Restoration of PRINCESS IRON FAN: Paying Tribute to Classics and Carrying Forward the Legacy of Animation

Classics are timeless! As the first animated feature film in China and Asia, PRINCESS IRON FAN was directed by the pioneers of Chinese animation, the Wan brothers. It was inspired by the classic chapter “Sun Wukong Borrows the Banana Leaf Fan” from Journey to the West. This film not only holds a significant position in the history of Chinese animation but also leaves a profound Chinese imprint on world animation history.

Paying tribute to classics and carrying forward the legacy of animation! The newly restored 4K version of the Chinese classic animated film PRINCESS IRON FAN, a joint effort by the @China Film Archive and @Arknights, will have its world premiere at the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) in 2024.

As an animated film, PRINCESS IRON FAN faced more challenges in the restoration process than conventional films shot on celluloid. In the past, animated works relied heavily on hand-drawn techniques, which posed several problems during restoration.

Firstly, due to the inherent errors in hand-drawn animation, some scenes suffered from inconsistent transitions between frames. Unlike live-action films, the trajectories drawn manually often differed slightly from real-life movements, making automated calculations unusable during restoration, which had to be corrected manually frame by frame.

Secondly, the discrepancies in details between frames during drawing resulted in missing elements in some scenes, making it necessary to use the frame interpolation tools to restore each detail individually. Additionally, to achieve rich visual effects, animated films often required layering of different celluloids for characters and backgrounds. However, this layering led to numerous scratches and dirt on the film, especially considering the abundance of repeated frames in PRINCESS IRON FAN. This made it challenging for automated processes to differentiate between frames accurately, significantly increasing the difficulty and workload of the 4K restoration.

Before restoration

After restoration

Limitations in equipment and technology at the time the film was produced resulted in various issues in sound production, such as low signal-to-noise ratio, high-frequency loss in the original audio, excessive mid-frequency energy, excessive low-frequency noise, and numerous shock-wave noise. Over-zealous noise reduction could distort voices, while inadequate noise reduction would affect audio clarity, making noise reduction particularly tricky. The final approach involved initial use of artificial intelligence to perform basic noise reduction on the background noise, followed by further adjustments by sound restoration specialists segmentally addressing high, mid, and low frequencies through multiple iterations to achieve the desired effect.

PRINCESS IRON FAN

Wan Laiming/Wan Guchan

Highlights:

Asia’s first animated feature film drawn by Chinese animation pioneers

The Wan brothers, pioneers of Chinese animation, selected the exciting episode “Sun Wukong Borrows the Banana Leaf Fan” from Journey to the West and created the first animated feature film in China and Asia during the tumultuous period of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, using mythological allegory to express the spirit of the times. The film not only enjoyed unprecedented success in China but also had a significant influence abroad. Renowned Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka decided to pursue manga creation after watching this film. The film features the vocal talents of “Singing Queen” Bai Hong as Princess Iron Fan, along with famous comedians Han Langen and Yin Xiucen voicing Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, respectively. The director utilized unique ink wash scenery to create a three-dimensional effect, showcasing Sun Wukong’s seventy-two transformations and the spectacular battles between him and Princess Iron Fan. It was the success of this film that inspired director Wan Laiming to create the milestone work of Chinese animation, HAVOC IN HEAVEN. This film, jointly restored by the China Film Archive and Arknights, will eventually have its world premiere at this edition of SIFF.