The TV series "Qi Jiguang," which is currently being broadcast on the CCTV comprehensive channel, has quickly attracted the attention of the audience with its grand war scenes, sophisticated special effects production, and first-class creative team. Liu Zhijiang, the chief producer of the play, elaborated on the creation process of "Qi Jiguang, the Hero of the Anti-Wu Dynasty".
Years of planning and meticulous preparation
Qi Jiguang is a great national hero, but all along, there has not been a TV series that comprehensively reflects the heroic image of Qi Jiguang. Liu Zhijiang introduced: "In 2010, we invited Chen Khan, a screenwriter who had written the scripts of the movies "Confucius" and "Chibi", to create a 40-episode TV drama script "Qi Jiguang," and organized expert discussions on many occasions. ”
After this, the crew invited the famous screenwriter Wang Hailin to make a lot of changes to the script. Liu Zhijiang said that historical dramas are not easy to shoot, and heroes are even more difficult to shoot. On the one hand, it is absolutely impossible to joke, on the other hand, to shoot well, the audience must like. "We invited a lot of directors and screenwriters who usually have good relations to help, such as the famous screenwriter Zhang Ting, the famous directors Zhang Feng and Li Yunliang, and everyone came up with suggestions and polished the script." The current TV series is based on the script that everyone has worked together to finally polish, which has gone through almost 5 years. ”
The lineup is luxurious and restores history
After the script is written, it will face a more difficult production process. First of all, the crew invited Professor Shang Chuan, president of the Chinese Ming History Society and a historical researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to check the production process of the entire TV series, and strive to make a TV series without deviation. In the choice of director, the crew finally invited the famous director Li Huimin of Hong Kong as the general director, because his film works "New Dragon Gate Inn" and "Smiling Proud of the River" are very classic, especially in shaping heroic characters. "There are also many wonderful literary dramas in this drama, especially Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayu, Hu Zongxian, Yan Song, Xu Wei, Jiajing and others are all famous historical figures, and the battle of wits and courage, love and hatred between them is very rich, and sometimes a literary drama takes three or four days to shoot." Liu Zhijiang introduced that for this reason, the crew invited the new director Zhang Guangfeng to be responsible for the literary and opera part as Li Huimin's assistant.
The martial arts drama of "Qi Jiguang, the Hero of the Anti-Wu Dynasty", specially invited the famous martial arts director Zhao Jian, who is the martial arts director of all martial arts dramas in Zhang Jizhong, and his works "Water Margin", "Legend of the Archery Hero", "Tianlong Eight Parts" and "Laughing Proud of the Jianghu" opened the era of martial arts TV dramas catching up with Hong Kong and Taiwan. The costume and styling design are led by Chen Tongxun, who has filmed the movie "Mei Lanfang" and the TV series "The Biography of Zhen Huan". "The costumes and characters worn by the emperors, officials, military generals, soldiers, civilians, and Wokou of the Ming Dynasty were first of all as realistic as possible, and secondly, they had to look good." Liu Zhijiang said.
The special effects are shocking and the scene is grand
The large number of war scenes in "Qi Jiguang, the Hero of the War Against the Wu Dynasty", is a major feature, and they are all large-scale naval battles, land battles, field battles, and siege battles. The crew invited the special effects team that had produced Spielberg's film "Pacific War" to produce special effects according to the standards of film blockbusters. Liu Zhijiang said: "I believe that the audience will be shocked to see the TV footage of the Qi family army and the Wukou field battle and the gunfire in the naval battle. ”
The filming of the drama lasted 5 months, using more than 45,000 people, costumes and props, and has produced more than 2,000 sets of costumes and more than 5,000 weapons. Liu Zhijiang said: "Often 100 sets of armor and 100 sets of weapons, just done in the morning, all broken at noon, the costume division, props division every day overtime, the most famous wolf raft did more than 300, every time the scene change shooting, transport wolf raft to prepare 3 large vans." ”
Strict selection of actors and strength convergence
Liu Zhijiang said: "Who will play Qi Jiguang, almost half a year has been looking for. At this time, Zhu Xiaoyu, who has a sunny image and a healthy appearance, has entered everyone's field of vision, and his starring dramas such as "Mufu Fengyun" and "Legend of the Soul of the Protector of the Nation" are all positive energy dramas that have been broadcast on CCTV, which is very suitable for playing Qi Jiguang. What makes everyone happy is that Zhu Xiaoyu was not afraid of hardship or tiredness during the shooting, and strictly demanded himself, and in the end, the Qi Jiguang he portrayed, even Qi Jiguang's descendants and Qi clan relatives were very satisfied.
"Qi Jiguang, the Hero of the Anti-Wu Dynasty", also invited Li Liqun, Yu Rongguang, Ni Dahong, He Bing, Yan Danchen, Lü Yi, Shao Feng, Jia Nailiang, Yu Zhen and other well-known actors to join. Shooting this drama, in fact, the actors' salaries are not high, why are they still willing to star? Referring to this matter, Liu Zhijiang was very moved, "Some actors said that this is not a commercial entertainment film, and can be performed in such a TV series that promotes patriotism and praises national heroes, regardless of the size of the role, as an actor, do something meaningful for the country and the nation." "'Qi Jiguang, the Hero of the Anti-Wu Dynasty', is not just a TV series, but the main theme of our country and our times.