"God with three eyes: The Deep Sea Dragon" is adapted from a classic Chinese myth. Directed by Wang Jun and his team, the film took four years to meticulously refine, aiming to renew the classic Chinese myth with contemporary ideas that resonate with today's audience. The result is a story of a god of war that is both humorous and touching, full of warmth and passion, bringing God with three eyes back as a national animation hero in children's hearts this summer.
The film tells the story of ancient times when Shen Gong and Gui Fu collaborated to imprison the sea ruler, Jiao Demon King, who was wreaking havoc on the human world, at the confluence of the rivers and seas. To restrain the powerful Jiao Demon King, Gui Fu sacrificed his body to transform into a primordial spirit, which was then infused into the magical artifact created by Shen Gong to imprison the Jiao Demon King.
After the great battle of deities, Mo Kylin and Little Jiao Dragon repeatedly attempted to touch the imprisoning artifact to release the Jiao Demon King. Therefore, on Jiang Ziya's recommendation, the Jade Emperor decided to appoint the former god of war, God with three eyes, to capture Mo Kylin. However, during the capture, the God with three eyes finds himself entangled in a vast and shocking conspiracy.
Now, XRender has specially invited Mr. Liu Sai gang, the executive producer of Chengdu Tianshi Films and the general manager of Suzhou Tianxuan Animation, for an exclusive interview. Let's dive into the behind-the-scenes of "God with three eyes: The Deep Sea Dragon" and gain an in-depth understanding of China's unique "superhero" -God with three eyes.
| Exclusive Interview
XRender: The God with three eyes is a classic figure in Chinese mythology with a high level of national recognition. "God with three eyes: The Deep Sea Dragon" inherits traditional Chinese culture while making bold innovations. Can you talk about what is "new" in this aspect?
Liu Sai gang: "God with three eyes: The Deep Sea Dragon" is a new creation and adaptation that combines the story of "TheGod with three eyes Slays the Valiant Jiao" from the Yuan-Dynasty zaju plays with the foundation of "The Investiture of the Gods". This film deeply explores and inherits classic Chinese mythology, allowing the audience to connect with traditional culture and see a more comprehensive version of theGod with three eyes while watching the movie.
To break through the traditional image of "God with three eyes" in mythology, the film focuses on depicting his growth journey from being somewhat immature to becoming a protector of human peace, striving for concise storytelling and strict attention to detail.
Additionally, the film seeks not only the grandeur of Chinese mythology but also the warmth of everyday life. Therefore, humorous Tianjin dialect elements are included in the voice acting to help portray grounded and distinctive characters.
In terms of dialogue, technical details enhance the distinctiveness and expressiveness of the characters' personalities. Innovative modern sound designs are used in the audio effects, and specific technical means are employed to enhance the atmospheric quality of the music, breaking away from traditional mythological film production methods.
Visually, the film combines Chinese style with punk, emphasizing the logic of common folk and the depiction of individual growth, aligning its themes with the perspectives of modern young people.
XRender: In the movie, the production team uses stunning visual design and professional CG production to create grand battle scenes, allowing the audience to feel the tension and excitement of the war between gods and demons through the screen. What do you think was the biggest technical challenge, and how was it solved?
Liu Sai gang: Animated films generally have high demands for picture quality, especially for grand scenes and fantastical fight sequences. Our high standards for lighting and visual effects mean that the post-production lighting often goes through countless revisions. Here, we are greatly supported by XRender, whose high-performance capabilities significantly improve our production efficiency.
XRender: "God with three eyes: The Deep Sea Dragon" is produced by the same team behind popular national animations such as "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" and "Ne Zha" The expectations are high. The team has spent four years meticulously refining the character and scene designs, optimizing every aspect from storyboarding to character modeling. Can you share more about this?
Liu Sai gang: Our team consists of about fifty people who have been involved in projects like "Monkey King: Hero Is Back", "Ne Zha", "Jiang Ziya", "Gourmet Adventure: Heroic Feast", "Tofu" and "Realm of Terracotta". Some of these projects were even co-produced by us. We are a mature full-process production team, and we are also very grateful for the strong support from many outsourcing teams. For post-production rendering, we have established a long-term cooperative model with XRender, enjoying massive computing resources, a wide range of machine configurations, and customized rendering services available 24/7 for the project.
XRender: In terms of animation rendering, your company chose to collaborate with XRender. How do you think using XRender's cloud rendering has improved the overall production process?
Liu Sai gang: XRender provides us with a flexible, efficient, and massively scalable one-stop cloud rendering service with unlimited node expansion, offering customized rendering solutions for our projects. This allows us to quickly complete animation rendering computations within the project timeline, significantly reducing the production cycle and ensuring that our project, "God with three eyes: The Deep Sea Dragon" can be released with high energy during the summer season.
XRender: AI applications are booming in 2024. Have you applied any AI technology in the production of your animated films? What impact do you think AI will have on the future of animated film production?
Liu Sai gang: In the final stages of rendering, we participated in some tests with Huawei Cloud's AI algorithms, which have shown certain results in improving rendering quality and efficiency. Although still in the testing phase, we believe AI will have a broad impact on many industries, including visual effects, animated films, AR/VR, and more. AI technology is revolutionary for the film industry because it not only improves production efficiency and quality but also provides audiences with more realistic visual experiences and immersive viewing experiences.
XRender: Are there any other animated works in preparation? Can you give animation fans a sneak peek?
Liu Sai gang: Moving forward, we will continue to focus on creating original Chinese animated films, overcoming difficulties and staying true to our original intentions to produce better works! We also hope to have closer cooperation with XRender in the future.
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