The UK-China Creative Challenge: Co-Designing a Hybrid 'Creature' as an Asset for Shanghai's Performing Arts and Screen Industries

2010年，上海通过一个可爱的蓝色小吉祥物“海博”来宣传和推广其世博会。如今，上海发展设计、游戏、表演艺术和银幕产业的雄心勃勃的计划为中国和英国提供了一个在新形式的联合“共鸣人物设计”上合作的机会。这些新的实体可能会在实体和数字平台之间“传播”，以吸引和娱乐上海和其他地方的儿童和年轻观众。这个试点项目汇集了来自好莱坞、中国的后期制作视觉特效部门、英国电视台和两国表演艺术场所的全球知名行业合作伙伴，与负责一项独特任务的国际研究团队合作并提供指导：共同设计一种混合的跨文化‘生物’的初始概念艺术品。作为舞台、屏幕、多媒体展览和身临其境的展览体验的讲故事工具，这一文化资产可能会在未来走向成熟。在诺丁汉大学、上海交通大学、法尔茅斯大学和中国传媒大学的组织领导下，聚集的参与者将组成一个高级别的“人物大脑信托”，探索如何利用这个“生物”的诞生来帮助上海创意产业的商业增长。更长远的目标是塑造出广泛的跨文化角色，使之栩栩如生，并象征英国和中国之间的关系。上海和诺丁汉的姊妹研究中心计划调查提高中国工人技能的前景，并产生国际优秀的比较受众研究。

In 2010, Shanghai branded and promoted its World Expo through a cuddly little blue mascot called 'Haibo. Today the city's ambitious plans to develop its design, games, performing arts and screen industries provides an opportunity for China and the UK to collaborate on new forms of joint 'resonant character design'. These new entities might be 'spread' across and between physical and digital platforms to attract and entertain children and young audiences in Shanghai and elsewhere. This pilot project gathers globally prestigious industry partners from Hollywood, China's post-production visual effects sector, British television, and performing arts venues in both countries to collaborate with and guide an international team of researchers charged with a unique task: to co-design the initial concept artwork for a hybrid cross-cultural 'creature'. This cultural 'asset' might be brought to maturity in the future as a storytelling tool for stage, screen, multi-media exhibitions, and immersive exhibition experiences. Under the organisational leadership of the University of Nottingham, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Falmouth and the Communication University of China, the assembled participants will form a high-level 'Character Brain Trust' to explore how the birth of the 'creature' could be used to aid the commercial growth of Shanghai's creative industries. The longer-term goal is to generate a broad range of cross-cultural characters able to bring to life and symbolise the relationship between the UK and China. Twinned research hubs in Shanghai and Nottingham are planned to investigate prospects for upskilling Chinese workers as well as generating comparative audience research of international excellence.