Fairytale & Silk Road: Seminars and Animation Show

PROGRAMME

Day 1, 10:00-13:00, Nov. 28, 2017

10:00-10:15 Welcome and introduction (Associate Professor Jun Liu)

10:15-11:10 Research presentations and discussions (presentations + Q&A)

• Shanghai Film Museum: “Introduction to Shanghai Film Museum”
• Mr. Casper Wichmann: Introduction to “ThinkChina”
• Professor Mette Hjort (MEF): “Film and Knowledge Exchange”
• Dr. QI, Wei (Shanghai University): “Cynical Publics: Video (re-)production and participatory culture on the Chinese internet”

11:10-11:30 Animation show: Three Monks (20 mins)

11:30-11:40 Break

11:40-12:20 Research presentations and discussions (presentations + Q&A)

• Mr. Jesper Andersen (Danish Film Institute/Cinematheque): “Showing a film is not enough”
• Dr. SUN, Xiaofei (Henan University): “Travel, Blind Spots and Traces: Finding the integration of VR and narrative”

12:20-12:35 Animation show: Baby Tadpoles Look for Their Mother (15 mins)

12:35-13:00 Round-table discussion (Moderator: Associate Professor Jun Liu)

Day 2, 10:00-13:00, Nov. 29, 2017

10:00-10:05 Welcome

10:05-10:45 Research presentations and discussions (presentations + Q&A)

• ZHAO, Yi (Shanghai Normal University): “Fandom: The ‘Wall Breaker’ of Chinese culture industry”
• Dr. Lars-Martin Sørensen (Danish Film Institute): “Facilitate, Communicate, Execute – Research at the DFI”

10:50-11:15 Animation show: The Nine-Colored Deer (25 mins)

11:15-11:25 Break

11:25-12:10 Research presentations and discussions (presentations + Q&A)

• Professor Johannes Riis (MEF): “The Kuleshov effect: Adding a study of Ivan Mozhukhin’s acting to lessons of replications”
• Dr. Mai Corlin (Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen): “From Independent Filmmaking to Social Change”

12:10-12:25 Animation show: Monkey Fishes The Moon (11 mins)

12:30-13:00 Round-table discussion + Conclude (Moderator: Professor Mette Hjort)

The lecture is open for all, but registration is required.

Registration is closed.

Abstracts

Showing A Film is not Enough

Jesper Andersen, the Danish Film Institute/Cinematheque

The legendary founder of Cinémathéque Francaise, Henrik Langlois, believed that, “The best way to preserve a film is to show it.” The Danish Film Institute/Cinematheque arranges about 40 film screenings a week and hosts special events every day. Programmer Jesper Andersen will give a talk on the tasks and challenges of a modern cinematheque and on how the DFI/cinematheque organizes its program.

From Independent Filmmaking to Social Change

Mai Corlin, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen

Since the mid-2000s, groups of Chinese filmmakers have slowly but surely been handing over the camera to people on the margins and to younger generations of Chinese documentary filmmakers. Wu Wenguang, considered the father of independent Chinese documentary film, along with other notable filmmakers such as Ou Ning, propose a more socially engaged and empowering attitude towards documentary filmmaking. In 2005, Wu Wenguang and Caochangdi Workstation initiated the Village Documentary project intended to document village level democracy by handing over the camera to ten chosen villagers from all over China. At Caochangdi Workstation, they taught the villagers to use a camera and document for themselves, thus emphasizing the empowerment, Wu argues lies in seeing the world through a lens. In 2010, Wu and Caochangdi Workstation initiated the Folk Memory Documentary Project, where young filmmakers go to the countryside to gather and document memories of the Great Famine (1959-1961) from elderly villagers and actively initiating socially engaged projects as they proceeded in their respective villages. Through these projects, the boundaries between professional and amateur, filmmaker and subject become blurred as concerns of social change, memory and active participation enters the realm of documentary filmmaking.

Cynical Publics: Video (re-)production and participatory culture on the Chinese internet

Wei QI, Shanghai University & University of Copenhagen

This study analyses the emergence of “cynical publics” and participatory culture on the Chinese internet by taking the less-studied phenomenon of video production and reproduction as the case. By investigating the trajectory and nature of the growing popularity of video (re)production on the internet in China, the study observes the growth of cynical publics – groups of internet users with self-irony, empathy, and cynicism towards reality – as a special part of participation culture in recent years. By the integration of experiences and collective memory into video (re)production, cynical publics’ mockery directing towards themselves and in-jokes about reality would be easily resonated and augmented through recognizing each other’s feelings towards a specific issue. Such recognition reinforces the original message, encourages circulation and assimilation, and facilitates compassion among cynical publics. The affective identification in the video (re)production diversifies the public on the Chinese internet and constitutes a significant component of participatory culture that offers both political cynicism and emotional bonding for participants.

Facilitate, Communicate, Execute – Research at the Danish Film Institute

Lars-Martin Sørensen, the Danish Film Institute

Since 2012 Lars-Martin Sørensen has held the position as Head of Research at the Danish Film Institute, which among other things administers state subsidy for film production, assists the Danish film trade in promoting Danish film, and is a film heritage institution responsible for film preservation, digitization and outreach. In his presentation, Sørensen offers an outline of the research and outreach activities at the DFI.

Travel, Blind Spots and Traces: Finding the integration of VR and narrative

SUN, Xiaofei, Henan University;

Virtual Reality (VR) industry ushered in the explosive growth in 2016, and both domestic and foreign film and television industries have been testing the water of VR image creation. How to successfully cross the gap between new technology and mainstream market is an important issue now. VR has brought a new perspective to the audience, but also changes traditional narrative way. This study aims to find an integration point of VR and cinema narrative, to eliminate the blind spots of VR film creation, to explore the direction and trajectory of VR films development, and make the VR technology as the weapon of film innovation.

Fandom: The “Wall Breaker” of Chinese culture industry

ZHAO, Yi, Shanghai Normal University

“IP” (Intellectual Property), as a buzz word in current Chinese culture industry, has been touted by capital and public opinion. Adapting web fiction into film and television programs has been major trends in this industry. However, IP adaptation based on fandom and “fan economy” is far from tapping its potentials, especially when there is no obvious difference between IP and traditional adaptation. Rather, this study argues that the blind worship for IP of the cultural industry is a misunderstanding of IP adaptation based on traditional cultural production structure with a neglecting of the rise of youth culture under the global context of media convergence and an emerging cultural pattern.

Animations

Three Monks (20 mins)

(Silver Prize, the Fourth International Fairytale Film Festival, Odense, Denmark, 1981)

In the animation Three Monks, the design and modeling of characters are unique, with a strong personality, a few words have fully represented the different personalities of the three characters, which not only has a sense of humor, but also gives people the beauty of simplicity and kindness. In the scene modeling, some of traditional Chinese painting techniques are referred to, such as the panorama painting mountains, water and temple, with the flavor of water-ink landscape painting modeling, the film has also skillfully combined and melted modern cartoon expression techniques of Western animation into the national style, so that the profound truth contains in the image of the lively picture.

Monkeys Fish Up the Moon (11 mins)

It is an animation short-film adapted based on folk fairy tale "monkey fishes the moon". Zhou Keqin served as the director of this film, Shu ling acts as the screenwriter. When a group of monkeys were playing in the woods, the blue monkey looked up at the round and bright moon, dreaming of it, and then it whistled and called everyone in, they picked up the moon by taking the form of connecting bamboo poles, but no matter how long the bamboo pole is connected, the moon is still aloft. When the yellow monkey saw the reflection of the moon in the well, he whistled excitedly to call everyone in, the blue monkey scratched his head to regenerate a plan, one after another, everyone picked up the moon just like upside down gold hook, but when the moon really was fished into the gourd scoop, they fought for who shall own it, as a result, the gourd scoop fell to the ground, and the moon was broken into pieces, it really is that "fishing the moon in the water should be in vain".

Baby Tadpoles Look for Their Mother (15 mins)

Baby Tadpoles Look for Their Mother is rearranged by the tale of the same name created by Fang Huizhen and Sheng Lude, drawing from painter Qi Baishi's creation of fish and shrimp and other images, and is the first ink animation produced in 1960 in China by Shanghai art and film studio, Sheng Tewei, Qian Jiajun, Tang Cheng serving as directors, Fang Huizhen, Sheng Lude serving as screenwriters. The film tells that the frog mother left the tadpole eggs and the tadpoles slowly grow their tails and turn into a group of tadpoles. After the shrimp described their mother's features, they decided to look for their mother. Along the way, they mistook the goldfish, crabs, turtles, catfish for their mother. And the tadpoles finally found their mother.

The Nine-Colored Deer (25 mins)

The Nine-Colored Deer is an animation works of art which is based on Dunhuang Murals “The Deer King: Bensheng” story adaptation by Shanghai Animation Film Studio in 1981. Directors are Qian Jiajun and Dai Tielang, Pan Jiezi as screenwriter. The film used Dunhuang Murals in the form of ancient Chinese Buddhist painting style tells the story of the nine-colored deer always helps people when they are in trouble, after helping a snake charmer the nine-colored deer was betrayed to the King by the snake charmer. But finally, the nine-colored deer used extraordinary power to make the snake charmer deserved retribution.

Organizers:

Jun Liu, Associate Professor, the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, UCPH

Mette Hjort, Professor, the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, UCPH

Wei Qi, Associate Professor, Shanghai University, China & Visiting Scholar, the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, UCPH