Local studio wants to be 'China's answer to Pixar'
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E-mail CNTV, July 27, 2015
With China's hairy hero the Monkey King swinging back into action, it appears people's interest in Chinese-made animation movies has been re-ignited. And with more local and international talents joining the industry and a more mature financial environment, more local studios are chasing their dream to become the next Pixar or Dreamworks.
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Local studio wants to be 'China's answer to Pixar' |
The girl needs 300,000 strands of animated hair, almost three times more than a real-life girl, to make this swing appear more real. That is just one of the fun parts of computer-generated-imagery animation. Computers are a necessity, but the believability and acting still come first.
The animators themselves are cast like performers and in this dream-making industry, Hollywood will no longer play the dominant role. On a visit to Light Chaser studio in a Beijing suburb, Yu Zhou, the founder of this three-year-old Chinese company, said that they keep learning from Pixar and Dreamworks. But they do not see them competitors, as the market is large enough.
Zhou said in China you can find capital, artists, and even the most cutting-edge animation technology, but the toughest part is management. In the CGI industry, studios follow a step-by-step integrated system allowing everyone to build off one another's work, what's called a production pipeline.
Liu Lu, an industry veteran who worked for Pixar for many years, is tasked with building a powerful management system so this 150-person team can work together.
More international talents have been attracted back to China, looking for new opportunities that are hard to come by in the well-established Hollywood ecosystem.
In the US, animations can take up to 15 percent of movies' market share. This compares to only 5 percent in China. But more local studios are joining the competition and want to grab a slice of the growing pie. They plan to take advantage of their international experience, as well as local talents and Chinese creativity.
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