Exclusive interview with "Falling into the Mortal World" director Zhong Ding: I am already very satisfied if I can make the audience empathize

2024-07-31

The movie "Falling into the Mortal World" unfolds with the story of the descendants of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. In the adventure process of Jinfeng and Yulu joining hands to conquer the stars, in the ethereal and distant world of gods and the interesting world of fireworks, a brand new story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and the myth of the stars slowly unfolds before the audience.

The film "Falling into the Mortal World" originated from the short film of the same name from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts that went viral four years ago. Director Zhong Ding, an associate professor at the academy, led 13 students to create this amazing graduation project. Five years have passed since the initial creative prototype. During this period, more than 2,000 animation artists from more than 50 groups worked together to finally complete this new Chinese-style national comic blockbuster born out of the student graduation project.

Looking back on the creative process of the film, Director Zhong Ding couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "This is our dream - to let more people see the creativity and sincerity of our students and the entire creative team. This is also our motivation for making movies." Huang Long, the film's chief producer, added: "We are an original project, with a new director and a new IP. I hope everyone can give "Falling into the Mortal Realm" more opportunities and a little more space."

Bell and Tripod

Associate Professor of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Director of "Falling into the Mortal Realm"

Talking about the expansion from short films to feature films, screenwriter Kang Fu, who is in charge of the "root of the play" of the film, said: "Golden Wind and Jade Dew used the love and warmth they received in the mortal world to fulfill the unfinished mission of the Weaver Girl. This is a circle of love and strength flowing among family members."

Q-Beijing Youth Weekly

A-Zhongding

Addition and subtraction

Q "Falling into the Mortal Realm" originated from a graduation short film. From the short film to the feature film, what additions and subtractions were made?

A A short film is a relatively controllable work, with a total length of less than 7 minutes. It took us a year from creation to completion. When we first shot the short film, we also had the idea of throwing out a brick to attract jade or testing the waters. We wanted to use the form of a short film to present the story concept, character relationships, and worldview we wanted to tell in a visual form to see how people would accept it. Because we were unsure at the time, we didn't know whether people would like our story and worldview. Unexpectedly, it attracted a lot of attention and enthusiasm from the audience after it was launched. Everyone liked it and supported it, so it was natural to make it into a movie. In fact, when planning, it was done according to the plan of the feature film. The short film was more like a test. When it comes to the additions made from the short film to the feature film, there are too many, and there are additions in every link. First of all, the length and volume of the two are completely different. From six or seven minutes of content to nearly two hours, the pressure suddenly increased. In addition, we have no lines in the short film, and the characters are relatively conceptual, simple and clear. When it comes to feature films, there are a lot of character creation and character relationships involved. In this regard, we have a lot of work to do, and we need to work harder on the exploration of characters and the three-dimensionality of their presentation. In addition, the production volume has increased, from more than 100 shots that could be broken down one by one to the need to be embedded in the entire film industry process. When creating, you have to consider the cost budget and where to focus specifically. These are all challenges for us. This is my first time making a feature film. In this process, I learned a lot of knowledge and accumulated some experience.

Let's talk about subtraction. The subtraction we made this time was mainly to serve the story. For example, some highlights in the original short film, even if everyone liked them, had to be adjusted and discarded because they did not fit the whole story. Because it had to conform to the logic of commercial film industry production, we had to do something.

Q Are there any things you have to give up that you feel regretful about?

A First of all, there are definitely some cuts in the plot, especially in terms of characters. We have cut some of them. Of course, we rarely cut from the protagonist, but try to cut from other characters that have relatively less impact on the plot. But in terms of character creation, we actually originally hoped to make it more three-dimensional and fuller. For example, there is a very popular character in the film, called Si Mu, who actually has a more complete and rich growth line. If the audience sees this growth line, they will better understand his various behaviors in the film. Not only him, but actually every character in the film has their own growth line, but due to the length and cost limitations of the film, we have no way to present them one by one, so we can only reluctantly give them up.

Love is the magic of mortals

Q The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and every Chinese is familiar with it. When making a new expansion and interpretation of such a traditional myth story, have you considered the audience's acceptance level?

A This question has actually been bothering me until now. The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is one of the four major folk legends in my country, and all Chinese people are familiar with it. But at the same time, we found that there are not many new adaptations of it in existing literary and artistic works, especially in the legend that they have a son and a daughter, but there has never been any development about these two characters. We actually found a creative gap, which I am quite proud of. This is equivalent to giving us a space to explore in depth.

If we extend the original story, we may face the criticism that it is not reasonable. But I personally think that all myths and legends are actually people's imagination of a better life in that era. If we stand in the long river of history, we are just a node now. We modern people have every right to fantasize and present our hope for a better life in the form of myths or folk tales. What's more, we are still telling a new story, which is equivalent to the extension of the original legend, which means that there can be a lot of new things. The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl play a very important role in our story, but they appear more as a background. We are not even talking about love. On the other hand, I think some things are actually eternal, such as the family affection described in our story, which has been buried and flowing in our blood from ancient times to the present. Although the story and characters are new, I believe that the feelings we present are sincere and empathetic.

Q I particularly like the line in the film: Love is the magic of mortals.

A Yes, that sentence really touched people’s hearts and it was a stroke of genius from our screenwriter.

Q What kind of feedback do you most hope to see from the audience?

A Because we put a lot of effort into this film, and we have a lot of creativity and things we want to express, and we hope that the audience can see or feel them directly or indirectly. This is what I am most looking forward to. We did not think about making a particularly complicated story from the beginning. We think that our ability and experience are limited and we are not enough to handle an overly complicated story. For us, the first thing is to tell a complete story clearly, and then in this relatively simple story, I hope that the audience can feel the emotional theme we want to express.

I have always wondered what the ultimate goal of movies is. I think it is to make the audience empathize. Being able to see the audience laugh and cry because of our story in the cinema has already met my expectations, and I am actually very satisfied.

Zhong Ding at the production site of "Falling into the Mortal World"

Hotpot is a carrier of Chinese people's emotions

Q There are some interesting details in the film, such as the gods eating hot pot on earth. Are you a hot pot lover yourself?

A We all like to eat. We are in Guangzhou, and there are many delicious foods in Guangzhou. The human world in the film is actually an imaginary world, not a certain time node or dynasty in history, so we added milk tea, hot pot and other elements that make us modern people smile. If you look closely, you will find that there are actually many of our wonderful ideas in the film. We have made a lot of things that combine traditional classics with modern people's views. For example, the materials and craftsmanship are ancient, but the concepts are modern, forming a feeling of fusion of ancient and modern. This makes me feel very interesting, and judging from the audience's reaction, the acceptance is still very high, and everyone can feel the fun in it.

Why did you choose hotpot? Of course, the first reason is that hotpot is really delicious. We chose Sichuan hotpot because we went to Chongqing to collect materials in the early stage of creation. The reason why we chose Chongqing is that we feel that the architectural style of the entire city of Chongqing, which is staggered and looks a bit messy, but at the same time it is magnificent, magical, and bizarre. In addition, the humanistic atmosphere of Chongqing, that sense of freedom, makes us feel particularly human, which can form a great contrast with the orderly and cold world of the gods in the film, and it fits the feeling of the mortal world we want, so a group of us from Guangdong went to Chongqing to collect materials.

As for hotpot, I also find it very interesting. Hotpot is actually a very inclusive thing. You can put anything in it. I think this is actually a portrayal of the human world, inclusive, mixed, and rich. For Chinese people, you can eat hotpot when you are happy or unhappy. In fact, there are hotpots in various parts of China, but they are just called differently. Hotpot is round, and a family or a group of friends can eat together. Being able to eat hotpot with loved ones is something that every Chinese person recognizes in their hearts. I think for Chinese people, hotpot is a carrier of emotion.

Q "Falling into the Mortal Realm" is the first animated feature film you have completed. After fully experiencing the industrial process of domestic animation, you must have a deeper understanding of Chinese animation. What do you think is the current level of Chinese animation in the world? What are the areas that need to be improved the most? What are the advantages?

A At present, the development of China's animation or animation industry is still very rapid. I think that considering its current size, it actually has a very important position in the world.

Our animation industry is now very vibrant and energetic, with more and more talents and higher production levels. Of course, production levels need to be accumulated. In this regard, we are still a certain distance away from the world's top streams, such as Hollywood, but we are also working hard to catch up. I believe that in time, we should be able to occupy a leading position in the world, of course, this will definitely take time. For us, everyone is making various attempts in their own fields, one after another. We have such a profound cultural heritage and such a huge market. With the improvement of production standards and storytelling levels, in the future, our content will go overseas, giving priority to East Asia, Southeast Asia and other markets dominated by the Chinese cultural circle, and then gradually begin to radiate to Europe and the United States. I think it is entirely possible. We are also trying to do such things now.

artsKang Lu

editHan Haha

Portrait PhotographyJie Fei

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Exclusive interview with "Falling into the Mortal World" director Zhong Ding: I am already very satisfied if I can make the audience empathize

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