the animation department of Disneyland, which owns Disneyland Orlando and has always been a leader in the era of 2D animation.

After joining the company, Williams' first job was to write the character script for "Mulan", the most unique and classic Chinese princess in Disney history, which was a huge success, and Williams was also transferred to the California branch, where he wrote the script for "Transforming the King".

During the creation of "Transforming the King," Williams wrote "Animated Film Representation" based on his own experiences, and the book earned him the Annie Award, the highest award in American animation, for individual achievement. At this time, it has only been six years since he entered the industry.

From Florida to California, Williams worked on screenplays in the film story department, and "The Legend of the Bear" was his project, but he also conceived many ideas for feature and short films, and then got the opportunity to create Disney's first 3D animated short film, "Guests of Glago", which landed at the Annecy Film Festival in France, one of the four largest animation film festivals in the world.

At that time, Disney had just acquired Pixar, and Pixar's navigator John Lasseter admired Williams' ability to tell stories, so he handpicked Williams to direct Disney's work "Lightning Dog" for Thanksgiving Day in 2008, which was Williams' first time as the director of an animated feature film, and he joined Disney's headquarters and further demonstrated his talent.

However, after that, Williams' name seems to have disappeared, and the truth is that he became a key member of Disney's 3D animation R&D department.

From the 2D era to the 3D era, Disney's animation department fell into a trap of self-confidence and arrogance, and gradually lagged behind the development of the times.

Williams was first involved in the production of "Frozen", he was also responsible for the voice acting of the elk, and then he took charge of the filming of "Super Marines". Strictly speaking, this is only his second feature film directorial work, but his role at Disney over the past nineteen years has been much more than that.

At this moment, Williams is just wearing a simple gray T-shirt with black suit pants, and the whole outfit looks one size larger, loosely draped on his body, looking like he has found a burlap bag to put on his body, coupled with messy hair and shabby old-fashioned leather shoes, the whole raunchy appearance is naturally reminiscent of a street homeless person.

But at this time, he was discussing ...... "cosplay" with great interest, which was a very wonderful thing.

Williams noticed the confusion in Lan Li's eyes, but he couldn't grasp Lan Li's meaning, and thought that Lan Li didn't know much about "cosplay", so he began to explain in a rambling manner, mentioning his favorite cosplayer, and mentioning last year's Halloween costume.

chattering and sprinkling, Lan Li has no room to interject at all.

Of course, Lan Li was not ready to interject, just listened quietly, and did he still gently bow his head to show his understanding, which made Williams more and more excited, dancing and explaining the profound influence of comic book superheroes on ordinary people, and why every superhero must have a mask and cape, and expressed dissatisfaction with Superman's "lazy behavior" of only using a pair of glasses to cover himself.

"Look, that's what I mean. Cosplay, I think it's a bit similar to being an actor, that we get the opportunity to play the role we want. Williams rubbed his hands together and said with great interest.

Lan Li gently nodded his head in understanding, "Understood." I just didn't think that anyone could explain acting in cosplay, and now it seems that I was too pedantic to limit my thinking. Lan Li asked for advice with an open attitude, and then said with a smile, "Also, I didn't expect that I was the most suitable person in the world to play this role. ”

As he spoke, Lan Li's eyes fell on the poster again, the image of Xiao Hong with a red helmet, as if standing in front of a mirror, forming a projection effect, but one is a cartoon image and the other is a real person, this intertextuality suddenly becomes subtle, and Lan Li's ordinary words just now become interesting.

At this time, Williams reacted, understood the true meaning of Lan Li's words just now and those surprises, and the extra-long reflex arc went around in a big circle before getting back on track, and then showed a somewhat jerky expression, using a smile to hide his embarrassment, "We are always like this." For us, the cartoon characters are the more vivid ones, they are the real ones, and the other people in the real world are all playing them, and this kind of insinuation is the opposite of other movie genres. ”

When writers or screenwriters create characters, although they can often find a projection of a realistic image in their minds, directors and producers still look for inspiration from actors, take the lead in determining actors, and even change the character settings such as "gravity" because of the actor's image, and the character of Ryan Stone changes from male to female, and then to male.

But the creative process of animated films is different because of the presence of cartoon characters. Those cartoon characters are real, but the actors in the real world need to "wear masks".

Lan Li didn't say anything, just nodded slightly, "It's my honor to be able to play Xiao Hong." Well, are you ready now? Tell me a little bit about the character?"

"Of course!" Williams nodded repeatedly, then suddenly bowed slightly, and began to rub his hands, his face showing a ...... Lewd/trivial expression If you can, Lan Li really doesn't want to use such an adjective, but Williams in front of him really can't find a more suitable word to describe it, it's just ...... It may be a more positive version of "obscenity", and then you can see that his eyes are shining slightly, and he gestured to the studio room door behind him, and lowered his voice to make a texture worth looking forward to, "Are you ready?"

Lan Li wanted to make a joke at this time, deliberately saying, "I really, really don't want to go in", but considering Williams' enthusiasm, Lan Li still decided to cooperate with the performance, smiling and bowing his head in affirmation.

Williams didn't notice Lan Li's mood change at all, completely immersed in his own world, held the doorknob with his right hand, and then slammed the door open as if opening the door of the Oz Kingdom, shouting in joy, "Dada! Welcome to our miracle studio!"

"......" This was Lan Li's only reaction.

Williams seemed to have anticipated that Lan Li would be disappointed, probably so many times, and each time the response was the same, "No, no, no, this is not just a recording studio!" Williams straightened up and quickly explained, "We're here to create miracles!"

Williams took the initiative to walk into the recording studio in front of him, facing his right-hand side, "This side is indeed the recording studio, which is the place where post-dubbing, sound effects, etc. are recorded, which can be seen in many studios, but the real magic lies on the other side." ”

Williams turned to his left hand side again, "In this work area, we will capture and analyze the demeanor and movement of the actors during the dubbing process, and then form a mutual echo with the cartoon characters, and in the subsequent production process, we will continue to integrate the characteristics and temperament of the voice actors to make the characters more lifelike." ”

This is something that Lan Li doesn't know, "Only for human characters?"

"Nope. All the characters!" Williams explains, "All the cartoon characters are anthropomorphized because it's a human interpretation, and naturally, those expressions and expressions are also human." It's like the Toy Story series, the toys have human expressions, and we want the audience to really relate to them. ”

"The same is true for 'Shrek'?" Lan Li asked in a raised voice.

"Yes, the donkey and the cat in Shrek are the same. A lot of what makes them so popular is due to the portrayal of the voice actors, you know, Eddie Murphy is a very, very good comedian, and he always brings the characters to life during the dubbing process. ”

Eddie Murphy is the voice actor of the donkey team in "Shrek".

Lan Li nodded in sudden realization, "Now I understand what you mean, this is indeed the place where art was born!" This made Williams show a satisfied expression, nodded proudly in affirmation, Lan Li continued, "I have one more question!"

"I don't know much about dubbing, and I think it's a different form of expression from movies and theaters, because the medium of animation itself is different, and the performance naturally needs to be adjusted. I asked my friend, and the response he gave me was, "Let me exaggerate as much as possible?" I don't think that's right. "Lan Li is serious.

Williams laughed out loud and said, "Your friend did it on purpose, right?"

"I guess so. Lan Li spread out his hands, "Seth Rogan's tone and attitude always make it difficult for you to tell if he's joking or serious, right? I strongly suspect that he may be trying to get revenge on my previous prank, but since I don't have any knowledge of voice work, there's no way to tell his words at all." ”