ABSTRACT
Since the 1990s, the making of Chinese animation stalled. The large-scale animated film Lotus Lantern took four years to make since 1996 until 1999 by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. At that time, this film had high hopes placed to help Chinese animators to regain confidence. Lotus Lantern is an animated feature film with a length of 80 minutes. There were over 300 animators making 150,000 original paintings, over 2,000 background drawings, over 2,000 shots and almost 50 characters in the film. This film is based on the folklore over 100 years ago. The production team decided to make a big breakthrough on the basis of maintaining the essence of traditional ethnic culture, so that the film can suit the modern taste of little audience with its bold imagination and no limitation to set form. The preparation, making, and release of Lotus Lantern experienced a comprehensive reform. It was a successful exploration of the industrialization of Chinese film.
