Charm of Mid-Autumn Festival: animated videos for children
Today we present three short animated videos for children within the theme of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Each video is a different kind of animation: 2D, 3D and stop-motion. They draw inspiration from the traditional culture, customs and legends related to the Mid-Autumn festival while incorporating elements of traditional Chinese operas.
All of the videos are original works created by young animators from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts. They convey the wishes for family reunion, harmony and health. Besides the animated works, you also get to see some behind-the-scenes footage.
- Baking Day on the Moon
Type: Stop-motion animation
Length: 2 minutes
Mooncake is a traditional dessert for the Mid-Autumn Festival, conveying the wish for family reunion. Chang’e is the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology and the Jade Rabbit is a mythological animal. It is said that they live in a heavenly palace on the moon, the Guanghan Palace.
This animated work depicts the scene of goddess Chang’e preparing mooncakes with the Jade Rabbits in the heavenly palace. The images of the characters and the expressive style of the work break people’s mindset on Chang’e and the moon palace in Chinese mythology. The work adopts an exaggerated style to depict the characters. With funny performances, the video demonstrates the process of making traditional Chinese mooncakes, expressing sincere good wishes for people in China and beyond.
- Who Moved My Mooncake?
Type: 3D animation
Length: 90 seconds
A mouthwatering mooncake is placed on the desk during the Mid-Autumn Festival. A Peking Opera martial doll and an insect toy robot, who are both as hungry as a wolf, scramble for the plate. In the process, they accidentally break the mooncake into pieces. Finally, they get back together and share the mooncake under the full moon. The battle between the two characters draws inspiration from the martial arts movements of traditional opera classics and showcases some stunt moves with high-level difficulty.
- Daydream under the Moon
Type: 2D animation
Length: 90 seconds
In the popular Chinese fairytale, Chang’e accidentally takes a pill of immortality and flies to the moon to become a goddess. Inspired by this fairytale, the animated work tells another version of the story in the daydream of a little girl.
Chang’e finds a pill of immortality while doing housework. Her rabbit accidentally takes a bite of the pill and starts floating in the air as a result. To rescue the rabbit, Chang’e eats the rest of the pill. The two then fly to the moon together.
The images and movements of the characters are cute. The video uses modern technology and elements from traditional Chinese operas to depict the ancient fairytale and reinterpret it from an optimistic perspective.