●Li Yuxuan
During this year’s "Double Eleven" period, JD.com joined hands with Station B to produce a short film "Total Life", focusing on shadow puppets, wood carvings and Beijing embroidered thangkas, trying to stimulate consumption of intangible cultural heritage through the combination of intangible cultural heritage projects and technological products: projectors It provides a new exhibition space for shadow puppets, the wood carving is integrated into the mechanical keyboard to generate "desktop aesthetics", and Thangka has obtained digital storage and conversion in virtual reality equipment.
The use of video clips to "bring goods" for intangible cultural heritage has attracted the attention of many netizens.
At present, new sparks are constantly colliding between short video media and intangible cultural heritage.
For example, according to Kuaishou, there are more than 15 million creators of intangible cultural heritage content under the platform; and according to official data released by Douyin, the coverage of 1,557 national intangible cultural heritage projects on Douyin reached 97.94%.
These different platforms have brought new opportunities for the protection, inheritance, dissemination, and activation of intangible cultural heritage by allowing the public to "see" intangible cultural heritage again.
First of all, this kind of "seeing" provides a new stage for the ancient intangible cultural heritage to help it return to the center of public vision.
Many intangible cultural heritage projects rely on the expansion of the mobile Internet to create new connections with daily life in a way that the public loves to see, so as to gain a broad social foundation for their own continuation.
For example, the "Shanghai Opera 416 Girls Troupe" composed of students majoring in Peking Opera performance at the Shanghai Theater Academy in 2017 and 2018 tried to use Peking Opera singing to interpret various opera "ancient" music, in order to enhance the influence of traditional opera culture on the younger generation. Attraction, aroused a enthusiastic response on the Internet.
The combination of "Took Window" launched in the first half of this year has been played more than 50 million times on various short video platforms.
Secondly, this kind of "seeing" adapts to the cultural aesthetic needs of Internet users, and opens up a diversified new way of intangible cultural heritage dissemination and promotion through dynamic and creative artistic reconstruction.
For example, some short video programs at station B vividly and intuitively demonstrated traditional techniques such as Diancui and Kesi.
In a video on how to make Zhai Guan, the master of UP, "Yanhong Aimee", not only records the production process in detail, but also presents the finished product with profound and simple knowledge and visual beauty.
In comparison, Douyin and Kuaishou put more emphasis on short videos, while video programs at station B are both long and short, and some programs can last for more than 20 minutes.
Video programs of different types and characteristics have correspondingly generated a rich and flexible dialogue relationship between tradition and modernity: longer videos temporarily put aside the pursuit of speed and efficiency in modern life, and constructed a calm and continuous aesthetic feature to reproduce The deep heritage and spirituality contained in the intangible cultural heritage project; while the typical short video caters to the current fast-paced lifestyle, selecting the most exciting parts of the intangible cultural heritage, creating and amplifying the impact on the audiovisual to satisfy users’ desire for innovation The psychological appeal of seeking differences.
In addition, under the current vigorous development of the cultural industry, this "seeing" also provides new ideas for the survival and continuation of some intangible heritage projects and the transformation of creative achievements into cultural consumption.
Many short video platforms have developed functions such as online shopping, and users can directly realize the seamless connection from "seeing" to "buying" through the "showcase".
According to Douyin data, many time-honored non-heritage brands have used Douyin to open up new markets, and 10 non-genetic inheritors have achieved annual income of one million through Douyin e-commerce, creating considerable economic benefits.
However, it should be noted that in this type of intangible cultural heritage video programs with the nature of “carrying goods”, some have caused controversy due to shortcomings such as insufficient creativity and overly obvious commercial appeals, and some have even attracted intangible cultural heritage. The question of the name "sniffing hot spots" and "playing gimmicks" should be taken seriously and vigilant.
The inheritance and promotion of intangible cultural heritage is a long and complex systemic project. We cannot be immersed in or stop here because of the "carnival craze" triggered by short videos, which is deeply dependent on it.
It is necessary to use new information technology and media channels to disseminate intangible cultural heritage, but it must not just stay at the level of "exploration" and "carrying goods", let alone deviate from the fundamental principle of "keeping integrity and innovation" in the process of activation.
At the same time, how to further standardize and professionally identify and manage non-heritage-related programs on short video platforms to avoid distortion or misleading in the process of dissemination is worthy of serious consideration.
In the movie "The Great Master", it is said that "where there are lights, there are people", but the same thing cannot be ignored is that "where there are talents, there are lights."
"Lamps" and "people" illuminate each other, and the continuation of intangible cultural heritage undertakings requires generations to succeed.
"Seeing" intangible cultural heritage again through the short video platform is just the beginning. I sincerely hope that more young people will come closer to and fall in love with intangible cultural heritage through this short video platform, and devote themselves to the cause of protecting and inheriting intangible cultural heritage.
(The author Li Yuxuan is a PhD student in the Chinese Department of Peking University)