The Paper's reporter Yang Kaiting
The major revolutionary historical theme TV series "Crossing the Yalu River" opened high and walked high after the CCTV set of broadcasts, which not only performed well in ratings, but also received a super high evaluation of 8.6 points on Douban.
"Crossing the Yalu River" is produced by the Central Radio and Television Corporation, produced by the Film and Television Drama Documentary Center of the General Station, and produced by China Television Drama Production Center Co., Ltd.
The drama was directed by Dong Yachun, with Yu Fei as the chief screenwriter, and Tang Guoqiang and Ding Yongdai as the lead actors, showing the arduous War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea and the vigorous Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
Wang Yan, the chief producer, was interviewed by the surging news, recalled the various aspects of the creation process of "Crossing the Yalu River", and sighed that the drama's good broadcast results were inseparable from the support of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, the efforts of the main creators and the hard work of 2500 people.
Find the most professional people and do the most professional things
Wang Yan recalled that she received the production task of the project "Crossing the Yalu River" at the end of June 2019, and the project was officially launched in August. Wang Yan said: "This project is in my hands, I am very lucky, to know that since there are TV dramas in our country, none of them are panoramic epics to show the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and it is an honor for me to be responsible for production today." I don't see it as a TV series, it's an account of those soldiers who spilled their blood in a foreign country for the motherland 70 years later, it is a hero's praise. What I hope to present to the vast television audience must be a work that is thoughtful, artistically exquisite, well-produced, and can leave a mark in the history of television dramas. I often say that we should find the most professional people to do the most professional things. ”
Stills from "Crossing the Yalu River"
In order to shoot "Crossing the Yalu River", the main creative team sorted out 1.3 million words of information during the preparatory period, and everyone carefully studied the historical materials and carefully treated every shooting detail, from a battle design to a telegram, all of which strived to respect history and restore history. For example, Mao Zedong's Juxiang Book House is a crew that refers to a large number of historical pictures and text materials, and restores the production according to the proportions. The books on the shelves are all line-bound books, and each bookmark in the book is handwritten by the prop team members imitating Chairman Mao's font. The massive combat maps in the play, the maps used by the US military and the maps used by the volunteers are different, and the icons of each campaign map are also different, even so that each map has been proofread by military advisers.
"Crossing the Yalu River" was originally scheduled to start in January 2020, first filming a scene in the winter snow, but due to the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic, it delayed the start-up. Until the end of June 2020, the project restarted, according to the broadcast time told, "we learned that Mudanjiang had snow in November in previous years, according to the shooting period of 100 days, it must be started on August 15, and shut down on November 25, if you are lucky, you can shoot the scene in the snow at the end of the shooting." The preparation period is 50 days, and the entire post-production period is only 15 days. Therefore, the post-process of "Crossing the Yalu River" was placed in front of the scene, synchronized with the filming of the episode, and presided over the post-process coordination meeting of more than 30 people, at which it was required that "not only should we cut while shooting, but also the color grading dubbing effects should be carried out synchronously." Make sure that when the shooting is finished, the cut is almost complete." According to Wang Yan: Now that the project is completed, all the post-production personnel feel that the post-production front is a very necessary decision, which can not only make the shooting cycle short, but also maximize the subjective initiative of the post-production departments and increase their sense of participation.
The early manufacture of heavy equipment is also an important part of ensuring the smooth start-up of the crew. 4 prop planes, 9 tank armored vehicles, more than 1,000 various props and firearms, more than 400 scenes, 375 named characters, more than 40,000 group performances, more than 500 art set teams, more than 80,000 bullets, rebuilt Zhongnanhai, the Kremlin, the White House... Such an amazing investment is all to achieve the panoramic epic presentation of "Crossing the Yalu River". In this regard, Wang Yan said that to present it from such a macro perspective is to stand on the perspective of respecting history and let the audience understand this history in an all-round way.
"We made it very clear in "Transnational Yalu River" that the people of Chinese have always loved peace and did not want to fight, when New China was just founded, poor and white, and wasted. We only want to build a new China. At that time, it seemed that the annual steel production in the United States was 87 million tons, and China's steel production was only 600,000 tons, equivalent to more than 400 million compatriots in China, and each family did not have a kitchen knife. Do we fight or not fight in a situation full of holes? In particular, the US Seventh Fleet entered the Taiwan Strait, and under such a premise, the Party Central Committee headed by Mao Zedong was thinking about it repeatedly and making difficult choices, and finally there was a sentence: 'Fight with one punch, lest a hundred punches come.' This determined that the Chinese People's Liberation Army would resist the United States and aid Korea. The first 7 episodes of our show revolve around this issue. ”
Truly felt the cruelty of war
Wang Yan recalls the filming process of "Crossing the Yalu River", in which countless difficulties were encountered. "Shooting in Mudanjiang encountered typhoons and days of rain, prop tanks on the muddy mountain road is particularly difficult, can only be transported to the scene with a few meters long truck before shooting every day, and then used a crane to hoist to the shooting position, just transportation, in that muddy road conditions, the road is very narrow, it is a difficult task." The northeast latitude is high, the winter dawn is early and dark is also early, the day is dark, the cold hand can not reach out, the shooting time is very short, the crew often has to leave at one or two o'clock in the middle of the night, two or three o'clock, and shoot at dawn. This can only shoot less than 10 hours a day.
Later, the temperature of Mudanjiang dropped to minus ten degrees, and it was even more difficult to shoot. "Even if we dig trenches, it's very difficult, and the soil is frozen." Wang Yan recalled that when filming the ice sculpture company, the actors who played the ice sculpture company warriors had to hold their breath for 30 seconds to a minute when filming each one, because one breath would emit fog in an extremely cold environment. "Although the actors are wearing cotton jackets and pants, they will still be frozen in the snow for a while and cannot stand up. Think about our actors still wearing cotton clothes and cotton pants, and some of them have down jackets inside, what about the volunteer soldiers of the year? A few tens of degrees below zero, so thinly dressed. ”
Wang Yan said that when filming this drama, the creators have received a spiritual baptism. "They really felt the cruelty of war. I think it was not easy for my ancestors. Before filming, they all said that the filming of "Crossing the Yalu River" was an impossible task, but I said, we can complete it, 70 years ago we Chinese the people's volunteer army rifles, bayonets, grenades dare to compete with enemy aircraft, tanks, artillery, dare to fight with 16 countries bayonets, today we are just shooting a TV series, what can not be completed? ”
It is reported that the entire drama of "Crossing the Yalu River" has nearly 50,000 explosion points, and a large number of thrilling explosion scenes are the most critical visual elements of the magnificent war scenes in the play. Wang Yan said that for the war scenes in the play, he and director Dong Yachun reached a consensus that is to highlight a "bombing" word. "The enemy has planes, tanks, artillery, what are they blowing up?" The bombing is the position held by our young volunteers. "This is a very shocking and heart-wrenching scene in the whole play.
Wang Yan introduced that "Across the Yalu River" organized a special stunt shooting team, this group alone has more than 100 people, 7 cameras, "our entire crew has a total of more than 20 cameras, 5 groups, each group averages four or five, but this group is 7." "A lot of war and explosion scenes, if you use post-special effects to do, one is highly difficult, and the other is very time-consuming. Or the real shooting can be more efficient and convenient solution, the stunt group specializes in filming the stunt materials in the war, "bombing during the day and at night, blowing up snow in the summer, bombing convoys, bombing tanks, bombing trains, blowing bridges, artillery blows, aircraft bombing." The whole stunt group, the amount of tasks is very large and arduous. But this stunt team solved a lot of dangerous problems for our entire crew, but also improved the shooting efficiency, 7 cameras, an explosion shot down, close-up, long-range, medium-shot, panoramic shots have. ”
In a sense, the result of the Korean War laid the foundation for today's world pattern; it was also the result of the Korean War that ensured that the newly born new China smoothly passed its infancy. The brutality and intensity of this war is unbearable. It is precisely in this way that peace-loving people all over the world should remember this war even more. Today's peace and development are not easy to come by, and the filming of this film is not only for the people of the whole Chinese, but also for the peace-loving people in the world. Wang Yan said.
Asked what he most wanted to convey to the audience through this drama, Wang Yan said that he wanted to show the patriotic spirit of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and the Chinese people who love peace and are not afraid of power through this film, including their iron will and firm belief. At the same time, he believes that the spirit of the ancestors of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has not been out of touch with the times and has not been forgotten by contemporary young people. "In every era, young people are the mainstay of the development of the times and social progress."
Wang Yan said: "When we look back at history, one of the most important points is that every era needs heroes, advocate heroes, and praise heroes. I think today's young people are very good, for example, after the 90s and 00s, this fight against the epidemic, these young people have grown up rapidly, and when the country and the people need it, they have stood up without hesitation and taken on dangerous and difficult work. In every era, from two bombs and one satellite, to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, to Made in China, to Beidou Navigation, behind these remarkable histories, there are young people. Although the times are changing and the main theme of the times is changing, the determination of young people in each era and young people in each era to move forward and forge ahead will not change. ”
Editor-in-charge: Cheng Yu
Proofreader: Liu Wei