Compared with the same class of directors such as Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang, Jiang Haiyang, who was once the class leader, sighed to himself, especially when it comes to Zhang Yimou, who graduated from the same photography department, and director Jiang Haiyang, who stood in front of our group of students, sighed even more: "The director of the department cannot do the photography department." ”
From left to right: Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Jiang Haiyang
They all entered the Beijing Film Academy in 1978. After graduating in 1982, Jiang Haiyang went to Shanghai Film Studio as a director, and Zhang Yimou went to Guangxi Film Studio to do photography. In 1984, Zhang Yimou first served as a cinematographer in the film "One and Eight", and won the China Film Excellent Cinematography Award for his bold composition and unique lens design. In the same year, Zhang Yimou independently served as the cinematographer of the film "Yellow Land". During the filming process, he showed the simplicity and magnificence of the loess with a unique shape, and won the Best Cinematography Award of the Golden Rooster Award of Chinese Cinema and the Best Cinematography Award of the Three Continents International Film Festival of Nantes in France, striding into the ranks of front-line photographers.
Stills from "Red Sorghum"
In 1987, Zhang Yimou's first film "Red Sorghum" was a strong color and a bold style, integrating narrative and lyricism, realism and freehand, and exposing the unique charm of film art. His film won the Golden Bear Award for Best Film at the 38th Berlin International Film Festival, the Best Feature Film Award at the 8th Golden Rooster Awards for Chinese Cinema, and the Best Feature Film at the 11th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Films, becoming the leader of the fifth generation of Chinese directors.
As China's most well-known director, the audience seems to pay more attention to the so-called "Mou Girl" and ignore the grand and exquisite aesthetic of Zhang Yimou's films.
Stills from Heroes
Let's start with Heroes. The film was launched in August 2001 in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, and the crew was divided into two groups, A and B, with Group A mainly shooting literary dramas and B group mainly shooting martial arts dramas. One of the martial arts scenes is Zhang Ziyi and Maggie Cheung fighting in a forest with yellow leaves, in order to shoot the ideal effect of sword and light sword shadow and yellow leaf flying, Zhang Yimou recovers fallen leaves from nearby compatriots and grades them. The third and second grades are laid on the ground, the first grade leaves fall from the trees, and the special grade leaves fall from the actor's eyes. Although the plot is a bit thin, it is undeniable that this is a milestone that makes Chinese films become world blockbusters, especially in the grand scenes, the use of color is vividly played, making the film poetic.
Stills from "Ambush on Ten Sides"
Let's look at "Ten Faces Ambush". After its release in 2004, it topped the annual Chinese film box office champion. Although there are shortcomings such as plot loopholes, thin character emotions, and distortion of martial arts scenes, it better shows the consistent style of Zhang Yimou's films, that is, visual aesthetics. The peony square in the film is gorgeous, and all the carved beams and paintings are exquisitely carved in various peony shapes, especially the mist-shrouded bamboo forest in the film. The bamboo forest was filmed in Yongchuan, Chongqing, but the martial arts scene is not suitable for shooting in the dense bamboo forest, the photographer must express the density of the bamboo forest through optical lenses, and also use a long focal length lens to follow the characters, so as to present the character performance and the beauty of the bamboo forest and clothing.
Stills from "Jinling Thirteen Chao"
Later, Zhang Yimou also directed "The Golden Armor in the City" with Huang Ju, golden armor and red scarf as the typical; "Jinling Thirteen Chao" with the gray and black in the ruins of the war and the competition of the thirteen chao as the typical; "Shadow" with the ethereal river and dense raindrops as the typical films, without exception, almost all his works do not miss a single detail, and are trying to express or present various aesthetics and aesthetics, especially the Literary and Artistic Performance of the Hangzhou G20 Summit, Chinese culture and visual aesthetics are expressed to the fullest.
Hangzhou G20 Summit Cultural Performance
Now, let's look at "On the Cliff." Standing on the edge of the cliff is enough to make people tremble, if you are on the edge of the icy cliff, if you are not careful, you will fall from the cliff and fall into the abyss.
The film begins with a snow-capped northeastern primeval forest. Zhang Yi and Qin Hailu, a revolutionary couple, and Zhu Yawen and Liu Haocun, a revolutionary lover, were split into two squads to operate separately because they were carrying out the secret mission of "Utra", and then airdropped to the Linhai Snow Plain. The background of the film is Harbin in the 1930s, when the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and the State, the Communist Party, the Puppet Manchus and other various side of the spy war forces intertwined, known as the capital of the Eastern spy war. In order to present the sense of age in the story, the crew built a whole street in Datong, Shanxi Province, imitating the central street of Harbin at that time, and the whole scene was about 30,000 square meters.
Stills from "On the Cliff"
Whether it is the Linhai Snow Field or the Shanxi Datong at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, they all pee and bring a stick. The outdoor scene is all ice and snow, the two sides fight and shoot, bright red blood, splashed on the white snow, which is the visual aesthetic of blood and ice and snow, but also the revolutionary expression of blood and fire.
I think that boiling blood, white ice and snow, beauty and tension should be the latest interpretation of Zhang Yimou's visual aesthetics, and the best interpretation of the 20 million martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the country since the modern revolution.
"On the Cliff" working photo