PR85993

HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 8, 2020 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

The 16th China International Cartoon & Animation Festival (CICAF) was held in

Hangzhou, capital city of southeast China's Zhejiang Province from September 29

to October 4. A total of 2,680 Chinese and foreign enterprises and institutions

from 65 countries and regions around the world participated in the animation

festival's online and offline activities, with 10.12 million people joining the

festival online. Nearly 1,000 original animation works sought to win the

"Golden Monkey King" Awards competition. At the same time, the competition has

also introduced a venture capital match-making session to promote exchanges and

cooperation among animation, cartoons, games, publishing and derivative

products, so as to create an industrial ecosystem via the competition,

according to China International Cartoon & Animation Executive Committee Office.

From less than 10 animation enterprises in 2004 to more than 300 in 2019,

Hangzhou's cartoon and animation community has expanded rapidly in a short span

of more than 10 years. Meanwhile, Hangzhou's animation industry has formed a

complete industrial chain, ranging from original content production to animation

production and derivative development. Many young people have seen their animation

dreams come true here. Hangzhou has undoubtedly become an ideal land to realize

dreams for China's animation industry.

Start up the animation career in Hangzhou

Lei Tao is one of the best examples of seeing one's animation dream come true

in Hangzhou. In 2010, Lei, who studied animation in college, founded Thunder

Animation in the animation hub.

In order to produce the most perfect and most suitable original Chinese

animation works for preschool children, Lei and his team invited Pixar animator

Anthony Wang, who has participated in Toy Story and Finding Nemo, and

international industry experts such as BBC screenwriters Andrew Emerson and

Rachel Murrell for group creation in China or remote online guidance. He also

consulted a professor of colorimetry at the University of California, Santa

Barbara, and designed a set of color value combinations for their cartoon

series Rainbow Chicks that are the least harmful to children's eyes.

"The extreme pursuit of detail and strict control are the characteristics of

every dream hunter in Hangzhou's animation sector," said Lei. "I think this

should be one animation industry feature to be proud of in Hangzhou."

Shen Hao, the founder of Fanfan Inc, is another young person to establish his

animation career in Hangzhou. "Hangzhou's animation industry ecology is

resilient and enduring. This is where I started my business."

China's animation industry has entered a period of rapid development, but the

original content is not interesting enough in terms of story and human design,

according to him.

In addition to actively participating in and organizing the "Nova Cup"

competition hosted by the CICAF for more than ten years to discover and

cultivate local cartoon creation talents in China, Fanpan Inc also introduced

the editing and creation integration mechanism in the Japanese animation

industry, which determines the works' content focus by readers' market

response, according to Shen.

Enjoy Chinese-style animation in Hangzhou

Starting from 2014, Hangzhou has rolled out relevant policies to encourage

cross-industry integration and create an economic form that covers the entire

industrial chain. Cosplay is an important part of derivatives in the animation

industry. Every year, the CICAF will hold the China Cosplay super ceremony

competition, a big party for animation lovers and cosplay players at home and

abroad to show their individuality and enjoy an animation carnival.

Senior cosplay players "Chicago Typewriter" and "The Greater China" attended

the event again in Hangzhou this year. They said that in China, no city can

create such a strong atmosphere of animation culture than Hangzhou, and local

residents have a high degree of tolerance for dimensional culture.

Every year during the festival, Hangzhou's airports, high-speed railway

station, subway stations and both sides of roads feature the event's signs,

creating an overwhelming animation festival atmosphere. It's fair to say that

Hangzhou's animation enthusiasm is flowing in the city's blood.

"In Hangzhou, a Coser can verify all one's unconstrained ideas to encourage one

to dare to think, do and realize," according to them.

Embrace the animation sector's future in Hangzhou

Animation practitioners in Hangzhou are convinced that China's animation will

usher in a better era. How to find the innovation points and creative ideas of

Chinese animation? Su Huan, CEO of Hangzhou InNow, believes that the animation

industry itself is about cross-industry fusion and pluralism, especially the

exploration and shaping of traditional Chinese culture.

"Next year, we will launch an App based on artificial intelligence technology

to break the technical barrier of animation production and let more people feel

the charm of animation easily via this application," Su said.

Teng Kuixing and Liu Qin are well-known dubbing directors and actors in China.

They jointly served as judges of the animation festival's dubbing competition,

which is also the only national-level animation dubbing competition.

Both Teng and Liu mentioned that the current shortage of high-quality talents

is a common challenge facing China's entire Animation Comic Game market.

However, in their view, Hangzhou has been training and transporting young

talents for various sub-sectors of the animation industry through various

means. For example, this year's dubbing competition uses the resources of the

animation festival platform to provide win-win cooperation opportunities for

enterprises and winners.

Many Hangzhou animators are striving to produce the first-class original

Chinese animation works, which is the source power and firm belief of their

animation creation. Thus, Hangzhou deserves the name of "China's Cartoon and

Animation Capital".

Source: China International Cartoon & Animation Executive Committee Office

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=373635 

   Caption: In Hangzhou, animation makes life more colorful.