Breathing life into puppets: The stop-motion world of 'Black Myth: Wukong'

When players around the world realized that a chapter in "Black Myth: Wukong" was created using stop-motion animation, surprise quickly turned into awe. The cutscene, titled "Deaf Ear," reveals a rarely seen fusion of cutting-edge game technology and one of the most tactile forms of animation.

In this episode of Beyond ACG, Weng Jie, the stop-motion director behind "Deaf Ear," takes us into a six-month production process guided by patience and precision. With only three to four animators, every movement was planned in advance and captured frame by frame, because in stop-motion, a single mistake can mean starting all over again.

For the creator, stop motion is about breathing the vital energy of one's own life into them. "How vivid or humorous (the puppets) become depends on our own understanding of life," said Weng.

From flowing sleeves shaped by hidden wires to rain ripples formed drop by drop with aloe gel, and even waterfalls crafted from simple plastic wrap, the camera captures not just objects, but air, wind and emotion.

"Whether an animator or a director, the reason we can still create is because we are among the few who managed to carry the spirit of playing and the ability to dream into adulthood," said Weng.

Executive producer: Zhang Jingwen

Producer: Yang Sha

Director: Chen Hongyu

Videographers: Wang Hongjie, Li Yufei and Hu Jinlu