Bees Behind the Scenes

A marriage between Jerry Seinfeld and DreamWorks

There has always been an unwritten motto in Hollywood, and now it has become a widely circulated truth - that is, "You have to know What is the true self?” The origin of the animated film "Bee" seems to be the most perfect example of this truth in reality, and it also effectively expanded it into "You not only have to know who you are, but also Let others know too."

DreamWorks Animation Production Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg (Jeffrey Katzenberg) has been trying to recruit the iconic figure in the comedy industry Jerry Seinfeld since more than 10 years ago. , used his talented funny mind in animation works, and never gave up his efforts. Now, almost 10 years later, Seinfeld has established himself as an unshakable king of comedy and has grown into a compelling comedy star, co-creating and starring in the sitcom Seinfeld. , how much joy it once brought to people. Unfortunately, Seinfeld is too busy. His schedule is packed full of live broadcasts of travel programs and TV series that require a long time to create. After work, Seinfeld also has to fulfill his responsibilities as a father - onerous Work always slows down people's progress and makes it difficult to develop opportunities, so Seinfeld doesn't even have time to think about it. Even though he publicly expressed his love for animated movies, he has no time and no inspiration. , it seemed that it was not the right time to enter the field of animation... Until one day, when Seinfeld and Steven Spielberg were having dinner, the opportunity unexpectedly hit him on the head like a pie.

Jerry Seinfeld and Spielberg chose the Hamptons for a meeting and a meal. Seinfeld still remembers that the originally pleasant chat atmosphere suddenly turned cold. In order to ease the tension in the air, Seinfeld staged an impromptu performance with the extremely cliché title "Bee Movie", and then copied the pattern of low-budget movies from Hollywood's golden age, pretending to be a bee... An ordinary trick that Seinfeld picked up turned into a good movie idea in Spielberg's eyes, so he immediately called his partner at DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and the first Early the next morning, Katzenberg contacted Seinfeld and said that he was interested in filming the "Bee Movie". Seinfeld recalled: "I felt a little confused at the time because I had no idea about this film. Except for one title, fortunately, I ended up finishing it."

Indeed, when Jerry Seinfeld and Spielberg came up with this story idea, they completely treated it like one. A joke used to save the day, but the meaning behind it is far more than that. In fact, Seinfeld has always been deeply interested in the world of bees before this: "I especially like to observe the structure of beehives, which I find very interesting, because There are social classes among bees, and the kind of geometry they create. You might not have imagined that honey that sweet could be made from an insect, so it finally became possible. After that, I found that I was quite ambitious and a little excited to try."

Jerry Seinfeld believed that bees are the most misunderstood insect in the world, so he decided to take advantage of it. The film explores their secret life, which is a world full of temptations and sweetness. He said: "If you wanted to tell a story about little bees, where would you start? I think this species currently faces The biggest problem is that their honey has been 'stolen' by humans. The honey they have worked so hard to accumulate has been taken away by us, and then put into labeled bottles and jars. Making money is like bees becoming slaves to humans making honey - for me, this is a very good starting point and I want to develop a complete story based on it.

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A Three Men

Although Jerry Seinfeld has been active in the film and entertainment industry for so many years, he is a complete novice in the field of animation , fortunately, behind him is the highest-level, most creative, and most successful animation studio in film history - the DreamWorks that created a green monster named "Shrek".

Once "Bee" had enough funds and environment to operate, Jerry Seinfeld admitted that the first challenge he faced was to "advance" the knowledge of CG animation. In the studio, Song. Not only did Fei receive the highest-level animation training course, but Jeffrey Katzenberg also stayed with him and served as a full-time consultant for the film. Seinfeld said: "As for how these touching animated films are made, Yes, I had no idea at all, so I had to learn it from scratch. Not only did Katzenberg teach me everything he knew, he also guided me throughout the making of the film. I knew how to create interesting stories, but I didn't know how to express them in the form of animation, so I really felt like I was "catching a duck to sell". Katzenberg kept bullying me into doing everything myself. Do it. I really trust him and follow his advice. Without him teaching me how to do it, I would never have been able to create such a wonderful animated story. "

Yes, "Bees" is no longer the kind of work that Jerry Seinfeld often "writes and shoots himself" in the past, but the habit he has developed over a long time still allows him to He believes that he has this obligation - because as long as his name is on it, no matter what genre it is, he must do his best. Fortunately, his animated debut seems to have achieved the same results as him from any angle. It has the same effect as the landmark funny and humorous TV series. The production process of the film lasted 4 years, and Seinfeld finally lived up to the three titles on his head: screenwriter, producer, and main voice actor. The impeccable comedy talent is perfectly integrated into every scene of the film, which can be regarded as setting another precedent for animated films: the story focuses on an ordinary little bee, Barry B. Byson, who lives in a beehive. He saw a different world outside, but a lawsuit brought him into an interracial case. No matter what the verdict was, it would have a profound impact on bees and humans. Well, making the video reminded me of the sandbox I used to play in my childhood, where you could use it to shape the sand into any shape or shape. You can do whatever you want with it, use the style and method you like, and create whatever you can imagine. But my situation was a little different, because they would only give me one grain of sand at a time, so it took us 4 damn years. ”

And through the eyes of experienced film director and CG cartoonist Simon J. Smith, Jerry Seinfeld’s idea of ??combining the world of humans and the world of bees is truly otherworldly. "Honestly, my first thought about the script was, 'This is ridiculous, this is a crazy idea,'" Smith said. ’ But what you can’t deny is that Seinfeld has indeed created the best story. You can even feel the growth of the characters in it. It’s a dreamy feeling. I would say the great thing about this script is that it combines Seinfeld's unique sense of humor into a world of bees - we've never seen anything like it before. This is what confuses you the most about the script. It highlights a world that belongs to all of us, with social problems and behavioral problems. We will see it through the eyes of a bee. It turns out that most of the time, we are like this Ridiculous.

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The other director of the film, Steve Schickner, is also an excellent cartoonist. He discovered that giving Jerry Seinfeld the shape of a bee could actually create such a full-fledged character. Spiritual story: "In the world of comedy, Seinfeld is the well-deserved uncrowned king. I have seen his works, and they are really outstanding. Most of the content describes human quirks and traits, but he uses methods that we have never heard of. It actually made us laugh to tears... Seinfeld is certainly an integral part of Barry B. Bison in the film, but this character is completely different from what you've seen Seinfeld on TV in the past. Because it relies on the concept of television, the characters in it are all unfinished, because once completed, it means the end of the TV series. But when it comes to movies, you need to refine a complete character, so Barry the Bee embodies a side that Seinfeld has rarely shown before. ”

Highlights

·Initially, screenwriter, producer and main voice actor Jerry Seinfeld was inclined to make a live-action animated film and shot two trailers But when Steven Spielberg saw the poor results, he asked, “Why don’t you just make it an animated film? ”