“Bao” Director Domee Shi《包寶寶》華裔女導演石之予

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【譯者按】皮克斯動畫工作室推出《包寶寶》，人人點贊，在中國尤其受歡迎。《包寶寶》的中文片名取得十分巧妙，音義兼收，經(jīng)劇組集思廣義而成，其中的中國元素令觀眾喜愛不已。作為好萊塢首位華裔女導演，石之予備受推崇。作為移民后代，石之予令人為之驕傲。

Domee Shi is a Chinese-Canadian storyboard artist and director for Pixar since 2011. She has contributed to multiple films including Inside Out （2015）， Incredibles 2 （2018）， and Toy Story 4 （2019）. Outside of her storyboard career， Shi directed the 2018 short film Bao， becoming the first woman to direct a short film for Pixar. Her work in animation had earned her nominations for the 43rd Annie Awards， the International Online Cinema Awards， and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Early life and education

Shi was born in 1989 in Chongqing， China as an only child before immigrating to Canada with her parents at the age of two. She spent half a year in Newfoundland before moving to Toronto where she grew up learning about art from her father. She was influenced by her father， who was a college professor for fine art and a landscape painter in China. In terms of her mother， Shi mentions that “Shes not a super outwardly emotional person，” but she gets a lot of inspiration and guidance from her mom when directing Bao. Shi recalls that “My Chinese mom was always making sure I never wandered away too far， that I was safe.” She also states that her favorite dumplings have to be “the boiled pork and chives dumplings that my mom would make for me growing up.” During her childhood， she watched lots of Studio Ghibli and Disney films which exposed her to Asian cinema and animation.

As a high school student， Shi binge-watched anime， read manga， and became the Vice President of her schools anime club. She joined online art communities and uploaded her fan artwork to DeviantArt1. This became her first exposure to an environment of like-minded people that helped her establish a network with other artists. “I could follow artists， and I could email them. In the past， youd have to be in California or know a guy who was friends with this other guy that worked at Disney or something，” said Shi. As a result， she was inspired to enroll at Sheridan College2 for her post-secondary education.

At Sheridan， Shi studied animation and graduated in 2011. During her second year attending school， she enrolled in a course taught by Nancy Beiman and credits Beimans class for her pursuit in the animation industry for storyboarding. Shi created a short film for an assignment during her last year at Sheridan. In 2009， she took up an internship with Chuck Gammage Animation Inc. as a clean-up artist， storyboard artist， and animator.

Career

After graduating， Shi worked briefly as a cartooning instructor with an emphasis of character design and comic book creation. In 2011， she took on a three month internship at Pixar as a storyboard artist.

The short film Bao was developed as a “side-project” before and during Shis full-time work on Inside Out. It， alongside two other projects， had eventually been pitched to her mentor Pete Docter and Pixar for support. Bao was approved in 2015 and made Shi the first woman to direct a short film for the studio.

石之予，加籍華裔，2011年進入皮克斯動畫工作室，任分鏡師和導演至今。石之予參與過多部影片的制作，包括《頭腦?特工隊?》（2015）、《超人總動員2》（?2018）和《玩具總動員4》（?2019）。除擔任分鏡師外，石之予于2018年執(zhí)導短片《包寶寶》，成為皮克斯第一位執(zhí)導短片的女導演。石之予在動畫制作方面表現(xiàn)優(yōu)異，贏得了多項提名，包括第43屆安妮獎、國際網(wǎng)絡電影獎、翠貝卡電影節(jié)。

早年生活和所受教育

石之予是獨生女，1989年出生于中國重慶，兩歲時隨父母移民加拿大。在紐芬蘭生活半年后，石之予移居多倫多，在那里長大，從小隨父親學畫。石之予父親是中國高校美術教授、風景畫家，對她影響很大。至于母親，石之予說“她不是一個特別外向的人”，但在執(zhí)導《包寶寶》時，石之予從母親身上獲得不少靈感，得到不少幫助。石之予回憶道：“我媽媽是華人，她總是盯著我，擔心我跑得太遠，出什么事兒?！笔柽€告訴大家，她最喜歡的餃子絕對是“從小到大媽媽包的大肉韭菜餃子”。童年時，石之予看了大量吉卜力工作室和迪士尼的動畫片，接觸到亞洲電影和動畫影片。

高中時，石之予瘋狂觀看大量日本動畫片，閱讀日本漫畫，曾擔任學校日本動畫俱樂部副主席。她曾加入線上美術團體，上傳自己的美術作品到DA網(wǎng)。這是她第一次接觸到興趣相投的人組成的大圈子，結交了一批藝術家。石之予說：“我可以了解其他藝術家的動向，給他們發(fā)電郵。要在以前，你得家住加利福尼亞，要不就得認識某人，再通過這人結識他/她在迪士尼或類似什么地方工作的朋友?！笔枰虼耸艿絾l(fā)，考入謝爾丹學院深造。

在謝爾丹學院學習期間，石之予專攻動畫，于2011年畢業(yè)。大二時，她報讀了南?！へ惵髦v的課程，從此立志成為動畫分鏡師。大學最后一年，石之予按照課程要求，創(chuàng)作了一部短片。2009年，她進入查克·甘米奇動畫公司實習，歷任清稿員、分鏡師和動畫師。

事業(yè)發(fā)展

大學畢業(yè)后，石之予短暫從事過卡通教學，側重于人物設計和漫畫圖書的創(chuàng)作。2011年，她到皮克斯實習了3個月，任分鏡師。

全職投入《頭腦特工隊》制作之前和制作過程中， 石之予一直醞釀著自己的“副產(chǎn)品”——短片《包寶寶》。最終，該片同其他兩部影片的構想被送到她的導師皮特·多克特和皮克斯審批。2015年，《包寶寶》獲批上馬，石之予成為皮克斯動畫工作室第一位執(zhí)導短片的女性。