A cartoon, featuring the historic 10th century battle at Bach Dang River resulting in victory over the Chinese, made by a group of students, has received a large number of hits and favourable comments on Youtube.
A scene in Bach Dang Battle cartoon
The 60-minute cartoon created by a group of students from Hong Bang University in HCM City, got over 69,000 views in one week.
The Battle of Bach Dang River took place in 938. The Vietnamese forces led by Ngo Quyen defeated the invading Han forces. Ngo Quyen became king and put an end to centuries of Chinese domination.
Though the cartoon is too short to convey the full story and scale of the battle and its hero, skillful voice-over acting and use of animation effects has brought history to life for many.
The group of six students, including Vu Duc Thinh, Dinh Ngoc Chinh, Nhu Thi Thuy Diep, Nguyen Thanh Duc, Tran Hau and Dang Minh Quyen, were encouraged by their teacher, Pham Van Bay, to use animation as their vehicle. Despite the challenges of depicting history, they worked hard to do the research necessary to create a compelling narrative.
Nguyen Thanh Duc said, "We wanted to revive this glorious moment of our country's history with the hope that it would pique the interest of young people."
The story itself was not the only challenge to the group. They also had to base their sketches of the main character from statues and design clothes, ships and flags based on the scant information they could find.
However the group said they were undecided when was asked if they would continue making cartoons. "Making professional animation is not easy and requires funding," they said.
Since 2005, many projects have been proposed and carried out to encourage domestic animation, such as "100 Vietnamese historic cartoons", or the cartoon projects worth VND150 billion. These projects attracted the participation of a number of well-known directors, such as Pham Minh Tri, Phuong Hoa, Tran Thanh Viet and Nguyen Thai Hung. Still they did not make much of an impact on viewers.
Young directors have not shown much enthusiasm towards historical topics. The making of Bach Dang Battle seems to be a sign in the other direction, which some hope will attract new artists to attempt to tackle Vietnam's history.
Director Eminent Artist Minh Tri said, "Cartoons are a great way to retell history. It requires less money than films, which require a budget for wardrobe and sets. There have been a number of good quality historical animation projects that have not received proper promotion, and so have not gained wide recognition. The 100 historic cartoons, made by directors at VFC over a 10-year period were not presented in an appealing way and were broadcast intermittently. Animation should be a playground for Vietnamese artists."
The young cartoon makers
Director Minh Tri