Ailimeile creates a paper wonderland for Disney

The playful one-minute film introducing Zootopia-themed merchandize should undoubtedly grab the audience’s attention. As it indeed grabbed ours, but it also peaked our interest with a few questions about this unique Disney Zootopia x Wuling NanoEV commercial. For example, why is the 2016 animated film back in the spotlight? Why did the creators chose a crossover of animation and paper artistry? And finally, what did it take to create this visually impactful paper world?

这部时长一分钟，以《疯狂动物城》为主题的影片绝对会吸引大家的关注。首先它确实吸引到了我们，也让我们对这部独特的迪士尼疯狂动物城 x 五菱NanoEV广告产生了一些好奇。比如，为什么这部2016年的热门电影如今再次成为大众关注的焦点？为什么策划会选择让动画与纸艺联动？以及打造这个震撼人心的纸艺世界都需要些什么？

Concept drawings

When it was released in 2016, Zootopia became an instant hit. With box office results of $236,086,416 it held the title of the highest-grossing animation of all time in China, until in 2019 Nezha has overtaken it. On top of that, Shanghai Disney Resort plans for the world’s first Zootopia-themed attraction is moving forward with an opening date in 2023. As to the questions about the production of the paper wonderland, we asked them to Ailimeile— the art studio that brought this beautiful style to life.

2016年《疯狂动物城》一上映就火遍了全国，以236,086,416美元的票房成绩成为中国有史以来票房最高的动画电影，而这一记录直到2019年才被《哪吒之魔童降世》超越。此外，世界上第一个以《疯狂动物城》为主题的娱乐项目将在上海迪士尼度假区诞生，计划于2023年开业。而关于纸艺乐园的制作问题，我们请教了Ailimeile艺术工作室，他们是为这一美丽的艺术风格注入灵魂的团队。

Alice Melloni on set

Alice Melloni describes the first time collaboration with Gumlab studio as “smooth and enjoyable”. Gumlab came to Ailimeile with a rough script and an idea to use real props with animation. “People think it’s easier to do things in digital, but it’s not always the case”, shares Alice. She continues: “Physical objects are less expensive and are faster to produce. It could take 4 months and 30 people to make this ad entirely in animation. ” Ailimeile only needed a team of 5 and 10 days from the initial idea, to concept drawings and delivering the actual props.

Alice Melloni 表示与Gumlab工作室的首次合作是“顺利且愉快的”。Gumlab带着粗略的脚本和用真实道具制作动画的创意找到了Ailimeile。Alice说:“人们认为用数码技术做事会更容易，但事实并非如此。其实，实体产品更便宜，生产速度更快。如果全部用动画制作这部广告，可能需要4个月，30个人。”而Ailimeile从最初的创意到概念图纸和交付，靠着5个人的团队，在10天之内就完成了。

In Italy, the founders’ home country, making the props would take at least a month, but Ailimeile navigates the challenges of production speed in China without losing the “Italian art quality”. “Not a lot of studios or clients are interested in quality, as for them, the priority is more about the price and other things. But in the end, the product is different and the audience can see it”, Alice comments.

在Ailimeile创始人的祖国意大利，制作这些道具至少需要一个月的时间，但在中国，Ailimeile在保证“意大利艺术品质”的前提下，克服了制作速度方面的挑战。“其实很少有工作室或客户会关注品质，对于他们来说，价格和其他东西才是最重要的。但最终产品是有区别的，观众是可以看到不同的，”Alice评论道。

The paper landscape further helped the animation team to save time with motorized elements like the carousels. Changing direction of the movement, rearranging the props— if the director wants to adjust things on the shooting day, having these as props make it easier. In addition, Ailimeile team always provides assistance on set, and if needed, will even be involved in the shoot. As in this film, the team moved the waves manually in all the seaside scenes. Alice shares, that it was actually tricky to make them move naturally, but the team rehearsed, practiced and with some creative ideas from Alice’s experience in theater production they nailed it.

纸艺景观甚至还帮助动画团队节省了制作旋转木马等机动元素的时间。不论是改变动作方向，还是重新安排道具，如果导演想在拍摄当天进行调整的话，调整真实道具会更容易。此外，Ailimeile团队还会在拍摄现场提供协助，如有需要，甚至会参与拍摄。在这部电影中，他们的团队在所有的海边场景中，都手动移动了海浪。Alice说，让海浪自然地运动实际上是不容易的，但他们的团队通过排练，实践和一些创造性的想法，再结合Alice的戏剧制作经验，最终成功达到了理想的效果。

Real set

The client was so pleased with the final film, that their collaboration was extended. Ailimeile is now working on print ads for the same campaign. In Alice’s words: “We work hard, and we’re happy when the clients understand what we do and love the result”.

客户对最后的成片非常满意，也因此延长了与他们的合作。Ailimeile现在正在为同系列的活动制做平面广告。用Alice的话来说就是: “我们全心全意地工作，如果客户能够理解我们的工作并对最终成果感到满意，我们真的很开心。”