Translation of director Li Haoling's interview
@Isabell00136302
Original article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EX7FDZ92t5iGYYL6teTXRw
Regarding Heaven Official’s Blessing, we asked the director 4 questions
Heaven Official’s Blessing has exploded in popularity!
The novel has got 1.71 million bookmarks and 1.91 million reviews in JJWXC website. After adapted into donghua, it is still very well-received. It managed to hit 100 million views within 23 days with over 5 million subscribers and the current rating of 9.2 in Douban. The series is also broadcast in many international platforms. This donghua has now progressed past half the season, yet still tops the hot search every week. It is clear that the level of viewer’s engagement is high.
According to the director Li Haoling, TGCF donghua is one of his great trials, “Basically, we sleep only 4 hours every day. It already became the norm”. Since the end of 2018 when TGCF began production, Li Haoling’s daily routine has always been this way, “This is just the life of us animators”.
Even if he has already reached such an extreme, the donghua has now entered the latter half the season and unavoidably got some criticisms. Audience expectations are higher. Pressure from the deadline increases. The urge is pressing Li Haoling from all directions.
Despite all of these, Li Haoling still took the time to chat with Yuli Studio about the production of TGCF and answered to the doubts many audiences might have in mind.
1. Why does Xie Lian seem immature?
There are always some criticisms among the high praise, like the controversy over Xie Lian in the donghua. Xie Lian is a heavenly official who has ascended three times. From the crown prince of Xian Le to flower-crowned martial god, he had always been high-spirited. Soon after the banishment, he was hit by the suffering in the mortal realm. According to the original novel, Xie Lian should be a deep person. Gentle and kind on the outside, yet still take pride in himself.
However, some viewers think that Xie Lian in the donghua is too lively, lacking prudence. Based on the novel, the personality of Xie Lian after three ascensions should be optimistic and gentle but not weak. But why does donghua Xie Lian appear like this?
Li Haoling: Xie Lian’s character is quite complex. At the beginning, he is innocent, selflessly wishing to serve the country and the people, but I think he is a very pure person. His colour is white because his heart is pure and boundless. The wide heart to embrace the world. Although he had turned evil in the past, he still returned and repented in the end. He is not short-tempered, not overreactive, always wears a smile on his face. In fact, he has returned to his former self after having been through lots of things.
The art in the TGCF donghua is not very realistic. I think the reason why Xie Lian’s character is portrayed like this is because of the limitation of the animation. If we were to pursue the realistic style, the production time of this series would have been extended to more than two years. Since the highly realistic style requires huge effort to paint. For a season of 12 episodes, if we cannot find a suitable animation director, we basically need 3 or 4 years before we can start the project.
The deep and mature personality is sometimes expressed by the art style. Given the development of Chinese animation industry at the moment, it is impossible to attain realistic style at the level of Japanese animations. There just aren’t enough talents. For example, there are probably no more than 10 people across the nation who are capable for a position as an animation director. We still have a long way to go. We need a great effort to strive forward.
2. How will the relationship between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian be portrayed?
The level of the director’s understanding of the original work and of the relationship between characters is highly essential. In what way will the feeling between the two protagonists be expressed in TGCF? Which level of expression is the most difficult to achieve from the director’s point of view?
Li Haoling: I always say to my friends that you should not look at TGCF in a strange way. Do not just define the show based on its genre. The relationship between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are not master and subordinate, but, at the very least, a believer and a person who is believed. Like the brotherly bond in Liang Jian. Just this kind of affinity. “I believe in you. I just want to follow you. I will do justice for you.” The essence of this emotion is too precious.
It is actually more difficult to convey the feeling between sworn brothers deeply. The bond between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng is about conviction. The feeling of of believing and wanting to follow can be felt by men. I think this kind of feeling is not necessarily love but it is really burning.
I personally like the last part in the second book where the celestial pagoda collapsed. Xie Lian used his golden statue to support it. Many people might not consider this scene famous, but it indeed shows what in Xie Lian’s heart deep down. At that time, Xie Lian’s sense of despair was overwhelmed. He had always thought everyone can believe in him, but at the moment he did not even believe in himself. I got goosebumps when reading that scene.
Moreover, in the scene where Hua Cheng said to the statue of Xie Lian, “I am forever your most devoted believer”, I think if adapted into the donghua, it has the potential to be a highly impactful scene. Though it might happen in the third season.
The relationship between them does not need many dialogues to convey. Although the imagery of the Forest of Hanging Corpses scene is beautiful, it doesn’t need dozens of shots, since both of them just walk in the rain. There isn’t much content to fill in. If they are just walking, Audience won’t feel much after watching it.
In the donghua, we added Xie Lian’s prologue story to that scene. This way, the sound of the rain hitting the umbrella also carries some emotions. They were walking and Hua Cheng was reminiscing about Xie Lian’s past events. Everything was recalled on that path. This narrating style just brings out so much sentiment.
3. How to control the direction and the pace of the story?
What kind of pacing is used to narrate the story? What kind of scenes can be rushed? Since readers have got different interpretations and the screenwriters are also scarce in the donghua industry, what kind of pacing has become a challenge to Li Haoling?
Li Haoling: TGCF is rather slow-burn and hence does not have much sense of involvement, so the narrative style will be different from Japanese animes. We cannot use things like flashback cut to show what thought they have in minds. For example, the scene of Xian Le destruction is told from the perspective of gods as well as the third person.
As a whole, there is no way to convey strong emotions in the donghua from the third-person point of view. If we use the classic narrative style of the Japanese animations by cutting into the flashbacks when Xie Lian is making a decision. The memories when he was facing the destruction of his kingdom and going through hardships. This style of narration can definitely evoke strong emotions. But I’m not sure whether or not it is acceptable to the viewers.
In the first season, we still want to play it safe. We tend use the conservative style to keep the content and plot of the original work as much as possible. We haven’t yet made a big adjustment, except for the last scene of the first episode. I wasn’t certain about my decision at first, but now many viewers said that it’s good. I was very nervous at that time. I didn’t know if it’s really better this way. I always have an attitude to keep trying and exploring new things.
In the original work, the story progresses very slowly in the earlier part. I didn’t dare rushing it up. For example, in episode 5 where those two were on the ox cart, speeding it up might raise lots of criticism. Xie Lian and Hua Cheng spend their simple life together. They finally meet after having been through much difficulty. How can I rush it up!
Similarly, the ghost bride case was solved in the episode 2-3 and the complex relationships between gods in the heaven court were depicted in the episode 4, since these are also important to the story. To give another example, we have spent 5-6 minutes in total for Hua Cheng debut scene, although it has only a few lines in the novel. The same applies to their meeting scene. These kinds of scenes are lengthened in the donghua since they are needed to build up emotions. We cannot just rush to catch up with the plot.
Faithfulness to the original work is definitely our first principle of adaptation. There may be some scenes that the author of the original work might want to show but haven’t been added yet, like the details of General Pei’s past and so on. During the production, after verifying every detail with all teams, we managed to add them.
4. Why does the quality drop?
When the first episode of TGCF was aired, many viewers were in awe of those gorgeous scenes. This 30-minute episode is full of sincerity. The ending of the episode 1 became the highlight, rising all the way to the hot search.
However, in the episode 6, there appears to be the issues of missing frames, character crashes and the line arts looking different from the previous episodes. In the episode 7, some scenes even pause for 2/3 second. The drop in quality disappointed the audience. Why did this happen?
Li Haoling: TGCF has the standard duration of 240 minutes. The first and the last episode can be lengthened a bit to 30 minutes. We did the Forest of Hanging Corpses scene at the end of episode 1, while in the original work, it takes 3-4 chapters to mention it. Longer episode 1 allowed us to add Pei Ming’s past. Finally, the 240-minute series has become the current 11 episodes.
The later stage of production is indeed the most stressful one. We have spent more than half a year to make the first episode. For this first episode, I inserted lots of emotions in it. It contains many things I want to convey. But if every episode is made this way, we need several years to make all the 11 episodes. It is not possible.
The Japanese animes are also the same. The first three episodes maintain the S-level standard. But there is not enough time for the later episodes. Plus, there is still a talent gap in the industry. These give rise to some minor problems.
We are still in the process of trial and error. For example, in episode 6, we had to redraw Xie Lian’s bamboo hat several times. At the beginning, there was no white veil added, because it is really tedious to draw. The painters had gone through a lot of trouble to make it. This white veil is always fluttering. It is difficult to make this effect. But I still insisted on adding it, because I think it looks magical. In those classic action fictions, the fluttering of the white veil during every movement of the character gives the mystical feeling.
But these designs might not be acknowledged by viewers. Like this white veil, we had spent so much energy on it. It was a mess. If we make the second season afterwards, I might consider again whether or not we should add it. At present, we have put it away.
When we painted Hua Cheng’s silver chains, we deliberately made it very complicated. Because the author of the novel mentioned in the note that she designed them based on the silver accessories of Miao minority. After collecting lots of materials for a reference, we decided to make it as complicated and gorgeous as possible.
Hua Cheng’s hair is supposed to be look nice. This thin hair and a small braid should have an air of elegance. If it is fluffy at the top with a thick braid, it will certainly not look good. When watching animations, people often say things like “Newton will be furious”. Actually, beauty sometimes does not go well with physics. Otherwise, it will look awkward.
If we reach the second season, I hope we can get longer production time, because there will be scenes with huge amount of work like the ghost city. We hope to do better. Moreover, we need time to try new techniques.
For every frame of TGCF, we haven’t yet let it pass. We will do as best as we can.