杨晨曦

今年国庆节，时隔39年的动画形象阿凡提全新回归。这部3D动画电影《阿凡提之奇缘历险》，把能说会道、事事谙熟于心的阿凡提再度推到大众眼前。

不少80后在电影院里好好地怀旧了一把，纷纷感慨“骑着小毛驴、蓄着山羊胡子、爱管人间不平事的机智男又回来了”。

然而，“回来的”不仅仅是阿凡提这个形象，更有中国老一辈动画人的精神传承。

有一种童年，叫上海美术电影制片厂（以下简称美影厂）。作为中国规模最大的美术电影制片和中国历史最老的动画制片厂之一，美影厂有着太多辉煌的时刻。早年出品的动画，几乎都是“艺术品”。水墨动画、木偶动画、剪纸动画、折纸动画等以中国美术元素为基础的动画片，在物资匮乏的年代里，却达到了独特的艺术高峰。类似阿凡提这样的经典IP，美影厂的动画创作史上还有很多。

笔者从2012年起，陆续拜访了美影厂老一辈的创作者，通过他们的口述，与他们一起重温那段既美好又艰辛的创作岁月，也深切感受到了他们对国产动画的坚持与热情。

向生活学习细节

美影厂的老一辈动画人常常为了片子外出采风，踏实地体验生活，使作品中的各方面更为真实和准确。他们始终认为只有这样才能创作出观众可信的作品，真正感动观众。

“阿凡提”的形象是80后的经典记忆——整体形象上扁下圆，高脑门，戴着具有民族特点的白帽子，小眼珠炯炯有神，鼻子圆圆，胡子高翘，一看就很有智慧，又不失幽默感。

这个形象是动画片《阿凡提的故事》导演曲建方和另外两位美术工作者在新疆喀什和阿克苏地区整整待了20多天，克服了住宿、饮食等方面不适创作出来的。“坐了七天七夜的车到了喀什，又吃不惯当地的羊肉，只能每天啃馕。”曲建方说，为了设计好里面的少数民族群众形象，他们绘制了大量的速写与油画，结合当地博物馆里馆藏的汉唐俑，还征求了当地不少民众和画家的意见。他们将阿凡提上挑的眉毛参照当地文字的特点，做成柳藤状，十分幽默。

钱运达导演回忆，《草原英雄小姐妹》剧组两次进入内蒙古采风，他们与牧民们同吃同住，一起架蒙古包，了解了蒙古包的结构。他们与牧民一起放羊，骑马赶路，观察牧民用羊铲赶羊的细节。他们还特意尝试草原夜行，“以住所为起点，看着北极星，向东南西北各走500步，本想着能回到住所，没想到偏了一点就迷路了。零下40摄氏度漆黑一团的草原上，害怕无助到极点，那个时候看到灯光就像看到生的希望啊！”也正是有这样的经历，他们才更真實地将草原小姐妹迷路的桥段在银幕上展现出来。

《大闹天宫》剧组在北京的天坛及周边的庙宇中临摹壁画，采集传统壁画中的造型元素。《大闹天宫》的主创动画师浦稼祥记述：“那时候，为了给《大闹天宫》做动画设计，我和一群同事被送去京剧院和戏曲学院听戏学武打，蹲点蹲了三四个月，从中体会出气氛和感觉。”后来在片中二郎神与孙悟空斗法一段，浦稼祥就运用了京剧里武生亮相的招式。

改编自《佛说九色鹿经》的《九色鹿》四位主创花了23天的时间在敦煌临摹壁画，之后剧组其他成员再入敦煌采风一周有余。

与艺术家亲密合作

美影厂作品中的人物形象与画面设计千姿百态，几乎每部片子的画面形式都在创新求异。这点得益于美影厂创作群开放包容、博采众长的创作方式。创作者们与当时知名漫画家、国画家、工艺美术家的合作从未间断，并逐渐成为美影厂的一种创作习惯。

《狐狸打猎人》美术造型邀请了艺术家韩美林。当时导演胡雄华经人推荐观看了韩美林的动物画，他觉得韩美林的动物画从章法到布局，物象的夸张与变形，以及神态刻画、笔墨和色彩的运用都极具形式感，这些特点十分适合影片的风格。韩美林为影片设计的几个人物造型注重形变与夸张。年轻猎人纤长单薄的身子蜷缩在皮袄与羊皮坎肩里，皮领还高高地遮住脸颊。倒挂的眉毛，深深的腮沟，总是哭丧着脸，一副活生生的胆小鬼的反面形象。而狐狸的形象，额头宽大饱满，一张灵巧的嘴，眯起的长眼睛，一看便知诡计多端。

而韩美林为了照应剧本中狐狸与狼直立行走，对狐狸与狼本来的腿部关节作了相应的修改。在色彩方面，韩美林特意给整体阴暗、冷灰色调的猎人点上了一个小丑似的红鼻头。这种颇有“丑角”味道的化妆获得了导演的赞赏。而狐狸全身鲜红引人注目，突出其主角地位，狼则设计成深蓝色，红色的舌头就更加凸显出凶残贪婪的性格。最终影片所呈现出来的风格十分鲜明，有异于美影厂生产的其他剪纸片的造型设计。

当韩美林回忆起这次创作，他还激动地表示，当时胡雄华亲自去安徽邀请他加盟本片的创作，又在他到达上海火车站时，亲自用厂里的车接他，使他万分感动。在之后三个月的创作中他尽心尽力，边学边做，《狐狸打猎人》也被韩美林自己认可为代表作之一。

结合现实大胆想象

美影厂的动画作品不仅在形象和画面上创新求异，而且还在内容创作上有不少大胆的奇思妙想，将想象力和时代特征结合在一起，喷发闪光之作。其中，《黑猫警长》绝对是关键词之一。

1984年，《黑猫警长》开播后，立刻红遍大江南北，成为中国家喻户晓的动画系列片之一。《黑猫警长》的导演戴铁郎，也因此获得了一个雅号“黑猫爷爷”。

初见戴老那天，他从门口进来，一身素色的衣服，手里拎着一个黑色的皮包，身材不高，步子却很快。笔者真的有些意外，这位老人就是给我留下深刻记忆的《黑猫警长》的导演。随着之后的接触，戴老的风趣、乐观深深地感染了笔者。原来，“黑猫警长”聪明、坚强、善良的“基因”都源自于这位老人。

自然科学题材是戴老作品的一大特点，《黑猫警长》就包含了大量的自然科学常识。让小观众了解这些自然科学常识，是戴老创作《黑猫警长》的主要初衷。

在上世紀80年代初，戴老就有习惯订阅国外的一些科技杂志。《黑猫警长》的上映所引起强烈反响，也证明了这种题材在当时虽然鲜有，但是却恰恰是社会需要的。戴老践行着他对“寓教于乐”的理解，将自然科学知识主动融入动画片，通过动画片的形式传输给小观众们，例如母螳螂吞食公螳螂以完成繁衍等自然科学知识。

“会转弯的子弹”“可以移动通话的电话”“在空中飞行的摩托艇”，这些在当时看似十分荒诞的想象和“超现实”的内容不仅增加了影片的趣味性，让小观众们为之着迷，而且还激发了小观众探索未知领域的兴趣，打开了想象世界的大门。这些荒诞的想象似乎还有着神奇的预言力，今天，这些“超现实”的奇思妙想都一一实现了。

其实，这些奇思妙想都是有科学依据的，并非戴老毫无根据的胡思乱想，只是在当时这些科学知识还没有被大众认识。例如黑猫警长手中的移动电话，就是根据二战时美国士兵的通讯设备改变而来的。戴老对先进的科学技术一直抱有浓厚的兴趣，每次与戴老聊天，他都会提到一些对热点科技的看法，例如人工智能、平行宇宙等，而且戴老还总大胆想象一番。

戴老还有一些很特别的日常爱好，比如可乐、西点和冰淇淋，这些小爱好投射出戴老一颗不老的童心。80多岁的他在辅导学生做片子的时候，一瓶可乐总是放在手边。戴老常常说，和学生们在一起，自己都觉得变年轻了。而他辅导学生的时候经常是边说边演，一个人完成表演、对白还有声效，有时还会模仿动物的叫声，《骄傲的将军》中的马嘶声和那只学舌鹦鹉其实都是戴老配的音。戴老这样活灵活现的讲课方式，常常能赢得学生们的一片笑声。在戴老这里，生活就像他最爱的饮料一样是“可乐”的。耄耋之年，戴老仍对未来充满想象。

Some Anecdotes behind Animation Classics

By Yang Chenxi

In celebration of the 69th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China， Avanti， an animation film first screened in 1979， was brought back in a new 3D form in 2018. Those who watched the film in their childhood years wowed at the new release. For at least one generation of filmgoers， Shanghai Animation Film Studio， which produced quite a few animation blockbusters， was a key component of their younger years. In fact， the studio is Chinas biggest animation film studio and one of Chinas oldest animation film makers. Many animation films made in the early years of the studio are now considered as classics and artworks.

Since 2012， I have interviewed a group of old-generation artists and directors who engaged in the making of these animation classics. Their stories revealed to a degree how these classics were created.

Research and Field Studies

In these years， artists of the studio traveled and did field studies for creating best images and for getting the hunch of a region， an era， and a lifestyle. To create the image of Avanti， Director Ou Jianfang and two artists from the studio spent 20 days in Kashgar and Aksu in Xinjiang， doing interviews and sketching and creating oil paintings. The artists visited the local museums and made sketches of the clay figurines made in the Han and the Tang dynasties. The artists consulted local people and artists about the image of Avanti. Back home at the studio， someone thought the sage looked ugly and wanted the director to modify so that the sage could look nice. Ou didnt budge， confident that they had done a great field study. The image became popular with the young audience across the country in the 1980s.

Qian Yunda， director of Hero Sisters on the Grassland， conducted two group researches in Inner Mongolia. They stayed with the local people to have the hands-on experience of everyday life. One night， they did a 500-step walk experiment from a Mongolian yurt. The walk in four directions was supposed to be as easy as ABC. But they got lost. In the total darkness and at a temperature of 40 degrees below zero， they were really scared.

The artists who created Havoc in Heaven sketched at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing and at some ancient structures around the temple. “We spent three months watching the martial arts training and rehearsing at Peking Opera Troupe and some performing art schools in order to get the feel，” recalled Pu Jiaxiang， an animator of the film， in an interview with me. What he learned in the research was later transformed into the animation feature.

In order to create Nine-Color Deer， based on a Buddhist story， four artists from the studio spent 23 days sketching in the caves of Dunhuang. Other artists later followed their steps for more than a week in Dunhuang. The grotto paintings inspired them.

Working with Han Meilin

The studio worked closely with artists across the country in its golden decades. In making The Fox and the Hunter， an animation feature film based on a folk story of the Elun Ethnic Group in northeastern China， the studio engaged Han Meilin， an artist then based in Anhui in 1978， when he was relatively unknown to the public. Han made his national and international fame by creating Fuwa dolls for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Han was recommended to Hu Xionghua， the director of the animation film， for his brilliant animal paintings. Hu thought Han was the right person for the film. Hans design of the characters of the film was so successful that the film stood out from the studios other animation films in terms of style. Han holds fond memory of the experience. The director came all the way from Shanghai to visit him in Anhui Province and invited him to be the chief artist of the animation film. When Han arrived in Shanghai by train， Hu came with a car to meet him at the station. That would sound like nothing today， but back then， how many cars did China have？

Wild Imagination

Black Cat Sheriff， no doubt， is the most exceptional animation film ever produced by the studio. From 1984 to 1987， the studio launched five seasons of the black cats law enforcement adventures in a forest. It became an instant national blockbuster. Directed by Dai Tielang， the five seasons depicted a world of brand-new technologies， most of which were unknown to the general public back then. Dai himself was an enthusiastic reader and subscribed to many international science periodicals. He introduced what he knew and imagined into the films： a bullet turned and followed the target， a telephone was a mobile equipment， and a motor boat flew in the sky. Back then， these innovative images looked absurd and even supernatural， but they added an exotic touch to the sheriffs experience and won the hearts of the young audience across the country where science and technology were making a huge comeback.

Dai did not invent these new gadgets. It was that the public in China back then did not know about them. In my interviews with Dai， he talked about artificial intelligence and parallel universes and commented wildly on them.