Professional teaching is deeply integrated into the intangible cultural heritage

School of Film, Television and Media, Sichuan Normal University:

Professional teaching is deeply integrated into the intangible cultural heritage

Students from the School of Film, Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University conduct documentary creation practice in Anyue County, Sichuan Province.

Courtesy of School of Film, Television and Media, Sichuan Normal University

In October 2021, the documentary film "Passing the Lantern" won the 4th China Ethnographic Documentary Academic Exhibition Communication Award, a documentary aimed at disseminating China's intangible cultural heritage and promoting China's excellent traditional culture, jointly produced by Sichuan Normal University, the National Folk Art Development Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Emei Film Group.

In recent years, the School of Film and Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University has continuously exerted efforts on intangible cultural heritage images, focusing on intangible cultural heritage creation and research, allowing students to participate in them extensively, continuously injecting vitality into the creation of intangible cultural heritage images, deeply combining professional teaching and intangible cultural heritage image practice, innovating education and teaching methods, so that students can learn in practice and practice in learning.

Teachers and students participate in field creation research

As early as the beginning of the "Documentary Creation" course of the 2015 radio and television graduate students, the School of Film and Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University combined theory and practice according to the teaching arrangement and professional characteristics, and practiced the training mode of practical education. Liu Guangyu, deputy dean of the School of Film and Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University, introduced to the reporter of China Press, Publication, Radio and Telegraph that at that time, professional teachers led the team to Baizhuhai, Jiang'an County, Yibin City, to carry out the recording and shooting of traditional folk papermaking skills, with the purpose of practical creation, taking the pre-classroom planning, field research, mid-term creation and shooting, and late fine cutting mode to carry out teaching activities.

In order to comprehensively rescue and protect the Bashu Arch, inherit and carry forward the Bashu culture and Chinese civilization, the School of Film and Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University also conducts a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of the endangered archway and related cultural heritage under the title of "The Book of Bashu Fang", and teachers and students jointly create audio-visual works that are closely integrated with the tangible cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage represented by the Bashu Arch. Liu Guangyu told reporters that with teaching as the core, teachers and students have co-created works such as "Bamboo Sea Papermakers", "Miao Language", "Sichuan Opera", "Anyue Stone Carvings" and a series of excellent documentary films that present intangible cultural heritage.

The landing of a number of intangible cultural heritage image related research centers is a powerful starting point for the School of Film, Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University to exert efforts on intangible cultural heritage images and promote practical teaching.

Not long ago, the "Sichuan National Folk Culture Research Center", a key research base of philosophy and social sciences in Chengdu, was attached to the School of Film, Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University, which combined the resources and research strength of Sichuan ethnic folk culture to determine the positioning of taking the research of intangible cultural heritage images as a breakthrough and trying to open up a high-level research position in the country. Liu Guangyu told reporters that the intangible cultural heritage image is the most vivid embodiment of the cultural "double creation" project, which can not only meet the major strategic needs of the country, but also serve the local economic and social development. Focusing on intangible cultural heritage images, the Sichuan Ethnic Folk Culture Research Center has carried out academic research, creative production and social services.

Since 2018, the Western Imaging Anthropology Research Center of Sichuan Normal University has been led by professional teachers to carry out video anthropology research in Bairen Village, Guandou Miao Nationality Township, Yibin City, Sichuan Province. Liu Guangyu revealed that as of this year, the cooperation with Guandou Miao Nationality Township has been as long as 3 years, producing many scientific research results, and the continuous creation of the "Miao Language" series of documentaries is a typical representative of it. He said: "At present, more than 20 postgraduate students have participated in it, which has played a strong role in promoting teaching and scientific research and the creation of students' graduation designs. ”

Enhance professionalism and record non-genetic inheritance

To participate in excellent documentary shooting, participants need to have a good cultural background and pay attention to daily accumulation. The School of Film, Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University is also deeply aware of this. Liu Guangyu introduced that the college will require students to read more literature and cultural books inside and outside the classroom, and actively add appropriate language and literature courses and their lectures in teaching, which is of great significance to the improvement of students' cultural heritage, can lay a foundation for the creation of better documentary works, better tell the story of intangible cultural heritage in a way that the public likes to hear, and enhance the storytelling and aesthetics of intangible cultural heritage documentaries.

Students' participation in the practical creation of documentaries requires meticulous preparation in many aspects. Liu Guangyu introduced that the college will let students clarify the creative motivation in the preliminary preparation stage, determine the shooting topic, choose the appropriate perspective, clarify the shooting style and fully communicate.

In order to better collect style, the School of Film, Television and Media of Sichuan Normal University will also lead students to conduct a variety of creative research and creative practices.

The tutor group extends the classroom to the outside world, stimulates students' creative inspiration, provides students with a professional hands-on ability platform to enhance the creation of intangible cultural heritage images, and solves the problem of the weak foundation of some interprofessional students, forms a set of effective programs for the creation and practice of intangible cultural heritage documentaries, and is also a strong inheritance of China's excellent traditional culture. Liu Guangyu said that the college encourages students to go into the folk, deepen students' understanding of national culture, record the precious memory of the nation through true, objective and comprehensive records of images, and play a role in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage in courses such as "Documentary Creation", which is of practical significance.

Liu Guangyu still remembers that in Jiang'an County, the record shooting activities of traditional folk papermaking techniques, whether it is the record of the living life of ordinary farmers from morning to night, or the follow-up shooting of folk papermaking from cutting bamboo on the mountain to picking medicine and soaking bamboo, teachers and students are united, rigorous, clear division of labor, and high-quality shooting. "At that time, Jiang'an County TELEVISION Station reported in the creative process of teachers and students, which not only allowed students to increase the opportunity to interact with the media to learn and communicate with the media in their creation, but also reflected the social value of practical teaching activities and enhanced the public's attention to national intangible cultural heritage." Liu Guangyu said.

Non-heritage documentaries are based on non-genetic inheritors as the main body, and are created around the stories of core characters. It is its basic concept to dig deep into the stories of intangible cultural heritage and convey the spiritual core of intangible cultural heritage. Liu Guangyu told reporters that the preservation and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage through the creation of such documentaries can not only enhance the influence of intangible cultural heritage on the outside world, but also promote its inheritance and development from the side, arouse the public's awareness of protection and national identity, and effectively play a role in protection and inheritance.

In Liu Guangyu's view, students' participation in the creation of documentaries on intangible cultural heritage can provide new references for the subsequent research and creation of such documentaries, and through the continuous output of a large number of works, students will form a deterministic cognitive positioning, and the core concept of student documentary creation can be established through this entrance.

In the past three years, nearly half of the graduation designs of radio and television majors have involved intangible cultural heritage themes. Liu Guangyu said that these rich intangible cultural research results and a large number of works with unique regional characteristics in the southwest region have not only formed the unique professional advantages of the School of Film and Television and Media, cultivated a large number of ethnic image creation talents in the southwest region, but also protected the images of geographical landforms, cultural landscapes, folk customs and customs, accumulated valuable materials for future regional cultural research, and made positive contributions to the protection and inheritance of Bashu culture.

Source: China Press, Publication, Radio and Telegraph