Text / Executive director of the documentary "Why China" Wei Guoge
One day at the end of January this year, the shed in Hengdian was dusty, and the masks that were too late to change could shake out a layer of soil, and everyone was preparing to shoot a scene of Meng Tian leading the Qin army. At that time, the two-month filming of the film team was coming to an end, and everyone hoped that the shooting would go smoothly every day, and they were looking forward to the day when it was successfully completed. As a result, on that day, the group had a large number of performers, and it was filmed in a special environment, and they still couldn't prevent it despite all the caution, and before the first shot was officially filmed, the actor who played Meng Tian fell off the horse.
Fortunately, the ground was full of thick sand, and the actor was not injured. When it comes to the heart of the throat, the eyes are put down. It's not that the horse is not well-behaved, nor is it that the actor is not good at riding, but mainly because there is no stirrup and Takahashi saddle that are common in later generations to maintain the balance and stability of the body.
Yes, there was no such equipment in Mengtian's time. The stirrup appeared and matured during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the wooden high bridge saddle did not gradually replace the soft saddle until the Wei and Jin dynasties. Therefore, stirrups and saddles did not appear in the first season of "Why China". Because of this, every horseback riding scene is extremely tense.
Although there is no hard saddle, attentive viewers may find that there is a cushion on the horse's back, which is a "soft saddle" made with reference to the image of a terracotta horse unearthed from the terracotta warriors and horses pit of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang. After consulting archaeologists, we learned that the soft saddle was the earliest special saddle for riding, which was used from the Warring States period to the late Eastern Han Dynasty. So in the episode "Qin and Han", the props teacher gave several groups of riding horses soft saddles.
Such seemingly "unpopular" knowledge points are a must-do homework for the art props team. As a documentary, we want to be as evidence-based and in line with archaeological facts as possible, restore the material appearance and cultural picture of that era as much as possible, and bring the audience a real and tangible history. In the process of basically completing the manuscript and storyboarding, I gradually realized that the amount of homework was a bit large, and the time and energy spent far exceeded expectations.
It's still the scene of Meng Tian speaking in front of the army. As a general of the Qin Dynasty, what kind of image should Meng Tian have? What kind of crown, armor, and weapons should he wear, and what kind of soldiers did he lead? What kind of shoes did he wear, how to tie leggings, and how to deal with his hair bun? At first, we were completely confused, and we had to ask archaeologists for all kinds of details. Therefore, I learned that according to the current archaeological research, the high-grade Qin crown is the general figurines of the Terracotta Warriors and the crown of the bronze chariot and horse driver, and the two are similar in style. Slowly, there was the Meng Tian shape that everyone saw.
In addition to props and costumes, weapon styles must also be based on them. Judging from the weapons of the Qin people, the shape has not changed much after the middle of the Warring States period. In the first story of "Qin and Han", in the battle of Qin unification, the prototype of the Ge used by the soldiers is the "Five Years Xiangbang Lü Buweige" collected in the National Museum, which is a typical style of bronze Ge in the middle and late Warring States period. The halberd is made with reference to the style of cultural relics unearthed from the Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the shape of the weapon changed, and the props of the corresponding scene had to be redone. The prototype of Ge in the hands of the soldiers of the Shoulder Water Jinguan Border is the copper Ge unearthed from the tomb of the Marquis of Ruyin in the Western Han Dynasty, and the halberd is the iron halberd commonly used by soldiers in the Han Dynasty, which has been unearthed in the Han Tomb of Mancheng and the Han Tomb of Dongyang in Xuyi, Jiangsu. The swords worn by the Han generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing are also the style of the bronze swords unearthed from the Han tomb in Mancheng. These valuable materials and combing are thanks to the help of archaeology teachers such as Zhang Tianyu of Peking University.
Compared with other episodes, the archaeological materials and documents of "Qin and Han" are actually rich, especially in the Han Dynasty. The book "Illustrated Material Culture Materials of the Han Dynasty" written by archaeologist Mr. Sun Ji relies on the arguments of the combination of documents and cultural relics to sort out in detail the material culture research in various aspects such as clothing, food, housing, transportation, agriculture and handicrafts. When I first read this book, I probably went through several Neolithic sites with very limited information, and I was ecstatic to see so many words and pictures that I could refer to. However, soon the problem came.
There is a scene where Lu Jia went from Chang'an to South Vietnam, and he was a minister who went from Chang'an to Lingnan with the arduous mission of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty. However, judging from the example of the Anche engraved by the Xiaotang Mountain Stone Shrine in Mr. Sun Ji's book, this kind of car does not seem to be suitable for long-distance travel -- the ancients also considered comfort, right? On the other hand, in the Han Dynasty, most of the post stations in the Han Dynasty were prepared for "chariots", that is, a kind of small car with umbrellas, which seemed to be able to spend taxpayers' money on tolerance, and could not be too comfortable. How to choose? Also, do you really want a four-horse-drawn carriage?
From a pure shooting point of view, the car is what we want to give up the most. Because according to the previous shooting experience, the umbrella cover on the car made within a limited cost is always difficult to avoid obvious shaking when walking on dirt roads. The shots shot like this must be a waste film in the eyes of the Virgo chief director.
I had to consult archaeologists who studied the Qin and Han dynasties. After some study and discussion, he finally ordered the "Xuan Che" to Lu Jia. In addition to considering the practical needs of the long journey from Chang'an to Panyu, this choice also hopes to make some differences in the style of the carriage from the carriage of the previous era, as well as other carriages in this episode, to reflect the different appearance of the Han Dynasty. As for the horse-drawn carriage turned into a two-horse-drawn carriage, one is because the sentence in "Book of Han" is narrated after Lu Jia came back from South Vietnam and sold his daughter, and the scene of our movie is Lu Jia's first trip to South Vietnam, combined with the national strength that was not rich in the early Han Dynasty, and the extremely tight shooting budget of our crew, in the end, only two horse actors were invited.
On the left and right sides of Lu Jiaxuan's car and behind the frame, the design of hanging curtains was made by taking advantage of the feeling of the fabric floating out of the portrait Shi Zhongxuan's car.
Speaking of South Vietnam, I have to mention that the trip to the tomb of King Wen of South Vietnam and the site of the South Vietnam National Office was really rewarding. Although we were unable to shoot the film for various reasons, the information and feelings recorded during the research were very useful for us to tell the story of South Vietnam through the medium of film. Both scenes in the palace and garden hide many details that have been harvested from the archaeological excavations of the Nanyue Kingdom.
For example, the lacquered wooden screen unearthed from the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue that I saw at that time was used in Zhao Tuo's palace, and small objects such as copper lamps and smokers were also restored in the style of the unearthed cultural relics. The size of the bronze lamp made me wonder if we were wrong about the size, but after checking it, I found that it was indeed that big.
If you've ever visited the museum, you shouldn't have overlooked the elegant jade pendants. It consists of 32 ornaments of different materials such as jade, gold, glass, and coal balls. There are 11 sets of jade pendants unearthed from the tomb of King Wen of Nanyue, and this set of Zhao Yuan is the most gorgeous. Zhao Yuan is the second king of Nanyue and the grandson of the founder Zhao Tuo. This set of jade pendants was also restored to Zhao Tuo for decoration.
The tomb of the king of Nanyue also unearthed rhino horn-shaped jade cups, copper bearing plate high-foot jade cups, gilded copper frame jade cups and other exquisite utensils, especially rhino horn-shaped jade cups, which integrate a variety of carving techniques into one, which can be called Han jade masterpieces. So when Lu Jia and Zhao Tuo drank and chatted, what kind of cups did they use to drink? The details that need to be filled in can't be filled in by the brain, and more archaeological materials have to be found.
Some archaeologists believe that the jade is luxurious but the wine is more extensive, like a beer glass, and it is more elegant to use an ear cup. "Chu Ci" said: "Yao syrup honey spoon, real feathers." "The feather is supposed to be the ear cup. The ear cup is a common utensil for banquets in the Han Dynasty, and there are often ear cups in the banquet scenes on the Han portrait stone and portrait brick. It has been unearthed in the Mawangdui Han Tomb, the Jinque Mountain Han Tomb and the Nanyue King Tomb. So the two people in the palace of Nanyue also picked up the lacquer ear cup and talked about the wine.
When I saw this, I pressed a small pause for my girlfriend and inserted an internal gossip: according to the original design of the directors, this is not only about drinking and talking, but also about an important entertainment activity - playing six games. After all, the tomb of the Nanyue King of Xianggang unearthed exquisite Liubo chess pieces, and after the appearance of Liubo from the Warring States Period, it has been prevalent until the Han Dynasty, and the Han portrait stone and Han mirror ornament can see the Liubo chess, and there are Liubo chess pieces unearthed in many places. The painted wood carvings unearthed from the No. 48 Han Tomb of Mozuizi in Wuwei, Gansu Province are very rare to present the scene of the Han Dynasty Bo Opera in front of us, which is very vivid.
The props group reproduced the green jade and crystal Liubo chess pieces unearthed from the tomb of the Nanyue King, and made a set of Liubo chess sets with reference to the cultural relics unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb. It's just that this scene was not used in the post-editing, taking into account the rhythm and coherence of the content.
However, Liubo still appears in this episode. It was in the passage where the shoulders were turned around, and there was a flashing shot, turning past the comrades-in-arms, and the two of them were playing six games of chess by the fire. Of course, the chess sets of these two border warriors are not as luxurious as those of the Nanyue King, and they can play happily without crystal and pebbles. The prototype of this chess set comes from the Liubo chess in the collection of the Jingzhou Museum.
In the scene in the palace of Nanyue Kingdom, there are two special props: jujube and sika deer. This has to start with the archaeological research of the South Vietnamese Kingdom.
The jujube tree was originally a northern tree species, but among the more than 100 wooden tablets excavated from the site of the Nanyue National Palace Administration, three wooden tablets recorded "jujube". The contents of these wooden tablets are mainly court archives of the Nanyue Kingdom. From the content of the brief text, it can be seen that there are at least two kinds of jujube trees planted in the palace of Nanyue Kingdom, one is pot jujube and the other is Gaoping jujube, and the jujube trees are strictly managed, not only numbering the jujube trees, but also recording in detail how many fruits each jujube tree bears. And in the two copper kettles unearthed from the tomb of the Nanyue king, jujube cores were found, and one of the copper kettles was almost full of jujubes, and there were many of them. In addition, a large number of jujube pits have also been unearthed in several other Western Han tombs in Guangzhou. It is speculated that it may have been popular among the nobles of the Nanyue Kingdom at that time to eat dates, and during the months of entertaining Lu Jia, Zhao Tuo probably took out his favorite dates. Of course, it is very likely that the winter dates used in our movies are different from Zhao Tuo's dates in terms of shape, but what kind of dates does Zhao Tuo and the others eat? Are they eaten raw, are they eaten raw, or are they dried and eaten, or are they porridge cooked? We don't know. I would like to commemorate the time when I counted the dates with a plate of winter dates.
The sika deer, in fact, appeared twice in the scene of Nanyue Kingdom, once in CG animation, and the other time, the props team really invited a fawn. Back in 1995, when archaeologists in Guangzhou were excavating the ruins of the Nanyue National Palace Administration, the skeletons of sika deer were found in the meandering stone canal and the fan pond. The Nanyue National Wooden Tablet No. 084 records that a man's mishandling of raising deer caused the deer in the garden to die and rot, and the person was reprimanded for this. This wooden tablet corroborates each other with the sika deer bones unearthed in the Nanyue National Palace, indicating that deer were raised in the imperial garden of the Nanyue National Palace Administration. Zhao Tuo, who raises sika deer in his garden, must also appreciate the beauty and agility of the deer.
On the day of the filming of the scene in Zhao Tuo Garden, the summer sun was shining, everyone was sweating hot, our deer had been hiding behind the big rocks and not coming out, the actor teacher was in place, the deer teacher still refused to show up, and the teacher of the props group asked for it in the past, so he showed his face and ran back to hide. Someone suggested using a lure to eat, and I remembered that there was a banana in the bag, and I didn't know if it worked, so I took it to the deer master to try it. The master said that the fawn can eat bananas, I thought it was great, so I asked the master to use bananas to lure her out for a walk, who expected it to eat too violently, just came out, before it was photographed, there was only a banana peel left......
From Nanyue to Usun, the geographical span is very large, and the material culture of Usun is another matter. After the princess arrived in Wusun, what was the interior space like, and what kind of scene would she experience? The details of this still have to be consulted by archaeologists. According to the guidance of Professor Chen Ling of Peking University, we referred to the unearthed cultural relics of the Ili Zhaosu Poma cemetery, restored the gold pots, gold cups, silver bottles and other utensils, and completed the rationalization and transformation of the felt tent.
When Xie Wei picked up the golden cup and drank the first sip of goat's milk from the grassland, the young princess of the Han family may be silently determined to complete her mission on the banks of the Ili River.
Another character in parallel time and space with Princess Xie Wu is Hu Ge's Hanging Spring Zhi Si Fuhong. Such a border official has witnessed the turbulence of the times. In the early stage, we photographed the Han Jian, the ruins of Hanging Spring, and the brushes and grinding stones unearthed from Hanging Spring, and the tangible experience and relatively rich archaeological excavations made the details of the scene in Si Fuhong a little more restored.
For example, the image of Si Fuhong. Tang Chao, a teacher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who studies ancient costumes, told us that through the study of the murals in the late Western Han Dynasty and the characters in the early Western Han Dynasty terracotta figurines, it can be seen that the Western Han Dynasty clothing has not changed much, and it is basically a combination of over-the-knee coat and long pants. The overall shape of Si Fuhong (including the mustache) is made with reference to the image of the terracotta figurines of the Chu tomb in Beidong Mountain, Xuzhou (the period of Emperor Wu in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty). As for everyone who is curious about why it is such a "little red riding hood", first of all, this kind of crown is relatively common from Qin to the late Western Han Dynasty; in addition, the hat of the Western Han Dynasty terracotta figurines in Yangjiawan, Xianyang, is actually red, but it is not obvious when it is oxidized. The terracotta figurines of Xi'an Maopo Institute of Posts and Telecommunications still maintain a clearly visible red color.
The brushes and grinding stones used by Si Fuhong in the film are restored according to the unearthed cultural relics, the calligraphy knife in his hand is a common shape of the Han Dynasty calligraphy knife, and the pill mill, which may not be seen at all in the film, is made according to the appearance unearthed from the Han tomb of Wuwei Mozuizi (the tomb of the king of Nanyue has also been similarly unearthed).
In Mr. Sun Ji's book, I first read the word "Chengchen". At that time, we wanted to make a scene of Taixue preaching in the Han Dynasty, and the archaeologists gave us the patterns on the portrait bricks of the Eastern Han Dynasty as a reference. At the left end of the picture, a scripture teacher sits on a couch. Six of the disciples sat on their knees, each holding a simple slip in his hand. The scripture teacher and the disciples all wore long-sleeved robes with solemn expressions. This lecture portrait brick collected in the Sichuan Museum reflects the scene of lectures and lectures in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In this scene, everything else is easy to understand, but I don't quite understand the thing above the scripture teacher. Later, I learned that there was no ceiling in the Han Dynasty, so in order to prevent Liang Chen from getting his clothes, he hung dust on the top of the bed. In the portrait of the sermon, the head of the scripture teacher is hung with dust to show preferential treatment.
The almighty art props team combined with related materials to use the dust-bearing device and the entire lecture scene into the film, and finally presented a simple space of a lecture school. And during that time, in a dream I had, the ashes were flying, and I heard the recitation of "Winter Cold and Summer Heat, Xuanqi Yin and Yang" in the distance.
Speaking of Taixue, the hurdle in my heart that I can't pass in this episode is the Xiping Stone Scripture at the gate of Taixue. That scene was the first scene we shot on the first day of filming. But the tension happened in the preparations before the start of filming.
Maybe netizens with rich historical knowledge have already seen the problem. In fact, if you check the origin of Xipingshi, you will naturally know that Cai Wenji's father, Cai Yong, wrote to Emperor Ling, and asked for the "Zhengding Six Classics", which was supported by Emperor Ling. So the "Zhou Yi", "Shangshu", "Lu Shi", "Etiquette", "Spring and Autumn", "Ram Biography" and "Analects" were engraved on forty-six stone tablets, standing in front of Luoyang Taixue, and students from near and far came to copy the scriptures.
Forty-six, so what people saw back then should have been rows of stone tablets, not one. However, in Hengdian during the epidemic last year, we were constrained by environmental, time, and financial factors, and finally had to give up the presentation of the complete stele forest, but make a stone stele to illustrate and shoot in a local way. I hope to use more atmosphere and situation to make up for the regrets in the actual restoration.
To be honest, in the process of preparation and filming of the movie, not only this regret and loophole, but also self-complaining, for example, many Qin soldiers are really a little too clean, and after experiencing battlefield fighting, the clothes on their bodies are not dirty or torn. will be counterattacked by reality: there are too many group performances, there are already 2,000 sets of costumes in the room, and these Qin people's clothes can only be rented, and the rented clothes must be returned as they are, otherwise the production team will not be able to afford to pay for them. Under the many sticks, everyone had to accept the method of getting some dirt and smearing the dirt......
In the past few years with "Why China", every time I come to my senses from the intense work, I feel extremely lucky. Fortunately, we can look back at the ancients so closely, look back at the ancestors, look back at the way our ancestors came, fortunately, we always want to get as close as possible to those moments in history, and we always want to do our best to capture what we think is true, and reproduce those stories that are worth remembering, even if we know that there are successive difficulties, and there are many, many regrets. With such a run, there may not be a second time in this life.
Large-scale documentary