Stop Motion In China

I am a hopeless lover of stop motion. As a sprog I was spellbound by movies like King Kong in 1933, The Black Scorpion, Valley of Gwangi as well as the more relaxed and charming shorts of Wallace and Grommit. There were plenty more, each tantalizing my eyes in ways that simple puppetry and CG simply can't. I am of course an undying fan of the wonderful Ray Harryhausen and the estimable Laika films which hold their own in today's market.

In the wake of shake ups in the movie business with China, I decided to do some research and see how our Eastern compatriots regard the art form. I was very pleasantly surprised when I stumbled onto this: http://bit.ly/2r6acxO

Not only do the Chinese like stop motion, but they're gearing up for fun fantasy adventure movies with it! Jay Weng, who the article is about, is a man after my own heart. In the article he points out that movies in America have become much more cookie-cutter industrial. He's correct. I'm sure most of you have noticed how things have changed in movies. In the 80's movies were often much more creative and extreme, willing to push boundaries and touch on the bizarre. Look at movies like Labyrinth with the beautiful puppetry by Jim Henson. It's a strange and mind-bending movie, but also charming and full of artistry. It's a movie that doesn't care what you think.

I miss that artistry where craftsmen built actual sets, miniature models and used clever camera techniques to trick your senses. There was a talent to taking a little and making it seem like a lot. But now the budgets are bloated to ridiculous sizes and monstrous spectacles are thrown at you without restraint. There is greater power with CGI, but few directors or executives know how to wield it properly for the best effect.

Mr. Weng appears to view movie making as an artist, not a statistics-based business man. I'm genuinely interested in seeing what he produces. It's quite heartening to hear someone in modern day regard movies as an art form but not in a pretentious way. Rather he still understands storytelling and wants to entertain audiences the way that such men should.

I positively love this quote from him: "So the challenge we face is to make innovations while respecting what's in the past, and that takes lots of courage."

This was in response to being asked what challenges he faced when retelling a story that had been told many times already. Gee! Who would have thought that understanding the story and respecting it was a good idea? I'm looking at you Ghostbusters.

Movie makers here in America would do well to learn from men like this. It warms my heart to learn that there are still people out there who have a love and appreciation for stop motion and wish to continue its practice.

I wish Mr. Weng all the luck in the world and can't wait to see how his movie Li Bai-Young Adventurer turns out!