Qilu Evening News Qilu one-point reporter Liu Yuhan
The second season of the large-scale historical and cultural documentary "China" returns. On the evening of February 28, the film landed on Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV, and the original team of people and horses evolved and innovated ideas, which made it highly praised since it was launched. It is worth mentioning that the comments and feedback of many netizens show that in the admiration of the vivid historical narrative and the emotional resonance of Chinese civilization, more and more people have noticed the aesthetic style of the documentary "China" - in the practice of world-class audiovisual language and contemporary technology, it presents a pure Chinese aesthetic, full of meaning and blank beauty.
What is the beauty of white space? The term "blank space" was originally a technique commonly used in the creation of Chinese art works, in order to make the entire work picture and chapter more coordinated and exquisite, it deliberately left a corresponding blank space, so as to leave a blank space to highlight the main body of space and give people an infinite place of reverie. Beauty is like imagery, beauty is in nature. The aesthetic of "leaving blank" carries China's thousand-year-old cultural heritage, and also allows the second season of the documentary "China" to find a fertile soil that can take root in the pursuit of "beauty" and bloom a bright color of culture.
Simplify complexity and reasonably perceive clear context in historical roots
Sparse but not empty, full but not overflowing. The second season of the documentary "China" is a documentary jointly produced by Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV, and Beijing Bojing Culture Communication Co., Ltd., which is different from the historical documentaries that are well known to the public in the past, it rejects the recording method of "historical flow account", abandons the systematic and coherent linear narrative, takes the development of ideas and systems as the main line, only focuses on the most representative people and things in the historical process, and reflects the historical changes by reproducing the choices and highlight moments of these celebrities. This method of leaving infinite blank space in the choice of historical incisions obviously makes this documentary full of artistry.
In the second season of "China", starting from a letter from the Tang Emperor to Li Bai, the ambitious poet walked into the bustling lights of Chang'an and, together with his friends, opened the heyday of Tang Dynasty poetry. Li Bai and Du Fu, who were attentive to each other under the fireworks, used the ups and downs of their lives to affect the entire historical context and ideological process, reflecting an era with their fate and ups and downs, reflecting the spiritual destination of Chinese traditional knowledge elements, leaving people with endless feelings and reverie. In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, in the center of the noisy "Shijing" stage, a good play was being staged. Opera writer Guan Hanqing, with his depressed life and drama creation, reflects the plight and compassion of the readers in the change of dynasties, exposes the decadent and dark social reality of the Yuan Dynasty, and does not say one thing but does everything. In the second season of "China", there are many such unique perspectives - the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty that flourished under the leadership of Emperor Huizong zhao of the Song Dynasty, the vicissitudes of Kangxi's pacification of San Francisco and the recovery of Taiwan, Zheng He's courageous exploration of the overseas world in the West, the Qianlong Emperor's reception of the Magar mission, and the special collision between China and the West... The documentary uses iconic events and characters, talking about ideas, details, intentions, and fun, so that the audience can view the torrent of the times from a specific historical scene, think about the rise and fall of the nation, and connect those moving fragments buried in history.
The film's commentary is also extremely beautiful to the point of speechlessness. For example, the golden age of two great poets met, and it was interpreted in just one sentence: "In Luoyang, Du Fu finally met the idol Li Bai. And Song Huizong, who left endless artistic treasures such as thin gold bodies and blue and white porcelain to future generations, only summed up his artistic talent in this way: "Zhao Yao has an innate sense of beauty. "But they're brothers after all, after all, blood is thicker than water." When Kublai Khan, who had achieved great success, returned to Möngke, the brother of the Great Khan, the commentary used only one sentence to reveal the delicate atmosphere between the brothers, and also revealed the reason why Kublai Khan chose to obey. In these polished words, they are all full of words and infinite meaning.
Sound and shadow reproduction, poetic expression of the beauty of historical and cultural implications
Under the night sky, the poet in a wide robe climbed the steps and ascended to the place closest to the highest power of the empire, and the wind blew through his sleeve, and the great poet was full of spirit. There are thousands of scenes in the blank space, and no paintings are all wonderful places. It can be said that the second season of the documentary "China" has laid the aesthetic tone of the entire work from the beginning, and the Chinese aesthetics followed in the construction and expression of the picture have made many viewers shout high after watching.
Chinese-style blank space and extreme freehand are combined with the presentation of ultra-wide canvases, making the picture more poetic and atmospheric, and also making the audience feel the thickness and freshness of history more. In the film, Du Fu, who is eager to make a meritorious achievement, failed miserably in the dark box manipulation of the power-makers, and the documentary only uses a corner of the empty courtyard, a table, a few altars of wine, and several sets of shots switching between near and far, which perfectly presents Du Fu's lonely and compassionate inner world. The Jurchens who broke through Kaifeng shattered Song Huizong's dream, and while he was sitting on the bed, an enemy soldier with a knife entered the palace and confronted him in front of the bed - the film replaces the conflict and struggle of the national break with a calm shot, but every viewer can see the ending from the confrontation in the eyes of the characters... Virtual and real are interspersed with nothing to win. This kind of presentation and freehand technique with afterglow and blank space can guide the audience to the greatest extent. As the creative team of the second season of "China" expected, "all the details hidden in the darkness, relying on the audience's own imagination and will to complete", they did it.
At the same time, in the treatment of music and sound effects, the second season of the documentary "China" also adheres to the principle of winning more with less. The sound of swords and horseshoes in the Anshi Chaos, the noise and music of the Bieliang Night Market, and the sounds that only appear in specific scenes deepen the audience's immersion at these critical moments, so that everyone can have a real experience in it during watching. The second episode of "China" also invites well-known voices such as Zhou Tao and He Jiong to act as narrators, either warm and soft, or calm and elegant, which can better reflect the "Zhongzheng peace" in Confucian thought. There is almost no dialogue and no narration in the whole film, and only through the narrator's interpretation and creation with just the right sound, it conveys the fullest historical emotions to the audience, adding a lot of color to the documentary and full of vitality.
Extreme expression, releasing Chinese cultural self-confidence and resonating Chinese emotions
Using "Chinese aesthetics" to tell the "Chinese story" well is the consistent and beautiful vision of the documentary "China". The praise of many netizens has fully demonstrated that such a vision has become a reality. In the presentation of the content and pictures of the works, the output of values and ideas, "China" is undoubtedly beautiful and successful. In the combing of historical facts, in the construction of the lens and soundtrack, "China" adopts the most extreme Chinese aesthetics, the beauty of the blank space, the beauty of the implications, and poetically sorts out and presents the Chinese thought, giving a more advanced charm to the spiritual core and cultural heritage of the documentary.
The second season of the documentary "China", an atypical historical documentary, just with the Chinese artistic style and aesthetic standards, has broken through the barriers to international cultural exchanges. Telling Chinese stories well, constructing historical images belonging to China, allowing the audience to explore the Chinese spirit and Chinese strength in the images, and finding the source and code of cultural self-confidence are the directions in which they set out. As producer Li Dongyan said, documentaries have and will always do, highlighting Chinese aesthetics and expressing the Chinese spirit in traditional cultural themes; and clearly establishing Chinese style and Chinese style in the field of world literature and art.
Why China? It is only a documentary that traces the history of China, why can it make cultural self-confidence have a more solid foundation of the times in the pursuit of "beauty"? After watching this documentary, perhaps everyone can find the answer they want from it.