Lo Che Ying

Lo is an experienced anime producer and began independent anime creation in 1977. His works won the first prize at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film Festival for four consecutive times and he was promoted as panel member. In the next year, he joined the Radio Television Hong Kong to work as cartoon producer until 1993. Over recent years, he spent efforts on promotion of the anime industry in Hong Kong and planning of anime exhibitions. Recently, he worked as the curator of the 50 Years of Hong Kong and Taiwanese Animation. He currently worked as Secretary General of the Hong Kong Animation and Culture Association.


The upcoming Sherlock Holmes animation

04 2019 | Issue 32

It’s true that the animation industry in Hong Kong cannot be considered as developed as there is a lack of quantity in productions. The very first local animation film in Hong Kong was Older Master Q, rolled out in 1981. From that year, the animation industry in Hong Kong had produced no more than 20 animation films in total to date. Despite the quantity, the animations’ quality was ensured. For instance, Older Master Q performed excellently in box office not only in Hong Kong but also in Taiwan. There was also an animation entitled A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation, the first Hong Kong long animation that made it into Japanese cinemas. It was made by a diverse production team consisting of talented producers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. McDull series’ first film My Life as McDull, another representation of Hong Kong animation, was awarded at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Judging from a holistic perspective, the animation industry in Hong Kong did accomplish some achievements in the past decades.

 

In recent years, the animation industry in Hong Kong has been investing a lot of efforts in increasing the number of productions. However, given the fact that animation film projects are generally costly, only a few investors are willing to make the bet. Besides, the market in Hong Kong is very small in scale. It’s very difficult to achieve breakthroughs under these circumstances.


The most recent local long animation in Hong Kong was McDull: Rise of the Rice Cooker, released in 2016. The seventh McDull film only achieved normal commercial results despite the McDull series’ fan base. That’s why the animation’s production unit Simage started to look for new inspirations and creative ideas for new productions. After coordination between different parties, a new long animation is now under production process and is scheduled to launch in summer this year!


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Published by Rightman Publishing and written by Hong Kong author Lai Ho, the Sherlock Holmes series hit the Hong Kong fiction market about ten years ago and has since been the bestseller among its peers. Over forty issues have been published with each of them selling tens of thousands of copies, topping the chart of fiction for youngsters. The fiction series has been translated into English and has entered the bookstores in several regions, boasting a strong base of readers. In response to the great popularity, the series has also been adapted to quality manga.Sherlock Holmes gradually evolved into an IP. At this stage, Lai believed that it’s time to adapt it into animation.

 

At the year-end in 2017, the filming of Sherlock Holmes: Escape Hunt, officially started after my coordination. Simage Animation and Media Ltd. is the official production company and the film is directed by McDull’s Toe Yuen and Simage’s founder Matthew Chow. The production is estimated to take 18 months with an estimated cost of HKD13 million. The investors and the entire production team are all local in Hong Kong, meaning the production will be 100% made-in-HK. The series incorporates the character settings from the original Sherlock Holmes. In Lai’s fictions, all the characters appear in the forms of animals. For instance, the protagonist Sherlock Holmes is a dog while his dearest friend Watson is a cat. The stories are also innovated, taking in many materials from Japanese detective fictions and integrating science education elements. This tends to appeal to young readers while at the same time brings entertainment to adults. The series is definitely popular for some reasons!

 

The production process of the animation is now on track. The production team adopts the trending animation technique of turning 3D models into 2D hand-painted animations in order to stay authentic to the original manga version. This technique allows the production team to show subtle motions. Even though the production team has less than 40 professional talents working on the project, the animation looks stunning because of the well preparation in the early stage and the efficient use of computer equipment. I have seen some clips of the animation and found that the animation resembles Japanese animations of high quality. The animation film fuses two fiction stories together and therefore has a fast story-telling pace, which is very Hong Kong.

 

The audience will be able to see this new Hong Kong animation film in a few months. Hopefully, the final product will bring enjoyment to the audience. This is the most exciting upcoming production for me!