Hou Ming, male, from Beijing, is an adjunct associate professor at Shardon College in Singapore and a doctoral student in film studies at shanghai film academy at Shanghai University, mainly engaged in film and television sound art creation and theory, film technology history, and new media art research
Yao Guoqiang, male, from Shandong, "Minjiang Scholar" of Fujian Province, Chair Professor of Fujian Normal University, Doctoral Supervisor of Beijing Film Academy, Shanghai Film Academy of Shanghai University and Macau University of Science and Technology, mainly engaged in film and television sound creation and theory, film and television sound history and criticism, film and television sound education research.
First, the rapid development and change of film recording technology
(1) Film + tape analog production system
In 1927, the release of the American film Jazz Singer marked the beginning of the sound of cinematic art, and film became an audiovisual art. Although there are only a few lines of dialogue and song singing in the movie "Jazz King", the movie music "Dirty Hand, Dirty Face" played by the protagonist refreshed the audience and opened a new era of audiovisual video production.
Early sound filmmaking experienced the mechanical recording of the actors' singing and playing sounds on the film set as wax disc records, and the grooves etched on the wax disc were broadcast on the cinema phonograph accompanied by the cinema projector when the film was played. After that, it developed a high-tech process of using sound waves and radio waves to transpose device pickups, record the light signal on film, turn it into an electrical signal through a photoelectric conversion device when playing it on a movie theater projector, and then amplify and push the speaker to return the sound. It can be seen that sound movies have begun to evolve rapidly with the development and growth of sound technology.
After World War II, radio communication technology and magnetic technology were popularized into production work and life, and film sound recording and playback technology was gradually changed from film optical recording to magnetic tape recording and optical film playback and sound reproduction technology. Magnetic recording technology has won the test of the market due to its high cost performance, high quality, high reliability and easy operation.
In 1949, in order to welcome the founding ceremony of the new China, the Soviet Union specially sent Leonid Varlamov (1907-1962), who had filmed the documentary on the 1941 Red Square military parade in Moscow, and a professional film production team to China to shoot and record documentaries, including the use of tape recorders. See Figure 1[1] for details.
Figure 1 Soviet filmmakers and magnetic tape recorders recording on the streets of Beijing
After the founding of New China, Chinese filmmakers also strive to keep up with the trend of the development of film technology in the world, and while mastering the manufacture of optical recording equipment, they actively strive to practice exploration and manufacture magnetic recording equipment.
On November 25, 1949, the Shanghai Film Studio was established, introducing magnetic recording equipment produced by gaumont Kalee (G.B.Kalee) in the United Kingdom. At this time, China's film sound technology and recording production process began to gradually change from optical recording technology to magnetic recording technology. Because the magnetic recording process does not consume film, the tape can be put on the spot, and the erased tape can be used many times, especially the portableness of the magnetic recording equipment is good, which simplifies the process of recording production, and also reduces the production cost, so it has begun to emerge in the production of film sound technology in the world. [2]
In 1951, Stefan Kudelski, a 22-year-old engineer from Switzerland and Poland, developed a portable open tape recorder, named "Nagra I" (Nagra). "Nagra" means "to be recorded" in Polish. See Figure 2[3] for details.
Figure 2 Nagra Type I tape recorder
The listing of the "Nagra Type I" immediately attracted the attention of sound workers. This was followed by the introduction of the "Nagra II" and "Nagra III" portable opening tape recorders, and in the mid to late 1950s, portable opening tape recorders changed the way broadcast, film and music were produced around the world. The film recording technology represented by the portable opening tape recorder in Nagra, Switzerland, has been greatly popularized, and the sound quality of the film has made a qualitative leap compared with the past, and the high-fidelity sound has played an important role in promoting the artistic expression of the film. [4] The use of portable opening tape recorders for location recording and tape editing has become an indispensable part of film recording creation technology and film sound production process.
In 1958, the recording workshop of Shanghai Film Factory trial produced a prototype of the "Yuejin Type I" magnetic recorder, and the quality reached the international level at that time. After that, it was further improved and improved, and the Shanghai Film Machinery Factory finalized the production of a magnetic recorder named "Yuejin II". Since then, film studios across the country have updated the original optical recording process to the magnetic recording process.
In 1958, the Shanghai film "The New Biography of a Veteran" was the first color widescreen 4-way stereo film feature film recorded with a 4-track magnetic tape recorder in China. The film was produced by the Shanghai Haiyan Film Studio and won the Technical Achievement Award at the First Moscow Film Festival in 1959. [5]
In 1973, a Chinese film technology delegation visited France, Switzerland, West Germany and Mexico. The delegation visited the famous manufacturers of film equipment and recording equipment in Western countries, and since then, China has gradually introduced the "Nagra 4.2" portable opening tape recorder developed and listed by Nagra Company in 1971.
(2) Several stages of the digital sound production process
After the reform and opening up, Chinese films introduced advanced Western recording technology in the same period, and it has become a top priority to integrate with the world's film sound art creation and film recording technology production. At this time, the field of european and American film sound is also experiencing another technological innovation, from the analog film recording production process to the new digital film recording production process. Produced the digital audio tape recorder "DAT" (Digital Audio Tape) represented by Sony in Japan and the "Dolby SR· D" Digital Surround Sound Filmmaking Process.
In 1992, the first film to feature Dolby SR D's American film Batman Returns was released, marking the beginning of the era of digital surround sound films.
This was followed by DTS (short for Digital Theater System) digital surround sound filmmaking process. Jurassic Park, the first American film to use DTS technology, was released in 1993. In the same year, the American film Last Action Hero, which used the digital surround sound film production process of Japanese Sony's SDDS (short for Sony Dynamic Digital Sound), was also released. The advent of three digital surround sound films has jointly promoted the development and innovation of film sound art.
In the 1980s, the use of "Nagra 4.2" portable opening tape recorder has become a mainstream phenomenon in the field of simultaneous recording and production of Chinese film sound, and many film sound workers have mastered various skills of manual operation of opening tapes in continuous practice, and even spontaneously practiced more skillful tape manipulation skills. However, in the face of the BIRTH portable cassette digital tape recorder, less manual control steps and more complex electroacoustic new technology knowledge points have formed a technical fault under the awareness of the existing analog recording inertial thinking, invisibly, DAT portable cassette digital tape recorder has become a burden that requires new learning costs. However, the imminent wave of film digitalization requires new audiovisual technologies and equipment to participate in the historical transformation process that can enrich the audience's audiovisual experience, and requires film sound workers to once again open up new film recording production processes brought about by digital production models.
In 1993, the feature film Apricot Blossom March day, produced by the Beijing Film Academy Youth Film Studio, was recorded for the first time using a digital DAT portable tape recorder for simultaneous recording of all-digital live content.
In 1997, the Chinese film feature film Opium Wars used digital Dolby surround sound for the first time. D) Filmmaking process for creation [7].
In 1998, the Chinese animated film "Baolian Lantern" used DTS surround sound technology for the first time. So far, in just 20 years, the rapid growth of China's film sound production technology has greatly shortened the technical distance from the world's latest film recording production process.
Looking back at history, it is not difficult to find that the development and change of film recording technology is promoted by a number of minor technological breakthroughs and the continuous improvement of craftsmanship. Early recording technology benefited from the development and application of electronic components such as vacuum tube amplifiers; after World War II, it was widely popularized due to the rapid development of radio communication technology, which led to the prosperity of radio and television. After satisfying the film from silent to sound, the innovation of film sound technology also comes from the bold film creation practice of film sound workers, and the formation of new film recording production processes and new audiovisual experiences are inseparable from the efforts of film sound workers in the process of artistic creation. The boldness of Chinese film voice workers to constantly think about how to apply new technologies and new methods for film innovation is worth remembering for a new generation of film voices.
However, the continuous expectation of film audiences for film artistic innovation has also promoted filmmakers to innovate technical means and strive to form new audiovisual experiences, thus enriching the aesthetic feelings of film audiences. At the same time, film sound workers also instinctively hope to get high-quality, low-cost, high-efficiency, low-intensity film sound technology and film sound production process. Therefore, digital film sound is a milestone change for the traditional film analog sound, and the leap in film sound quality is also an inevitable experience of technological replacement and development. Just as optical recording of films replaced wax disc recordings in the 1930s and magnetic recordings of films replaced optical recordings in the 1950s, the common needs of both film audiences and filmmakers were met at three levels: reliability of film sound production, economy of production, and superiority of experience.
Second, the current situation of film sound and the breakthrough point of film sound process
(1) The current situation of film sound art and recording technology
Although there is almost no gap between China's film sound art creation and recording production technology and that of foreign countries, it is not difficult to find that in the field of international film and television production, the artistic and technical level of Chinese film sound workers does not yet occupy an advantage. For example, a large number of sound productions in Hollywood movies, American dramas and Japanese dramas are still produced by investors hiring local creative teams. China's share of international film and television sound creation and audio production is very small.
However, in the current film sound production process, traditional recording equipment and new digital equipment coexist. At this stage, off-grid digital and wireless equipment is occupying the mainstream production field. For example, in the simultaneous recording of the pickup and the tape recorder connection, the new wireless coupling transmitting and receiving equipment has replaced the wired analog connection. With the United States Zaxcom company and Lectrosonics company as the technical representatives of this type, the wireless frequency of its products is radio frequency RF (abbreviation of Radio Frequency) modulation, without the need for Wifi networking or 4G networking functions to achieve connectivity function, greatly solving the technical problems of live simultaneous recording. See Figure 3 for details.
图3 Zaxcom TRX942 Transceiver for Boom
At present, in the field of Internet information technology and media in the world, China's development speed and China's innovation strength occupy an important seat. In terms of wireless smart mobile terminals, the TikTok App from China and a large number of game apps such as mobile phone "Eat Chicken" occupy most of the living space of young people in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. In short videos in Douyin and first-person shooter mobile games such as "Wilderness Action" and "PUBG", sound, as an important part of audiovisual media creation, has been highly recognized by the vast majority of young gamers. If the sounds in such short videos and games can also be handed over to Chinese film sound workers to create and produce, I believe this will be a very important new stage to show the ability and level of Chinese film sound workers. Since short videos, derivative videos of various games and various new IP film and television series can be used as the source of creation of Chinese film and television works, it can greatly enrich the industry structure of Chinese film sound creation and improve the production field, and greatly enhance the participation of China's film sound industry in the international film and television sound creation field.
(2) The possibility and breakthrough point of emerging technologies
On October 31, 2019, the three major operators of China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom announced their 5G commercial packages, which were officially launched on November 1. [9] The main advantage of 5G, a fifth-generation mobile communications technology, is that its data transmission rate is much higher than that of existing 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile cellular networks. The transmission data can reach up to 10Gbit/s, providing a solid foundation for the Internet of Everything. In the past six months of operation, the fifth generation of communication technology has been increasingly accepted and popularized in all walks of life.
The advantages of 5G in the civilian field of high-speed mobile Internet can also promote great changes in the form of sound production in Chinese films. For example, in the current simultaneous recording of film and television drama shooting scenes, sound workers generally use strong-finger condenser pickups to pick up the language sounds of actors. When the wireless coupling transmission device is used, the microphone operator or actor does not have to worry about the position of the analog transmission cable in the spatial geographical environment of the scene, and does not have to worry about the various adverse effects on the performance position and the composition of the shooting screen. Recording can use a wireless coupling transmitter to transmit a signal from the pickup, through the wireless receiver to record the picked signal in a digital recording device.
The advent of 5G could change the current pattern of wirelessly coupled transmitters and receivers that rely solely on RF for data transmission. For example, after adding a module similar to Mifi (Mobile Wifi), the recording engineer can even form a high-speed mobile Internet of Things through the recording device, so that the RADIO frequency signal and the Wifi signal are transmitted wirelessly to the recording device through two transmissions, or directly choose the wireless backup to the "Private Cloud" end of the recording production department, or simply publish it directly to the "Public Cloud" of the entire recording industry. For the recording post-production team to perform the sound editing work of the live simultaneous recording in real time.
After contributing to the development of 5G Mifi high-speed mobile IoT devices, cloud post-production can also use big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies to enrich sound materials, improve sound editing and improve sound production quality. An even more exciting innovation is an industrial blockchain that could pioneer the creators of film sounds. Once China's film sound industry becomes the leader of the blockchain era, a large number of information blocks in distributed storage technology can be processed by advanced technology with hierarchical and multi-task parallelization, and can efficiently coordinate sound art creation after natural selection optimization.
For example, a film can be shot in a beijing studio, while the sound material on location can be provided by a remote field sound recordist for use by a local sound recordist in Beijing. In addition to using the "Private Chain" within the production company to coordinate the production of the post-production sound production team, the construction and utilization of the "Public Chain" can also be used to integrate the global film and television sound production system. So that the sound of some foreign scenes can also be changed into material blocks by the sound recordist in the field to produce. Because of the openness, transparency and decentralization of each block, the blocks of Beijing sound recordists and foreign sound recordists can be calculated and distributed by the lowest cost and the best quality of high-efficiency post-production sound production teams, so as to more effectively improve the production efficiency and overall artistic creation level of Chinese film sounds.
Third, the development and innovation opportunities of Chinese film sound in the 6G era
(1) The re-construction of Chinese film sound technology
At present, the advantages of high-speed mobile Internet combined with blockchain have emerged in the field of economic production and life. However, there is still a problem with 5G communication and the Internet of Things, that is, communication information is affected by the layout of fixed cellular base stations. In areas where the layout of fixed cellular base stations is relatively sparse, such as extreme geographical environments such as mountains, caves, bays, and antarctic and arctic areas, 5G cannot achieve high-quality data transmission. In addition to the insufficient number of fixed honeycomb base stations, objective factors at the geographical level also restrict and determine that the layout and installation of fixed honeycomb base stations cannot be carried out in special geographical locations such as dangerous peaks, deserts, and deep oceans. At this time, the sixth generation of high-speed communication technology based on "space-based" 6G technology has undoubtedly become a decisive scientific and technological breakthrough.
Looking back at history, in the 20 years since entering the 21st century, the phenomenon of Chinese film technology equipment and products being used in film creation around the world is still lackluster. Therefore, the arrival of the 6G era is undoubtedly a very rare opportunity for development and innovation in China's film technology industry. The transmission rate of 6G is higher than that of 5G, about 1Tbit/s (about 100 times that of 5G transmission). Therefore, the advent of 6G will promote the popularization of the global Internet of Things, making the seamless combination of blockchain a great possibility. With this opportunity, the film sound equipment developed and manufactured in China may enter the world's mainstream film production system, thus bringing more cultural and economic benefits to the Chinese film industry.
For example, in the current field of manufacturing of Internet access devices and wireless intelligent mobile terminal equipment, Chinese brand products have occupied a considerable share and proportion, providing a broad and solid material foundation for the replacement of 4G to 5G products and the popularization of the Internet of Things. If China's film sound industry can judge the situation, inherit the spirit of the predecessors who have the courage to think and pioneer practice, apply the tradition of new technologies and new methods, and cooperate closely with the Chinese communications industry with courage, I believe that advanced equipment such as wireless coupling transmitters and receivers can be developed quickly. Such external or built-in 5G Mifi equipment can be connected to the sound art creation blockchain that is promoted, built and developed in China's film sound production industry in the future through 6G networking and transmission modules, which can make China's film production work like a fish in the water and the tiger insert its wings, thereby improving the overall creative efficiency and quality level of china's film sound field, and innovating and opening up a new dimension of economic profit model.
(2) A new field of Chinese film sound technology
In the face of the challenges of the new 6G era in the future, China Film Sound Technology has enough material reserves and technical capabilities to carry out innovative research in equipment technology.
In 2015, spaceX in the United States announced the "Starlink" plan.
StarLink plans to provide high-speed communication Internet access services to the world through the deployment of satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX plans to deploy a total of nearly 12,000 communications satellites in the Ka, Ku and V bands by 2020. By 2021, it can provide access services to 6G around the world.
In 2018, China announced the "Rainbow Cloud Project," which plans to complete the deployment of low-orbit satellite constellations in 2022 and provide broadband mobile communication services.
However, "StarLink" and "Rainbow Cloud Project" do not directly link each individual wireless intelligent mobile terminal network device to the satellite, but similar to connecting a telephone line and a computer, and a key connection device similar to a modem is required between the two.
Comparing the history of the development of "Global Positioning System" GPS (abbreviation of Global Positioning System) technology, it is not difficult to find that satellite navigation technology has undergone 20 years of gradual development and finally entered the daily life of everyone. The GPS function in mobile phones, cameras and even tape recorders provides great convenience for people's production and life work, and effectively improves the quality of life of human society. The sixth generation of high-speed communication technology 6G of "Space-based" can bring the Internet of Things closer to everyone, and blockchain technology can integrate everyone into the entire industry. Therefore, under the promotion and support of these two high-level advanced technologies, the development of "space-based" satellites and 6G communication transceivers in the field of Chinese film sound technology, and the development of film sound technology equipment, and then improve the cloud storage, blockchain distribution acceptance and revenue system between film sound devices, China's film technology will surely usher in an explosive development and innovation growth situation, thus winning the most dazzling technological achievements in the Internet + era. On this basis, the research of the new 6G film sound production process has become a very important scientific research topic in the field of Chinese film sound in the future.
conclusion
The application of "space-based" enables the high-speed Internet of Things to further expand the environment in which the film market is located, and can interactively transmit film sound production and playback signals anytime and anywhere, which can greatly enrich people's choices for film cultural life.
It can be seen that the film sound industry relies on 6G communication technology, with the assistance of blockchain technology, can truly record and transmit various types of sound information, thereby improving the work efficiency of film sound production, improving the technical production level of film sound, effectively improving and realizing the one-to-one correspondence between film sound broadcast and the audience in the film projection market, and has the possibility of establishing a real-time film payment income model, which is conducive to the overall development and continuous innovation of China's film sound production system. Thus providing more academic research possibilities for the all-digital industrialization of film art creation practice and the theoretical innovation of the Chinese film school.
In summary, in the face of the new opportunities brought by scientific and technological innovation, Chinese film sound workers not only need to carry forward the spirit of science and craftsmanship, accelerate the construction of an innovative national film technology industry system, but also build a film science and technology strategic force in the field of national culture, and strive to create a film sound production industry system based on 6G+ blockchain.
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Fund projects
This paper is a phased result of the 2017 National Social Science Foundation Art Project "Research on the Story Construction and Cultural Inheritance of Film Sound" (No. 17BC056).
Editor: Cao Honggang
Editor: Zeng Zhen
Source: Film Review, No. 8, 2020
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