Animating the world

The animated-film sector is finding new avenues to expand globally, as the recently concluded MIP China Hangzhou International Content Summit shows. Xu Fan reports.

Lei Tao remembers the time he promoted the animated series Rainbow Chicks in Cannes and how a French distributor mistook it for a Japanese work because of its high quality. Now, the Chinese tale of seven fluffy chicks living on a floating island in the sky is set to fly to more foreign territories.

During the recently concluded MIP China Hangzhou International Content Summit, which was held in the capital of Zhejiang province between May 23 and 25, Lei's studio TThunder Animation signed a deal with French animation company Millimages.

The contract gives Millimages, one of the top European animation companies, Rainbow Chicks' global distribution rights.

MIP - or Marche International des Programmes - is the world's largest marketplace for television and digital content. It holds events in Cannes twice a year - MIPTV in spring and MIPCOM in autumn.

The Hangzhou event marks MIP's first foray into Asia.

The Rainbow Chicks deal testifies to rising interest from international players in China, one of the key producers of entertainment content and also an important market.

In 2016, China produced 334 television dramas, 21,000 minutes of animated content and more than 700 feature-length movies.

The three-day Hangzhou event saw more than 250 participants from more than 130 movie and television companies from 19 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Italy, Japan and Singapore.

During the one-to-one meetings - a major part of the event, joined by 80 companies-up to 300 potential deals worth a total of 480 million yuan ($70 million) were discussed.

"The worldis eager to know about China. This is a good time for Chinese content to go abroad," says Chen Ying, general manager of Zhejiang Megamedia, one of the event's organizers.

Chinese animators have been at the forefront when it comes to international coproductions, with a history going back to the late 1970s.

Anke Redl, strategy and business development director of Beijing-based China Media Management Inc, says China's animated productions have made waves in Europe in recent years, a view also echoed by Grace Lee, marketing director of Millimages.

Lee says that Chinese animated content, especially that with educational themes, has seen a great improvement in quality and is more popular in the West than before.

Lee says Rainbow Chicks' blend of the ink-and-brush painting style and a Western storytelling approach, provide a fascinating package to viewers.

So far, the series tailored for preschool children has dominated ratings on its Chinese broadcaster, China Cental Television, among all animated productions aired at the same time. It has been viewed more than 100 million times on major video-streaming sites, such as iQiyi, LeTV and Tencent.

Josh Selig, founder of the New York-based TV-program producer Little Airplane Productions, says the content has a unique characteristic in that it can cross borders easily.

"Animation is a very visual medium and is typically based on characters that any culture can identify with. It has a much better chance of traveling from one country to another."

As for Little Airplane's work in China, the company has two animated series - Super Wing and P. King Duckling - coproduced with Guangzhou-based Alpha Animation & Culture Co Ltd and Suzhou-based Uyoung Culture & Media Co Ltd, respectively.

Selig says the scriptwriting and voice-overs of the two works were done in the US, while the animation work was done in China.

He says China is yet to mature when it comes to scriptwriters, but the quality of design and animation is very high in the country.

"Also, in China, you often have directors in charge of the writing. That is very uncommon outside," he adds.

The 53-year-old, who first visited China around 20 years ago and has close business links with Chinese animators, says: "Many Chinese animated series are beautifully done, but unfortunately the stories do not work."

Selig says that language barriers are not a challenge when it comes to working with the Chinese, but the time difference between the two regions is.

"We often have production meetings lasting two hours, early in the morning or late at night. Usually when one side wakes up, the other side falls asleep," he says, laughing.

Selig also says that humor can often be a sticking point in coproductions as the Chinese like slapstick comedy, something the US producers shun.

But despite these differences, Chinese industry sources say China has enough appeal to lure foreign producers and storytellers.

Li Lian, founder of the Hangzhou company Versatile Media Co Ltd, says the country's huge market is a major attraction.

At the Hangzhou event, Versatile, which has been taking part in the Cannes' MIP events since 2008, established links with companies from the UK, France, India and Italy.

Li says: "Earlier, Chinese animated productions were criticized for their quality and stories. I'm happy to see the improvements."

Versatile's The Floating Planet, an animated movie about three teen heroes on an alien planet, sold its distribution rights to two countries in Cannes earlier this year.

As for the future, China's market is more than just television and theater screens.

More than half of its population - or 700 million people - use the internet, and the number is expected to grow.

The potential in China is great as the younger generation gets used to watching content on the internet, says Geng Danhao, vice-president of iQiyi.

Ben Silverman, head of the Los Angeles-based studio Propagate Content and an award-winning producer, says China's traditional culture can be a good place to find appealing stories.

He also says the fast-changing country is fond of programs about women's struggles, dating and consumer behavior, which also work with Western audiences.

Contact the writer at xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese animated productions, such as Rainbow Chicks and The Floating Planet, which have sold their distribution rights to overseas markets, show improved quality and are more popular in the West than before. Photos Provided To China Daily