Director Wish Dragon： The dragon is like Iron Man, and the cat’s paw is meant to be cute.
The Beijing News (Reporter Zhou Huixiao Wan) On January 15th, Aron Warner (Shrek) and Jackie Chan starred in the production, Chris Eberhans (Fantastic Mr. Fox) directed, Levi Stafias (Kung Fu Panda) acted as the role animation director, and Jackie Chan’s animated film was released in Wish Dragon. This is a film that has been produced for seven years, and it combines the top innovations and technologies at home and abroad. More than half of the content is completed by China’s team. It tells the story of a 19-year-old young man who grew up in modern times and stumbled upon the only pink wishing dragon in the world. The two of them embarked on a series of adventures. By the time of writing, the box office of the film reached 41 million yuan.
Wish Dragon stills
It is reported that this time for this pink dragon, the animation team has equipped more than 1,000 controllers on the dragon’s body, with 3 million hairs. In addition to moving flexibly, the dragon can also change itself into different shapes such as square and circle. The Beijing News reporter interviewed director Wish Dragon, who revealed the story behind the film.
Director Chris Eberhans made a friend when he was playing in Shanghai when he was a child. The Shanghai friend told him a lot about his life in Shanghai. Eberhans recalled: "We are the same age, have the same personality, and hit it off very well. Although I live in Los Angeles, he grew up and lived in Shanghai. He will tell me the ups and downs of his life, his career and everything. Later, when making animation, we wanted to use the classic Aladdin story. If you go back far enough in history, Aladdin is a story of China to some extent, so we hope to completely re-imagine this story and set its background in contemporary Shanghai, China. "
Abrams thinks this is a very personal film in many ways: "It can be said that this is a film I gave to my friend, just like the letter I wrote to him, and I tried to understand his life and the way he was experiencing everything."
Wish Dragon stills, Shanghai street scenes.
There are three things that the audience should know about the wishing dragon: the wishing dragon can satisfy the three wishes of the teapot owner like an elf. This wish can be almost anything, except that it won’t kill, it can’t revive people, and it can’t make two people fall in love. Each wishing dragon must serve 10 masters before they can freely return to the spiritual world they want to go to. Eberhans said, "The Dragon is very interesting, and it thinks that the best thing in the world may be a lot of gold. How wonderful gold is! It is a little different from the typical, friendly and best friend type elf. His personality is multiple and to some extent interesting and selfish. "
Asked how the dragon was made? Eberhans said that the creative team consulted many ancient scrolls, paintings and sculptures 2,000 years ago, and went all the way to the traditional dragon image in the animation program in the 1980s: "We are just looking for interesting things for us. One of the great advantages of animation is that you can make the characters move in a way that you can’t do in real life. A loong, with a snake-like body and separated arms and legs, moves in a really interesting way. We want to design a character whose character can be expressed through very interesting actions, just like a dragon can talk to you and show you something with one hand. Its tail can flap your shoulder, and then when it flies away, it can put you on its paw and fly to the sky. It is a creature that you want to walk up to and give it a big hug, just like a giant teddy bear or a giant plush toy. "
Wish Dragon stills
In the movie, the audience can hear that the dragon voiced by Jackie Chan hates buses and must take taxis, and even prawn strips are called "civilian food" proudly, but after eating it, they immediately "really smell" this industrial food. The film sets the story in Shanghai and shows the street scene of Shikumen in Shanghai. To some extent, Wish Dragon means that the founders can have an animated perspective to explore modern China and look at it in a certain way. Abrams said, "I’m sure that if you take someone from 1850 and bring them back to Shanghai now, they will be shocked. Great changes have taken place in this country. Therefore, we can see these changes through his eyes by taking this opportunity to create. "
Exclusive dialogue director
Beijing News: Is there any specific reference to the image of dragon? In terms of personality and image, maybe some animals or people?
Chris Eberhans: It’sHis personality is a bit like Iron Man Tony Stark, and Playboy is a bit selfish. However, if you have such a friend, he will be very interesting around you, and it will be fun to drink with him, but you know you will get into trouble with him. What we like best is the setting that a dragon is not so simple and easy to get along with, because it will produce a lot of jokes and contrasts.
Beijing News: We noticed that dragons have cat claws. Is there any special reason to use cats?
Chris Eberhans:Because they are cute. Because of the personality of the wishing dragon, we thought it would be interesting. It’s arrogant, proud and interesting. It will be a good contrast when this powerful and magical dragon says, "Come on, let me fulfill a wish for you, no matter what you want" and wags its lovely kitten paws at the same time.
The dragon has claws like a kitten.
Beijing News: What is the most difficult part in the process of making dragons?
Chris Eberhans:I think the most difficult thing is that we don’t actually have anything to copy. If we make a talking panda or tiger, there are so many animated films to learn from. But the image of the dragon character has never been done. One of the most difficult things about animation is its snake shape. The whole body is covered with fur, which is really difficult to make. During the production process, it is a puppet, and you must create all the controls on it. When you see the dragon character in 3D, the animator must track a thousand dots when it moves. This is the so-called device.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiao
Editor Wu Longzhen proofreads Wu Xingfa.
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