The opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics brought unparalleled audiovisual enjoyment to the audience, and showed the image of China in the new era to the world. "Together to the future" is the slogan of this Winter Olympics, and it is also the theme of the opening ceremony throughout the whole event. "Together" is the integration of science and technology and art, the integration of tradition and modernity, and the integration of China and the world, and the "future" is the future realized by the community of human destiny.
The fusion of technology and art
Technology is a highlight of the opening ceremony. Various advanced science and technology have been artistically applied to create a shocking audio-visual feast for the audience. In the peace dove show, nearly 700 snow children dance on a field of more than 10,000 square meters, and as each child moves, the snow blooms at their feet. The performance was performed by a team from the Beijing Film Academy using artificial intelligence motion capture and real-time rendering technology. The video camera collects the position of the actors on the field in real time, and then generates the animation of the snowflakes at the feet of the actors without delay, thus forming the effect of snowflakes on the ground and the peace doves in the air. The image of the snow child and the simulated effect of scattered snowflakes through dance on the field have a special artistic beauty. The virtual snowflakes under the feet of the flowing snow children have been moving with the footsteps of the children, and the interaction between people and snowflakes, the interaction between real and virtual, is the combination of real technology and art.
A fusion of tradition and modernity
The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics skillfully used technology to re-present traditional Chinese culture to the audience in a modern form, which was refreshing. In the countdown to the twenty-four solar terms, the unique solar terms in Chinese culture are presented in the form of images, which not only allows audiences who are not familiar with China to understand traditional Chinese culture, but also allows The Chinese people to have a deeper understanding of the solar terms. As an important element deeply rooted in Chinese culture in the agricultural era, solar terms are inextricably linked to agriculture and people's food, clothing, housing and transportation. In the countdown performance, the video picture corresponding to the twenty-four solar terms not only uses natural scenery to express this solar term, but also adds elements closely related to the Winter Olympics and modern life. The breath of agriculture and traditional culture is skillfully combined with the breath of sports and modern civilization, resulting in a strong chemical reaction, so that the twenty-four solar terms show new vitality and vitality. As a festival of traditional Chinese culture, it has been presented by modern scientific and technological means on such a grand occasion and has attracted global attention, which highlights the strong cultural consciousness and cultural self-confidence of Chinese. In the lichun performance at the end of the countdown, the organizers did not take the traditional way of returning to history to express the spring, but used emerald green glowing poles and cool light and shadow effects to present spring in a fashionable and fashionable way. The waving of the glowing rod forms a rigid and soft effect, like a grass that has just sprouted in early spring, bringing a sense of spring and vitality.
China's integration with the world
The Winter Olympics are not only China's Winter Olympics, but also the world's Winter Olympics. Chinese's respect and tolerance for world cultures was also vividly reflected in the opening ceremony. During the athletes' entrance ceremony, the organizers played 19 classic songs from various countries in the world, and the music of different cultures reflected and collided with each other, narrowing the distance between the hearts of people of different countries and cultures, reflecting China's broad heart of embracing the world with open arms and welcoming different cultural civilizations into the Olympic family. The Olympic song was sung in Greek by a group of children from rural Baoding, Hebei Province. This performance not only broke the inherent impression of many people as "poor and backward" in China's mountain villages, reflected the integration of Chinese and world cultures, but also showed the respect of the Chinese people for the Olympic spirit and the reverence for world civilization.
Together towards the future
The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics Chinese the way of civilian integration, creating a grand ceremony that attracts worldwide attention, which well reflects the values and concepts of a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by President Xi Jinping, as well as the pursuit of "truth", "goodness" and "beauty" by Chinese. Moving together into the future is the theme of this Winter Olympics. At the moment when the global epidemic situation is grim, the difficulties faced by mankind are like the difficulties faced by athletes in the Winter Olympics to conquer the ice and snow. The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games is an appeal to the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster, stronger and more united", an appeal to all mankind to overcome difficulties together, and an interpretation of the common values of all mankind. In the opening ceremony, from energy conservation and emission reduction, conservation and environmental protection, to cultural integration and cultural self-confidence, it is the embodiment of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. The beauty of the form and the essence of the content of the opening ceremony of this Winter Olympic Games are impressive. Under the packaging of scientific and technological aesthetics, the cultural self-confidence of the Chinese nation and the ardent expectation of realizing the community of human destiny are what touch the hearts of Chinese and all people in the world.
(Hu Zhifeng is the vice president of Beijing Film Academy; Xie Shuangtian is a 2020 doctoral student in media arts of Communication University of China)