"Light-light--" When the visitors put on the badges of the intern researchers and shouted the "start password" in unison, an immersive cultural relic restoration journey officially began.

This is the scene at the "Lanterns and Colours - Exhibition of Palace Lamp Treasures Collected by the Palace Museum" currently being held at the Beijing Optical Science and Technology Museum.

Holding an exhibition of cultural relics in the form of an immersive performance is exactly why the exhibition has become popular on social media and has been repeatedly extended.

Here, the audience is both a visitor and a participant. They can ask questions to the cultural relic docent, or have a conversation with the ancients through the screen.

In recent years, with the popularity of immersive business, theater is "encountering" with museums, bars, restaurants and various new cultural spaces, resulting in rich chemical reactions and collisions with more new forms of theater viewing and interactive experience. It has become a new trend among young people, and it has also brought new vitality to the traditional stage art form of drama.

Fascinating polyphonic narrative

　　What is Immersive Drama?

　　Immersive theatre aka immersive theatre.

In a specific play space, the audience can actively explore the plot, walk with the actors, pick up props to read, and even lead the actors and other audiences to develop new plot clues.

　　In 2016, "Sleepless Night" premiered in Shanghai and became a phenomenal product for a while.

The main creator completed the venue setting through the renovation of an unfinished building in downtown Shanghai.

In the five-story theater, dozens of rooms stage different plots at the same time. The audience is attracted by the plot and follows the actors' footsteps upstairs and downstairs to explore around.

So far, this immersive drama introduced from New York and adapted from "Macbeth" has performed more than 1,000 consecutive shows, with an average attendance rate of 95%.

　　At the same time, from adaptation to originality, from imitation to innovation, more and more immersive dramas have sprung up like mushrooms after a spring rain, and more people have accepted and loved this new form of performance.

　　In recent years, many traditional business formats have also felt the "magic" of immersive theater.

During the National Day last year, a play called "August 1 That Year" was staged at the August 1 Uprising Memorial Hall in Nanchang.

In the play, the audience can choose characters such as recruits, students, and citizens, change into corresponding costumes, and experience the touching story of the revolutionary predecessors saying goodbye to their hometown, participating in the revolution, and strengthening their beliefs.

After the first round of performances, many audience members empathized with the people in the play and spontaneously shared their post-viewing experiences online.

　　"At present, young people are not satisfied with the traditional way of 'being' explained, they prefer to participate in it themselves. When the exhibition is made into an immersive play, a new interactive relationship is formed between the visitors and the actors More open and multi-point scenes and performances can allow young people to freely choose a perspective to understand and dig that history, and have the desire to visit many times." Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of Qingyunpu District Committee, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, Chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles Zhan Wen said.

　　Traditional culture has also become a source of inspiration for original scripts.

In a hutong in Chaoyang District, Beijing, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the performance theater here will stage the ancient immersive drama "The Voice of Qinglu, Qingmu".

When the audience put on the veil and walked through a long corridor, they entered a small village called Luyin Village, and observed everything that happened here as villagers.

　　"The inspiration for this play comes from "The Classic of Mountains and Seas"." Ouyang Lingxiang, the production director of "Young Luyou Ming", is a post-90s generation. After watching "Sleepless Night" in Shanghai, he learned about the form of immersive drama. , the idea of ​​starting a business was born.

"In fact, there are many elements in our traditional culture that are suitable for adaptation into immersive dramas. I am very interested in the theme of monsters, so I chose the direction of ancient style and fantasy to make my ideas come true. put on a play."

"Sink" in, where is the difficulty?

　　The "White Paper on the Development of China's Immersive Industry in 2020" pointed out that the number of immersive experience projects in my country has increased from 1 in 2013 to 1,100 in 2019, and the average annual growth rate since 2016 has been concentrated at 200%~300% .

Although the current development of the entire immersive experience industry is gaining momentum, many people in the industry feel that it is still not easy to make a good immersive drama.

　　The first is the question of cost and fares.

In an immersive drama, the audience often goes deep into the scene, and even picks up props to look at it, so the "hardware" such as setting, props, costumes, etc. needs to be very sophisticated, which will inevitably lead to an immersive The production costs of plays remain high.

　　In addition to production costs, there are also operating costs.

"As for the audience experience of immersive dramas, there is a relatively superficial criterion, that is, how many audiences an actor needs to serve on average." According to Qian Zijun, the producer of immersive dramas, in order to ensure a better sense of interaction and immersion, The actor-to-audience ratio of an immersive drama must be as high as possible. Of course, technical means can be used to enhance and balance the sense of experience, but it must not be endless in the open space.

This means that there is an upper limit on the number of immersive projects in a single game, and the price of each ticket cannot be too low.

During the investigation, the reporter found that the most popular immersive dramas, the fares are mainly concentrated in the range of 400 to 1,000 yuan, which undoubtedly limits the further "out of the circle" of immersive dramas.

　　There are also script and talent issues.

Compared with traditional dramas, immersive dramas often have multiple story lines, and there will be overlapping parts between the story lines.

How to make audiences separate when it's time to separate, and merge when it's time to merge?

What kind of story does the audience on each storyline encounter every minute?

"There is a very strict logic behind this, so when making immersive drama scripts, I personally prefer to use tables rather than traditional documents to complete them." Qian Zijun believes that the plot effect in the traditional sense It determines the upper limit that an immersive drama can achieve, but whether the logic of the script and the movement of the audience is reasonable determines the lower limit of a drama, which puts forward higher requirements for traditional screenwriter talents.

　　The challenges faced by actors have also increased.

"The immersive drama actor's every move, frown and smile is completely exposed to the audience, there is no chance to cover up, and must be extremely meticulous. This leads to the rehearsal cycle of immersive drama often longer than that of ordinary drama. "Ouyang Lingxiang introduced that the rehearsal time for "The Voice of Qinglu" lasted 3 to 4 months, and during this process, it was necessary to constantly simulate various reactions of the audience, so that the actors could adapt to this form in advance, and in a short time Introduce the audience into the play and empathy.

Where is the future going

　　"Whether it's script killing or room escape, the common goal of immersive experience is to build an infinitely real virtual world and explore the limits of human experience." Ouyang Lingxiang shared the ultimate ideals of many industry insiders. Pursue.

However, many people in the industry also admit that, as a new thing, it will take time for immersive experience, including script killing, to grow in China.

Judging from the feedback from the Internet and other channels, there are also many immersive experiences with gorgeous forms, empty content, and deliberate interaction. The industry needs to be standardized.

　　As a segment of the immersive industry, what direction will immersive theater develop in the future?

　　Doing a series of products will be an inescapable trend.

"Immersive drama is the most time- and money-consuming of all drama genres. It may not be worthwhile in terms of short-term investment, but when a work has withstood the test of time and becomes a classic, its value is immeasurable. ." Ouyang Lingxiang introduced that "Qinglu Youming: Qingmu Chapter" has been staged more than 150 times, and has accumulated a good reputation and a stable audience, and three more chapters are already in preparation.

"We don't want to do 'fast-moving consumer goods', we want to make it a classic."

　　In addition, "collision" with different formats has also become a choice for immersive dramas to get out of the small circle and enter the public.

It is understood that even for a large-scale immersive performance such as "Sleepless Night", its single audience will not exceed 400 people, while a small and medium-sized immersive performance such as "Qinglu Youming·Aoki", a single performance The number of spectators was around a hundred people.

But when immersive theater is combined with exhibitions, scenic spots, bars and other formats, its traffic can be greatly increased.

　　"This is actually a tricky way." Qian Zijun explained that taking the immersive experience exhibition as an example, it does not control the flow of people so strictly. First, because the exhibition is not limited by the fixed performance time, and second, because the exhibition is not limited by the fixed performance time. The interspersed dramatic interpretations are often relatively plain and simple.

For the audience of the exhibition, their psychological expectation is only to see the solo exhibition, but they did not expect to see the play, which is an upgrade of the experience.

　　For scenic spots, bars and other formats, their scenes are natural immersive performance venues, and their business models are relatively mature.

It is understood that during the performance of the immersive classic Kunqu Opera "Six Records of a Floating Life" in Shanghai Yuyuan Garden, Suzhou Canglang Pavilion and other scenic spots, in addition to ticket revenue, it also played a big role in driving consumption in the scenic spots such as catering and shopping.

　　"The integration of performing arts space and public space breaks through the venue restrictions of traditional theater, reduces the cost of performance venues, and also achieves the guidance and shaping of urban culture." In Qian Zijun's view, this kind of performance in public space The immersive, interactive and participatory theatrical form will be a kind of new consumption in the future.

(Our reporter Fang Quyun)