"Did you hear it? The Beijing Central Axis is about to apply for the World Heritage List." With the soft and delicate voice of actor Wu Gang, the Beijing Central Axis picture scroll slowly opened.
In the video of 2 minutes and 25 seconds, the spokesperson "Beijing Swift" eloquently told the story of Beijing's central axis application. At the same time, the "digital axis" was officially launched, showing the technical "muscle".
"We will open up the digital technologies accumulated over the years, including game engines, physical simulation, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc., to create a true "digital axis". Tencent sustainable social value business In an interview with a reporter from Beijing News Shell Finance and Economics, Shu Zhan, director of the Digital Culture Laboratory of the Ministry of Education (SSV), said that the "digital axis" aims to innovatively build a paradigm of digital heritage application, which will not only allow more people to experience the grandeur of the central axis The momentum and historical changes will also help the innovation and activation of the cultural heritage of the central axis, and truly realize the sustainable development of cultural heritage protection.
The digital power in Beijing culture is being seen.
The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics presented people with an audio-visual feast, which amazed the world, and also reproduced a touching Chinese-style romance through digital technology.
With the deepening of the cultural digitization strategy, new cultural formats and models combining cultural content and digital technology have become an important part of Beijing's cultural industry, and the role of "boosters" has been further enhanced.
The Central Axis "Going to the Cloud" tells the story of Beijing
At the end of 2021, the "Digital Axis" will be officially launched, and the "Central Axis on the Cloud" applet will be launched.
In just 5 hours that day, more than 500,000 users participated in the creative interaction and became the helpers of the Beijing Central Axis application.
Cultural heritage + digital, this will be a typical exploration of the application of digital technology in the cultural field.
Tencent participates in and assists Beijing Central Axis in applying for the World Heritage List through the method of "public donation + technical resource investment", promotes the protection, inheritance and utilization of cultural heritage of the Central Axis with its digital technology capabilities, and explores the role of SSV (Sustainable Social Value Division) in Innovative models of sustainable social value on cultural heritage.
What is the central axis of Beijing, why should it be inscribed, and should modern buildings on the central axis also be included in the scope of application?
There are many stories on the central axis, which requires a huge, matrix-like data force to tell these stories.
The "digital axis" was launched, allowing everyone to participate in the application of the axis.
Shu Zhan, director of the Digital Culture Laboratory of Tencent's Sustainable Social Value Division (SSV), told Shell Finance reporters that the public did not know much about the application of the central axis. The transformation of cultural heritage from universal value to social knowledge allows the history and culture of the central axis to better reach the public and spread to all parts of the world.
In addition, realize the sustainable development of the cultural heritage of the central axis.
According to Shu Zhan, the core of the "Central Axis on the Cloud" applet is to establish the public's awareness of the central axis of Beijing, to gain an in-depth understanding of the 19 heritage sites on the central axis of Beijing, to appreciate the magnificent beauty of the central axis of the ancient capital, and to participate in the application of the central axis to the World Heritage List. .
The "Digital Central Axis" also tried to use digital technology to create cultural heritage IP, combined with the traditional Chinese intangible cultural heritage "Jingyan Kite" as the central axis and its 19 heritage sites to create 20 unique digital collections of "Beijing Swift".
The first batch of 9,999 free digital collections of the Beijing Central Axis Commemorative Edition were collected by users in just one hour.
In June this year, the Beijing Central Axis Cultural Heritage Inheritance and Innovation Competition was launched, and the Beijing Central Axis World Heritage Application and Protection Office officially released the second digital collection of the Beijing Central Axis, "The Axis of Ten Thousand People".
The collection is creatively supported by Tencent SSV Digital Culture Laboratory and the National Museum of China. It adopts the design of ink and rice paper floating layer, and combines the cultural relics from different ages and different forms in the collection of the National Museum of China in oracle bone script, golden script, small seal script, official script and regular script. , The word "中" written in running script is integrated with the word "中" co-created by thousands of people.
The center of the picture is highlighted by the oracle bone seal, and the background pattern integrates rickshaw tourists, ice candied haws, children flying swift kites, Peking Opera performances, etc., presenting the central axis city life scenes and iconic intangible cultural heritage elements.
This collection is limited to 611 copies on the "Central Axis on the Cloud" applet, and it was collected within 15 minutes of going online.
The "Digital Axis" project builds a model for digital cultural integration.
Shu Zhan believes that the transmission, mining and protection of cultural heritage value is not only the preservation and protection of cultural heritage digitally, but also the activation of cultural heritage through digital methods and cultural and creative means to convey its charm to the world.
The development of digital cultural and creative is a process of exploration, a never-ending process. It is necessary to use digital technology to add wings of imagination and creativity to cultural heritage.
Immersive viewing of the exhibition, people are swimming in the painting
When you are staring at the light and shadow version of "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling", you suddenly see a plant version of the picture.
This is a scene of the China Pavilion at the Beijing Expo 2019. The team led by Zhang Lie, Director of the Institute of Interactive Media Art and Design, Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, has achieved a perfect fusion of authenticity and illusion with the help of energized glass technology.
This fusion is also the epitome of the collision of ancient cultural heritage and modern technology. Today's museums are increasingly not satisfied with the simple display of cultural relics or artworks, Zhang Lie said, "We hope to tell stories in museums and achieve unexpected results. The focus of this exhibition is that the light and shadow and plant art installations of "Fuchun Mountain Residence" are both ornamental, and both states are works of art, which is also our original intention for this creation."
Zhang Lie has always been committed to the integration of cultural heritage and digitalization. The China Pavilion at the Beijing World Horticultural Exposition is also the most laborious one in his decades-long career. It took 4 years from conception, design to implementation.
He hoped that the China Pavilion at the Expo, as a business card for China to show to the world, could better convey the thoughts and spirits of the Chinese people in the process of telling stories.
The protagonists of the Expo are flowers and plants. Walking into the "Heaven, Earth and Humanity" exhibition hall of the China Pavilion, an interesting bronze sculpture at first glance is a scene of a person kneeling and planting seedlings. If you look closely, you will find that it is the word "art".
"In the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, the representative of the early Chinese civilization, many characters related to plants, such as fruit and wood, have appeared. What is particularly interesting is the word "art". Does it tell us that our ancestors' understanding of art was originally from harmony Obtained from the interaction of plants?" Zhang Lie said.
To tell these historical stories and emotions more vividly, digitalization can help the historical narrative and artistic expression to be more deeply presented, Zhang Lie said, "Whether it is painting or sculpture, what can be presented is only a moment, while images and interactive The story can be told more deeply and vividly.”
A total of 9 scenes were designed for the China Pavilion, most of which used digital technology, and the last two scenes were a fully immersive presentation.
From "Harmony and Escape" to "Harmony and Coexistence", through multi-dimensional and immersive images, the audience seems to become the person in the painting.
Blossoming flowers, colorful fallen flowers, shady trees, snowflakes all over the sky, walking through the four seasons of traditional gardens.
The scene takes the Yuanmingyuan as the background, with the help of the dynamic and static changes of digital light and shadow, to create the four seasons sunny and rainy, summer flowers and autumn fruits in the garden.
Finally, from ancient times to contemporary times, through time and space, a bird's-eye view of China's great rivers and mountains, with typical cases showing China's consistent ecological civilization thinking and major achievements in ecological governance in New China.
Zhang Lie has also felt the great progress of digital technology in his decades of practice. "For example, we may only be able to touch a small computer screen before, but now we can have a whole wall of touch screens."
Digital technology can play a very good supplementary role in the content interpretation of museums, supplementing scenes that cannot be visited, cultural relics that cannot be touched, and information that cannot be detailed.
"For example, the current AR technology allows the audience to generate supplementary descriptions of the cultural relics from the transparent screen or transparent glasses while observing the actual cultural relics. As the expansion of knowledge, the fitting of the image and the location of the cultural relics can be very intuitive and vivid. conveys a wealth of information.”
In response to this change, Zhang Lie made a metaphor. If the museums in the past were more like scientists making reports, then the museums now should be popular science writers telling stories.
Now museums should think more from the point of view of the audience, how to let the visitors gain a deeper understanding, acquire more knowledge, and have a better experience.
"
Zhang Lie mentioned that digital technology has three important functions in the process of combining with cultural heritage.
First, the cultural heritage can be recorded and preserved as high-fidelity as possible, and this digital twin achievement itself should be valuable.
"You can't predict which number or entity is more valuable in the future, and sometimes the replica itself has its value." The second function is to promote academic research. Through the analysis of big data and artificial intelligence, it is possible to summarize or discover things that were difficult to find or discover in the past. Some cultural phenomena and laws that are ignored.
"The discovery of a pattern in the past may be the crystallization of the lifelong knowledge of one or even several experts, but now through artificial intelligence technology, some clues can be found very quickly from big data, so as to discover new stories and interesting phenomena." Third One function is to promote inheritance and dissemination, "Whether it is online or offline, cultural heritage must be effectively disseminated to the public. Through digital technology, the depth and breadth of cultural dissemination can be greatly enhanced, the appeal of cultural dissemination can be enhanced, and more More people have a better understanding of China's excellent traditional culture and the wonderful stories behind it."
Virtual technology cross-border, "weaving" draws the Chinese knot
With digital technology as the engine, Beijing continues to launch a number of distinctive cultural and technological scenes and high-quality products in the fields of cultural tourism, radio and television, performing arts, and cultural and expo.
"East of the Forbidden City · City Blind Box" digital immersive experience space landed in Wangfujing; "Beijing Square" in Qianmen area built the world's first "5G + virtual reality" smart business district; Beijing Radio and Television Station successfully launched the Winter Olympics documentary 8K ultra-high-definition test channel , became the country's first 8K TV channel.
During the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics delegation flags and athletes' entry, the visual effects and virtual design team played with the concept of "Chinese knot", which is still impressive: countless red lines leap from the periphery of the Bird's Nest and run towards the center of the stage. , just like the agile Chixia, gathering in China with different trajectories.
"This is a visual spectacle created by our virtual team using UE4 (Unreal Engine 4) virtual rendering technology, surrounded by a 40-meter-high giant Chinese knot and a physical torch in the air. The design uses AR (augmented reality technology) ), making the final Chinese knot model unprecedented in terms of precision, details of material textures and real-time rendering volume. Ultimately, Chinese knots are solemn, simple, dynamic, romantic and beautiful with the support of traditional elements and technological innovation. Weaving "draws a Chinese knot that has never been seen before, and makes the world applaud Chinese creativity." Sha Xiaolan, director of the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, told Shell Finance reporter that the application of digital technology and the transformation of traditional culture have achieved shocking The performance effect of the show has also achieved a breakthrough in creative expression, breaking the limitations of time and space through technology, making the imagery of traditional cultural symbols rejuvenate, and attracting more age groups to pay attention to the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In Sha Xiaolan's view, technology empowers culture and plays a very obvious and important role in the field of cultural performances.
In terms of literary and artistic creation, performance equipment, presentation methods, theater construction, etc., the exploration and integration of scientific and technological thinking and scientific and technological achievements are encouraged, and new technologies and new applications are used to innovate stage performance methods to expand the content depth and performance boundaries of cultural performing arts activities. Two-way linkage between online and offline, "It can be said that the progress of science and technology has injected new vitality into the development of the performing arts industry, and added vitality to the future of the cultural industry."
Chen Yang, chairman and general manager of Beijing Xingguang Film and Television Park, is also deeply touched by the technology-assisted cultural development.
In recent years, Xingguang Film and Television Park has increased the construction and investment in related fields such as XR (extended reality) virtual production and 5G+ ultra-high-definition remote production.
Chen Yang introduced that in the past, if the team planned a large-scale party or program, it required a lot of manpower to build the stage and scene. Now, through virtual production technology, only one screen and real-time rendering can be used to achieve many desired scenes.
"For example, if you shoot an advertisement in a studio, you can be in the North Pole for a while, and in the desert for a while, and you can achieve this effect in two days. If you shoot a real scene, the same scene may take two months." The future of film and television production is subversive.
Sha Xiaolan told Shell Finance reporter that in today's new era, science and technology are developing rapidly, and the application of many technical means in Beijing in the cultural field is not limited to performing arts technology. Big data algorithm recommendation, cloud computing, virtual technology, etc. are all applied in the cultural field across borders. One of the characteristics of current technology-assisted cultural development is the diversification of technology presentation options in the same application scenario.” In addition, many cultural empowerment The scientific and technological means are more localized. For example, many core technologies, algorithm tools, hardware equipment, and operating procedures are independently developed in China, so they are more targeted in application.
At the same time, in the past, science and technology helped culture to focus more on content creation and content production (ie recording, filming, executive production, etc.), but now it is necessary to satisfy both content production and audience experience, so as to satisfy a higher immersion experience and be more efficient. real-time content output, richer content selection, and more.
Accelerated iteration of technology, digital transformation of cultural enterprises
On July 26, the "Beijing Cultural Industry Development White Paper (2022)" released the "transcript" of science and technology empowered culture in the past year. Among them, cultural science and technology enterprises have achieved both quantitative and qualitative improvement.
From January to November 2021, there will be 1,105 "cultural + technology" enterprises above designated size in the city, with an operating income of 776.05 billion yuan, accounting for 51.7% of the operating income of cultural enterprises above designated size, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year, driving the operating income of cultural enterprises in the city. An increase of 9.4 percentage points.
During the same period, the city's 55 "specialized, refined, and new" cultural enterprises above designated size achieved an operating income of 16.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.6%.
6 new national cultural and technological integration demonstration bases, including the Palace Museum and Perfect World, have been added. The number of demonstration bases in Beijing has reached 11, ranking first in the country.
Multi-field digital transformation plans and policy documents have been released one after another, the capital's cultural digital strategy has been deepened and implemented, cultural enterprises have accelerated the pace of digital transformation, and technology is installing "accelerators" for the cultural industry iteratively.
In 2020, the city's cultural and related industries achieved an added value of 377.02 billion yuan, accounting for 10.5% of the regional GDP, ranking first in the country.
In 2021, Beijing's cultural industries above designated size will achieve operating income of 1,756.38 billion yuan, accounting for about 15% of the country's total; the core cultural field will achieve operating income of 1,584.83 billion yuan, accounting for 90% of the total revenue.
According to the newly released "2021 Cultural Industry Development Index of Chinese Provinces and Cities", Beijing has once again topped the Chinese provincial and municipal cultural industry development comprehensive index rankings, maintaining the first place in the ranking for six consecutive years.
According to Zhang Yichun, director of the Digital Art Department of the China Institute of Art and Technology, the role of science and technology in helping culture is to improve the efficiency of cultural and creative development, and secondly, technology can migrate many things from the pre-digital age to the digital age. It creates conditions for people to explore new space fields.
Sha Xiaolan told Shell Finance reporter that the deep integration of culture and technology still faces many new challenges, the potential of science and technology to support cultural construction has not been fully released, and the charm of culture trying to use technology to show has not been deeply stimulated.
Chen Yang, chairman and general manager of Beijing Xingguang Film and Television Park, believes that the integration of technology and culture itself is difficult, mainly because there are relatively few compound talents. Cultural needs.” At the same time, when some new technologies are applied to culture, the initial investment cost and trial and error cost are also very high, which also slows down the speed of integration of the two.
Chen Yang told the Shell Finance reporter that from the perspective of the entire cultural technology industry, there are more small-scale companies, and there should be more support and encouragement for small and medium-sized enterprises in all aspects.
The "Beijing Culture and Technology Integration Development Report (2020-2021)" released in December last year pointed out that in order to effectively promote scientific and technological support to lead the high-quality development of Beijing's cultural industry, relevant support policies have yet to be implemented in detail, and the scientific and technological innovation capabilities of cultural enterprises must also be implemented. To improve, the integration of cultural and technological resources and brand building still need to be strengthened, and how to turn the "danger" of the epidemic into an "opportunity" remains to be cracked.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Beijing must further strengthen top-level design, optimize the policy environment, strengthen the efficient connection between the cultural industry chain and the technological innovation chain, strive to build a cultural and technological integration brand, and boost the construction of a national cultural center and technological innovation center.
Sha Xiaolan is full of confidence in the future of Beijing's future integration of technology and culture.
"I believe that with the continuous development of Beijing's 5G technology, AR/VR, cloud computing, digital and intelligent technology, etc., the combination and application of Beijing's cultural industry and technology will become more and more routine and scene-based. Cloud theaters, digital exhibitions, 5G Application scenarios such as theaters will appear more maturely in Beijing's cultural performances and cultural tourism projects, making people's lives more colorful. You can immersely enjoy the charm of Beijing's culture through the times without leaving your home, and you can travel online in Beijing. Streets and alleys, feel the full charm of Beijing."
"In the future, Beijing's technological and cultural development will definitely be heavy, innovative and dynamic at the same time. Online and offline are two conflicting and colliding worlds, and there may be very avant-garde Asians online. The cultural circle will continue to exist, on the other hand, its traditional cultural heritage and elements will not disappear, and it may also create a new cultural ecology in the digital world, a cultural ecology with a Beijing flavor.” Zhang Yichun Say.
Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Song Meilu Sun Wenxuan