Chinese Animation Short Competes for Oscar, Production Team Claiming its Inspiration Came from Chinese Female Astronauts

On January 22, local time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially announced the 91st Oscar nomination list. The “Break the Sky” from Wuhan Taihao animation production was shortlisted for the final five short films of Oscar’s best animated shorts. The other four films that will compete with Skyrim include “The Afternoon Time” by the Irish veteran studio Cartoon Saloon, “Animal Behavior” by the National Film Board of Canada, “Weekend” by Pixar story artist Trevor Jimenez, and It is also very Chinese with the “Bag” from the first Chinese female director of the Pixar Shi Zhiyu.

On the afternoon of January 23, Beiqing Daily reporters talked about the “breaking the sky” production team, too many anime staff.

Inspiration source: female astronauts as the protagonist, growth experience as the theme

Beijing Youth Daily: What kind of story is told about Breaking the Sky?

Too Anime: Tells the story of a father and a girl from China living together. The little girl dreamed of becoming an astronaut, and the shoemaker father always supported her dream and sent her shoes with space patterns. The little girl has been growing up and constantly working towards her dreams, but she has failed again and again. After the death of Dad, the little girl began to suffer from a chance. The little girl found in her father’s studio the father gave her shoes during the growth process, and then revived and eventually became an astronaut into space.

Beijing Youth Daily: Where is the inspiration for Breaking the Sky?

Too anime: The story of “Crashing the Sky” is the final decision of our main team’s communication collision. We determined from the beginning that we should use the female astronaut as the protagonist. The prototype of the heroine Luna is Liu Yang (China enters space The first female astronaut) and Wang Yaping (the second female astronaut who entered China in space). We once saw a photo of Liu Yang when she was a child in her hometown. The happy and happy expression on her face was very appealing, so we decided to make animations based on the growth of female astronauts. According to our understanding, this is also the first animated short film with the theme of female astronauts.

Beijing Youth Daily: Where is the background of the story of “Crashing the Sky”?

Too anime: In fact, we did not specifically set the city where the story happened, because we hope that this short film will resonate in all cultures. But our company is headquartered in Wuhan, and the branch is in Los Angeles, so we incorporated a lot of the characteristics of these two cities in the animation, from architecture to some details, such as Luna’s house number is Los Angeles, but received the letter from the space agency. The address is Wuhan, this is some eggs.

Production Cost: Much Lower Than the Big Company, the Production Team Has only 21 People

Beijing Youth Daily: Is the production cost of “Crashing the Sky” high?

Too anime: Our entire production team has 21 people, which is a micro-team, and the production cost is much lower than that of a large company. For example, the dream factory participated in the competition for more than 10 million US dollars, but ultimately did not enter the final.

Beijing Youth Daily: What is the composition of the production team that broke through the sky?

Taihao Anime: We have 13 people in Wuhan and 8 in Los Angeles. Many of them are from other cultural backgrounds, so we also blend Chinese and Western cultures in our production. But the core of the story is of course still very oriental, in which the father’s love is a typical “Chinese fatherly love.”

Beijing Youth Daily: How do the teams from the two countries cooperate?

Too anime: Normally, Los Angeles and Wuhan will use video conferences to communicate. Due to the time difference, we will go to work at 9:00 in the afternoon when we get off work at 6 pm. We will meet with them to get some guidance before they get off work. They can use feedback. In the new day, the related revision work can be said to be “seamlessly connected”.

Beijing Youth Daily: Are you confident in winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film Award?

Too anime: Of course we are still very confident, but also full of expectations, but the competition’s works are also very strong, looking forward to the final result.

Source: China Youth Daily | Li Tao Li Zhuoya