Gifts for children reveal the birth of the movie ＂Piggy Peggy’s New Year＂
Special feature of 1905 film network Among the 2018 hot words selected by major websites recently, "Piggy Page" frequently appeared on the list, and the popularity remained high. On the other hand, an animated film named "The New Year" also entered the final sprint stage. This children’s film will meet the audience in China on New Year’s Day.
Poster of "Piggy Peggy’s New Year’s Eve" and "Making New Year’s Eve"
In the preview exposed by the film, powerful actors such as Zhu Yawen, Liu Yun, Gui Yalei and Fang Qingzhuo all appeared on the stage, and skillfully interspersed Piggy Peggy’s animation in the form of storytelling, which not only maintained the simple and happy style of Peggy’s animation, but also filled with a strong flavor of China.
This innovative mode of combining real people and animation not only brings interactive viewing experience to young children, but also fully meets the needs of family viewing. It is also a brand-new exploration and breakthrough for the whole animation film industry. This is also a big competitive advantage of Piggy Peggy in the face of other films and animated films in the Spring Festival.
How will this animated film jointly created by Alibaba Pictures and British Entertainment One (eOne for short) organically combine China’s traditional festival culture with "Page", an international IP? Why will it adopt a brand-new mode of combining animation with real people, and how will it win a place in the fierce competition during the Spring Festival?
With questions, 1905 Film Network made a special trip to interview Lu Yan, the producer and Zhang Dapeng, the director of Piggy, to deeply decipher the creative story behind the film.
Director Zhang Dapeng (first from left) and producer Lu Yan (first from right)
Calmly face "Page fever" Respect the original style of animation
In recent years, Alibaba Pictures has successively reached copyright cooperation with many excellent overseas IPS, and "Piggy Page" is one of them. According to producer Lu Yan, the communication between Alibaba Pictures and the British copyright party eOne can be said to be a hit, and the process of reaching cooperation is very smooth.
On the one hand, Alibaba Pictures regards this cooperation as an important opportunity to promote cultural exchanges between China and the West. I hope that the excellent traditional culture of China can be better passed down through the animated IP that children love to see and hear; On the other hand, British copyright owners also attach great importance to Piggy Peggy’s huge fan base in China, hoping to broaden the China market by relying on the advantages of Ali’s entertainment ecosystem and bring a special and unforgettable movie-watching experience to China families.
Stills of Piggy Peggy’s New Year’s Eve
In 2017, the creative teams of China and Britain began to prepare the script content, which was officially put into production in 18 years. Therefore, before "Piggy Page" became popular on the Internet in the first half of 2018, the movie plan was put on the agenda long ago.
Producer Lu Yan said that this wave of unplanned hotspots will not change the original tonality of the film and the initial intention of the creative team to fill the gap in the market for young animated films. "We respect Page’s original style and brand content strategy for young children, and we also respect this kind of love on the Internet, but we will not deliberately borrow these hot keywords."
Real people+animation Innovative interactive viewing experience
"Piggy Peggy’s New Year" adopts the mode of combining real people with animation, which is the first case in China and is refreshing. According to producer Lu Yan, this model has a precedent in the British original.
Its creativity comes from Olivier dumont, the father of Piggy Page’s global brand operation. In 2017, Piggy Peggy IP’s big-screen debut "The First Experience of Piggy Peggy’s Movie" adopted this interactive presentation form of real people and animation. "This is what they are already building, and we are only developing and innovating on the content ontology." Lu Yan said.
The "family" in "Piggy Peggy’s New Year" celebrates the New Year neatly.
In the eyes of producers and directors, this presentation form of "real person+animation" brings a brand-new "experiential" viewing mode, which, together with the joyful and lively singing and dancing form and 80 minutes’ duration, is more in line with the viewing needs and habits of holiday families.
"Piggy Peggy’s audience is basically 3 to 5 years old, and it will be wider in China, about 3 to 10 years old. Young children are not particularly controllable when watching movies. It is difficult to enjoy a movie for 90 minutes or more quietly like adults, but parents hope to accompany their children to watch movies on specific festivals. Based on this contradiction, the British copyright has just developed this model of combining real people with animation, which is also our initial intention to do this. " Lu Yan explained.
Grandpa Li Daguang and grandma Fang Qingzhuo.
"The same content, adults and children can get different things from it and get what they need. A child may not understand the meaning of some lines, but the happy, singing and dancing atmosphere will make him feel very happy. For parents, realistic and humorous plots and character relationships will resonate with them and touch them. " Director Zhang Dapeng said.
Lu Yan revealed that in the previous screening activities organized by the film, this innovative mode of combining real people and animation also received positive feedback from parents and children. "When the song and dance come out, the children will clap their hands and dance together; Some parents will see their own shadows in the movies and be moved by the atmosphere of family fun. "
"Mom" Liu Yun stills
In addition, the creative team is also very careful in the selection of live actors. Piggy Peggy’s family is a typical English family, and the corresponding real part is also a traditional China family in it runs in the family. Producers revealed that conforming to the role orientation is the primary criterion for their choice of actors. "We chose the most typical, outstanding representative of China family."
For example, Zhu Yawen, who plays the role of "Dad", is a super daddy in reality, and Liu Yun, the "Mom", even chatted with the producer for four hours when they first met. "All actors, first of all, are very good at acting and are good at interpreting characters in small details. In addition, the real state of their lives is also very compatible with their roles. They want to use this movie as a New Year gift for their children, which is the initial intention of all the masters. "
"Dad" Zhu Yawen stills
localization China traditional culture is integrated into international IP.
As an international IP with a history of 14 years, how to combine "Piggy Peggy" with China’s traditional culture and how to make Piggy Peggy "open his mouth" to tell the story of China has become a big problem for the Chinese and British creative teams.
According to the producer, the development and production of the animation part are mainly handled by the original British team to ensure the original flavor of the film. However, the script framework, live-action parts and post-editing are still under the control of the Chinese team, which makes the story more local to China. "We have gradually added more localized things, especially the live-action parts, which are more in line with the local social form and cultural atmosphere in China. “
Page and everyone watched the fireworks display in the New Year.
Due to cultural differences, it is inevitable that the British team will have deviations in their understanding of China’s traditional customs. For example, in the original script, the Spring Festival "setting off firecrackers" was set on the roof and controlled by buttons. "At first glance, we said that China doesn’t set off firecrackers like this. Now many big cities don’t allow firecrackers, which is more dangerous." Lu Yan said, "In the end, the script was changed to set off firecrackers on distant mountains, and the teacher personally managed those firecrackers, which was in line with the reality in China and also had positive guidance for children."
Producer Lu Yan said frankly that during the audience investigation, the team was surprised to find that many children were not as familiar with the traditional culture of the Spring Festival and the customs differences between the north and the south as they were with Christmas abroad. "We want our children to pay more attention to the traditional culture of China through this film and know that this is the Spring Festival, and this is our own festival in China. At the same time, we also hope that parents can find their memories and feelings about the traditional culture of the Spring Festival when they were young in this movie. "
Page and his friends learn to make "Dragon Lantern"
In the film, the presentation and discussion about the New Year’s customs are very concrete and vivid, and the details are also closely related to life, such as who should go home for the New Year, who should keep the red envelopes, Sanya’s lack of New Year’s flavor, and the discussion about whether to pack jiaozi or wonton due to the difference between North and South. In addition, the design of humorous bridges caused by grandma and grandma’s secret competition under one roof, while entertaining and stimulating children’s interest in watching movies, parents can also watch with relish and feel a lot.
What’s more worth mentioning is that the film is not only full of content, but also full of ingenuity in form. The director and creative team creatively thought of using Chinese folk music suona to interpret the well-known theme song of Piggy Page, and personally wrote lyrics to write the process of wrapping jiaozi into a "rap" version of Jingyun Drum. These in the "localization" details of the processing, the main creative team can be said to have made great efforts.
The film is full of flavor in detail design.
Unexpectedly, this strong flavor of the year not only touched the audience and the main creator, but also touched the British team from a foreign country. "When shooting the scene of window cutting, there was a section of teacher Fang Qingzhuo singing with folk music. At that time, the British producer who came to visit the class was particularly moved and cried after listening." Director Zhang Dapeng recalled, "You will find that something can transcend cultural differences and resonate strongly with you, which may be why we like Page."
Family theme Return of family comedy
Family companionship has always been the core theme of Page’s animation. The warm, equal, humorous and joyful family atmosphere among Page, George, his parents and grandparents is also an important reason why this IP can transcend national boundaries and win the love of China families.
This time, "Piggy Peggy’s New Year" also continued the relaxed style and family theme of the series, tailored for children, and became a "gift" for children during the Spring Festival.
Sister Tangyuan and brother jiaozi.
The director defined the style of the film as "family comedy". "It’s not quite like the movies in the mainstream domestic market now, but more like the’ national comedy’ when we were young. Nowadays, everyone pursues heavy taste and parody and hilarity, but light comedy is different. Its actors are not comedians, not the kind of people who are burdened with words. It relies more on these small relationships, which makes you smile. The whole atmosphere is a very warm family atmosphere, and love is the core theme. This type is very scarce in the current market. "
Producer Lu Yan also believes that the current domestic film market lacks family fun movies that truly reflect China’s family life and the details of family getting along. "We want to find this tradition. Piggy Peggy’s New Year is not just a movie for young children and the whole family. It is more about practicing a new family movie on the film itself."
Page and his friends danced dragon and lion to celebrate the New Year.
In the face of fierce competition with many domestic blockbusters in the Spring Festival, Lu Yan is quite confident in the market prospect of Piggy Peggy’s New Year. "We are contributing to this market. At present, there are too few experiential family fun movies for young audiences. We hope to share the family atmosphere and educational ideas of the younger generation in China with the global audience, and hope that this family fun movie will become a new exploration to promote the development of domestic young movies. This is our initial intention and our biggest competitive advantage throughout the Spring Festival. "
Throughout the upcoming Spring Festival, comedy, fantasy, science fiction, action and other types of blockbusters are coming, and a sincere animation tailored for children like Piggy Peggy’s New Year is like a clear stream. The mode of combining movie reality with animation is expected to bring children a brand-new interactive viewing experience. The organic combination of internationally renowned IP and China traditional culture has created a new way of localization, and will also effectively fill the gap in the animation market for young children and become a beneficial exploration and attempt in the industry.