Chinanews client, Beijing, November 23 (Reporter Shangguanyun) Recently, a song "Light" was screened. This is one of the theme songs of the documentary "Forbidden City", sung by Zhou Shen.
In related hot search reviews, some netizens said that after listening to this song, "I really want to go to the Forbidden City when it snows."
From shooting creativity to youthful expressions, the popular documentary "Forbidden City" has attracted many viewers and received a score of 9.5 on a video platform.
As far as the content is concerned, some netizens think that the narrative rhythm is tight, rich in knowledge, and worthy of follow-up; others commented that the title of the film is "Forbidden City", but the content described has long gone beyond the Forbidden City itself.
Image source: Stills from the documentary "Forbidden City"
In this regard, in an exclusive interview with Chinanews.com, Wu Zhiyong, the producer and chief director of "Forbidden City", shared the documentary's creative ideas, shooting process and attempts to attract young people to pay attention to history.
The following is a transcript of the text, slightly abridged.
Chinanews: With regard to the documentary "Forbidden City", what are your creative ideas and principles?
Wu Zhiyong:
We are using "Forbidden City" as the title this time. In fact, we want to break through the concept of "Forbidden City". We want to make a documentary about Chinese history from the perspective of "Forbidden City". Consider it in a 600-year-old coordinate, to see history from the city, and to talk about the country from the city.
After completing the basic research, we decided to make this documentary from the perspective of "great history", treating the Forbidden City as a pair of "eyes", combing through the 600-year history it witnessed, and selecting important historical years and histories in this period of history Several "changing events" in the process have resulted in "The King", "Foundation", "Far Road", "Crazy Storm", "Fortune", "Afterglow", "Mixed", "Prosperity", "Thinking of Danger" , "Picture Storage", "Breaking Dawn", "New Life" 12 chapters.
Of course, we are not simply chronologically structuring these 12 episodes. In the main line of history, each theme has relative independence, but it is connected in time and space, closely connecting history and reality. .
The filming scene of the documentary "Forbidden City".
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Chinanews: From the perspective of visibility, how does "Forbidden City" tell the story?
Wu Zhiyong:
As a documentary, 12 episodes of themes, 50 minutes per episode are very large.
Even though we have been shooting in the Forbidden City for three years and recording a lot of material, it is far from enough for this documentary. We can't just use the empty mirrors of buildings and cultural relics to tell stories.
In addition, there are some details of the story, as well as historical emotions, which need to be expressed in a more suitable way of presentation, so we adopted a part of the reproduction and shooting, and this part of the picture seems to have a sense of film and television and a sense of story.
For example, in the first episode, we performed a scene restoration of the street scenes of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty. The prototype of the scene is from the "Emperor Capital Accumulating Victory Map", which depicts the scene of the historians of various countries paying tribute to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Based on this picture, we reproduced the scene of paying tribute to the beast as much as possible, and cross-edited the cultural relics in the film to increase the visibility of the story.
Chinanews: In the "Forbidden City", many cultural relics and related knowledge are mentioned. What is the purpose of this setting?
Wu Zhiyong:
As a historical documentary, historical events are the main body, and stories need carriers. We regard the Forbidden City as a pair of eyes, and the buildings and cultural relics in the Forbidden City are the carriers of the story.
Image source: Stills from the documentary "Forbidden City".
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"The Forbidden City" has always been based on the cultural relics of the Forbidden City in the narrative style. It uses buildings and cultural relics to tell stories, and stories shape people, and then it makes sense through people and things.
Of course, this is also a consideration in the presentation of the story, and it is a very clever way.
There is no image left in the relatively long history, and the cultural relics are historical witnesses and evidences of history. We record them meticulously and tell the history through them, which can also increase the imagination of the audience, and the cultural relics themselves are highly appreciated. sex.
At the same time, we will give the cultural relics a certain symbolic meaning in the film, which also plays a role in sublimating the theme.
Chinanews.com: "Narrator" is added to the documentary. The audience has different opinions on this. What is the cultural positioning of this role?
Wu Zhiyong: When
we collect broadcast feedback, we will notice that some viewers will say that the narration style of "Forbidden City" is very "archive". Some people like the setting of the narrator, and some people dislike it.
First of all, I want to say that our main creative team itself is from "Archives", but when we planned the documentary "Forbidden City", I wanted to be pure, so there was no narrator at the beginning until the first rough edition was cut. , I found that both the presentation and the rhythm appear to be relatively single, without its own characteristics.
After the location shooting was completed, I discussed with all the diversity directors, and finally decided to add the narrator to the film, with Tan Jianghai as the teacher.
At the same time, in accordance with the characteristics of this documentary, the proportion and color of the narrator were adjusted, so that he would have more questioning and thinking, and lead the audience to feel the breath of the Forbidden City.
Chinanews: In terms of fanning young people, what attempts has "Forbidden City" made?
Wu Zhiyong:
At the beginning of planning "Forbidden City", I hope that this documentary can be watched by more young people. Because history needs to be passed down through the younger generations, so in terms of youthful expression and Internet communication, I do Make some attempts.
Wu Zhiyong during the filming of the documentary "Forbidden City".
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
For example, a theme song tailored for each episode of documentary.
After the theme and script structure of the "Forbidden City" were developed, we began to communicate with the music production team in depth, and based on the theme and script content of each episode, we refined the characteristics of the times and historical attitudes that we wanted to convey in each theme song, and Find the corresponding singer according to the different characteristics of each episode.
Among the 12 theme songs, there are opera elements, opera elements, rock style and even rap style, which are very experimental.
After the documentary was broadcast, some netizens said it was equivalent to the luxurious bell tones for every history lesson.
The documentary injects a heavy sense of history into the song, and the song uses a younger expression to increase the spread of the documentary, and the two complement each other.
(over)