''Seven-Colored Rabbit'' - a Vietnamese animated film

(HNMCT) - In the first days of this year, the release of the animated film "Seven-Colored Rabbit" episode 3 has attracted the attention of a large domestic audience. This is an animated film with a strong Vietnamese character, aimed at Vietnamese audiences and is also a "test" for young people who want to produce animated films "made in Vietnam".

Huynh Thai Ngoc, author of the series "Seven-Colored Rabbit".

Animation reflects reality

With a duration of 20 minutes, episode 3 of the animated film "Seven-Colored Rabbit - God of Gamblers of the West" has a setting close to every Vietnamese family, recreating the activities, lifestyle, and relationships that are deeply Vietnamese with the main character being a Rabbit and his relatives such as Mr. Nam, Ms. Xo, and Little Swallow.

“The God of Gambling in the West” tells the story of a Rabbit determined to take his land book and gamble to earn money to repay his father Nam. But life is not like a dream, Rabbit lost all his assets in a competition with En and was later arrested by the authorities and all his belongings were confiscated. En, after escaping the police raid, still could not escape the law.

The movie “The God of Gambling in the West” is like a satirical story about the gambling habit that knows no limits of a part of Vietnamese people. This is a comedy but still has some low notes through 2 scenes. The scene where Quan brings Tho back from prison brought tears to the audience, showing sympathy for those who do not have families and have to make a living during Tet. Then there is the scene where Mr. Nam hugs Tho and says: “I am just afraid of losing my grandson”. That detail shows a typical character of Vietnamese people who are always ready to forgive all mistakes of their children and send the most important message: Family is the place to return to, the place that protects us after every stumble in life.

Notably, “Seven-Colored Rabbit” is a film suitable for young people, teenagers and adults. According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Son, Production Director of the animated series “Seven-Colored Rabbit”, this is not only a comedy, the production crew also put into it the emotions of Vietnamese people about Tet.

Vietnamese animation for Vietnamese people

“There are currently too few Vietnamese animated films. When Vietnamese people look for animated films, they often choose big brands from the US and Japan such as Carton Network, Anime... We want to produce Vietnamese animated films for Vietnamese people,” said producer Nguyen Tien Son.

Previously, the first film of “Tho Bay Mau - Tet ve que Tho” was released on the occasion of Tet 2021, reaching 13 million views. Following that success, in 2022, “Tho Bay Mau” released the episode “Tet cua Mr. Nam” and entered the top 5 outstanding videos of 2022. Wishing that the film “Tho Bay Mau” would become a spiritual dish during Tet, in 2023, author Huynh Thai Ngoc decided to cooperate with Sun Wolf Animation Studio to produce the project “Than bai mien Tay”.

With the great support of the audience, Huynh Thai Ngoc said that he is more and more confident when making episode 3 and the following episodes of "Tho Bay Mau": "The value of "Tho Bay Mau" is Vietnamese value. First of all, it is the Vietnamese language and the way the characters express Vietnamese. We aim for a popular language and the audience can hear these voices and behaviors anywhere" - author Huynh Thai Ngoc said.

The emergence of animated films by young domestic authors and directors is attracting the attention of audiences, bringing positive signs to the country's fledgling animation industry. According to director Dinh Kieu Anh Tuan, founder and director of Sun Wolf Animation Studio, with the animated film project "Tho Bay Mau", the character Tho was created by Vietnamese people and the stories surrounding this character also refer to the lives of young people today. Such characters inherently share the same voice with the orientation of Sun Wolf Animation Studio in developing animated films. In addition, Sun Wolf Animation Studio is also implementing other animated film projects, "Journey of Cause and Effect" and "Tan Vien Phong Chau", with modern plots but the details and settings are all inspired by the land and people of Vietnam.

Paying for a dream

The success of “Seven-Colored Rabbit” has motivated the production team to make a series about this character. It is known that the production costs of previous episodes were all paid for by the members themselves. Therefore, to prepare for making the film this year and the following years, author Huynh Thai Ngoc and Sun Wolf Animation Studio are looking for sponsors.

“2023 is a difficult year, so brands will be more careful in spending money on marketing campaigns. The film project “Seven-Colored Rabbit” did not receive any sponsorship and the team had to spend all their efforts and money to produce. We have determined that we will not be able to recover the initial capital, just like the self-deprecating “title” on the film poster (Top 1 animation filmmaker with capital loss in 2022). However, the audience's reception of the film is a great reward for us to continue,” said producer Nguyen Tien Son.

According to director Dinh Kieu Anh Tuan, once they have determined that making animated films is their main, long-term goal, even though there is currently no outside investment, the members of Sun Wolf Animation Studio have proactively sought other ways to nurture their animation dream. “Most of us do it ourselves. Or we combine with other animation companies to create an alliance. We all have faith in animated films, so each person can be a small investor in the company,” said director Dinh Kieu Anh Tuan.

Currently, in our country, there are many young people who are passionate about animation. Some are on the production line at major animation studios in the US, Japan, and Korea; many directors and filmmakers are quick-witted and highly skilled with their own works, recognized by the world . Most recently, the short film "Giac Mo Goi Cuon" by Mai Vu was selected to compete for the La Cinéf award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

However, difficulties still exist for the Vietnamese animation industry, one of which is the tendency of Vietnamese audiences to prefer foreign animated products. Therefore, the requirement for our country's animators is to produce works with quality approaching the world. To do that, the human factor, the filmmaking staff, plays a decisive role. That requires animation companies to proactively train human resources.

In the animation industry around the world, to maintain production, each studio can mobilize several thousand people. Although domestic animation studios are in great need of human resources, the output from universities has not met the actual demand in both quantity and quality. This is still a big challenge for the dream of making animated films “made in Vietnam”.

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