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– Tencent China Literature Film
– Tencent China Literature Film
Tencent is the mother company for China Literature Group, known as
Yuewen (阅文), an online literature platform in China. This brand film is meant to increase awareness and promote the platform.
We had a very interesting interchange with the client, because they were attached to a more literal visualization, and we had to convince them that the important part was the message we wanted to communicate, more than the single little details.
The needs: representing multiplie ancient Chinese myths, in a contemporary way. The video is part of a bigger communication operation, specifically to spread into the US market.
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The challange:
There were 2 main challenges: a cultural one, as we are culturally far away from the Orient tradition; and a visual one, as we had to simplify the complexity of Chinese illustrations, making them graphic and bold.
STORYBOARD
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The creative solution:
First of all we had to study a lot, not only the stories but also how they’ve been visualized in history. The themes and images were quite complex to represent, and sometimes the same myth had many different visual styles. We approached it by going in the opposite direction, with a very graphic and stylized look with heavy use of silhouettes and textures.
We decided to go with 3 not so different, yet recognizable styles, starting from using silhouettes and simplicity, then adding grain and a pictorial, almost acrylic, style, to come back to a more graphic brush stroke, calligraphic, that could circle back to the beginning.
We chose to do a one-shot sequence, a sort of our trademark. That was an extra challenge because it’s difficult to unite the scenes using textured brushes. But we think this was a good narrative choice, as you can visualize more things, and different stories, more fluidly.
MAKING OF
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