Public Service
From Day 1 to Day 7, each day's greeting is paired with a New Year custom, and a red-and-gold paper-cut style links family reunions with wishes for the nation.
01 / Background
This Year of the Snake Spring Festival greeting is an official message, but it also had to feel warm to ordinary people. The copy runs from Day 1 to Day 7 of the New Year, each day's greeting paired with a matching action and scene, and the ending moves from family life to the nation and hopes for the year ahead.
The red-and-gold paper-cut style brings people, buildings, landscapes and traditional patterns into a single look. New Year visits, returning to the wife's family home, spring cleaning, welcoming the God of Wealth and temple fairs each match a day's greeting, and the paper-cut texture and festive symbols keep the whole film consistent.
02 / Creative Highlights
The film is divided by New Year customs, with each greeting matched to something from everyday life: for “Everything Renewed,” we first see the family cleaning and wiping, then cut to a tidy, bright room; “Always Smiling” comes with photo-taking and smiling faces. Every greeting is backed by an image, not just one line of text after another.
Homes, streets and landscapes differ hugely in scale, so the film builds depth with layered mountains, doorways, eaves and cloud patterns, then ties the scenes together with red subjects and golden light. However the image changes, it always feels like the New Year, and the visual center of the vertical frame stays steady.
Family moments and New Year customs first draw viewers close, then the landscapes, city gate towers and fireworks in the second half widen the view. The closing wishes carry on from the everyday hopes before them, joining official dignity with the warmth of reunion.
Red plaques with gold characters place the four-character greeting at the top of the frame, while captions below give the day and the full greeting. The middle of the frame is always left for the characters' actions; as people, streets and landscapes rotate, the text positions and festive colors stay much the same, so viewers can easily follow the order of the greetings.
03 / Scene Breakdown
The film opens with fireworks in front of the NDRC building as a family holding red envelopes bows in New Year greeting; then a snowy courtyard gate swings open into Day 1: two children exchange little toy snakes, door gods stand at the entrance, and two red plaques, “Good Fortune in the Year of the Snake” and “Five Blessings at the Door,” are hung one after the other.
The golden characters “Happy Spring Festival” stand among fireworks above the NDRC building in paper-cut style; the camera turns, a family bows with red envelopes in hand, and the large characters change to “Happy New Year!”
A vermilion courtyard gate opens in the snow, and two children in red padded jackets hand each other toy snakes; a cartoon snake pokes out its head to “Good Fortune in the Year of the Snake,” followed by two door gods to “Five Blessings at the Door.”
The visit home starts on the road: the train station, a plane, a table set for a reunion dinner. Day 3 first welcomes the Kitchen God, then hands the camera to a family taking a group photo; every greeting lands on something people really do at New Year.
Through a paper-cut archway lies a Spring Festival travel-rush platform, with people walking out pulling suitcases; in the next shot, a plane flies through an orange-red sunset.
A white-haired grandfather and his family chat and laugh around a steaming hot pot, set to “Lucky Stars Shine Bright”; an overhead shot shows a group of children dancing hand in hand in a circle, set to “Prosperous and Bright.”
The Kitchen God, in a hat bearing the character for “kitchen,” smiles as he serves a dish; then three generations of a family crowd at the window as Grandpa holds up a camera, set to “Good Health.”
The camera passes through a viewfinder and lands on a group of relatives and friends laughing, as the red plaque changes to “Always Smiling.”
“Everything Renewed” first shows the cleaning, then a bright room; “Wealth Rolling In” moves from the God of Wealth and a treasure bowl to a sky full of red envelopes, each line livelier than the last.
Dad wipes the shelves, Mom holds a cloth and the child holds a broom; Grandma and her little granddaughter wring out a cloth together while an aunt wipes a vase by the window.
Sunlight streams into the freshly tidied hall, set to “Everything Renewed”; a family of four stands at the window looking at two paper-cut red carp, set to “Family Harmony.”
The God of Wealth stands beaming with a gold ingot in his hands; gold coins pour into a treasure bowl, set to “Wealth Rolling In”; finally red envelopes rain down from the sky and people in the street reach up to catch them, set to “Prosper, Prosper, Prosper!”
The camera leaves home, first for a bustling market street and a lion dance, then an old street at sunrise; after the firecrackers on Day 7, the image grows quiet, closing the seven days with paper-cut landscapes and a family's smiling faces.
An overhead view of a crowded ancient street and a pagoda, then into a long street hung with lanterns; a lion leaps out of the crowd toward the camera, set to “Thriving Business.”
The sun rises at the end of an old street as the shops on both sides open, set to “Rising Day by Day”; in a lane on Day 7, two children hold sparklers beneath long strings of firecrackers.
A white river flows between layers of red trees and mountains, set to “Lasting Blessings and Long Life”; a family huddles together smiling at the camera, set to “Happiness and Fulfillment.”
The last two greetings widen from the family to the nation: fireworks over the Great Wall, crowds dancing hand in hand, sky lanterns rising and a dragon dance celebrating the New Year, ending with a little girl looking up at a sky full of fireworks.
Crowds look up at fireworks bursting over the Great Wall, then the view pulls out to the gate tower and the wall running along the mountains, set to “Peaceful Times and Bountiful Years” and “Prosperity and Flourishing.”
Young and old in new clothes dance hand in hand; sky lanterns fill the air above the market street, set to “May All Your Wishes Come True.”
A gold-and-red dragon raises its head among the fireworks as the crowd cheers with raised hands, set to “Much Joy”; finally a little girl watches the fireworks with her back to the camera, set to “Lasting Peace.”
04 / Storyboards & Final Frames
The 21 shots finalized after frame-by-frame retouching by our illustrators, in the order of the final film: for each shot we describe what's in it, then show the final frame used in the film.
Shot 1.1
Lanterns and fireworks fill the night as a family of six bows with red envelopes in hand; the film opens with a proper, respectful New Year greeting.
Shot 2.1
Beyond the archway are a sea of clouds and traditional buildings; inside, a Spring Festival travel-rush platform with people pulling suitcases out. The visit home starts on the road.
Shot 2.2
A passenger plane decorated with traditional patterns flies through orange-red clouds above layers of eaves.
Shot 2.3
Grandpa, in a traditional Chinese jacket with frog buttons, chats and laughs with his family around a hot pot, set to “Lucky Stars Shine Bright.”
Shot 2.4
An overhead shot of children in new clothes dancing hand in hand in a circle, set to “Prosperous and Bright.”
Shot 3.1
Three generations crowd at the window smiling as Grandpa holds up a camera for a family photo, set to “Good Health.”
Shot 3.2
A big group of relatives and friends laughs under the lanterns, with even the faces at the edge of the frame clearly drawn.
Shot 4.1
Dad wipes the shelves, Mom holds a cloth and the child holds a broom, all three faces in warm light.
Shot 4.2
An old woman and a little girl wring out a cloth together by the window.
Shot 4.3
A family of four stands at the window looking at two paper-cut red carp on the glass, set to “Family Harmony.”
Shot 5.1
Red envelopes drift down from the sky and people in the street reach up to catch them, set to “Prosper, Prosper, Prosper!”
Shot 6.1
An overhead view of a pagoda, pavilions and a long street packed with people, with even the tiny figures in the distance fully drawn.
Shot 6.2
A long street hung with lanterns leads to a pagoda, with people coming and going.
Shot 6.3
A lion bounds out of the crowd toward the camera, set to “Thriving Business.”
Shot 6.4
The sun rises at the end of an old street as the shops on both sides open, their signs hand-lettered by an illustrator.
Shot 7.1
A family huddles together smiling at the camera, set to “Happiness and Fulfillment.”
Shot 7.2
Crowds, backs to the camera, watch fireworks over the Great Wall.
Shot 7.3
The gate tower and the wall running along the mountains, with cheering crowds in the foreground; the wall's course and the tower's structure follow the real Great Wall.
Shot 7.4
Young and old in new clothes dance hand in hand beneath the lanterns.
Shot 7.5
Sky lanterns fill the air above the market street as the crowd looks up to make wishes, set to “May All Your Wishes Come True.”
Shot 7.6
A gold-and-red dragon raises its head among the fireworks as the crowd cheers with raised hands, set to “Much Joy.”
05 / Script Excerpts
06 / Results
We delivered a 59-second vertical full version plus 7 single-day shorts for Day 1 to Day 7, released on the NDRC's WeChat Channels, Douyin, Kuaishou and other official platforms. 130M+ views across platforms, with a single installment reaching 37K likes and 10K shares.
Case Study
Day 1, New Year visits; Day 2, back to the wife's family home; Day 3, seeing off the Kitchen God…
An official Year of the Snake greeting had to carry official dignity as well as the festive bustle of the New Year.
Using red-and-gold paper-cut AI animation, we turned seven days of New Year customs into a 59-second vertical greeting film, then cut it into 7 single-day shorts for Day 1 to Day 7. Released on official platforms, it drew 130M+ views across platforms.
01
Red-and-white paper-cut is one of the most festive art forms there is. Starting from paper-cut, we first tried two directions: one with lots of white space and a more elegant feel, and one rich in red and gold and more celebratory.
The team also considered cuter styles like clay figurines and plush, but a ministry's New Year greeting can't be too childlike, so we settled on paper-cut illustration on a red base with gold and warm yellow: festive enough, while keeping the people and buildings dignified.
A screen that's all bright red can feel heavy, so every frame uses red as the base, then adds depth with golden light, warm yellow skies and layered mountains and eaves, so even the vertical frame doesn't look flat.
The NDRC building in paper-cut style, large golden characters and fireworks establish both the official identity and the New Year mood right from the opening.
02
The first draft of the copy followed nursery rhymes like “On the 23rd, sticky malt candy; on the 24th, write the couplets,” counting from the Little New Year all the way to New Year's Eve. In the end we chose to start from Day 1 of the New Year and move forward, matching the rhythm of posting one video a day during the Spring Festival: Day 1 to Day 7, one custom and one greeting a day.
Every greeting is paired with something people really do at New Year: “Everything Renewed” shows the family cleaning, “Wealth Rolling In” has gold coins pouring into a treasure bowl, and “Always Smiling” has a family taking a group photo. The four-character greeting hangs on a red plaque at the top of the frame, and the day and full greeting are written in the captions below.
The format also changed from landscape to 9:16 vertical, so it can be watched as soon as it turns up in a phone feed. For the closing lines, “Wishing the nation peaceful times, bountiful years, prosperity and flourishing” and “May all your wishes come true,” we used fireworks over the Great Wall, dancing hand in hand and sky lanterns, moving from one family's everyday life to everyone's hopes.
The whole family gets busy with brooms and cloths, and the next shot is a bright, freshly tidied room, giving the greeting a visible image.
03
AI-generated paper-cut illustrations get the overall mood fast, but up close they often have small flaws: the wrong number of fingers, two people's legs that don't line up, faces that are too dark, clothing that isn't Chinese enough, and unreadable characters on shop signs.
Once the images were chosen, we picked about 20 shots and handed them to illustrators for frame-by-frame hand retouching, with clear notes on what to fix in each. The retouched images were then used to regenerate the video and swapped into the final film.
In the Day 6 market shots, the AI-drawn shop signs were illegible, so the illustrators removed the gibberish and hand-lettered the sign in the “Rising Day by Day” shot; the course of the Great Wall and the structure of its gate tower were also corrected point by point against the real Great Wall. Viewers may not notice these details, but for a film released by a ministry, it matters that it holds up when paused and examined closely.
04
For image-to-video, we didn't settle for a simple push-in: the prompts spell out swaying lanterns, drifting clouds, birds flying past and people walking, so the subject and background move together.
Hand movements are the easiest to get wrong, so the characters mostly do simple things like laughing, nodding and holding hands. “Rising Day by Day” needed the sun to rise and the market to bustle, so we generated repeatedly from the illustrator's new image and picked the take where both the sunrise and the crowd looked natural.
Before delivery, the whole team watched the final film at 0.5x speed and at normal speed, checking hands, faces and frame edges shot by shot.
A lion leaps out of the crowd toward the camera, then the sun rises at the end of an old street as the shops on both sides open.
05
All music and sound effects in the film come from licensed commercial libraries. The clink of falling gold coins, vendors calling out in the market, firecrackers mixed with children's laughter, fireworks and cheering over the Great Wall were all matched to the images one by one.
Besides the full version, we cut Day 1 to Day 7 into a single-day short each. All seven share the same greeting opening and the same end card, swapping only the day in the middle, making it easy to post one a day during the Spring Festival.
The end card follows official release guidelines: a deep red background, simple decoration, standard sans-serif type, about 3 seconds, with no flashy transitions.
Crowds dance, sky lanterns rise and the dragon lifts its head among the fireworks; finally a little girl looks up at the fireworks, landing on “Much joy and lasting peace.”
06
This is one of Liandan AI Studio's four projects with 100M+ views. The film was released on official WeChat Channels, Douyin, Kuaishou and other platforms, reaching 130M+ views across platforms, with a single installment getting 37K likes and 10K shares.
It shows that AI animation can handle festive content for formal occasions too: first get the style right, “dignified yet joyful”; ground the copy in specific New Year customs; then have illustrators retouch the details until they hold up to close viewing.
From the mid-December 2024 kickoff to delivery on January 26, 2025, the project took about six weeks, including changes to the copy direction and format, and delivered the full version plus 7 single-day versions.
FAQ
For this film, once the images were chosen, we picked about 20 shots for illustrators to retouch by hand frame by frame, fixing fingers, legs, face brightness, clothing styles and garbled text, then regenerated the video from the retouched images; before delivery the whole team also checked every shot at 0.5x speed.
This project chose paper-cut illustration on a red base with gold and warm yellow: festive, without being too cartoonish. Cuter styles like clay figurines and plush were considered but not used, because content released by a ministry needs to be more dignified.
This project delivered a 59-second 9:16 vertical full version plus 7 single-day shorts for Day 1 to Day 7. The 7 shorts share the same opening and end card and change only the day in the middle, ideal for posting one a day during the Spring Festival.
This project kicked off in mid-December 2024 and was delivered on January 26, 2025, about six weeks, including rewriting the copy from “twelfth-month nursery rhymes” to “Day 1 to Day 7,” switching the format from landscape to vertical, and illustration retouching of about 20 shots.
Approach
Each day's copy was first paired with a custom, characters and a festive scene; after AI generated the images, they were refined by hand. Body proportions, hands, face brightness, traditional clothing, the eaves of old buildings and the outline of the Great Wall were all adjusted one by one so the characters' actions and frame edges hold up to close viewing; reunion shots express family wishes through instantly readable actions like laughing and holding hands.
Shots in the character sections use small push-ins and pull-outs, saving big spatial changes for the streets, landscapes and gate towers. Red-and-gold light runs through the whole film, the agency logo stays at the top, and the day, greeting plaque and captions stay in fixed positions so everything reads clearly; the ending uses fireworks over the Great Wall, crowds coming together and sky lanterns to bring the wishes for the nation back to everyone's shared hopes.
More Work
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