A Filmmaker’s Dream – Talk with Director Sun Menghe of Shanghai Jiying Film Co., Ltd.

No matter an animated film or a live-action film, a good story is the key. Today we talk about the story with Director Sun Menghe from Shanghai Jiying Film Industry Co., Ltd.

CGGE: Last year,  your movie “Winter in My Heart” won many awards from domestic and foreign markets. We’d love to know why you transitioned from animation to live action film production?

Sun: I am very glad that the film “Winter in My Heart” which I acted as the producer, has been loved and supported by the audience. At the same time, it has won 9 different awards at home and abroad, including being selected by the 6th Vancouver International Chinese Film Festival , “Golden Angel of Chinese Cultural Communication Award of The 14th China-US International Film Festival ” , The Best Producer Award for the “Art Beauty Award” at the First Chinese New Media Film Festival 2018, and “The New Chinese Language” at the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival,The first Artistic Beauty Award for Best Producer Award. Frankly speaking, I was a fan of animation movies since I was a child and I was fortunate to join the IDMT (Institute of Global Digital Media Technology)-GDC family, and met many friends who love animation and movies too. The experience in GDC was very good, and it is very important for me to embark on the path of producer. To me, no matter animation movies or live action films, they all need a good story.  In my opinion, technology is the method to express the story with images.

CGGE: Regarding some differences between the live action film and the animated film, such as the production pipeline, the production rhythm, etc. Are there any differences and similarities, can you share it with our readers?

Sun: As we all know, the shooting of live action movies are quickly. Generally. It may take 1-3 months to complete the shooting. It depends on the production budget cost; as well as other factors such as the cast and staff schedule; while the production time of animated movies will be longer, it may last for 1-3 years or even longer. It may require the repeated polish and modification of the shots. During the production of the live action movies, the shooting scene is generally up to a few times. It depends on the director’s approval. You can say that the live action shooting depends on the capability of on-site problem solution in order not to affect the production schedule. It’s a big challenge. To the sense of the images, the pipeline in pre-production, mid production and final production are almost the same.

CGGE: Last year, “Nezha“, as an animation movie, finally reached the second place in the box office record of Chinese movies, just behind “War Wolf 2“. This undoubtedly excites industry. Do you think that Chinese animation films have really reached the era of blowouts? In addition, this year “Jiang Ziya” and ” Rebirth of Nezhang ” and other animation films with ancient Chinese story will be released. Do you think they will continue the glory of “Nezhang”?

Sun: In recent years, I am very pleased to see that the Chinese animated film market has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, which indicates that the Chinese animated film market has long existed and flourished. The animation is one of the type of film that audiences enjoy. However, the audience’s preferences keep changing and iterating. In addition to telling good stories and improving the quality of production, new challenges have been raised for animation producers to understand audience tastes with telling an old story in new way. “Return of the Monkey King” or “Nezha” are all innovative and breakthroughs in personal settings and stories, which are more in line with the current market needs and audience aesthetics, use big data to analyze to improve the details of the story; Based on such a deep insight into the market and audience, the chances of producing explosive animated films will increase significantly;

CGGE: Do you have any movies to release this year? Can you tell us something about it?

Sun: In 2020, Jiying Film will launch a big movie “Lanling King: Weeping Blood Blade“(in Chinese, Lan Ling Wang Zhi Qi Xue Dao Feng), which is an expiring and inspirational feature film. It is expected to start the shooting in the middle of this year, and we welcome you to visit us and to see the difference in the work-flow and method of animation and live action film;

CGGE: With more and more cooperation between China and overseas companies, the production of movies involves multi- cooperation. This trend becomes more popular now. Do you have any suggestions for your international cooperation in film-making? Are there any issues that need to be noted by our filmmakers? Will you prepare more co-productions in the future?

Sun: the film themes, story content, production cost-effectiveness, and domestic and foreign distribution all need to be considered. At present, there are many cooperative productions in China and Australia, Southeast Asia, and North America, which also provide more choices to movie workers. We are glad to see that the co-production film project becomes a part of cultural exchanges between countries. And these projects have also received strong support from various governments with many preferential policies. Under such conditions, there are a lot of outstanding works, such as ” Operation Mekong “,” Detective Chinatown “series,” Finding Mr. Right “, etc., have been loved by the majority of audiences;

CGGE: In the future, will you also consider making animated movies?

Sun: Of course, to produce an animated film has always been my dream. For a producer who has been in the industry for nearly 20 years, I can say that it is also the best era for Chinese films. I persist in telling a story, and producing a good works. I sincerely hope that Chinese animation movies will be better, and Chinese movies will be better!

Let us look forward to the booming of the Chinese film market and the true rise of Chinese animation films.

By:Sophia