Interview with animator Zhu Yantong

On February 3rd, the 18th Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival Awards Gala was officially held. Different from previous years, this is the first time that Chinese animators have appeared in the list of winners! Zhu Yantong, a post-80s girl from China, won the newcomer award for "The Calf in the Cup", which is also the first time that a Chinese has won this honor at the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Art Festival. This time, Tencent Animation interviewed Zhu Yantong for the first time, let's take a look at her acceptance speech and her mental journey to become an animator.

Tencent Comics: First of all, congratulations on winning the Newcomer Award! Tell us a little bit about your acceptance speech.

Zhu Yantong: This award from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan Media Arts Festival has a special meaning for me. Five years ago, I came to Japan to study on my own, and I studied advertising in Japan and animation on my own. In 2011, I was fortunate enough to be admitted to the Animation Department of the Graduate School of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts for my humble work "Loft", which was extremely important to me. The school gave me a great opportunity to be exposed to animation from all over the world and broadened my horizons. I think every time I win an award, I have to thank the school and the teachers for giving me artistic enlightenment.

Tencent Comics: You are the first Chinese director to win the award, which is very exciting news for both Chinese anime fans and Chinese animators.

Zhu Yantong: In the past, Shanghai Meiying Studio created a lot of good animations, and the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival officially started in 1997, and if it had been held earlier, I would not have been the first Chinese winner.

Tencent Comics: In addition to this award from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, we see that you have also won many awards at animation festivals in other countries.

Zhu Yantong: Yes, I am very pleased that this work has been well received by countries with different languages. Because of the selection of this work, I also had the opportunity to visit the animation spots I wanted.

Tencent Comics: Can you tell us about your experience in creating "The Calf in the Cup"?

Zhu Yantong: "The Calf in the Cup" took me two years to create, and it is a story about a lie between a father and a daughter. The inspiration for the story comes from my own experience: when I was a child, my father lied to me that there was a calf bathing under the cup to get me to drink milk, and when I drank it all, he would say that I had drunk the calf into my stomach. I've always felt that this story is simple but dramatic, and I've always wanted to make it into a work, and animation is the most suitable form. French animation director Michel? Oslo once said of his four creative principles: "Be sincere, don't lie, love people, and hate people." "That's what I try to ask of myself. I think "loving people" means that creation needs to be integrated into feelings, and "hating people" means not blindly loving, but also looking at people objectively and calmly. I have reconstructed the real-life story in my works, and I have devoted a lot of myself to the adaptation of the plot, but I have retained my childhood feelings about the world, which is the original intention of my creation and the source of inspiration.

Tencent Comics: Is it common to have two years of creative time?

Zhu Yantong: Two years is my own rhythm. I always move a little slower than others, or maybe it's because I changed my major and chose to repeat the grade for this work. In general, graduate school students work one project a year.

Tencent Comics: How many original paintings are there in "The Calf in the Cup", and did you draw them yourself?

Zhu Yantong: I haven't counted them carefully, but I remember that all of them were packed with paper in my two suitcases. This is also quite common in hand-drawn animation. I did the sketches and sketches myself, and I did most of the coloring myself, and then I asked some friends to help me when the deadline was approaching. This year's Media Arts Festival of the Agency for Cultural Affairs exhibited many of my manuscripts, as well as videos documenting my creative process.

Tencent Comics: What is the process of making zuò?

Zhu Yantong: I mainly use toner and a needle pen to draw on animation paper. The texture of the needle pen is harder, and the pastel looks softer, and the combination of the two creates a very comfortable harmony, which I like. I scanned the animations and backgrounds into my computer with a guò scanner, composited them with AfterEffects and FinalCut, and then had the sound engineers and musicians add the sounds. That's it in a nutshell.

Tencent Comics: Which directors have influenced you the most during your upbringing?

Zhu Yantong: My mentor is director Koji Yamamura, who was nominated for an Oscar for "Head Mountain", and I was greatly influenced by him. In his class, he introduced us to the Estonian animation director Pete? Parn's work made me interested in Eastern European animation, and many people later told me that my award-winning "Calf in a Cup" has a bit of an Eastern European feel. Anyone else who likes it, the Russian animation master Yuri? Norskin and British female director Ruth Lingford and many more.

Tencent Comics: What did Japanese education bring to you?

Zhu Yantong: The first thing our generation came into contact with was Japanese anime or American cartoons, but in fact, what is really nutritious is often not necessarily popular. If you want to become a good animation director, you need to absorb the essence from the source. I am glad that I chose the right major and the right teacher, and good ideological enlightenment is very important.

Tencent Comics: What have you been doing in Japan lately?

Zhu Yantong: Recently, I participated in the directing of the animation part of a feature documentary, the tentative title of the film is "Henry Mitva's Zen and Bone", and the title of the animation part is "Henry's Red Shoes". The director of the actual shooting part is Mr. Takahiro Nakamura, who once directed "Yokohama Marie". The film will be screened in theaters across Japan this year, and perhaps at film festivals in Japan.

Tencent Comics: Have you ever thought about coming back to you to continue your creative career?

Zhu Yantong: There are plans. I think my own country is always the best soil for inspiration, and if there is a good production company willing to cooperate, I will consider returning to China to develop.

Introduction to "The Calf in the Cup":

The film is the work of Zhu Yantong, a Chinese graduate from the Department of Animation of Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan, and is supervised by Professor Koji Yamamura, who was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for "Head Mountain" and won the crown of nine international animation festivals for "Kafka's Country Doctor". The film won a total of 16 awards, including the Newcomer Award in the Animation Division of the Media Arts Festival of the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, the Grand Prize of the KROK International Animation Festival in Russia, the Grand Prize of the Bucheon International Student Animation Festival in South Korea, the ARTE Award at the Munich Student Film Festival, the Special Gold Jabberwocky Award at the Etiuda & Anima Film Festival in Poland, and the Light of Asia Award at the Seoul International Anime Festival.

Plot:

Dad told his four-year-old daughter that there was a calf hidden under her milk cup. She believed her father and drank all her milk, but she couldn't find the calf. Nan Nan gradually began to disbelieve this father who always lied to her.