This "Paper Man Troublemaker" is a cartoon that combines live-action and animation, with a length of 12 minutes, with dubbing, and is produced by the three brothers of Wangu Toad.

This is the first time Lin Zixuan has seen a domestic cartoon during the Republic of China, and he is quite curious.

Since he controlled the cinema, most of the screenings of films in Shanghai had to be arranged by Star Films.

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

Accompanying him to watch this movie is the director of "Paper Man Troublemaker" Wan Gu Toad, who is also the actor of the painter in the animation.

Born in 1900, the same age as Lin Zixuan, a native of Nanjing, Jiangsu, Wan Gu Chan graduated from the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in 1920.

In January 1925, he went to the Commercial Press as a painting instructor at the Art Apprentice School, and in July he transferred to the Film and Drama Department to engage in art design.

It was at this time that he learned about how movies were filmed and had the idea of shooting a domestic animated film.

After leaving the event film and drama department, Wangu Toad and his two brothers worked together to produce this "Paper Man Troublemaker".

He didn't hide anything from Lin Zixuan.

This animated film is inspired by the animated short film "Inkwell Man" shot by the American Max Flexiu brothers, although there are references, but the shooting techniques are all researched by themselves.

This is because the manufacturers of European and American animation companies keep the technology of animation production strictly secret.

At this time, cartoons in Europe and the United States and other countries have made great progress, and Chinese cartoons are still in a blank.

Lin Zixuan didn't pay attention to this direction before, after all, the market for cartoons is not large, and he feels that it is not too late to wait until comics become popular in the United States, or after the popularity of television.

Wangu Toad and Lin Zixuan thought differently.

He watched foreign cartoons and thought that what foreigners could make could be made by Chinese. We need to do better.

The process of making this cartoon was extremely difficult.

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

The pavilion room is a unique residential culture in Shanghai, located above the stove room, under the sundeck, behind the main house, and in the middle of the staircase.

The space of seven or eight planes, facing the north, is small and dark, cold in winter and hot in summer. It is a shelter for those who cannot afford to buy or rent high-end housing.

The reason why I mention the pavilion room is because many literati in Shanghai have lived in the pavilion room before they became famous.

Tingzijian was the first choice for second- and third-rate writers in Shanghai, who had to live here temporarily due to poor income and poverty.

This is the same as the northern drifters of later generations living in basements.

Lu Xun also lived in the pavilion in Shanghai, and his "Collection of Essays on the Pavilion of the Pavilion" was written in the pavilion, and his neighbors at that time were Ye Shengtao, Shen Yanbing, Zhou Jianren and others.

Later, Lu Xun felt that the mahjong in the alley was too noisy, so he moved to Beichuan Apartment.

Many northern literati lived in the pavilion when they first came to Shanghai, Liang Shiqiu wrote in "The Life of the Pavilion".

"Killing chickens in the kitchen. No matter where you hide, you can hear the rooster crowing, you can smell the fish when the fish is cooking in the kitchen, you can see the fire in the kitchen, and you can see wisps of green smoke rising from the cracks in the floor......"

The pavilion room has become a kind of culture in Shanghai, and the life of the city is recorded in every square inch.

The three Wan brothers lived in a cramped and dark pavilion.

They converted their seven-square-meter house into a studio for drawing, printing, and screening, and used the money they saved by frugality. Bought an old camera and converted it into a video camera.

Hundreds of failed trials were used to create this animated short film.

They found Star Studios with the mentality of trying it out. wanted to show the short film in the theater, so it was known to Lin Zixuan.

Lin Zixuan finished watching "Paper Man Troublemaker", although the effect cannot be compared with the mature animation of later generations, but it is already very remarkable as the first animation in China.

In particular, one of the scenes of the paper figure fighting, the paper figure is extremely flexible, and the picture is vivid and interesting.

He remembered many classic cartoons from later generations. For example, "Snow White", "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck", "Cat and Mouse", etc., can completely copy the classic animated images of Disney in the United States.

In the future, there may not be Disney.

Although the market for cartoons is not large, most of the audiences are children. It also requires a high investment and a long period of polishing, and in later generations an American animated film can take years to elaborately produce.

But for sure, it's a lucrative deal.

The comics were made first, then the anime, and finally the live-action film......

This is a very large industrial chain.

Thinking of this, Lin Zixuan's gaze at Wangu Toad became hot.

He said that he is very supportive of China's animation industry, and Star Film Company will set up an animation department and work with the comic department to create a Chinese animation world.

Anime and comics have always been closely linked, and his superhero comics published in the United States are gradually becoming popular.

Wait another three years, into the thirties, and these comics will be popular among American teenagers.

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

The "lipstick effect" refers to an interesting economic phenomenon that has led to a boom in lipsticks due to an economic depression.

Or it's called the "trend of preference for low-priced products".

In the U.S., lipstick sales skyrocket during economic downturns.

This is because, in the United States, lipstick is considered a relatively inexpensive consumer product.

In the case of economic downturn, people will still have a strong desire to consume, so they will turn to buy cheaper goods, lipstick, as a "cheap non-essential commodity", can play a "comforting" role for consumers.

This economic theory was first proposed in the 30s during the Great Depression in the United States.

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

In times of recession, unemployment spikes, people have nothing to do, and people's incomes and expectations for the future decrease.

The pressure on people's lives has increased, and they need to temporarily escape from reality, relax their spirits, and 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 book to find joy and comfort in it.

In the thirties, Hollywood musicals and comedies were prevalent in the United States, precisely to cater to the audience's mentality of avoiding reality.

At this time, superheroes are also welcome, because insecure citizens need superhero protection, or teenagers fantasize about becoming superheroes.

This is exactly what the times make heroes.

Lin Zixuan knows that three years later will be the harvest season, whether it is comics or movies, he can earn wealth in the United States. (To be continued.) )