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Interview with director Tian Xiaopeng on Deep Sea

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“Below you will find a summary of the live interviews conducted by "Deep Sea" director Tian Xiaopeng from January 26th to 30th in China. The translation is partly from Deepl and ChatGPT and has been summarized and adapted by me (an ordinary Chinese woman who lives and works in Berlin and loves this film). If you have any further questions about this film, please feel free to contact me (fantastictori113c@org). Thank you for taking the time to understand and love this film.”

(MAJOR SPOILERS)

About movie creation

How did you come up with the idea of the deep-sea theme?

1 like ocean-themed works. When I direct, I have many methodologies. For example, I will invert what I like to find the expression that resonates with me the most. At the beginning, I didn't want to make a mythology-themed work. I wanted to make something that is closest to modern people's hearts.

On the speed of the work

To be honest, we spent seven years making this film, and we took a lot of detours. For example, we initially thought creating original content would be straightforward. We believed that creating something original would only take about three or four years since we had experience from "Monkey King." However, we discovered that making even small breakthroughs takes a lot of time and effort.

What the audience sees may not have any fundamentally new changes, but the whole process was very long for us. I think this accumulation will be useful for our next work, and it may be much better.

On the screenwriting team

It may be because we were overly focused on solving problems during the scriptwriting process, such as the logic between dreams and reality. We spent a lot of time on this, and it was really exhausting. That's why we didn't have the energy to polish these paragraphs and make them look better and more interesting. It's a regret.

I think your approach is right. We have a good screenwriting team, and we are continuously growing. It may be easier for us in the future to solve many problems in this area.

On recouping costs and the next work

I am really ashamed and sorry for everyone because we didn't make something that I'm particularly satisfied with and that everyone felt was worth it. Looking back, I realize that this has awakened me. If it happened a little earlier, I might have made some compromises for this film.

The cost is quite high, and I cannot reveal the exact number. It's still far from the goal, to be honest. But for my next work, I may not be as stubborn as before. This film has given me some answers or validations that I wanted. It also gave me a new experience. If possible, I will create something that satisfies the investors, family, colleagues, friends, and the audience, and that earns money. Films are products that need to be shown in cinemas, so we must respect the audience. Sometimes we may be overly self-centered, thinking that what we create is groundbreaking or experimental, but the audience may not accept it. In reality, we cannot be too self-centered, and we need to consider what the audience can accept. We played too much with this one, but we gained some important experience.

Why did this movie cost so much money?

One of the reasons is that I may have been too obsessed with details during the scriptwriting and production process. For example, there were revolutionary modifications during the scriptwriting process, and I would get stuck in the details during the production process and feel like something wasn't good enough.

There were too many problems like this, and the whole process took seven years. There were a lot of things to develop, and since the foundation was relatively weak, the original story of "Journey to the West" was not entirely applicable. I had ambitious goals to challenge the existing foundation of Chinese animation by creating a story with good visuals that could be viewed in its entirety.

However, this ambition may have been too great, and during the process of challenging myself, I found that many things needed to be done from scratch. For example, it took over two years to make the opening credits, and the experimentation process had already exhausted all of the initial investment. When the final result came out, I was shocked to realize how much money we would have to spend to achieve the desired outcome and when we would be able to complete it. The final product had to make many compromises, but I was too obsessed with my own mistakes and persevered, making the situation uncontrollable and wasting the youth of many talented people who followed me

• Summary of experience regarding production duration

Why did it take us seven years this time? One reason is that the available resources from my previous experience in the deep sea were too few, and exploring the deep sea was another direction that I wanted to explore. Another reason is that when our team was established in October, we didn't plan to become a production company. If we had planned to make a perfect industrial system and process after completing

"Journey to the West," it might have been faster, but at the time, we were thinking that many good teams and companies in China were doing the same thing, and we would just give up.

So, in fact, we took many detours in terms of construction, not the construction itself but the strategic direction of our construction. When you want to do something, you realize that the strategic direction of your company is problematic, and so it may take longer.

For example, if you are an architectural firm and you didn't plan to become an architectural firm at first, you just wanted to be a design firm. When you want to build a tall building, you realize that you need to be an architectural firm, and it's not the same thing. Therefore, the foundation of the building takes a very long time to construct. When your strategic direction is clear, and you know what you need to do, all of your construction serves that purpose, and things can go faster once you have a clear vision.

About the commercial viability of works

My view is that even if you compromise for commercial purposes, you may not get commercial success. So, I still need to pass my own inner test when making a work.

I have to like the way it expresses, and the emotional type must move me to make it.

The so-called commercial compromise is not about these things; it is more about listening to some opinions that should be more open and controlling experimental things that are too unique to oneself. In addition, because I come from an animation background, I have some convictions about animation itself, and all animators have convictions about whether a movement or image is good-looking and whether the details are in place. From a movie perspective, this may not matter.

Regarding borrowing from Japanese anime

As a die-hard fan of Hayao Miyazaki, I really appreciate the world-building in his works. For example, the inspiration for the Deep Sea Dragon Palace in "Pony on the Cliff by the Sea" actually came from a science fiction film I was working on seven years ago. I wanted to create a futuristic and sci-fi-inspired ship, but as the story evolved, it became a more modern tale. During the process of changing the plot, the design of the ship underwent many iterations.

The final version was inspired by a desire to find something modern and biologically-inspired, like a whale covered in coral and vegetation, with a small island- like structure on top. These were all modern elements I wanted to incorporate, rather than making it feel like something from a different time period. There were also versions that were influenced by steampunk and the Republic of China.

Miyazaki is a master of his craft, and his influence is pervasive. No matter how I tried to design the Deep Sea Dragon Palace, I couldn't escape his shadow. It ended up looking somewhat like the moving castle in "Howl's Moving Castle." This wasn't intentional, but rather a result of his influence. When I tried to create a simple island, it felt stiff and lifeless. I wanted it to have a sense of movement, like it was alive and affected by ocean currents. Unconsciously, I ended up with something that looked like a castle. That's just the kind of impact Miyazaki has had on our generation, and it's hard to escape his influence when designing something new.

Only a true genius can break free from the shadow of those who came before them.

Differences between Chinese and Japanese Animation

We both really enjoy watching Japanese animation. But to be honest, there is still a cultural difference between Us. Our advantage is our own cultural strengths. When we tell our own stories, it will resonate more with our audience. It's also a matter of viewing habits. For example, in the animation powerhouse, even older people have the habit of watching animation. However, we are still in the process of cultivating this. In addition to cultural advantages, I think our advantage lies in our strong sense of creativity and diligence. This is just my own perspective, but having visited some Japanese animation companies, I think their heyday is over and many companies are quite conservative. On the other hand, I feel that China is thriving, and everyone is trying to figure out how to revitalize ourselves and do more. I think this momentum is good, although there may be some issues in the middle, and it may take time to cultivate the market. But from my personal perspective, you can rest assured that we still have a high level of creativity, positivity, and effort. We have not yet fallen into a conservative environment where we can just sit back and relax. We are still very active and creative.

About Van Gogh and Stephen Chow

The issue of Van Gogh and Stephen Chow is similar to that of Miyazaki. Over the years, we have all been influenced by many masters in the creative process, so it's difficult to avoid having their shadows on us. When you're looking for a context, these things don't just come out of thin air. When you're creating something very different from humans, even if you haven't directly referenced it, you definitely have a basic, long-lasting impression in your mind, and then you naturally use it to transform.

About particle ink technology

I'm not a specific special effects or production person, of course, I'm very welcome to have the opportunity to come to our office to introduce our special effects artists. Then we can do some specific technical exchanges. I only understand this thing from a very shallow level. Because particle ink is not a particularly magical or profound technology in the entire production process. It is more about how to use this method to get closer to the effect we want within the limited resource conditions in the application field. Therefore, the more difficult part of the research and development was the experimental process, what kind of density and particle shape of the particle can outline the entire two-dimensional freehand edge we hope for. We did a lot of experiments in this area.

Have you noticed our posters? The poster is very explanatory. The ones we posted all have a particle sense. At first, the traditional method was to use a two-dimensional painting or a three-dimensional rendering.

However, in order to pursue the particle ink stvle of the deep sea, we added some particles to each poster.

These particles are a lot of small sand grains, and it is not just about covering the entire poster. It actually needs to present a thickness, like an oil painting. When you light it up, you will find that a painting has a thickness, and it accumulates at the edge, which can produce a different change in light and shadow. I think this is also very interesting. We have done a lot of work on this in terms of synthesis, rendering, and processing during overlaying, and I think these experiences are more valuable.

There is no other way, and we have not yet found a better method. Therefore, I believe that for the team's value, the value of an animated film is not just limited to telling a good story. There are indeed some technical developments, and these technologies will definitely be used in other films. Of course, it must be suitable. Even if it is a mythological theme, because our understanding of mythology comes from that kind of freehand, such as

"Journey to the West." and many freehand landscape paintings. I think it can be used. If we simplify the process and lower the cost, many films can use this stylized form.

On the topic of deep-sea innovation

I think one of the bigger ones, which cannot be called from scratch, is the problem of the barrier between 2D and 3D, which I am quite proud of. Another point is sound design, because sound design and the previously mentioned Dolby Pure Black, I particularly want to break the barrier that people experience when watching movies, because why do we watch in the cinema?

Because we see this thing, it is a truly comprehensive experience. It's not that I see a mobile phone screen now, and a good story or plot will attract me. It is actually influenced by such an environmental experience. So when designing it, I think it is more focused on this aspect.

On the topic of breakthroughs in the future of

Chinese animation

Attempts to break through with particle ink or future experiences, I think this kind of feeling of watching movies is my personal interest or point of concern. The future should still be focused on more extensive themes and stories and more expressions. I think that is when real breakthroughs will occur. As you know, animation giants like the United States and Japan have a habit of watching animations, and there are actually more extensive themes, experimental things, and a lot of commercial things. I think the animations that can be seen in China today are still very limited. If we really want to break through in the future, it still depends on more extensive themes and more tolerance.

How to develop original animation

Chinese animation has had its glorious moments as well as low points, and we, this generation, need to prepare and accumulate a lot for this matter. I believe that we should not cater to what the market welcomes now. We must do something that cannot be predicted, which is not conducive to the basic construction of the industry. I think we should boldly explore and try different boundaries, perhaps it will take a long time, maybe it will take a generation's time, but this barrier will eventually be broken. Because we cannot let the audience decide what they want to see, and we make what they want to see. I think this needs our guidance or slowly breaking it ourselves. Because Japan also spent many years before becoming an animation giant. It's not just a few works that cater to the audience and make a certain theme. I think to break this barrier…

Sharing Industry Techniques

We are definitely open to sharing our techniques with other companies and teams in the industry. Our team has a spirit of sharing and collaboration, and any techniques or tools we develop are available for others to use. I believe that the development of Chinese animation should not be hindered by technical barriers, and we should focus on telling good stories and exploring interesting themes. We have also benefited from sharing techniques and tools developed by other teams in the industry, so I think it's important to maintain a sense of unity and collaboration within the Chinese animation community.

Sharing Techniques with Universities

I am happy to share our experience and techniques with universities and students, especially during times when I am not too busy with film projects. Our team of talented animators and technicians can visit universities and share their knowledge and experience with students. I believe that our practical experience in the industry can complement the theoretical and experimental work being done in universities, and help students to develop a better understanding of the industry.

Message to Animation Students

Stay committed to your choice of studying animation, as it has a bright future. Focus on your studies and do your best in your coursework. Leave the experimental and exploratory work to professionals in the industry, who can use that work to build a stronger foundation for the industry as a whole. I have many friends who are talented and capable teachers in animation schools, but they cannot be expected to teach and conduct experiments, while also considering the market and commercial aspects of the industry. It's important to recognize that everyone has their own roles to play, and professionals in the industry are responsible for exploring and developing new techniques and tools

On 3D Animation

The use of 3D animation is a personal choice, and I am generally tolerant of different styles and techniques.

However, I do worry that some audiences may view 3D animation as a gimmick or a way to increase ticket sales.

In our film, we use 3D animation to create a sense of depth and immersion, and to convey the dreamlike quality of the story. This was a deliberate choice based on both my personal preferences and the needs of the story.

On Music and Sound Design

Sound design and music are both crucial elements of a film, and I take them very seriously. I have worked closely with our sound and music team to ensure that the film has a strong audio component that complements the visuals. In my opinion, sound can account for 30%-50% of a film's impact on audiences.

Some of my favorite films are those with strong music and sound design, and I think it's important to give these elements the attention they deserve.

On the song "Goodbye Deep Sea" and the intentions behind the creation of the movie

Goodbye Deep Sea is a farewell song from the perspective of Nan He. When we were creating this scene, we knew that Nan He is not good with words in real life and he is more likely to influence others through his actions rather than through preaching. At first, we intended to make this scene about Nan He's self-redemption in relation to the constellation, but we found that if he talked too much, it would sound like empty words and would not fit his character. So we thought, why not use a song to express his feelings? Songs can naturally convey one's emotions. That's why we chose this particular piece of music. It is a farewell not only to the entire movie but also to Nan He himself and his self-redemption in relation to the deep sea in his heart.

In other words, those things are all in the past now. Nan He is telling the constellation that there is light waiting for him on the road ahead. Do you remember the part that goes "rain brings colorful currents, otters are waiting for your candy at the corner, passing clouds and millions of lights"? It's like saying, open your eyes and see the world. The main message is "forget me".

Perhaps as Chinese people, we tend to overinterpret this phrase, but what we really mean is that when our loved ones leave us, they would want us to live well and not to be overly concerned about them. They want us to forget about them and to live our own lives. In a sense, we're saying forget about me and let go of those things. Don't worry about me, I'll be with you somewhere, but that's enough. You don't need to worry about me too much.

And "goodbye means we won't see each other again" because that's the reality. Just like when Nan He shook his head and said to her, "even if we say goodbye, we won't really be saying goodbye. You have to go on and live your own life.”

Screenwriting ideas

My script's logic is a bit too much to explain in its entirety. A few days ago, during a live stream, I mentioned the first time that Shen Xiu confronted her self-redemption consciousness and self-indulgence consciousness. When she first arrived on this ship, she went to chase the hijinx, but Nan He put the hijinx in a sputum bowl, actually wanting to throw it away like trash. The first time Shen Xiu confronted Nan He, during their first confrontation, he said "Dream demon," which is called "hijinx" in the show. We call it "dream demon" out of habit. This hijinx is the one who led me to find my mother. It didn't tell the truth. It didn't actually come to find my mother.

Then Nan He just kicked her out, so this behavior is actually the first logic of the script. She is using the hijinx as a reason to support herself, but actually, she came to the Deep Sea Hotel to stay here, to see Nan He, and to see the good person who saved her and made her feel very guilty. She just wants to stay in this beautiful and safe world that belongs to her with Nan He.

So when Nan He kicked her out for the second time, what does Nan He represent? First of all, I often say that he represents Shen Xiu' self-redemption consciousness, and secondly, from the perspective of a psychiatrist, he is a bit like an inept psychiatrist, using this method to treat Shen Xiu. Because if everyone imagines what her current state is, she is now in a dream, maybe she has been in a coma for three months in the hospital, what is her state? Either she is immersed in the deep sea world and will never wake up, in fact, she has already died, just like Nan He, who will always stay in this ghost world.

Another possibility is that if she doesn't die, she may be wrapped up in the red qi of the Red Phantom, and what will be the result of being wrapped up?

It is as if she has become a vegetable, she won't die, but she has trapped herself in a state of being neither alive nor dead. Another possibility is that she confronts her own problems and walks out of the Eye of the Deep. She goes into the ultimate answer, to face her own problems, and that's when she comes out. So the first time that Nan He, the incompetent psychiatrist, performs poorly is when he throws out Shen Xiu, using such a crude method as if to say, "Don't face this problem, this is a disease, I'll throw you out." So he threw her out for the first time using such a crude method, which can be seen as a small prelude.

Shen Xiu wants to stay here, she doesn't want to leave.

There is a scene where Nan He is in a colorful coral grove, pondering what to do. If I can't use this strong medicine to get her out, and once she's out, if I use this method, she'll trap herself and become a vegetable, what should I do? So Nan He, the psychiatrist, grows up, and the logic of his play is that he uses a method called procrastination or compromise, or a delaying tactic.

Alright, I'II make a deal with you. Since you can't be thrown out, then stay, but let's slowly see how things develop. But there is still a hidden crisis here, which is the 5-day deadline. In the plot, Shen Xiu is not aware of this, it's Nan He who says it, but we know it's Shen Xiu's dream. How could she not know? In other words, the 5-day countdown, she is very clear that they are both using this delaying tactic, not just Nan He's, but Shen Xiu's as well. I am living in a dream.

Do you have this experience in life, that if I dream of a special dream, such as something delicious to eat, or that I've become rich and have money in my hands, I am particularly afraid of waking up from the dream, but I set an alarm clock, I have to get up at 6:00 in the morning, and the alarm clock could go off at any time. I am particularly afraid of the ticking of the countdown, it will reach this moment, and I will grab the money. So the 5-day countdown is a bit like an alarm clock, my subconscious knows the time I have to grab the money is limited, and I will wake up sooner or later, but no matter what, I'II let myself indulge in this moment. I want to be with Nan He at this moment. It's like the song "Gala Beidaihe" and their game of passing notes. It seems like the calmest moment, as if nothing is happening. But that's precisely when the crisis is lurking, a countdown.

When the alarm clock doesn't ring, Shen Xiu is enjoying this moment. Why did she believe so easily in the deal Nan He told her? Because when we were writing the play, we were thinking, "Shen Xiu is so easily fooled.

Shouldn't she sneak into Nan He's room to look for a sea elf? Why didn't she? Because her heart was completely immersed in the moment."

Why did I say this was a happy moment? Because the alarm clock hadn't gone off yet, but it was indeed a happy moment. At this point, Shen Xiu had almost forgotten about the sea spirit (hijinx) and had hidden it in the room in Nan He. Shen Xiu could do anything at this moment, just don't touch this truth, even Shen Xiu didn't want to fly out of the sea spirit. Because that excuse, after all, it was an excuse, not something that Shen Xiu wanted to pursue, so she was hiding this excuse. It wasn't Nan He who was hiding it, it was Shen Xiu herself hiding it.

Then something happened later, more dangerous than a crisis, but as I said before, when watching this movie, its expression is reversed, although it is a crisis, but in the form of expression, it is the happiest moment, which is Shen Xiu's first sincere laugh in the whole movie when Nan He tells a cold joke to her. There is a piece of background music that you may have heard before. After Nan He talks about the Samoyed, which is actually a cold joke, Shen Xiu laughs because of Nan He's state, not because of the joke itself, so Shen Xiu laughs sincerely for the first time. But that moment is actually the biggest source of crisis, why? As | mentioned earlier, every time Shen Xiu realizes that this is a beautiful dream, realizes that Nan He is a good person, not a fierce face, he is a good person, he is coaxing her to be happy, it makes Shen Xiu think of the cruel reality, that this good person who tells her jokes to make her happy, to live on, is dead.

So that moment is both a sincere laugh and a genuine outbreak.

So what happens next is that in the play, the nightmare sea sprite appears, which Shen Xiu finds and lets go. So there is a question here, is the sea sprite released by Shen Xiu, is it found unconsciously, no, it is found consciously by Shen Xiu, because when Shen Xiu realizes that this dream is a beautiful dream, Shen Xiu has to activate that buff mechanism, Shen Xiu tells herself, be careful not to think this is a beautiful dream, you have to be aware that the sea sprite is your excuse, so at this point, she releases the sea sprite to tell herself, reminding herself that I am here for the sea sprite, not for Nan He, this good person. Did you notice that the sea sprite not only was released but also grew larger, which means that Shen Xiu is using this larger excuse, and this knot in her heart is also growing.

Shen Xiu tells herself, I don't want this kind of happiness, I don't want this kind of fear, so every action of Shen Xiu, no one understands her behavior, why she wants to release the sea sprite, then you have to consider the logic of the dream, which is Shen Xiu activating a buff.

So when the whole sea spirit makes the ship so chaotic, it is actually a safe moment in Shen Xiu's heart. It's a big excuse for me when it's so big. This is a process of conflict, this dream is very painful for Shen Xiu, on the one hand, she has to weave this lie of a beautiful dream, and at the same time, she cannot trigger the wake-up mechanism of the dream, and she has to deal with the hijinx, so this is a very difficult dream for Shen Xiu to do. On the one hand, she has to weave this lie of a beautiful dream, and at the same time, she cannot trigger the wake-up mechanism of the dream, and she has to deal with the sea spirit, so this is a very difficult dream for Shen Xiu to do.

We all hope that she will wake up, but at the same time, we also feel that waking up is cruel to her. So we also hope that she can indulge in her dream. This is a debatable issue.

After she activated the nightmare mechanism, it was actually the indulgent consciousness of Shen Xiu that was at play. At this point, everyone knows that the song

"Beidaihe" by Gala is actually a balance between self-rescue consciousness and indulgent consciousness.

Everyone is anxious. It is because the incompetent psychiatrist does not know how to save Shen Xiu, and they are in a stalemate. At this time, Shen Xiu's indulgent consciousness prevailed and activated the sea spirit. So the things that happened later were that the incompetent psychiatrist's delaying tactic did not solve the problem. Therefore, Nan He and Shen Xiu had a conversation in the rain, which was actually the psychiatrist saying, "I won't play with you anymore, I won't use delaying tactics with you, I won't slowly reveal the truth to you." So when Nan He talked to Shen Xiu in the rain, did you all remember that he said, "Wake up, it's just a dream, it's just a nightmare"? When it was still called a nightmare, he would say more directly that

"Don't be silly, wake up, it's just a nightmare, everything you see is an illusion, it's fake." Actually, this sentence was not spoken by Nan He as a real person, but it was Shen Xiu's self-redemption consciousness telling herself, "Don't be silly, wake up, it's just a nightmare.

Everything is an illusion and fake. If your mother really wanted to find you, how could you not know? She must not want vou anymore and won't use this method." So when Nan He said this very touching sentence, on the surface, it seemed that Nan He, this hysterical person, was saying it unpleasantly, but in fact, it was Shen Xiu's self-redemption consciousness telling herself to wake up and not indulge anymore.

However, her own indulgent consciousness still held sway, insisting that "I know, I know, my mother loves me, and she's come to find me." Then the psychiatrist told her, "Okay, I can't go on like this with you. You can leave," and then completely abandoned Shen Xiu. "You can leave now, don't stay here." Because the psychiatrist gave up on the treatment, he said he didn't want to entangle with her anymore, and she could leave. Shen Xiu's state of coming to the island is to decide to leave this world and not indulge anymore. It was not that Nan He drove her away, but that she wanted to come out.

When she walked step by step towards the small island, I have also interpreted before why those women on the small island turned into the human mother and daughter at the end. It was because Shen Xiu was about to reach the boundary between reality and dreams. She was about to reach the exit, but at this time, Shen Xiu became scared. She thought, "What can I do when I go out? Do I have to face that gray reality? I can't face it." My mother is just an excuse. How can I face that illusion?

So after Shen Xiu squatted down, she activated the Red Funeral Ghost mechanism. In other words, when she initiated this mechanism, it was actually a dilemma. I couldn't go back to the world of indulgent dreams, nor could I return to reality, which was a gray reality corresponding to the health status of Shen Xiu. She couldn't die, nor could she come back to life and became a vegetable.

So the result of the gloomy ghost in the red hoodie wrapping her up is a dying intermediate state. Actually, this whole story is very similar to the intersection and entanglement of two parallel lines, one is indulgence and the other is self-help. Every time they intersect is what we see now, which is the intersection separating and reuniting, like a person's inner struggle and contradiction. Later, we will see that it is no longer an intersection and will be twisted together tightly. This is the way the drama was done. From afar, Nan He saw that the sky was cloudy, which represents Shen Xiu's self-redemption consciousness. When he saw that Shen Xiu was about to become a vegetable, the psychologist who had previously said harsh words to her and refused to treat her jumped out and said that intervention was necessary. This is from the interpretive level. From the story level, Nan He is a good person who always acts impulsively and cannot live a good life. Whenever he gets impulsive, he wants to be a hero. Shen Xiu knows that the good guy Nan He is coming back to the real world, even though he is a growing psychologist who is easy to get carried away.

When Nan He saved her by splitting the sea, he made a decision. After all, the child cannot be treated in such a rough way, because it is impossible to cure her, and she will become a vegetable if she does. Therefore, when Nan He saved her, Shen Xiu went to the rooftop to find him, and Nan He looked at the distant sky and became confused. From the story's perspective, this was Nan He's confusion, that is, how can I get rid of this burden? I am a person who is easily carried away. I cannot throw this child into a dangerous place, but I cannot take her to get rich or adventure either.

This is Nan He's confusion, but what about the psychologist's confusion from an interpretive standpoint? At that time, he was thinking about how to save this child and what psychological methods to use to rescue Shen Xiu from the delusion of this dream.

Therefore, the key to Nan He's confusion at that moment was the confusion of his self-redemption consciousness.

But he immediately thought of a solution. Okay, since I can't throw you away and can't leave you behind, then let's go to the Eye of the Deep Sea because that is where your problem lies. We will face our own problems and find the answers ourselves, and face our own nightmares. So, some people may not understand why he decided to go to the limit of the deep sea. On the surface, Nan He was using Shen Xiu to get rich, but in fact, his self-redemption consciousness was telling him that the only way out was to face Shen Xiu. Only in this way can it be resolved. At that moment, Shen Xiu did not believe in this, and you can notice the look of Shen Xiu.

Shen Xiu doesn't believe in this matter because she had already prepared for it when she came to the island during the rain. It's just that I didn't use nightmares as an excuse. But at this time, Nan He, that is, her self-redemption consciousness suddenly told her that when you need to face your own problems, she became afraid and said, "I don't want to go because I know what that means." So Shen Xiu started to avoid it.

I won't talk about the interpretation later. I believe that my logical method may be understood by everyone, and you can discuss it with this kind of thinking.

On the theme of creation I actually just want to tell such a story. Because I have faced many negative and dark things in real life, I want to tell it. I have truly felt despair before and wondered whether I should continue to make animation or create. Every time I give myself strength, I think about why I do animation? Why do I want to tell a story? There is always an answer, that is, I believe that I am doing this because maybe it seems meaningless, but I don't want to miss those little bright things in the world. Perhaps there is no great truth or significance to be expressed, but this is enough to support me. I am willing to look for these small points, so this may be a very important expression in my movie.

Regarding the lack of solutions in the film

The movie cannot solve it, far from it. It can only provide a way for everyone to understand or perhaps be slightly touched to face this problem. I think this problem is ubiquitous, not only for children from dysfunctional families like Shen Xiu but also for us adults. Because recently I have been troubled like Shen Xiu, and some people will come to encourage me, especially like Shen Xiu's father. Because everyone sees that I am in a bad state, are you worried about box office or the film's reputation? Everyone will encourage me to say that it's okay, as long as you smile, everything will be fine, but actually, at that moment, I felt very much like Shen Xiu's father. I don't want these things. I don't want such pale encouragement. So I feel that at that moment, inside and outside the play are really the same, that our world is full of such things, such misunderstandings, actually we need to face these practical problems. The real help for these children may be to awaken this kind of consciousness or method, and even more people are willing to pay attention to this issue. I think it can truly open up because we Chinese or Easterners are too introverted and sometimes unwilling to express ourselves. We always bury our psychological problems deep in our hearts to digest and solve them, unwilling to communicate, and others have no idea. But in fact, it will be magnified into a kind of harm. I think if it can awaken everyone's understanding of this issue a little bit, then I think it is valuable. Growing up is actually something that movies cannot do. How life will grow and how it will face is something we will encounter in the future.

On the expression of niche themes resonating with a minority of people

Initially, I didn't think of this issue as a problem of depression for a small group of people, but rather as a problem of depressive psychology or emotions. Perhaps 1 feel that this is widely present, but maybe people are unwilling to touch or come into contact with it. It's okay, even if it's empathy or a minority of people, I think it is still meaningful, and actually, I was greatly encouraged by this. I think there are still many people in the world who need this understanding and warmth. It's okay, even if it's like what many people say, it's a niche, it is still meaningful.

Picture book story

The final scene is from the perspective of the picture book, because we didn't want to reveal specific information to the audience at the beginning, it just flashed by. But in reality, the time when Shen Xiu really looked at a few pages of this picture book may have happened. There is also a small detail here. Why did Nan He say that the book was unlucky? Actually, Nan He is not a bad person. There is a small detail that the picture book was actually torn, and it wasn't torn by Shen Xiu. When Shen Xiu passed by the book stall, a few children ran by and she accidentally bumped into the book, causing a page to fold while opening the book. Nan He loves his work very much, so he was very angry when he saw that his book was torn. He instinctively cursed at Shen Xiu, but he is a good person. He didn't want to harm her for no reason, which means that this moment between them was actually a misunderstanding. Shen Xiu was also wronged, and Nan He was not really a bad person misunderstood by her.

What I want to say is that this theme is actually about being good at understanding. Sometimes the hurt you see on the surface may have some warmth behind it that has not been discovered. Shen Xiu’s personality is also like this. When she is hurt in the world, she often does not explain because of the things she carries. So sometimes, if you speak out and explain, the grievances will be discovered.

The picture book at the end skipped a few pages, and the pages that she focused on were the ones that were seen at the beginning, such as the smiling Samoyed angel and Nan He's hometown. These things were seen in her mind during the rapid page turning, and these things will be rewoven in the dream world of the main story.

On the expression of depression

The earliest instance was actually when the girl went back to her childhood memories. I remember her father telling her, "You don't have depression." Initially, we didn't even have this line in the film, because we didn't want to overly emphasize this issue. It may represent a common depression or loneliness that people feel, and I think it is more valuable to talk about this rather than just the issue itself. Later, we added it back because many people accused us of exploiting depression for commercial gain. We were worried because we were already vague about many things, and we didn't want to give people the impression that we were exploiting this issue. We just want to tell a story.

About consumers with depression?

Consumption itself is a product, and to a greater or lesser extent, it contains an element of consumption.

Unless you are making something very personal and don't consider commercial aspects. I can understand why people say this, because it is indeed a two-way street if you are afraid of touching this group of people. I myself and many people around me have this problem to a greater or lesser extent. I am willing to talk about this issue, not only because I want more people to understand this issue, but also because I feel that it is a process of reconciliation with myself. Because these things need to be expressed and need to find an outlet.

Of course, if I really offend many people with this problem, I can only say that I am very, very sorry. And my understanding of depression is also very shallow. There are many things in my film that I cannot achieve, which makes people feel uncomfortable and I feel very sorry.

From the original intention, I really didn't want to use it to make my movie watchable or commercial.

Is sensitivity a gift or a shackle?

Both, definitely both. Because if you are not so sensitive, many times you will not be so entangled or struggle with yourself. But it is also a gift. I am very grateful for this gift, which allows me to have a perception of the world and feel that the world is still very beautiful. I am also very lucky that I am not a numb person.

About "The Crossing"

The process of shaping Nan He by "The Crossing" and why a lot of ink was used to shape Nan He instead of the emotional relationship between the star-crossed lovers and the crew

Shen Xiu is a very clever child. She has a chance encounter with the Joker's alter ego, and their interaction during the drift, changed her impression of him. In the real world, Shen Xiu has a very bad impression of the Joker's alter ego. Do you ever have this feeling, that you see a person, see the props around him, because he is a bookseller, I see him drawing that book, although I flipped through a few pages, I know this person has a lot of vitality, he likes drawing, likes painting, he is a person with his own story. But at the same time, his bad attitude towards me makes me feel that this person has a very bad impression. But it is such a person who says that she is unlucky and that she hates this person, and such things happen every day in the real world.

Shen Xiu is too used to seeing these people, no matter whether you have your own story behind you, I am not interested in what is behind you, because the world is full of the same people. But such a person saved her in the end, in order to let Shen Xiu survive. On the sea, he danced and told so many stories, told so many interesting things, and he was afraid that she would fall asleep. He kept telling her some bad jokes. It is such a person who makes her have a completely different view of him. Isn't he also experiencing his own difficulties behind him, and has his own story? Maybe he is a good person. Is it that my perspective on the problem is wrong? Because Shen Xiu is just a child, she put all her doubts and those wrong understandings about life into this dream. There are two purposes, one is her complaint against Nan He, who is a profit-seeking boss, but seems to have his own life and be a good person. However, there is a problem with the logic of this play. She is weaving this dream while not daring to make Nan He too good, because the better he is, the more likely he will die. Therefore, this is a truly cruel and complicated weaving process.

On the one hand, she wants to show Nan He's clownish appearance, his flattery. But at the same time, she knows that Nan He is a good person and can show it at any time. He may have many shining qualities, and this is what is being talked about using a lot of content. Who Nan He is, what kind of person he is. Of course, this is based on the consciousness of the weaver, which shapes him subconsciously.

But on the other hand, from the perspective of the story, 1 also have a bit of selfishness, which is to tell the story of kind strangers. They may have their own stories. This is my own selfishness, putting him in a position where he looks profit-seeking on the surface, but actually has shining qualities in his life. This is a very real and realistic person.

Nan He Ugly

The fact that Nan He is not good-looking comes from his character design. As I mentioned before, I wanted to tell a story about someone who is not good-looking and has suffered a lot of setbacks in the world. Like Quasimodo, he has a heart of gold. But for this character design to work, we need to make everyone believe that he is not good-looking. As you know, in animation, it's easy to make things look good unintentionally, so we intentionally looked for the opposite direction to make everyone believe that this character design is valid.

Otherwise, how can I tell a story about someone who is not good-looking but has a heart of gold? People would say, "But the protagonist looks good, why do you have to make him look pathetic and say that his life is not going well?" So it's really for the sake of this character design.

As for why his mouth is so big, it's because he is a clown in real life. Since Shenzhou has never seen his real face in real life, he imagines him with a mouth that is very big and fierce. When he saved Shenzhou, his face was wet with water, and his smile was not a neat one, but a blood-curdling one, which looked terrifying. So Shenxiu imagines everything he sees in real life as dreamlike.

The other thing I want to talk about is the "Uncanny Valley" problem in animation. Everyone knows about this problem, which is that in order to avoid it, we deliberately change the proportion of the character's features, whether it's in 2D or 3D animation. We make their facial features slightly different, such as making their nose a little longer, their face a little longer, or their mouth a little bigger, so that when people look at them, they won't be scared by any strange appearances.

In fact, this includes the previous point about finding the boundary between 2D and 3D animation. In 2D animation, people are often drawn in an exaggerated way, like in Japanese anime with big eyes and handsome features, or like those created by Satoshi Kon, who exaggerates the two-dimensional aspects of people.

Both of these are reasons why I wanted to make Nan He's character in this direction. But this topic is very long. If you are interested, especially animation students, we can discuss it privately because it is a topic worth exploring. It has nothing to do with any other issues, whether I have any hostility towards others or have any other reasons. It is really just a pure technical issue.

The name of Nan He

In fact, there is another detail in our film that everyone may notice - there is a lot of money. At that time, there was no TikTok live streaming, so handling money was still a very common thing. Nowadays, young people seem to use money frequently, but at that time, we were still wondering how to make Nan He rich. He would count money and hold money in his hands. However, after a few years, we realized that this aspect could not be portrayed, as people were not interested in it. We also couldn't show him using a phone to receive red envelopes. The name of Nan He may not be his real name; it depends on everyone's understanding. In his picture book, his name is written as "Nan He," so he may be using a pen name, or he may just be a person who likes stars. However, everything that Shen Xiu saw was from her daily life, so she weaved what she saw into her dream. We don't know what Nan He's real name is.

Nan He's height

Nan He's actual height should be around 1.9 meters, but how could he be so tall? We all know that there is a problem with the proportions of animated characters.

For example, Sun Wukong in Journey to the West had a relatively large head and a short body, but in the end, he became a person who was almost 1.9 meters tall with a very long body. This is a problem in animation creation.

For the other characters, such as the walrus Lao Jin, he is actually over two meters tall. If Nan He's height were that of an ordinary person, he would not be able to stand next to Lao Jin. Therefore, exaggeration was used. In order to contrast with Shen Xiu, who is probably only 10 or 11 years old, and who is already very tall, if Nan He were only 1.7 meters tall, he would not look like an adult in contrast to Shen Xiu. Therefore, we intentionally made the contrast more significant in the animation, making Shen Xiu look more like a child and Nan He's overall proportions taller.

Differences in Performance between Nan He and Shen Xiu

The first reason is that as we all know, Shen Xiu is a character that we can feel in the real world, just like a child next to us. Therefore, her performance is very realistic and even introverted according to her character, as long as it is authentic.

Nan He, on the other hand, is a person shaped in Shen Xiu's mind and is not real. The original intention of his design was to let the audience know that this person seems a bit strange and not real. Moreover, all his actions are based on Shen Xiu's subiective consciousness. That is, this person is reverse-molded, not molded first and then created. All performances are based on this principle.

Therefore, in constructing Nan He, our animation directors and teachers, after getting this keyword, because animators all have ambitions, they want to do this underlying logic extremely well. Therefore, they added a lot of their own designs based on their desire to break through the barrier between one and three dimensions.

Everyone hopes to make this character not only subjective, but also very concrete and vivid. Of course, to be honest, this is an exploration. When exploring, we cannot determine its boundaries in the early stage, so many things are done very extreme and exaggerated.

But I cannot be sure if such things are really effective on the big screen, so I can only make them a little bit over the top. When I really gain experience, I am like the audience, watching and getting feedback repeatedly on the big screen, and then I know that this thing may be a bit too much. Personally, I still have no regrets. I think this breakthrough did sacrifice the audience's experience and made the audience disgusted. However, for the development of our animation, it has brought us a lot of achievements in terms of experience and how to turn this thing into a two-dimensional format.

Nan He eats a shoe

To echo the action of drifting in the sea in reality, Nan He throws a shoe from behind when stuffing something in his mouth, which is a magic action to make the little girl happy. Therefore, I hope there is a completely echoing action in the dream.

Nan He's voice is loud

1 also want to ask everyone a question, do you think Nan He's voice is loud or not when you watch it in the cinema? Firstly, from two aspects, we indeed want to make Nan He a particularly exaggerated and very noisy person, which comes from the evil impression that Shen Xiu had of this person at the beginning. Shen Xiu thinks this clown is very annoying, so in the dream, Nan He is packaged as an extremely exaggerated and bad guy.

Secondly, in order to adapt to the bad environment of the cinema, we intentionally raised the volume of the whole sound. Actually, until now, I have never watched it in the cinema, so I don't know if everyone thinks the voice is too loud or it's just because the character is too exaggerated. All of these are intentional designs, including the character's madness, craziness, and even the language used, which is not very appropriate for the current context. Normally, we wouldn't do these awkward things. But we really want to create a dreamlike experience, so we made these relatively unusual and uncomfortable experiences.

Design of Nan He's Running Animation

We referenced a lot of performance styles from manga.

Adding a 3D blur effect is actually easy once you calculate it, but we intentionally added some hand-drawn elements to the motion, especially chaotic lines similar to those seen in 2D animation. This makes the character's edges feel more lively and expressive. When Nan He is running forward, you can notice that his eyes and facial skin are being pulled in the direction of the wind, which is something that real people or 3D animations don't have. These changes are very subtle, but in order to simulate 2D animation, we exaggerated them to the extreme. This intensifies the emotions and makes it seem like he's constantly in extreme anger or urgency while running.

Is Nan He like Shen Xiu?

In real life, Nan He is also a person similar to Shen Xiu, or in other words, an adult version of Shen Xiu with some of the same problems. Who can say that adults, no matter how optimistic or how much they try to put on a smile, don't have their own problems behind their backs? Nan He definitely has psychological issues too. It's not necessarily that he wants to become the kind of person that Shen Xiu is, but rather that he strives to become one. As people grow older, they must face the realities of life and, like Nan He, must appear optimistic no matter what, even if negative things are hidden behind them. If Shen Xiu can continue to grow and mature, he may become someone like Nan He.

On Nan He's Thin Personal Background

The end credits book is a behind-the-scenes story, revealing Nan He's background and who he really is as a person. This information was intentionally left out of the main story. In the scene where Nan He and Shen Xiu watch the snowfall on the projector, there was originally a part where Shen Xiu asks about the location, and Nan He explains that it's his hometown where he had some childhood experiences. However, this scene was ultimately cut as it didn't fit the overall story.

The first principle we followed was to ensure that Shen Xiu' dream sequence did not reveal too much of Nan He's personality. Shen Xiu' understanding of Nan He is limited to surface-level information. However, this does create a problem, as viewers naturally want to know the backstory of characters in a relationship. Therefore, Nan He's story becomes one of being unable to express himself fully, leaving viewers with a sense of wanting more, and realizing that there is a story there, but it remains untold.

So, in our end credits book, we explore Nan He's background. As a child, he was an ambitious young man from a small town with big dreams of becoming a chef.

He gathered a group of friends and went on a daring adventure to the depths of the ocean in search of the best ingredients.

Joker: "Dad, hug your daughter tighter'

As Joker often takes photos with people, he knows what a happy family looks like. He is also a very sensitive person and knows how to fake a smile and pretend to be happy. However, we can see that Shen Xiu subconsciously stands far away from her father when taking photos. Every time she takes a photo, she marginalizes herself and stands in a position away from the spotlight. She is worried that if she gets too close, people will dislike her. Over time, this has become a natural way of standing for her.

At this moment, Joker noticed and asked if he could hug his daughter tighter. Initially, he had ignored this issue, and perhaps some of you have noticed this gesture where he completely ignored it. When Joker reminded him, he realized what was happening and quickly hugged her. Shen Xiu was standing on the platform with a seal and a human-shaped board with a hole in it for people to stick their faces out. She put on a forced, fake smile, showing that she knew how to pose when taking photos so that people would not dislike her. This is a small detail of trying to please others.

Only Shen Xiu Buried in the Belly of the Fish From one perspective, all the imagery of Shen Xiu is derived from her daily interactions with Nan He. During the days she spent with him, he told her stories, and the picture book on Joker's stall, she mixed all these things together and turned them into her dream story.

Therefore, his image comes from the transformation of reality.

On the other hand, Nan He was actually buried in the belly of a fish in reality. Shen Xiu transformed him into a fish-man who had to use all his abilities to please the humans who ate him in her dream world. So those greedy diners are the fish that caused Nan He's death.

At the same time, Shen Xiu is actually very afraid of seeing the truth because in her reality, Nan He died for her. She is worried that in her dream world, Nan He will also die. Because we all have this experience: if it is a beautiful dream, you want to indulge in it, and you will try your best to create a sense of reality for the dream.

Whenever there is an element of a dream that is close to reality, the closer it is to the edge of waking up. So in this world, she also has to package Nan He as the owner of the Deep Sea Restaurant, with an endless supply of delicious food for those fish. This will allow Nan He to live forever and not be aware of the connection between him and the real world.

Nan He's Gesture of Splitting the Sea This is a classic gesture from Star Trek, known by science fiction fans. When we were designing his gesture of splitting the sea, we couldn't use this, but this one seemed cooler. Also, because he was holding Shen Xiu with one hand, he had to use only one hand to make this gesture.

Creative dishes and movies in Nan He Then there was another thing just now. Did anyone feel that the creative dishes in Nan He might be similar to the creative dish we made for everyone? We thought that besides taste, everyone might care more about the creative aspects. But a lesson we learned later was that we didn't even get the taste right, so these other things were not important. Jokingly, it's a bit like Nan He's creative dishes. Just can't figure it out. Where did we make the mistake? Was it a mistake in creativity or was it too avant-garde and not thought through? Nan He is such a person, who is very diligent in trying to do things well, but he never understands. His life is a mess, which may be related to his inability to understand. He is actually a very passionate person who wants to live well and tries his best to do so, but art skills are a contradiction. We actually want to portray him as someone with poor art skills, so he opened a restaurant or did something else because he couldn't paint well. He originally wanted to be a painter, but because when he painted, our art directors were quite skilled, and they were not willing to paint poorly. They painted very well, so you can't really say that you can't paint well. It's strange to tell the audience that this is Nan He's character.

Why did Nan He tell Shen Xiu the "self-help" stuff (In Chinese it's called "Chicken Soup for the Soul".

This phrase is often used to describe a genre of literature that consists of uplifting stories and motivational anecdotes meant to inspire and encourage readers.)?

The farewell in the snowstorm was not actually said by Nan He. Nan He's character is not the type to say such things. He is a carefree person who doesn't appear to give others reasonable advice, but instead shows through his actions that he loves life. So that passage is more like self-redemption consciousness processed by Shen Xiu herself.

Because Shen Xiu may have thought countless times in this dream about catching Nan He, saving Nan He, and changing the dreams she made out of guilt. In her subconscious, she knows that this is irreparable, so when she can't catch Nan He, she always wakes up. So standing in the snow, the self-redemption consciousness turns into Nan He telling her that the dream should end.

The best way to thank this person is to wake up.

Although this thing cannot cure you, waking up is the best thank you for this person. Finally waking up is not being cured, but the beginning of healing, accepting the beginning of a new world.

About the plot

Dream logic> plot logic

People are used to expecting a story to have ups and downs or the gradual establishment of a relationship between two people. I know this is a common mentality for audiences. I also know that such things are not good for the audience, but why can't it be done this way? As I have mentioned in other occasions, because in that case, I will feel that a screenwriter is always telling me how this thing should develop. And the interpretation I bring today is to tell you that I know this viewing experience is not good, but this is really a reverse molding process. Shen Xiu's basis for everything, why she went to the Deep Sea Eye, why she ran away, why she wanted to establish the Five Stars. It all came from her dream itself. When she was dreaming, she had the psychological basis for her dream, not the plot logic, not the brushing logic, but her psychological logic. In these two choices, I would rather choose her current psychological logic, so I sacrificed the good-looking logic of the plot that everyone thought. I'm not arguing with everyone about this, it's probably because of my inability to make everyone see a very comfortable situation, like you said, she and Nan He established growth and warmth very comfortably. I can't balance it, because once this happens, I will think that Shen Xiu is about to wake up. Once she wants to shape Nan He into a good person early on, she will think about what her purpose is here, and her dream will collapse immediately. This may really be my ability problem, and I can't balance this. Today I especially want to tell everyone about this and welcome everyone to tell me about it. How can we do better, although it may not be helpful to the movie, I really want to know the answer.

On the Edge of Dreams (Attention to viewers who watch repeatedly)

Every time Shen Xiu is thrown out of the boat by Nan He or thrown onto the shore, it feels like the activation mechanism of a dream's self-redemption consciousness. That is, she knows that this dream, this world is false. So every time she is thrown out, there is a feeling of being on the edge of waking up from a dream.

So when you see her slowly walking towards the deep end of the alley from the small island, it can be understood as she is constantly walking towards the edge of awakening, that is, the farther she goes, the closer she gets to reality. So I made an imagery processing here, that is, from that moment on, she saw the slide, the swivel chair, the building including the mother and daughter, all infinitely close to reality. That is to say, if Shen Xiu continues to move forward, this dream may wake up. But she is afraid of facing reality and unwilling to wake up. So at this point, she crouched down, covered her head, summoned the red ghosts to bind her, and then closed herself off. This is actually a confrontation between her own self-redemption mechanism and self-indulgence mechanism. When she was on the island, her self-indulgence consciousness defeated her self-redemption consciousness.

On the Processing Method of Dreams

This time, because we did not intend to make a suspense movie, the usual processing method of a suspense movie is to give you a lot of foreshadowing, tell you very obvious foreshadowing, and tell you that you should pay attention to them if you have the experience of watching movies. But I've said before that our movie, actually what I hope for it is not a suspenseful movie, but rather an emotional experience, or you could say it's very emotional. So we intentionally weakened these foreshadowings, which is why some people would say after watching it that these foreshadowings seem to be missing or that they didn't see them clearly, but those with viewing experience would say, it seems like I already knew.

So during the dream state, based on what I said earlier, I wanted to weaken this foreshadowing. When everyone sees the opening, it's still the same dreamlike opening, where this world is constructed in the mind of the protagonist. She starts thinking about going to a safe and colorful place. Then this world slowly forms in her mind. Particles appear and form colorful streams, single-celled organisms appear, and finally, there's a jellyfish.

The entire process of entering the dream is the colorful part in the opening. When the protagonist floats towards the red sun, it means that her dream world has already been constructed, but this construction process is a very symbolic one.

There is no clear explanation, like in the movie inception, where they explain very clearly how dreams are constructed by a dream designer. In Deep Sea, we may use a different way of thinking, using an Eastern-style and very imaginative way to construct the dream.

However, I am not sure if this method is friendly to the audience. The audience may feel that it is too arbitrary and nonsensical. But this is what I want to create in the movie, a sense of imagery or poetic feeling.

The dream exit refers to the swirling starry sky on the clown's costume in Nan He's dream. It is the exit of the dream and the origin of the real version of the Deep Sea Eye. When they decided to go to the Deep Sea Eye in Act 2, Nan He was already afraid because it was the place she feared the most. If you pay attention, you can see the details of what she is afraid of, and although she is very worried, she does not dare to think about it. But when they arrive at the most beautiful place in the Deep Sea Eye, they think they have reached the ultimate goal of the movie, but it is actually the truth that Nan He fears the most. It indicates that she will remember the clown, and she will remember that the whole world is a dream.

The world will end in the most beautiful impression, which is the exit of the dream.

As for the first half of the movie, it is like a dream created by Nan He, who is more like the screenwriter of the dream. It is not to shift blame, but it is true that the dream was created by Nan He, and sometimes it is reproduced according to her subjective consciousness.

It is like a reverse process, where the whole story and plot works on her. It is more like Nan He shaping the world according to her own mood, such as fear, escape, warmth, and choosing this way to follow the innermost thoughts of the characters. From her innermost thoughts, it is more appropriate to shape the story, so there is no specific principle of following the rules of a screenwriter's work. Therefore, it may not be as logical as the meeting between Nan He and the clown.

As for the logic of the dream, it is a somewhat capricious decision. It is indeed a risk of offending the audience.

Actually, it is a personal attempt that I want to make.

When I watch movies, I often ask myself what kind of movie I like. Sometimes, a very well-organized and rigorous plot is what I like to watch, but sometimes, it feels like a kind of routine because of my own limitations.

Therefore, in Deep Sea, I was a bit too arbitrary, challenging the limits of the audience's psychological tolerance, not only in the plot but also in the art. Many people also commented that the visuals were too flashy and tiring to watch, which makes the overall viewing experience not very good.

About Setting Evolution

There are many different setting evolutions. We have had different eras, such as science fiction, Republican China, steampunk, and cyberpunk. However, when we talk about these things, because we now have a theme and an expression, we always feel a bit uncomfortable about the past. Although we all like these imaginative settings, which are full of elements of mix-and-match, they make us wonder why we have to use such fancy settings to tell the story. It's hard to believe because you may focus too much on those settings themselves.

When watching a movie, you may wonder what the meaning of the setting is, what era it represents, and why it was designed in that way. This will cause a deviation from the main plot. I think now the main plot, including the visual elements, is already abundant. This will lead to many ambiguities. Therefore, anything that deviates from reality, cannot find psychological basis, and does not have logical connection with reality should be removed. When designing, our standard is to strive for psychological logic and real basis, and not to design just for the sake of design.

The cockpit has a reference observatory. We actually had an observatory in our original setting, which is the kind for stargazing. Because the cabin windows are like what Nan He described, he can see the stars even in the deep sea. In the cabin, it looks like a galaxy, with colorful ocean currents and rolling particles, just like being in a galaxy.

About Dream World Taking Up a Large Proportion

My interpretation today is that it's not that the time in the dream world takes up a lot of space, but it's just to let Shen Xiu have a dream. In fact, as I just said, it's a self-redemption consciousness, or a story about a psychologist telling how to save Shen Xiu through the entire dream world.

Because we had a very, very early version where Shen Xiu was lying in the hospital for a few days, and a psychologist used a science fiction mechanism to enter Shen Xiu's brain, and then he transformed himself into some kind of image to rescue Shen Xiu from a coma.

That was a science fiction version before. However, today's version is more in line with Shen Xiu's psychology, not wanting to take a god's-eye view, not wanting to talk about science fiction texture. But it hasn't left this core, which is about how a person struggles with themselves through their own struggle or redemption or psychological counseling, and how they gradually find a very safe or best or most balanced solution to get out.

It's both a dream and a psychological counseling process.

Does repeated black screen represent the beginning of the dream in the constellation dream?

There is such a design. When we were working on a version of Dolly cinema, we actually wanted this kind of feeling. When Shen Xiu reaches out to grab Nan He but can't, the whole world collapses. Sometimes, in a cinema with good immersion, you will see real darkness where you can't see your hand in front of your face. That kind of darkness will give you a feeling that you are immersed in a void, completely dark world, just like Shen Xiu. This is the collapse of a dream, the feeling of void between waking up and the dream. Even if it is pure black, even if there is no image, I hope to use this to give the audience a psychological experience. We just tried the effect in Dolby.

Conscious comedy plot

Another type is conscious comedy plot. Actually, I am not good at doing comedy in the deep sea. Everyone might have seen it and thought it was very awkward, and 1 agree. Comedy requires talent, it's a kind of talent.

Another thing is that you have to believe in it. I don't really believe in comedy myself. So when I created this comedy plot, sometimes I was compromising with the commercial aspect, thinking that there should be comedy in this part. But after making it, because you don't believe in it, it will be a bit low and awkward in terms of rhvthm and burden. This is actually a lesson for me. In the future, if you don't believe in something, don't forcefully add it.

About Some Unintentionally Nauseating and Morbid Scenes

Your question is really good, and I would like to talk about this. In the beginning, when I was creating the Deep Sea part, I was trying my best to avoid these morbid things, not that I think they should be part of the theme, but why did they still appear later? There are two kinds of morbidity: conscious and unconscious. I might not think that unconscious things are morbid, but others might think so. For example, we had a scene where Nan He ate shoes. In the original script, there was a more morbid point than what is presented now. Nan He ate the shoes all the way through with a certain expression and shot. But this was actually cut out at the end, which was a pity because our animators spent a long time on this shoe-eating action, and I really liked that animation. This might still happen because of the animator's persistence. When we think an animation is funny, it may deviate from the audience's aesthetics. We only start from the performance and the fun of the action in the animation, and think it is still interesting, but ignore the audience's feelings. So this kind belongs to the unconscious type.

Behind-the-scenes Design of Shen Xiu's Smiling and Crying

This performance was also very difficult. As you know, smiling and crying itself is not easy in real performances, so we spent a lot of effort in the animation to explore the levels of Shen Xiu's smiling and crying. When she said

"thank you" while holding back tears, she forced herself to hold back and to be happy. She tried to raise the corners of her mouth mechanically, making her mouth look very mechanical at first, and then slowly adjusted until she really thanked and smiled from her heart. This shot is a smile of thanks and comfort.

When we were working on it, we had to infect ourselves and understand Shen Xiu's mentality at the time. So in the preliminary rehearsal, both the animators and the voice actors paid attention to Shen Xiu's four "sorrys" and five "thank yous" when she hugged Nan He. We hoped that each "thank you" had a level of meaning and each "sorry" was also different. Because she is not someone who simply says "thank you, thank you." Every

"thank you" of hers is because she is a person, and secondly because she is really grateful. She forced herself to be better, so we hoped to convey this level of meaning.

Design of Shen Xiu's Farewell in the Snowy Field Shen Xiu's sense of self-redemption is also manifested in different ways. When she turned around, the Shen Xiu facing us is her true self, and the one behind her is her sense of redemption. She uses different forms. Shen Xiu is the type that holds back tears, and is afraid that Nan He will see her shaking back and crying, so she doesn't move, and takes a deep breath to encourage herself to walk out of this world. The Nan He behind her is the type that dances, but they both tell each other in this way that there is nothing to be afraid of, This world will become better. I don't need you to worry about me, I will keep going. Nan He was using body language to tell you not to worry about her and that she is happy, while Shen Xiu was using her tears to tell vou. Did anvone notice that her performance was like this? In fact, Shen Xiu was already in tears. But she was smiling and crying, using the corners of her mouth to tell herself not to cry, that she will get better.

Nan He's farewell in the snow design

There should be three images, but here we will simplify and talk about two. The first image is Nan He's true appearance in the real world, which is the impression he gave Shen Xiu when he influenced her in the real world, when they were drifting on the sea. He is someone who always puts happiness on his face and hides his inner pain deep inside. The other image is his self-redemption consciousness at the moment when they said goodbye in the snow. So, these two images together make up Nan He at that moment. Nan He turned and jumped in a very happy way, like a fast-paced march. He was actually telling Shen Xiu that he was very worried that she would turn around and see him, so he had to use an exaggerated way, like going back to the real world before, because he wanted to tell her with happiness that even if you only see my back, I am actually very happy and have no worries or regrets. He was actually afraid that Shen Xiu would not be able to hold back and look back at his back, not knowing if she would feel sad or happy, so he used this extreme jumping to comfort her.

The other image is the clown in the real world who may have died or disappeared. But is it possible that at that moment he felt he had done something great? So when he turned and walked away, his heart was actually also filled with joy. If we think about the clown in the real world, he didn't die, he just did something good, and he was really proud of himself. He was telling himself in this way that he is really a hero, a good person.

The setting of the mourning ghost

The mourning ghost does not harm Shen Xiu, it is just her protection. Shen Xiu is used to protecting herself in this way. In the real world, when she has no psychological support and feels that everything outside is not safe, she will wrap herself tightly in her red jacket.

So, the movement of the red jacket is a kind of wrapping.

It is a protective movement, but there are negative emotions involved in this kind of protection. That is to say, this kind of protection will always isolate you from the world. It is actually a negative protection. So in the film, everyone can see that the action of the red ghost is to embrace her, wrap her, and has never hurt her, and its hands are never aggressive, but always chasing after her. But Shen Xiu knows that this thing is negative, so she also has the urge to escape. When she finally stops escaping and lets this thing develop, she will be tightly wrapped by the red thread, and that moment is when she accepts this negative reality.

Setting for the Sea Elf's buff in Shen Xiu

The interesting thing about this movie is that it's actually the opposite. Reality and dreams are reversed. In a dream, everything you pursue, like how I said Nan He is a poor psychiatrist, all of his actions or the things he sees, when you take away this layer and go to the layer above, it's actually the opposite. So what she pursues is good for Shen Xiu, but in reality her obsession should be buried deep and kept in her heart.

Then I saw someone's comment yesterday and I thought it was pretty good. They said it was very appropriate, so I wanted to create a sense of conflict between the Sea Elf and the Reaper, like a game. So there would be some tension and fun in the first half of the plot. But I want to explain why it won't work, because the Sea Elf and the Reaper are Shen Xiu's two props. I don't know if I can explain this with a game, but let's say the game is called... I don't play games, but isn't there a term called

"buff"? The first time Shen Xiu met Nan He, she used the Sea Elf as an excuse, but in fact she activated the first buff, the first tool, and she wasn't really it. Then when this buff was ineffective and discarded by Nan He, do you remember that after he threw it away, he was caught by Nan He and thrown out.

Then Shen Xiu activated the second buff, it was the

"gloomy ghost" that appeared. Actually, the gloomy ghost has the same effect as the first mermaid. If the mermaid is a psychological support for Shen Xiu's inner self, something she can hold onto when she is lonely and helpless, then the mermaid serves this purpose. When this psychological support collapses or is absent, she will activate the second buff, which is the gloomy ghost in a red jacket. It wraps itself up and immerses in the darkness, so it's not a confrontational relationship, but rather a layered addition, both of which are Shen Xiu's tools for indulging in reverse. In fact, the whole story is about how a clumsy psychologist helps her peel off the first layer of psychological support and the external wrapping shackles. If you use a strong medicine to treat her, she will either become a vegetable or die, so this clumsy doctor will use continuous and gradual methods, because he himself is also growing and learning, and Nan He develops his character from being a clumsy doctor who uses methods at the beginning to becoming a great psychologist who uses a great method in the end.

About why to use the curtain

The front of the curtain is a dream world, a place of indulgence that we want to go to, and behind it is the real world, where the audience is sitting in the cinema.

So why use the form of a curtain? It's because it superficially separates these two worlds, and the hidden implication comes from the clown in the real world who puts a projector on the table. That projector is the source of many images in Shen Xiu's dreams. It is an origin. Then, by using this experience of wanting to be in a movie, and also from the projector that comes from the clown in the story, it still plays a role in the scene of the electrocardiogram, because the light of the projector is like the surgical light on the operating table, and I also want to use this experience as an image.

The sound of the curtain breathing machine

There are two sounds, one is the sound of dripping, which everyone can hear. It changes depending on Shen Xiu's state, such as when her heart beats rapidly, and finally when she is dying, the sound becomes flat. The other is the image of light. The projector behind her is the light in the dream world, while in the real world, it simulates the strong light on the surgical table. So when she lies on the curtain and her mother calls her from behind, she looks back at the strong light shining on her face. On one hand, it represents her hearing her mother's call while being rescued, and she has decided to wake up. So she turns her face towards the strong light, which is also a process of her waking up. If she keeps floating, she may drift to the edge of the dream.

The Meaning of the Red Hoodie Sinking to the Bottom of the Sea

That's just a past tense, telling the audience that the story they are about to see happened in the past. And now, seeing the red hoodie sinking to the bottom of the sea, it may be that many years have passed and the protection provided by the hoodie is no longer needed. It needs to be buried deep in the sea. However, this is just a technique, who knows if the red hoodie will be generated again or not. This is just indicating that the story that follows happens in the tuture.

Mom in the Taxi

Shen Xiu in a bus ride, Participating saw a person in a taxi outside who looked like her mom, but she wasn't sure because she hasn't seen her mom in many years.

The person then closed the car window, and she knew that it wasn't her mom.

Chat Records between Shen Xiu and Her Mom Before getting on the ship, she would send messages to her mom on the wharf. There is a fun detail when she was typing, her suggestion said "I'm finally seeing the ocean, I'm so happy," but there were three contradictory words next to it. That's actually her true feeling. While she was looking down at her phone, she was actually right beside the sea. She was saying,

"Mom, I finally saw the ocean today, I'm so happy," but we don't see any shots of her looking at the sea, and she doesn't seem happy at all. All her thoughts are focused on her phone. We even debated about how Shen Xiu should speak to her mom, and we decided to use a genuinely happy tone. In this way, Shen Xiu uses this silent way to show how she doesn't want to cause any trouble for others and how she wants to show that she's doing well. She's showing how she is such a sensible child.

Did anyone notice the very long chat record at the back?

Shen Xiu sent many emoticons to her mother and she would choose a key moment to use them when speaking. For example, on holidays such as her mother's birthday, Labor Day, or National Day, she used these important explanations to talk to her mother, as she was afraid of disturbing her mother without reason. However, her mother's response was always perfunctory, possibly replying with an emoticon or just a few words. Shen Xiu, on the other hand, was not only responding with emoticons but was also very sensitive. The last time she sent a message to her mother was six months ago, and after her mother responded with a somewhat unwilling message, Shen Xiu immediately replied. However, we had her retract the message during processing, so it is unknown what emotional message she sent. After retracting it, she added a smiling face, meaning she was using a smiling face to cover up the retracted message.

This time, as she typed, she deleted her words as she typed, showing that she had not spoken to her mother for half a year and was even more careful and cautious in choosing her words. She was very sensitive and eager to please.

Dreamlike Music As you all know, the first shot in the film is of a red sweatshirt in the water, and the background music is a dreamlike music - a world-famous song by Schumann. From a certain perspective, this piece of music indicates that the story is actually a dream, and I want to use it as a hint. This dreamlike music actually appears in several key moments in the film, and serves as a hint, telling everyone that this is a dream. When Shen Xiu wakes up, at the Deep Sea Eye, she hears this dreamlike music again. It is also a piece of music that is often used as a lullaby, so we used it in the film as a song that Shen Xiu's mother sang to her when she was young.

Red Sweatshirt As for the first shot of the entire film, you can see a red sweatshirt sinking in the water. It is a sweatshirt with a sense of the times, and it also implies that the story happened at some point in the past. At this point, perhaps the gloomy ghost that enveloped Shen Xiu in her red package is already a thing of the past, and now she has let it go and returned it to the depths of the sea. There is a metaphor here.

Little White Boat The little white boat actually first appeared not when the little sea otter sang, but when Shen Xiu arrived at the clown's bookstore in the real world. She dropped a book, Deep Sea Restaurant Legend, and the background music in the real world played the sound of the little white boat's music box, which was the first time it appeared in the real world.

However, what I want to say here is that we have many things to compare, and actually it is only the first layer.

That is to say, you may have found these interesting Easter eggs, but where they appear in the real world and the dream world is just the first laver I want evervone to know. But behind this layer of comparison, there is an interpretation or metaphorical implication. As you know,

"Little White Boat" is a song that is a bit like a spiritual song or dirge. It actually suggests that they go west, implying the final ending.

In our film, there are many foreshadowing and implications like this, and there shouldn't be a correct answer for them. I think it should be each audience's own interpretation. But I'II give my own interpretation.

When designing, there is a bit of a concept because evervone knows that spiders spin webs, which is similar to the concept of a knot in one's heart. When Shen Xiu encounters this spider, it's like the suffocating fish I mentioned yesterday that represents herself. The spider, to some extent, represents a knot in Shen Xiu's heart.

And spiders are like this, they only spin webs on sunny days. On rainy days, they are a bit idle, just like Shen Xiu's mood at this time. Maybe they are looking forward to a clear day and then return to normal life.

"Dough Drop Soup" is the soup made by the hijinx. At first, everyone knew about the "Nightmare Soup", but it was later changed because the word "nightmare" was not very usable. So we wanted to call it "Drunk Dream Soup", which implies that everyone in it is like drunkenly dreaming, and it has a meaning of avoiding reality and doing daydreams. Also, for some reasons, it couldn't be used, so it was changed to "Dream Come True Soup," but its strength was lost. Finally, it became "Dough Drop Soup," which also symbolizes a knot in one's heart.

There is a saying in Nan He, "If this knot in your heart can't be untied, it will always haunt you like a nightmare."

Although it is about knots in one's heart, in order to fit the language context of Nan He's character, he will say that if this knot can't be untied, it will always haunt you like a nightmare. This symbolizes a knot in one's heart.

Animals turning into prototypes Based on what I just said, there are actually two layers of meaning to this.

In other words, there is a comparison relationship. When Lao Jin was on the bus, the father of Shen Xiu, he said to Hua Hua aunt that it was raining endlessly that day. Then Shen Xiu's father said it's okay, it'll dry up soon. So this sentence was brought into the dream world by Shen Xiu.

In the dream world, Lao Jin said the same thing. Because when he turned into a walrus, he and Nan He said it like this. This is just the first layer of comparison.

There is also a second layer. Because I see the audience asking why they turn into animals, what is the metaphor, what is the implication? This is the second layer I want to talk about. It's actually a sense of powerlessness. This kind of powerlessness. In other words, when Shen Xiu thinks of turning into an animal, she thinks of this sense of powerlessness in the water. It's a bit like the feeling of being reverted to our instinctual and powerless selves as normal people. The animal state is our instinctual and powerless self, but the next day we go out like social animals in the guise of humans. At that moment, it's like Lao Jin or other seals and sea otters walking out in the guise of humans. But once they are reverted to their original form, they return to their original selves.

What kind of fish are the diners in the film?

Freshwater fish, they come from the land, on a luxurious six-day and seven-night tour to play in the sea, they are not sea fish. Because Shen Xiu doesn't know the difference between sea fish and river fish, when she designs these things in her brain, she turns the fish she has seen on land into sea fish. The clothes are made of fish scales.

The Design Story of Samoyed

To be honest, we really wanted to tell a joke to the audience, but because I said yesterday that I'm not very good at comedy, when I tell it to others, they all feel it's cold. Our Samoyed joke has several versions that we can share, for example, there was a version that started with a little seal, and it loved sticking to the wall. Nan He said to Shen Xiu, "Just like you, why do you love sticking to the wall so much, you little seal." And it kept sticking to the wall every day until it turned into a poster, which makes people feel cold after hearing it. A poster, as we know, is a picture that's pasted on the wall. Then there was a little pufferfish, it swam and swam until it became a dolphin.

All these jokes are so cold, and the point is to show that Nan He has a low sense of humor. Because he's using these already bad jokes to make people laugh, and he may be an optimistic person himself, so he infects Shen Xiu with his way of using these jokes, so Shen Xiu' reaction after hearing the joke is like us, feeling not funny at all, and it's awkward. This is the dramatic effect we wanted to achieve.

But in the end, when he was telling the joke to Shen Xiu while holding onto him in the sea, its effect might be revealed. It's a way of trying to make people laugh in real life, but there's a sense of powerlessness to it, and he was telling these powerless jokes while saving others in the sea. On the one hand, he's encouraging Shen Xiu, and on the other hand, he's keeping himself going.

Samoyed, as we know, in "A Chinese Odyssey," Stephen Chow had a pun on a character who looks like a dog, but it's actually a self-deprecation of a person's failed life.

In terms of design, I think there's a bit of meaning to Samoyed. It's a smiling angel, and it's a dog. As dog owners know, its mouth is always a smile, so the story is about Nan He thinking that this little seal is just a seal, but it's different from other seals because it loves to smile. Originally, he didn't love to smile, but he just looked like this. Then Nan He could also say to Shen Xiu,

"You see, it says I'm a Samoyed and I look like this, I'm just a dog." We had a version of the subtitle that was sent abroad, and because we couldn't translate it as Samoyed in the subtitle, it just said, "I'm a dog," when Nan He was still holding onto Shen Xiu and swimming.

The Story of the Little Yellow Duck

As we all know, in the real world, a small plastic swimming ring is just a toy for children to play with and is not suitable for use on the open sea. However, on that day, when Nan He saw Shen Xiu fall into the sea, he couldn't find a proper rescue tool. So, he quickly grabbed a little yellow duck swimming ring. But did you notice that when the little yellow duck was floating on the open sea, it was slowly deflating? That night when Nan He swam towards Shen Xiu, the swimming ring was still inflated, but when she was floating alone, the little yellow duck was already deflated and almost out of air. This is the feeling of powerlessness or crisis in real life.

But in the dream, Shen Xiu turned the little yellow duck into a very large, lifeboat-like duck. This image comes from her hope for a safer world. She wished that when Nan He was with her, there would be a large yellow duck that could carry both of them, rather than this deflated duck that could only accommodate one person.

Therefore, in Shen Xiu’s mind, there is an infinite amplification of guilt and inadequacy in the reality. And when she woke up, Nan He was still holding the little yellow duck and saying "wake up, wake up." This is what Nan He said to her when he was drifting at sea, but in Shen Xiu’s mind, it became this image.

At the beginning of the film, when the subtitles appear, there is a shot of the little yellow duck breaking through the waves and forming a little yellow duck on top of the waves. In fact, you can notice that there was no little yellow duck in the entire opening sequence before that moment. It was only created at that time and formed gradually. This shows that it was a process of creation in Shenxiu’s mind, from nothing to something, and as it was created, it became larger and larger, eventually becoming the image of security in her dream world.

There are many such images, for example, when Nan He said "if only I could split the sea," it became an image in Shen Xiu’s dream world that Nan He really had magic and could split the sea. These are all expectations of the real world. If Nan He really had magic and could split the sea, we would be saved, and we wouldn't have to worry if the little yellow duck was big enough.

You Have Arrived, Fortune Awaits The words

"You Have Arrived" and "Fortune Awaits" on the heads of Black and White Impermanence represent Nan He's desire for wealth, as he is a very greedy person. In the dream world, he is portrayed as a greedy person, so

"Fortune Awaits" is very consistent with his character. At the same time, it also implies that it is the underworld.

Altair came to a world of death.

Colorful Light Design Behind Nan He Book Stall

There are many colorful lights behind the Nan He book stall, I don't know if you have noticed. When we were filming in the normal scenes and telling Samoyed jokes in his room, the environment with the book stall enlarged by Xingxiu is presented first. I gave a special dreamlike treatment to the simple colored lights in the real world, adding many light spots and changes in depth of field in the room at Nan He. It may seem fancy, but I just want to say that Xingxiu brought all these things into her dream, and she made them extremely beautiful in her dream.

* Wake Up, the Show is Over

Actually, it was a kind of dark humor. When I was editing the film, I was bored and felt that the whole film was a bit boring after watching it too many times, so I added the sentence "Wake up, the show is over". In the end, when my colleagues watched the film, if they found it boring, they might feel comforted when they saw this sentence.

But I didn't expect it to become something like an element outside of the film. After watching the film, many people may feel like they have just had a dream and can wake up and return to reality. This is possibly the result I was hoping for.

The visuals are too overwhelming

This is a very good question, and I would like to explain a few reasons on different levels. First of all, I wanted to give the audience an experiential movie, rather than a clear-cut narrative movie. To be honest, I did not plan to let the audience understand the logic the first time. I just wanted you to have a feeling, but maybe I was too self-centered. Our own art and visual effects directors have debated about it before. This thing is definitely uncomfortable. But I hope that the audience will feel like they have just had a dream, a very chaotic and strange dream, like Shen Xiu, when they leave the cinema. If you have this experience, I think my intention has been achieved, but the sacrifice may be that everyone feels like they did not understand it. That is not important to me. There are already so many good narrative movies with clear-cut logic. Those are a different kind of experience.

Of course, if you are satisfied with the first experience, you can sit down and quietly try to understand the logic of the narrative, and if you feel very uncomfortable after the first time and do not want to watch it again, I think it is okay because I really just wanted to give everyone such an experience. Another reason is out of helplessness, and more is due to technical requirements.

I wanted to create a dreamlike feeling and make the visuals very comfortable, but this actually requires very high technical requirements, which our current technology may not be able to meet. So we had to use many difficult and uncomfortable ways to create this dreamlike experience. If there is a chance in the future, I hope that everyone can see both the clear-cut narrative and dreamlike experience at the same time. I think that would be a very good result, but I cannot achieve that this year.

About film reviews

Domestic screening environment

Currently, the screening environment in China is also a painful thing for us. We have gone to so many theaters, but we have not found a place with brightness and sound volume that truly represents the standard. So, because of our lack of experience, we are always worried that the audience will not be able to see clearly or that the sound is too low, so sometimes we over-exaggerate these things to hope that the audience can see them clearly. But this has also brought me many negative things, such as overly colorful and crowded visuals, which can give people a very uncomfortable feeling. I hope that we can find a balance in the future so that the audience can have a better viewing experience. Your personal feelings represent only yourself, and you cannot impose my level of tolerance on the audience.

About Acceptance from the Public This is a tolerance issue, meaning whether or not they are willing to understand your message. The movie itself touches on this theme because Xingxing, the protagonist, faces a similar problem of not being understood by others, such as being misunderstood during times of trouble. This may reflect the reality outside of the movie to some extent. I hope that more people can understand the expression of the movie, rather than rejecting it outright.

About Malicious Slander

I don't think we should be too harsh on the audience. As 1 mentioned yesterday, during the holiday period, whether or not it's a holiday, people come to watch your movie out of good intentions, and if they don't like it, it's simply because it doesn't meet their expectations. It's normal to vent our frustrations, and we should be able to accept it. However, I have also noticed a very small number of people who criticize for the sake of criticism, and I don't rule out the possibility of such people existing.

But what I want to say is that this is precisely the situation we face in the deep sea. Have you ever felt that sometimes our story, both on and off screen, is similar to Xingxing, who is not understood? Sometimes, it's like the cold and greedy fish, who keep consuming your sincere and hard-won things, such as your emotional baggage, and they greedily devour it, using it for their own entertainment. But I believe that this is something we can accept, and it was actually one of the initial intentions behind telling the story of the deep sea.

When I was working on "The Monkey King" a few years ago, there were a few years when I was deeply affected by negative criticism, and it was not good for my mental health. I was genuinely working hard to do something, and people could criticize me for not doing a good job, but they shouldn't question my motives or assume that I had bad intentions. I couldn't understand it at the time, so that's why I was inspired to create a work like "The Deep Sea." Maybe there were problems then and now, but we need to work hard to find some sunshine in our hearts. We need to know why we are living and why we are doing what we are doing. Our efforts will one day be valuable, even if many people don't understand it today.

So this story is also about understanding this idea, but still accepting the way the world is.

On Understanding and Criticism I want to say something and make an appeal, because I have many friends who, after watching "Deep Sea", objectively pointed out the criticisms and negative feedback to me. I am willing to hear such negative feedback because it is real feedback, and they are trying to help me solve problems. Why couldn't they do the same when they first saw my creation? In the process of discussing with them, I also explained my thoughts and why I designed it this way. I didn't blindly create something without considering these issues or violating the rules of film and television or screenwriting. I did it for my own reasons. If you are willing to understand me and know what I'm thinking, and then help me solve the problems, I am very grateful, because I also want to know the truth and the answers.

When I talk to these screenwriter friends or film critics, at first they may not understand my ideas and may propose various opinions. But after we talk and they understand my thoughts, they will say, "Since you have chosen this direction, it is understandable that these problems have arisen. We may not be able to help you more. If we try, it may be like this or another way, and who knows if it is a good choice." So, I am really willing to accept negative feedback, but I prefer to hear valuable information that can really help me. As for the other comments, I just appreciate and accept them.

On Negative Comments

I think everyone watched it seriously, and of course, there may be a small number of people who did not watch it carefully and made negative comments.

However, I think most people, after watching the film, felt that it did not meet their expectations, and this is something we must face. As I said before, because of my own wilfulness, I did not consider the audience's feelings and wanted to experiment.

I think this may be because the entire animation has not reached a certain height for Chinese audiences to be willing to understand. Many times, their comments may think that we made some mistakes and thoughtless decisions, and I don't blame them because they bought tickets to watch the movie, and they are our patrons, so they have the right to criticize. We must accept any negative feedback. I can only say that I would rather listen to someone who watched the film but is still dissatisfied and can clearly point out the problems, because I really need this. I am already too late to make changes in "Deep Sea". But in the future, when I walk on this road, I hope to know where the truth lies, and I know why people are dissatisfied with "Deep Sea". Even better, people can provide good suggestions, like if we change something, it might work better. I actually prefer such sincere opinions.

#deep sea movie #tian xiaopeng #interview #Nanhe #Shenxiu #long post #behind the scenes

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