Today’s Film Review ｜ The Deep Sea： Although controversial, there is no lack of courage.

Special feature of 1905 film network A few days ago, the cumulative box office of animated films has exceeded 700 million. The films have provided top-class audio-visual enjoyment for the audience, but they have encountered controversy over the thin design and chaotic plot. Since January 26th, the director has started the live broadcast on the online platform for several days, and connected with the audience, but failed to restore word of mouth. Why is it difficult to satisfy the audience with the painstaking work that took seven years? How can domestic animated films get out of the predicament of first-class special effects and third-rate stories?

Jiang Zhulang, an associate professor at China Communication University, gave a three-star evaluation for Deep Sea: "Five stars give the picture, while two negative stars give the plot. It is true that we are very capable in technology and art production, but there is still room for improvement in plot and character design, including the logic of plot and even in humanistic values. "

"I don’t think we should criticize the audience. They all come to see your movie out of kindness. Of course, if everyone feels bad and doesn’t meet their psychological expectations, it is very normal to vent. We all accept it."

By extracting the top positive and negative hot words mentioned by the audience, we can see the praise and controversy about the plot of Deep Sea. In this regard, Director Tian Xiaopeng communicated with the audience several times live and constantly responded to relevant questions. In terms of plot, the first hot word is "the plot is boring", and some viewers think that the story is messy, the logic is not coherent enough, and the motives of the characters are not enough, which leads to the feeling of being unintelligible. There is a hot word about the schedule: "It’s a big New Year’s Day, unlucky". Many viewers have expectations for family fun, but the stories they present are relatively sad and depressed, which makes some viewers "disappointed and fall asleep". Disappointed because of expectations, director Tian Xiaopeng returned after seven years, and many people have high expectations. It is precisely because of this that there will be such controversy.

If in the seven-year creative cycle, the team pushes these questions ahead of time and then debugs them, can this controversy be avoided and the film can meet the audience’s expectations more? Jiang Zhulang thinks: "I think this may be a misjudgment of the audience by the main creator. Perhaps many main creators will think that the contemporary audience is particularly fascinated by visual effects and doesn’t care so much about the story, which makes the whole story character thin, the emotional value supported and the humanistic value of life pale, and the idea of the audience’s real spiritual needs is not comprehensive enough."

Even so, we can still see the audience’s affirmation of the pictures and special effects, and the positive hot words are full of "beautiful pictures, visual feast, amazing" and so on. The technical development effect of Deep Sea is remarkable, and its innovative particle ink style can be said to be a milestone of China animated film, which forms a gorgeous color whirlpool like an overturned pigment tray, and draws the audience into a magical world at once. "Deep Sea" has pushed the aesthetic and technical benchmark of the whole industry forward for the structure of the picture. Besides, director Tian Xiaopeng is also aware of the lack of plot, and is open to public criticism, dialogue with the public, and expound his own creative ideas. Although artistic creation needs a certain degree of independence, it also needs the creative staff to listen to the audience’s voice, so as to make the works more profound and meaningful and touch more people’s hearts.

"For example, a lot of foreshadowing that I take for granted and a lot of work that I think I did in front of me may not have been accepted by the audience when they saw it for the first time. If I create again, should I reconsider and show these things in other forms?"

Judging from the word-of-mouth of animated films in recent years, there are often first-class special effects and third-rate stories. The market development of China movies is interactive with the audience. What kind of audience there is, there will be what kind of market. If the audience is not satisfied with the story, but still willing to enter the cinema for visual effects and technology, it will lead to the cinema being filled with works with such technology exceeding the story. Jiang Zhulang mentioned: "I often say a word, imagine what you will think of this movie five years later, because after five years, it is possible that these pictures that attract you have forgotten, but a movie story that had a great impact on your life five years ago, the character may even be a line, and you will definitely remember it."

"Tathagata old son, I was trapped by you for five hundred years, isn’t that enough? Don’t forget, I am a Monkey King! "

Technology can be constantly surpassed, but better stories can last forever. Director Tian Xiaopeng has a high position in the hearts of many fans of China animated films, because in 2015, the audience was amazed at the rise of China animated films, which also triggered the upsurge of myth adaptation in the market. However, after that, Tian Xiaopeng chose to be silent for seven years, devoted himself to writing original adventure stories, and stubbornly expressed himself in the most thankless way. It can be said that whether the controversy of Deep Sea exists or not, director Tian Xiaopeng has made an attempt worthy of people’s appreciation and respect.

Returning to the animated film market in China, there are a lot of IP works of fairy tales, which makes the audience feel a little tired of aesthetics. Moreover, many works related to these fairy tales are being re-created greatly, and even some works have been divorced from the original stories and changed beyond recognition by the second creation. Why do these stories have to rely on a crutch of myth when they can be original? In essence, this is a sign of self-distrust, as if only by using the mythical IP, the audience can accept the character and plot without any threshold, so as to attract more viewers. Directed by Tian Xiaopeng, he first dared to throw away this crutch to complete an original story, so that the audience could see the sincerity of his creation. In the story, he also paid attention to the social reality, the sensitive and delicate hearts of adolescent girls, and the loneliness in people’s hearts, which in itself was a manifestation of social conscience.

"I am not afraid of you! ! ！”

In addition, director Tian Xiaopeng also said that all the research results developed by Deep Sea will be shared with everyone, rejecting technical barriers and improving together. The revitalization of China’s animated films is a very long process, and there are many problems, both technical and humanistic. Every link in the plot needs to be improved. Director Tian Xiaopeng has opened up relevant technical discussions, which can help the whole industry to take a big step forward technically. Tell the story of China well, explore the China style with technology, and then explore the story of China with China style. This is a truly complete animated film with China national characteristics. At this point, any small step is particularly surprising, and Deep Sea also shows a great progress in China’s film finding its own style.

This time, "Deep Sea" was shortlisted for the Berlin International Film Festival, which provided a higher platform to show the world where China’s animated films have come, and also let the world see how China’s art style and technology have been updated. Deep Sea allows the world to see the style of China’s animated films, and its achievements are very high. Although it is controversial, there is no lack of courage!