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Fish Wang’s earlier animated tasks Gold Fish and Red Tail proved to be competition favorites in years previous. The director is again on the award path along with his new venture Ghost of the Dark Path, which received the Best Animated Short Film Prize on the Sitges Catalonian Intl. Film Festival in 2023 and was a nominee on the Clermont-Ferrand Intl. Short Film Festival. We caught up with the proficient director to search out out extra about his new quick, which has certified for Oscar consideration (within the Best Animated Short class) this 12 months:
Animation Magazine: Congratulations on the worldwide success of Ghost of the Dark Path. Can you inform please inform us bit in regards to the historical past and background of this quick?
Fish Wang: When the primary lead within the quick Te Gan Seven (who’s a undercover agent of a surveillance division) sneaks into an underground political rally, he falls in love with Shi Shuifang who works for the underground group. After the group cracked, Shi Shuifang is sexually assaulted and is in vital situation whereas being detained. Te Gan Seven discovers this when it’s already too late to save lots of her life, so he can solely watch her bleed and comply with her right into a darkish path with ghosts alongside the best way.
Please inform us in regards to the inspiration on your quick?
Wang: The quick movie is tailored from my image guide Landscape of the Dark Path. Part of it data my desires, and the opposite half combines with my fantasies. The story is a couple of journey I skilled once I was misplaced. In Taiwan, we now have a spiritual ritual referred to as “Guan luo yin,” Which means we are able to make contacts with deceased family members by the steerage of a psychic — those that can enter the afterlife and even go to their household. I as soon as wished to strive it however I didn’t, however my desires gave me a really related expertise in the long run. Just a few years after I completed the image guide, I began to replicate on my earlier works like I all the time do when I’m about to begin a brand new venture. Since I’m additionally very involved about politics and the historical past of Taiwan, I attempted to include the occasions throughout White Terror Era in Taiwan into my story, describing how blurry and confused this period was and likewise expressing how everybody will get misplaced throughout this time period, in addition to the entire period as effectively.
Where was the animation finished and the way lengthy did it take to provide?
Wang: The making of the quick movie took me about two years, however our group was additionally engaged on different quick movies. In these two years we additionally completed an animated quick movie and a VR quick movie, they usually each received good evaluations. The VR quick movie (Red Tail) was shortlisted for Venice Film Festival and received the Crystal Award on the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Which animation instruments have been used to create your quick?
Wang: I used Photoshop, Moho, TVPaint, and AE, principally for protecting the unique brushworks I had created for the image guide.
What would you say have been your largest challenges throughout the manufacturing?
Wang: Because I wished to maintain the portray fashion of the unique work, I selected a software program that’s comparatively much less utilized in Taiwan which I used to be unfamiliar with. Therefore, I needed to make some compromises in my work. Plus, it was troublesome to search out somebody who might work with the software program, so we needed to prolong the work schedule and transcend our price range. Eventually, we determined to make use of the basic animation strategies to reinforce some angles which we couldn’t obtain with the software program.
What would you want your audiences to remove from the quick?
Wang: I hope to remind everybody to concentrate to our historical past. In Taiwan, individuals have completely different opinions on the White Terror and the authoritarian political interval. In the previous, the federal government intentionally deleted and tried to reset the historical past, leaving a sure era of individuals unaware of the true historical past of Taiwan with an enormous confusion, even chaos.
As a Taiwanese creator, I’m very involved about this lack of awareness, so I really feel that I’ve a duty to contribute some readability to this confusion from our historical past and political identification, with no stands of whichever political celebration. Of course, the viewers has the precise to make their very own selections of what they need to imagine. After all, we’re towards the thought of dwelling with an authoritarian authorities .So we merely need to put ahead our concepts by our works, to make our viewers from numerous stands assume and talk about overtly and create a free area of dialog on this matter.
Who are a few of your largest animation influences?
Wang: I’ve to single out Spirited Away and Porco Rosso by Hayao Miyazaki. But the largest affect in my profession comes from comics. Reiji Matsumoto’s The Galaxy Express 999 and Shigeru Mizuki’s GeGeGe no Kitarō have had nice influences on me and my work.
Do you might have any recommendation/suggestions for animated shorts filmmakers?
Wang: Make your artwork and write your personal story. Learn out of your failures!
Find out extra at pavilion.taicca.tw/portfolio-item/ghost-of-the-dark-path
Watch the trailer under:
