Incoming calls ring and four huge cell phone screens form a square.
Young people poured in with joy, drowned in the information flashing on the screen, and they struggled and indulged. "Hmm... hey...... Hey..." On the other side of the stage, three old men shouted wooden trumpets, and their hands were holding branches, and their voices were loud. This is the rehearsal scene of the tour of the selected programs of "Dialogue fables 2047" (hereinafter referred to as "2047").
The curtain falls, the lights come on, and the camera faces the square table in the middle of the audience, and standing in front of the table is Zhang Yimou, the general director of "2047". Wearing a white duck-tongue hat, a black tracksuit and a pair of riveted Martin boots, he is exchanging rehearsal details with the creators.
The microphone was handed to Zhang Yimou. "Seeing you here today, I think everyone has not changed, they are still active and youthful, it's amazing!" "I myself have a deep affection for '2047', because such a show has never been seen in the world!"
Poke the video, "watching" Zhang Yimou from the perspective of a reporter——
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Xiaonan's tan class | preparing for the Winter Olympics to prepare for new films and stage plays in Shenzhen in the future, Zhang Yimou's busy day
"Zhang Yimou will 'parachute in' the rehearsal scene that night", one afternoon in May, Nanfang Daily and Nanfang + reporters were suddenly informed of the news, and then rushed to the Taihu Performing Arts Center of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Tongzhou, Beijing.
Mr. Zhang describes himself having been busy all day at the Bird's Nest before coming here — he was the director of the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The next day, he also went to the Communication University of China to exchange ideas with his classmates about the creation of his new work "On the Cliff", which is being screened. He has more than one film to be screened. Within a few days, Zhang Yimou's first domestic film focusing on the sniper story of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, "Sniper", was scheduled for July 30 this year.
Always busy, he always seems to be able to switch between different channels frequently, so comfortable that people wonder if he is really over seventy years old.
The first season of "2047", of which Zhang Yimou is the general director, was launched in 2017 and has been for three seasons so far. In the first three seasons, 22 programs with different styles have selected rare treasures from traditional Chinese folk art, combined with the latest technology from all over the world, to create a brilliant spark.
This selected program tour will tour four cities in China, including Shenzhen Poly Theater on May 28 and 29. From the first three seasons, the tour selected 8 programs that combine artistic beauty and philosophical implications: "Guqin Lightsaber", "Trumpet Dye", "Divine Drum Shadow", "Chengyun Array", "Small Drama • Palm", "Heap Harmony • Cloud", "Bowl Cavity • Matrix House", "Drum • Light".
"2047" symbolizes the future, showing the dialogue between human nature and technology, a fable, and a reality. Zhang Yimou said that "2047" is not an answer, it is like a time and space tunnel - connecting the ancient and the modern, the past and the future, the simplicity of human nature and the transcendence of human nature, the memory in the blood and the hope of the heart.
The melody of the piano is transformed into a ladder, and the 700-year-old Lazidui dances harmoniously, the boots are taped, the six-stringed piano is sung, and the "on the clouds" dancers from Tibet and the pianists from Russia float out a free song "Heap Harmonic Cloud";
In "Drums and Lights", jazz drums strike the light to hit the surface of the earth, Peking Opera takes the stage, rubble is scattered, and the picture of 24 frames per second outlines not only points, lines, and surfaces, but also the steps of the Temple of Athens and the Great Wall gradually approaching.
In addition, Qiu Jirong, a descendant of the Peking Opera Qiu Sect, shuttled through the guqin to play the "sword and light sword shadow", the strange digital world was called by the ancient shouting, and the well-known music master Wu Tong traveled in the sky in Qingyue's sheng but was blurred by the matrix lamp...
On this tour, 100 artists from 7 countries around the world and 28 artistic and cutting-edge technology teams performed on the same stage. Each performance is both a test of technology and a test of tradition, and the cooperation between the two is the soul of the performance and the button that triggers thinking.
Zhang Yimou bluntly extracted the essence of the three series of "2047" and synthesized this selected program tour, which seems simple, but in fact, the difficulty coefficient is extremely large. The transformation of the program and the operation of the technology are interlinked, and the complex design of the creative team can present such an ideal effect.
In the "2047" series, there is also the figure of the Shenzhen science and technology team: the drum drives the mechanical arm, the mechanical arm hangs the shadow, Humai sings the sadness that people have nowhere to escape, and the mechanical arm technology team from Shenzhen crosses xinjiang technology and the shadow dance team from Hungary to launch a virtual and real "God Drum Shadow". The show originally debuted in the second season and will also appear on the tour's roster.
Zhang Yimou bluntly said that "Shengu Shadow" surprised him, which is also the first Chinese technology team in the "2047" series of cooperation. Previously, Zhang Yimou's "2022, Meet in Beijing" cultural performance directed for the Winter Olympics also had the participation of Chinese scientific and technological teams.
"China's science and technology is developing rapidly, and we are increasingly dependent on the power of Chinese science and technology." Zhang Yimou told the Southern Daily and Nanfang + reporters that the western team that the robotic arm team initially found, and then the Chinese team quickly joined in, they began to rely on Chinese strength, "The tone of black and white is designed after Chinese technology comes in, and more domestic scientific and technological forces will be used to do it in the future." ”
In Divine Drum Shadow, each frame needs to coordinate the speed, angle, and distance of the two rows of robotic arms to achieve real-time unification with the dancer's movements. Each mechanical arm has 6 joints that can be twisted in conjunction with the movement, and like a human arm, it plays a vital role in the angle, speed and shape of each movement.
"The actor's lying posture, the standing posture, everything looks complicated, in fact, it is very complicated." Zhang Yimou said.
Li Yu, the dancer of "Divine Drum and Shadow", also said that drums, horse-head organs, humai, dance, robotic arms, projections, and sky eyes, which seem completely unrelated, must be coordinated with high-tech equipment in this program.
Zhang Yimou has a deep affection for the "2047" series. For him, it was a disruptive attempt.
The entire performance uses a minimalist all-black stage, carefully constructing a new stage world full of mystery.
In Zhang Yimou's view, the mixing and matching of science and technology, humanistic intangible cultural heritage, and Chinese and foreign performances on the same stage is a very unique form, which not only expresses the relationship between science and technology and culture, but also expresses the collision of two cultures, as well as the good wishes for the future and the relationship between people and science and technology.
Zhang Yimou said that he was "very excited" on the way from the Bird's Nest to the rehearsal site of "2047": "Such a show has never been, the world has never been, it is our original." Hopefully, this show will remain so original and continue! ”
The poster of the "2047" selected program tour, on the left is a complex mechanical structure diagram, and on the right is a half portrait of Zhang Yimou with a low brow.
This is a photograph taken by Zhang Yimou five years ago, he laughed at himself and said that "his face is full of wrinkles, not good-looking", and then he murmured, "Maybe it represents a kind of history."
At the age of seventy, he still maintains a high intensity of work.
He seemed to be in a race against time.
Zhang Yimou, known as the "labor model", in addition to preparing for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, has also filmed four movies in the past three years - "One Second" released last year, "On the Cliff", which is being screened, and "Rock Solid" and "Sniper", which are yet to be screened.
There was a rumor that Zhang Yimou "slept 2 hours a day, worked seventeen or eight hours, got up at 4:30 every day, and ran for an hour."
Zhang Yimou said that it is common to get busy and sleep for two or three hours a day, but most of the time it is still trying to ensure a slightly better sleep, "But in fact, sleeping more and sleeping less is not very important, or you have to exercise." ”
Counting several of his new films, you can always find words such as "Zhang Yimou's first attempt".
"On the Cliff" is his first spy film, and "Rock Solid" is his first police film. "Sniper", which started in Jilin in January this year and was announced to be scheduled for July 30, is his first film to challenge the whole war scene - and it is also the first film in China to focus on snipers in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Set against the backdrop of the "Cold Gun And Cold Artillery Movement" in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the film tells a deadly duel between the Sniper Squad of the Chinese Volunteer Army and the elite sniper team of the US Army.
Zhang Yimou's exuberant creativity makes young people ashamed of themselves.
The secret, he says, is to keep learning, "be diligent, there is no genius in the world."
He took the performance of "2047" as an example, in the preparation to understand all the information, from the Internet, from your insights to collect, to see what kind of technology can be converted to the stage, what kind of things with the intangible cultural heritage projects together, can have an interesting chemical reaction.
"Sitting in the house is not conceivable, and maintaining a good creative state is to learn."
Zhang Yimou, who does not reject dialogue with freshness, is constantly in contact with new things. He is eager to explore the most primitive passion in his heart and create his own image world.
【Writing】Southern Daily, Nanfang + Beijing correspondent Liu Changxin Intern Zhao Huilin
【Photography】 Wang Shikun (Some pictures courtesy of the interviewee)
【Video Shooting】 Wang Shikun
【Video Clip】Intern Shen Zhenzhuo
【Author】 Liu Changxin; Wang Shikun
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client
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