"Calabash baby, Calabash baby, seven flowers on a vine..." I believe everyone is familiar with this song. The familiar melody has accompanied the growth of generations of children. " Calabash Brothers " is a 13-episode series of paper-cut cartoons originally produced by Shanghai Art Film Studio. It is one of the representative works of the second prosperous period of Chinese animation. It tells the story of seven gourd brothers with extraordinary abilities who unite to fight against goblins to save their grandfather. Since "Calabash Brothers" was broadcast in 1986, infectious education has influenced generations of Chinese teenagers.
The paper-cut cartoon "Calabash Brothers" is China's earliest animated series. It and the cartoon " The Adventures of the Sloppy King " produced by Meiying Studio at the same time started the full flowering of Chinese animated series.
Shanghai Animation Film Studio has a deep relationship with Caojiadu . Many of the creative staff of classic animations also grew up and lived in Caojiadu. This time, Caojiadu Celebrity Center interviewed the main creative staff of "Calabash Brothers" who live in Haiying Building in Wuxi residential area - screenwriter Yao Zhongli, art designer Wu Yunchu, and action designer Shen Rudong, and asked them to take everyone to reveal their childhood memories. the story behind. In this issue, let us first follow the screenwriter Yao Zhongli and see what "Calabash Brothers" initially looked like.
entered the prosperous period of Meiying Factory
"Chinese animation has a history of nearly a hundred years, and has experienced two more prosperous periods during this period." Yao Zhongli introduced to reporters. In the 1960s, with the vigorous research and development of Meiying Factory, a youth group was established to develop ink animation . In 1960, it produced China's first ink animation " Little Tadpole Looking for Mom ". In 1964, it produced a color film Animated feature film " havoc in heaven ". Subsequently, paper-cut films, puppet films, origami films and other film genres began to branch out, forming the first peak of Chinese animation.
After the 1980s, short films such as "Three Monks" and "Snow Children" transitioned to series such as "Calabash Brothers" and gradually came into being. With China's first color wide-screen animated feature "Nezha Haohai" With the emergence of , Chinese animation ushered in its second prosperous period. It was also during this period that Yao Zhongli, who graduated from the drama department of Shanghai Theater Academy and the screenwriting class of Beijing Film Academy, was assigned to enter the American Film Studio.
In China before the 1980s, in order to adapt to the broadcast platform and the viewing habits of the audience at that time, the animated art films of Meiying Studio were mainly short films of 10 minutes and 20 minutes, and cinemas were their main "stage". Yao Zhongli told reporters: "To understand "Calabash Brothers", you must first understand the background of his birth." With more and more televisions entering households and the introduction of foreign series of cartoons, those who play one or two episodes a day continue to The animated series, which runs for several months, is very popular with children.
At that time, everyone gradually realized that TV animation was a very important position in educating children, and Yao Zhongli understood that if he wanted his country's animation works to occupy the platform, he must have excellent animation works with national characteristics.
Unity is the core of "Calabash Brothers"
"The mountains are undulating, the mountain flowers are blooming, and an old man carrying a bamboo basket and a machete at his waist is climbing the cliff..." Yao Zhongli opened the yellowed manuscript. The first line of text is The original story of "Calabash Brothers". In 1984, when Meiying Studio began preparations for "Calabash Brothers", Yao Zhongli was 33 years old.
"Calabash Brothers" has a total of 13 episodes. In order to fit in the 13 Sundays in a quarter, one episode is broadcast every week. At that time, Yao Zhongli, Hu Jinqing , and Yang Yuliang jointly undertook the early script creation. Hu Jinqing is also the chief director of "Calabash Brothers". In the screenwriter's signature at the end of the film, his name is "Mo Du".
When Yao Zhongli was creating "Calabash Brothers", due to his lack of experience in writing series scripts, he wanted to write a good story with a wonderful plot. He spent a lot of time conceiving, but one thing is very clear, his original intention was I want to convey the educational significance of "Brothers united, their strength can break metal". The seven brothers have different abilities, but no matter how strong they are, they can't win alone. Only together can they defeat the goblin."The protagonists are not invincible, they must have weaknesses." Yao Zhongli said, "Secondly, the villain must be strong enough, so that the plot will be tense and heart-wrenching."
Not only is the core of the story unity, "Calabash Brothers" also has a unity team The creative team, thanks to everyone’s concerted efforts and continuous breakthroughs, has presented an excellent paper-cut cartoon.
Speaking of "Calabash Brothers", many people may have forgotten the specific plot, but they can't help but hear the melody of the theme song in their minds. Yao Zhongli only wrote the lyrics of "Calabash Baby" in one hour. "At that time, I gave the first draft to composer Wu Yingju , and he asked me if I could add two onomatopoeia, which would be childlike and in line with the lively characteristics of the song." Yao Zhongli recalled, so he added "Ding dong dong dong dong dong dong" sounds like the sound of gourds swaying in the wind and colliding with each other, and also like the sound of gourds falling to the ground. It is this "ding-dong-dong-dong-dong-dang" that injects soul into the song.
Many of Yao Zhongli’s inspirations come from life. During the interview, he told reporters an interesting episode. Once, when Yao Zhongli was reading the fairy tale "The Adventures of Shuke and Beta" by Zheng Yuanjie to his son, his 4-year-old son actually started crying. He cried and said: "Dad, can you put this "Should the story be made into an animated film?" Yao Zhongli thought to himself that even his young son was so moved after listening to this work. If it was made into an animation, it would be loved by children, so Yao Zhongli immediately proposed to the American Film Studio and started working on it in 1987. Created the animation "Shuke and Beta".
In Yao Zhongli's eyes, the former Meiying Factory was a great enterprise with a strong team. "Don't repeat yourself and don't imitate others." This was the creative motto of Meiying Studio at that time. Yao Zhongli still remembers: "This sentence is integrated into the blood of each of our creators. Everyone is pursuing continuous innovation and innovation." Continuous breakthroughs." If "unity" is the original intention of "Calabash Brothers", then in Yao Zhongli's view, "originality" is the original intention of Chinese animation.
Source: Zhouxing Shanghai Author: Liao Xingwei
