The success of historical documentaries depends largely on whether they can create impressive, vivid, three-dimensional and multi-faceted historical figures.
Looking back at the many scholars and sages who emerged in Jixia Academy, Mencius, Xunzi, Chunyu Kun, Li Si, Han Fei and other images all have their own characteristics, which not only form a sharp contrast in academic viewpoints, but also highlight the details of life. the complexity of their personalities.
Xunzi still adhered to Confucianism, benevolence, righteousness and ethics in the war-torn Warring States period, but Li Si and Han Fei, as Xunzi's students, gradually turned to Legalism, and believed that Legalism was more suitable for the era of rites and music.
Li Si and Han Fei were both students of Xunzi and representatives of Legalism, and later both assisted Qin Wang Yingzheng in the Qin state to unify the six kingdoms. However, Li Si and Han Fei were also very different.
Li Si was born as a clerk, and his views on things were sharp. He saw the mice in the granary eating the hoarded corn, living in a big room, and no people and dogs were disturbing him, so Li Si sighed: "A person is promising or not. Prosperity, like a mouse, is determined by the environment in which he lives." Han Fei was born in a noble family, he stuttered slightly, and was more proficient in writing than eloquence, and was finally framed to death by Li Si.
There are many differences between "Warring States Great Hall: Jixia Academy" and traditional documentaries.
For historical documentaries, "reproduction" is the rediscovery and arrangement of past information.
The traditional method is to use some empty footage and historical documents to form a text with commentary, and many rely on abstract commentary to narrate history, which is relatively pale and weak.
"Warring States Academy: Jixia Academy" breaks through the traditional documentary filming techniques, conveys the heavy sense of history and profound cultural connotation with the special effects of ink painting, which is thought-provoking.
The documentary also uses the silhouettes of characters to leave the audience with space for interpretation and imagination. With 2D and 3D animations produced by computers, it breaks through the limitations of time, place, manpower and material resources to get close to the historical situation at that time. Transform the historical and academic Qilu culture into the form and content that the public likes and hear, and reproduce those irreducible historical moments in a way that is closest to the movie, reflecting the artistic truth.
In addition, the film integrates expert interviews and situational interpretations into the telling of historical stories.
When stating historical materials, especially the dialogues of historical figures, the collision of ideas between different characters is performed by means of character play, scene rehearsal, etc., to maximize the restoration of the scene at that time, to make the picture more concrete, and to erase the mystery of history and the white snow. .
In just a few short pictures, the boring historical documents are vividly conveyed to the audience in the language of the lens, which narrows the psychological distance between the audience and the historical culture, and is more convenient for the audience to accept.
Narrative structure is a crucial link in the creation of documentaries, and is of great significance to the performance and expression of documentaries.
"The Great Hall of the Warring States: Jixia Academy" adopts a scatter narrative, "using small incisions and serialization to form a scatter perspective, different angles of the same event and different sides of the same character are divided into chapters".
At the beginning of each episode of the film, a classic scene in this episode is selected for scene interpretation, setting suspense, and also paving the way for the next plot.
For an important historical node, the film is presented in various forms such as 3D animation, sand painting, scene interpretation, historical documents, and expert comments.
At the end of each episode, there is a link between the previous and the next, which not only summarizes the content of this episode but also predicts the content of the next episode.
It delivers the most abundant information to the audience from multiple angles and multiple sides in the shortest time, and fully takes into account the dissemination of the Internet age and the viewing habits of the audience, which has opened up a new model.
On the surface, Jixia Academy of Warring States University is about the rise and fall of China's first institution of higher learning, but it actually tells the fate of many scholars in Jixia Academy, and reflects the changes of various schools of thought, especially Confucianism. It can even be said to be a history of Confucianism and Chinese civilization.
Natsuko