"Mountains and Rivers moonlight": adhering to the "heart of a craftsman" to excavate historical details

"Mountains and Rivers Moonlight" is being broadcast simultaneously on Youku and Beijing Satellite TV. The play tells the story of Zhu Di (Feng Shaofeng and Cheng Yi), the fourth son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang (played by Chen Baoguo), who fought on the battlefield from a young age, gradually grew into an outstanding military general, and finally created the story of "Yongle Prosperous World". While showing the history of the early Ming Dynasty to the public from a macroscopic perspective, the play also delicately portrays each historical figure microscopically, aiming to present the audience with a real, warm and full of fireworks in the early Ming Dynasty.

It can be seen in just two days since its broadcast that "Mountains and Rivers And Moons" did not cater to the trend of fast food-style output modeled historical dramas, but adhered to the "heart of a craftsman" to excavate history, create a magnificent and romantic and warm atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty, pull in the distance with the audience, and convey the Ming Dynasty aesthetics of historical and pyrotechnic integration.

Immerse yourself in polishing and restoring historical scenes Delicate brushstrokes depict group portraits of characters

In the premiere plot, the opening chapter presents the magnificent scene of the Northern Expedition qi king led by the General Daming, the two armies fighting in the dust and smoke, the ten thousand horses galloping in a magnificent position, and the vast war scene of the Hongwu Northern Expedition is fully displayed in front of the audience. It is reported that the reason why "Mountains and Rivers And Moonlight" can present a real and magnificent scene comes from the hard work, hard work and persistence of countless people behind it. In order to let the audience immerse themselves in the beauty of the history of the Ming Dynasty, the main creative team has been polishing the script for many years, referring to many documents, filming in various places, and using film and television artistic techniques to restore the epic war scenes under the premise of respecting the background of the historical story. It is reported that there are many such scenes in the play, which is worth looking forward to.

In addition to presenting a huge picture scroll of history, the play also shows the audience a group portrait of a real, three-dimensional and distinct early Ming Dynasty character for the portrayal of the characters. In the premiere plot, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, would call himself "Lao Tzu" in a down-to-earth manner; Empress Ma, as the lord of the harem, could take the soles of her shoes with her left hand and make soup with her right hand; the heroic and awe-inspiring general Xu Da had been in the battlefield for a long time, but he could not resist the temptation of "burning geese"; the crown prince Zhu Biao, who was stable and tolerant of the world, had the meaning of a young man; Zhu Di entered the military camp under a pseudonym after escaping from marriage, showing the image of an unruly and unruly teenager... It is worth mentioning that the drama does not skimp on pen and ink in the interpretation of the personality of small characters, Zhang Yu's chivalrous and courageous, Princess Qi's tenacity and indomitability, Zhu Neng's fighting spirit, etc., are all vividly reflected in the play.

In terms of character relationship emotions, the play also focuses on the small points of daily life, and conveys some small warmth in the thick history. In the released trailer and premiere plot, Empress Zhu Yuanzhang met in a small way, worked together through the wind and rain, and the two got along like ordinary old husbands and wives; Zhu Di and Xu Miaoyun, from the beginning of the "wrongdoers" to the back to support each other, the emotions are thick and profound; Zhu Biao and Zhu Di's brotherhood and brotherhood, as well as the discussion of yu's life in the country... These emotions slowly flow out in the grand historical framework, adding a warm and warm touch to the thick and rational history.

The female characters in the play are also very impressive, and they all have very distinct personality characteristics. For example, Empress Ma did not make a lofty posture, but went up to the hall and the kitchen, and could solve problems for Zhu Yuanzhang; Xu Miaoyun was known as a "female student", full of poetry and books, clever and clever, and could see the development of the situation and make favorable choices; Concubine Lü, who was full of books, was gentle and self-sustaining and understanding; even if there was a short princess Qi, she showed a tenacious and indomitable spirit in the face of danger... All are impressive, "Mountains and Rivers Moon Ming" is different from the previous palace power plot film and television dramas, they are either gritty or wise, they are women with independent thoughts, no longer a thin vase role in the male perspective, but a good interpretation of the female "she" power.

Exquisite costumes and high-quality restorations of ingenuity to interpret the aesthetics of the Ming Dynasty

When the long river of history flowed to the Ming Dynasty, clothing also became more hierarchical, and there were strict regulations on the types of clothing, accessories and even colors that different classes could wear. In "Mountains and Rivers and Moons", Chinese officials' court clothes are embroidered with birds, while the military attaches' court clothes are embroidered with beasts. This is because the official uniform system at that time stipulated that the imperial dress and the sacrificial dress of the civil and military officials should be woven with different birds and brocade according to different grades, and this system was also known as the "supplement system", which was mainly used to distinguish civil and military officials. The civil official is elegant and quiet, so the bird is used as a complement pattern to show the virtuousness; the military attache is brave and mighty, so the official wears a beast as a complement pattern, highlighting the prestige. In addition to the difference in embroidery, the color of the imperial dress of civil and military officials can better reflect this distinct hierarchical difference. There are many scenes of civil and military officials going to the court in "Mountains and Rivers and Moons", and the officials wear official uniforms of different colors and stand in different positions. This is, with reference to the Ming Dynasty official uniform color according to the level of the grade, one to four pins of crimson color, five to seven pins of cyan, eight to nine pins of green. The restoration of Ming Dynasty costumes in "Mountains and Rivers and Moon Ming" hides the heaviness of history in the costumes, which can not only improve the texture of the series, but also help promote traditional Chinese costumes and pass on the aesthetics of the Ming Dynasty to thousands of households.

In addition to the "reproduction" of the costumes, "Mountains and Rivers Moon Ming" is also carefully restored on the props, and try its best to show the epitome of the life of the Ming Dynasty through the props. Ming Dynasty furniture is known for its simple and elegant, rich charm and simple and bright shape, and its furniture varieties and styles are also extremely rich, and the concept of complete sets of furniture has been formed, using a symmetrical method for layout. There are a large number of life scenes in "Mountains and Rivers and Moon Ming", there are many furniture as props, the outline lines of the props used in the play are concise, and the decorative lines are meticulously made, which is the same as the Ming Dynasty furniture. In addition to furniture, other props in "Mountains and Rivers and Moon Ming" are also dedicated to restoring the magnificent and romantic history of the Ming Dynasty. The "History of Ming" once recorded that "every time the emperor dined at the imperial meal, he all bowed down to self-examination", and although Empress Ma was an empress, she still personally handled Zhu Yuanzhang's meals every day. "Mountains and Rivers Moon Ming" shows this grounded scene with a specific scene, empress Ma is dressed in a round neck and wears only a wooden plutonium on her head, personally cooking for Zhu Yuanzhang. The dancing fire, the pots and pans everywhere, the smoke everywhere, the smoke everywhere, the smoke and fire of the kitchen suddenly close the distance between history and the present, and the scene of the horse queen skillfully wielding a large pot and shovel in a jingpu cloth dress also seems more and more real, as if history is reproduced, adding a great boost to the audience's understanding of the series and the absorption of the aesthetics of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to costume props, the show is also meticulous in the treatment of character makeup. Zhu Di, as the main character of "Mountains and Rivers And Moon Ming", from a wanton young man to an emperor full of king's spirit, the difference between the front and late period is quite large. Its external performance is makeup, Cheng Yi played by the young Yan Wang Ming eyes bright teeth, sword eyes star eyebrows, and Feng Shaofeng played by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di tied hair gold crown, sideburns like a knife cut. From "doing its best" to "reaching the meaning of the shape", through exquisite makeup to create a different kind of individual, the play makes the faces of the characters more realistic and plump. Distinguish between birth theory and psychological age span from the subtleties, eliminate the audience's sense of distance from historical figures, and more deeply appreciate the beauty of the Ming Dynasty.

Taste the connotation of a new-level historical drama Establish a new direction for the creation of the film and television industry

In terms of plot, "Mountains and Rivers And Moon Ming" focuses on the emotional expression of micro historical figures under the historical context of the macro Ming Dynasty. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma get along, laughing and scolding; Zhu Biao is both a brother and a brother to Zhu Di, and an elder brother like a father; Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da's brothers after throwing away their identities, etc., everywhere shows that the drama takes love as the system and people as a mirror, deeply excavates the charm of Ming history, and resonates. In this way, the thickness of history is intertwined with the daily fireworks, and the details are grasped to enlarge the differences, so that the drama from the characters to the plot is vivid, and the distance between the audience and the historical figures is also narrowed, bringing a very innovative historical drama to the audience.

In terms of overall creation, "Mountains and Rivers And Moons" is a "new-order historical drama" defined from the overall view of the times, which does not emphasize the aura of the protagonist and daily emotions, and lightly emphasizes historical facts and the process of the times, but combines the two to outline a Ming history picture that integrates ideology, culture and art, and combines history, characters, events and artistic depictions; at the same time, the coexistence of history and film and television art reduces the threshold for watching historical dramas. The play also focuses on the description of major historical events in a clever narrative way, compressing some lengthy historical stories, which not only alleviates the audience's aesthetic fatigue, but also outlines the whole historical context of the early Ming Dynasty in front of the audience. It breaks the public's inherent impression of historical dramas, and uses real and pyrotechnic ways to express historical figures and stories, so as to establish the meaning of "new order", show the inheritance of the development of domestic historical dramas, and lay the foundation for opening a new chapter in historical dramas.

As a "new-level historical drama", "Mountains and Rivers Moon Ming" not only sets a new model for historical film and television works in terms of production and intention, but also brings deep thinking to the industry. At present, the film and television industry "fast consumption" drama is in the right place, the creation lacks patience, so that people can precipitate down and savor the film and television works are very few, and historical dramas are even rarer, so the broadcast of "Mountains and Rivers Moonlight" has grasped the market gap of the historical dramas in the domestic film and television industry.

Traditional historical dramas pay attention to the narration of historical facts, which is easy to produce obscure and difficult problems, while today's historical dramas are mostly obsessed with character emotions, obedience, etc., and ignore the core of the story. Whether it is partial to objective facts or artistic processing, it reduces the audience's sense of experience of immersive viewing, so it is necessary to have a "new-level historical drama" that presents "objective history and artistic reality" in a balanced manner, and interprets the history of the Ming Dynasty in an easy-to-understand manner. It is precisely in the case of respecting the historical background, focusing on the historical humanities, family and country feelings, the emphasis on the plot and daily life in the narrative, through the narrative tension and artistic innovation of film and television dramas, it is presented in the form of the people's favorite, which meets the public's tastes while allowing more people to pay attention to the history of the Ming Dynasty, and also provides new ideas for the creation of future historical dramas.

Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Yang Wenjie

Editor/Cui Wei