On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the National Stadium. A countdown short film with the concept of "twenty-four solar terms", the five rings of ice and snow that "broke the ice", and the lighting ceremony of the main torch of low carbon and environmental protection... At the opening ceremony full of surprises, what moment were you shocked by?
Starting from August 2019, which lasted more than two years, how to use digital technology to present a different opening ceremony? How to skillfully integrate traditional Chinese culture throughout the whole field? How to complete the design and production of core props such as the torch stand? People's Daily interviewed Wang Zhiou, visual effects director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, to understand the creative concepts and creative stories behind the opening ceremony.
"The Story of a Snowflake"
Creatively create a micro-fire torch
"Everyone was looking forward to the lighting ceremony, but we actually stopped lighting..." As Zhang Yimou, director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics, said, the ignition of the opening ceremony gave the world an unexpected surprise. Not only does the torch change from "fire" to "micro-fire", and the community concept of "we are one family" is spoken in the way of "one leaf knows autumn", but also the first time in the history of the Olympic Games to take green environmental protection as the core design principle.
The scene of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo by the Winter Olympic Reporting Group of the People's Daily News
Talking about the source of creativity, Wang Zhiou introduced that according to the idea of director Zhang Yimou, the core concept of the opening ceremony is to tell the story of a snowflake, and the guide card of the athlete's entrance is a glowing snowflake, which writes the name of the delegation. Minimize carbon emissions by creatively combining a hand torch with a torch stand. The images of the ground and the snowflake installation, composed of a matrix of digital light and shadow, shine together, and the names of the delegations shine together.
"Under the leadership of Director Zhang, we have more than 500 versions of the visual design of the torch, more than 150 versions of dynamic interpretation, and more than 2500 seconds of dynamic visual effects content." Wang Zhiou said that after combining the elements of the Olympic Games and Chinese culture, the team carried out a new design and interpretation, and this way of ignition and even the presentation of the torch stand is a bold design and change in the history of the Olympic Games.
"The Spring that the Audience Can See"
Three-dimensional performance of "Li Chun"
"The plan of the year lies in spring" and "Thousands of purples and thousands of reds are always spring", and the opening ceremony coincided with the first of the twenty-four solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar, "Li Chun". At the end of the short film, which counts down to ancient poems and twenty-four solar terms, 393 actors with glowing poles dance to the rhythm on the stage, representing the flowers of spring blooming on the pure ice. Next, the spring breeze blows, the swallows shuttle, the wicker swaying, the moon shadow accompanied... In the stereoscopic effect of naked-eye 3D, the audience sees the vibrant spring with their eyes.
Wang Zhiou said that in the opening program "Li Chun", the performance of light and shadow and the reflection of the ice surface were specially romanticized, and the audience could see the spring flowers, spring breeze, and even finally from the ground to the ice surface, to the air and the combination of Cai Guoqiang's fireworks, showing a three-dimensional performance thinking, completing the combination of the three from naked-eye visual effects to physical space to real performance, and realizing the continuation of the concept of "earth" to "people" to "heaven".
"The World's Largest Naked-Eye 3D Installation"
"Icebreaker" out of the "Ice and Snow Five Rings"
In the "Five Rings of Ice and Snow" link, a drop of ice-blue ink fell from the sky, gradually transformed into the water of the Yellow River, rushed on the field, condensed into a world of ice and snow, and a giant ice cube emerged from it. With the carving of 24 "laser engraving knives", flashing back to the history of the past 23 Winter Olympics in ink style, and finally fixed as "2022 China Beijing", the crystal clear ice and snow five rings also "broke the ice".
"In this link, the moving humanoid images in the ice cube are painted with ink, and then the effect of light and shadow is made in three dimensions." Wang Zhiou said that they learned a large number of traditional Chinese ink paintings through image processing algorithms, established a model of ink texture characteristics, and combined the concept of "landscape painting" with "Yellow River water" to generate stylized landscape images. This is also the first time in the history of the Olympic Games to present winter sports in the style of ink painting, and to reproduce the history of the Olympic Games with the spirit of traditional pen and ink.
"We used lasers and digital light and shadow mechanics to make the world's largest, most shocking and most creative naked-eye 3D device, and it is an immersive digital device that truly achieves 360 degrees without dead angles." Wang Zhiou stressed that it is necessary to use digital technology to make the core of Chinese culture more glittering expression, so that the people of the world can understand and love traditional Chinese culture.
"Subverted three times"
Innocent and beautiful peace dove link
In the "Release of the Peace Dove", hundreds of innocent children, holding the sparkling "Peace Dove", ran with the starlight snowflakes, sang and danced, and finally gathered from all sides of the stage to the very center, in the shape of a "heart" around the "big snowflakes" cheering.
"In fact, the peace dove link was subverted three times when it was only a dozen days away from the curtain." Wang Zhiou introduced that from the beginning of the modification to a completely different direction, and then into a dead corner, and finally director Zhang Yimou came up with such a very romantic idea, while applying AI real-time special effects, the peace dove shape composed of children flows with light and shadow, and it is also true and illusory, showing the innocence and beauty of children, representing the beautiful expectations of people around the world for "peace".
"The life of Chinese"
The aesthetic concept of science and technology of "Chinese romance"
This opening ceremony has canceled some of the traditional "human sea tactics" that everyone imagines, since there are not so many actors, and how to do it on such a stage as big as the Bird's Nest? Wang Zhiou said: "Then it is necessary to use more digital technology to achieve the performance and effect of glittering colors. ”
Talking about the design concept upheld by the opening ceremony, Wang Zhiou said that China has a very long history and culture, which is actually a fertile land for cultural creation. "We are in this land and we must find our roots. Therefore, on the stage of the Winter Olympics facing the world, it is necessary to find a suitable means to make each program have both the core of Chinese culture and a very unique modern concept. ”
"Director Zhang Yimou said that the Winter Olympics reflect more of the endless life of our Chinese, we must express the spring, and we must turn the cold and ice of the Winter Olympics into romance and ethereal, concise and modern." Wang Zhiou added, so this time I want to make a unique aesthetic of the new era, an expression of scientific and technological aesthetics of Chinese culture, especially in the opening ceremony, to create a new Chinese aesthetic.
The visual effects team is working on the opening ceremony special effects. Courtesy of respondents
Looking back on the creative experience of more than two years, Wang Zhiou said that there are still many difficulties, "We must continue to improve digital innovation and creativity, but also continue to solve the new breakthroughs in digital engineering brought about by digital innovation." He said: "We hope that through the winter Olympics, we will tell the story of China to the world with the art and technology we love, so that the world can see that we have a very long history and are embracing the world." Just like snowflakes, although each snowflake is different, we all end up together. ”