On February 4, 2022, the beautiful and romantic opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics was staged in the Bird's Nest. The combination of nature and humanity, simplicity contained technology, and the concept of one world family runs through, from the grandeur of 2008 to the romance of 2022. Behind this event that touched the world is the hard work and dedication of the main creative team for more than two years.
Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics: In 2008, we took a lot of detours, because we thought that a great Olympics was the first time in China, and you would have a lot of ideas, then these In 2022, when you think about concepts and ideas, and you are very pragmatic, you will know that these things are more utopian.
Construction began in the Bird's Nest in March 2020. After the chief director Zhang Yimou received the task of directing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the first thing that came to his mind was the idea of a full-screen screen.
Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics: The purpose of using such a large floor screen is to tell everyone that the ground of the Bird's Nest tonight is a piece of ice, and it plays ice, but it is a concept. Two-dimensional images are equivalent to terrestrial movies.
In order to reduce the cost and ensure the effect, the director team decided to do a test in the bird's nest to determine the final screen model.
Chang Yu, Minister of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee: The ground screen has become the most important actor in the entire performance.
In fact, the director put a lot of thought into making the actor sing better. In fact, he designed a better pattern for it and how it interacts. This is a big challenge in the decision-making screen.
In the opening ceremony program plan reported to the International Olympic Committee in October 2020, the core performance of the opening ceremony is a program called Four Seasons, which shows the changes of the four seasons through the interactive performance of actors and vision.
Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics: Actually, I (acted in 2018) as the chief director of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (the chief director of the Lighting Fireworks Gala). I was joking at that time. I said that I didn’t know if there would be any Winter Olympics in the future. At that time, I also said that if China’s bid to host the Winter Olympics is successful in the future, it may be used for the Winter Olympics, because I don’t know if I am the chief director or not. I know, it was just a joke, but the bid was successful, and I was appointed as the general director, so I thought of a way to make use of it.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: At that time, we did nearly fifty to sixty to seventy or eighty different poles, and made a lot of content, and then we finally chose about five or six. payment.
This evening, director Zhang Yimou will determine the length of the props used by the actors during the rehearsal of the show based on the demonstration of three different lengths of illuminated props.
Due to the simplification of the opening ceremony plan, the four seasons program finally retained the spring part, echoing the countdown short film, and changed its name to "Lichun".
Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics: Actually, the performance space of this prop is not very large. It can not be used for everything. It just happens to be able to perform Lichun. If there are a little more people, it is very like a meadow, with the feeling of wind blowing wheat waves, it can express plants, and the rhythm of its movement is very beautiful, so in this case, we will use it as the first program of Lichun.
Manipulating the 9-meter-long luminous props is not an easy task. The director team finally selected students from Laizhou Zhonghua Martial Arts School in Shandong Province and Yuncheng Songjiang Martial Arts School to perform the Lichun program.
The two schools also participated in the performances of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: because its difficulty is actually beyond the imagination of ordinary people, it is not a fixed object, it is a dynamic object, the pole is more than 9 meters high, almost 6 pounds, and the air is always in Shaky.
The children of the martial arts school are very young and hardworking, because they have a good foundation, and they are nothing more than how to adapt to the official pole from the substitute pole.
Gao Zhiyi, the program director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: The bottom half of the rod we use is stainless steel, and the top half is made of a material similar to a fishing rod. Forty-five degrees or eighty degrees to the right, then the position of my hand already determines the position of the tip of the rod.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: So we need to practice balance, strength, and coordination.
Gao Zhiyi, the program director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: They were also asked to practice rhythm alone, including their arm strength, to correct, challenge and change step by step.
After training in Shandong for nearly two months, in early December 2021, nearly 400 students and coaches embarked on the journey of training in Beijing.
There are 50 days left before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics. On this day, the actors of "Li Chun" got their first official lighting props, but at the same time they also encountered the first problem.
Gao Zhiyi, director of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony program: At the beginning, the director set a height of 9 meters. After 10 days or half a month, the director decided again. He felt that the pole was 9 meters long. The vitality is not strong enough, so it was changed to 9 meters 5. The official pole is much more flexible than this standby prop pole, and it should be said to be double the difficulty of control.
The length of 9 meters 5, the root is slightly offset by one degree, then the pole tip may be offset by one meter.
Meng Lingcong, a student of Songjiang Martial Arts School in Yuncheng, Shandong: I didn't feel comfortable at first, because the pole (prop pole) is much lighter than this, so after practicing all morning, my arm was obviously sore, which was worse than when I was in Yantai. Tired a lot.
Sun Xingzhe, a student of the Chinese Martial Arts School in Laizhou, Shandong: The beat must be very accurate, and then the movements must be very standardized. I think this is the most difficult.
Gao Zhiyi, the program director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: We have to start from the beginning, just like we are holding prop poles and substitute poles, and then we must start from the beginning and stroke it bit by bit, and then we must complete the various methods we have done in the past. Completely complete is equivalent to doing it all over again, of course, we must do it better in a limited time.
The actors of "Li Chun" took part in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics for the first time after two days of rehearsal with official props.
Gao Zhiyi, director of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony program: There must be a report in the middle, because we have to record the video after rehearsing for a period of time, and then hand it to the director. The feedback from the director is encouraging, and the feedback to us later Just don't hit the stick, I made a rhythm chart later.
Zhang Yu, program director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: Let them know each person's own rhythm, because each person's rhythm will be fine to the big beat, that is, one beat may be divided into two beats to do the action, this must be done by each The actor knows which shot he is in, so that he can possibly do a good job of connecting and connecting each one.
Gao Zhiyi, director of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony program: The final rhythm is 480 beats in one minute. Generally, we count the rhythm as 1, 2, 3, 4, but the rhythm we have now mastered by the actors is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 78. 22345678 is such a speed.
Gao Zhiyi, director of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony program: If you count it in seconds, it is equivalent to the time difference between two actors. The time difference between them is 0.125 seconds. For example, eight people are one second per second. Three-four-five-six-seven-eight, its relationship can finally present our alternating waves, which we call the flowing water relationship of Canon in professional terms.
The three-minute program involves 393 rhythms, 393 directions, 393 speeds and other arrangements. The actors and the light-emitting props are running in and out day and night. Dancing between the square inches.
At the end of 2021, in the student dormitory of the Capital Institute of Physical Education, the voices of the "Li Chun" actors reciting the rhythm table can be heard every day.
Since everyone moves differently, so does the rhythm chart, and everyone wants to familiarize themselves with the rhythm to ensure accurate movement during rehearsals.
Han Guidi, a student of Songjiang Martial Arts School in Yuncheng, Shandong: I would take out a small desk lamp when I was resting. On the desk, I would take this note, dictate it and memorize it. This is the case every day, at night and at noon.
The actors have adopted closed management at the station and cannot go to the school playground for training. They will conduct group training in the corridor of the dormitory every day.
Meng Lingcong, a student of Songjiang Wushu School in Yuncheng, Shandong: First of all, you must understand the movement, its sequence, and then memorize the beats. First, you must know the movements, and then you can recite the beats. Click on the beats and movement cards to express them perfectly. .
In addition to reciting their own unique rhythm chart, students must master the essentials of each movement through daily practice and form muscle memory.
After training, what worries Zheng Longquan the most is his mother who is undergoing cancer treatment.
Zheng Longquan, a student of Songjiang Martial Arts School in Yuncheng, Shandong: I really wanted to go home. At that time, I was thinking of going home to take care of my mother. My mother told me that you must go, because this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you may only have one in your life. To be able to participate in this Olympic Games, you have to represent China to show this program to the world.
It must be done well. At that time, I wanted to do this show well and show it to the world.
Zhang Yimou, Chief Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics: I know the Chinese people's concept of the beginning of spring, and how long-standing the concept of spring is.
For life, for nature, for the concept of the cycle of all things, we have a special wish for the beginning of spring.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: The director's creativity is very clear. The quality and appearance he wants in his heart convey romance, ethereal, and humanistic core of such a subject.
This is what he said he dreamed of, and he has always wanted to achieve a content, that is, the human body matrix, and then a 9.5-meter-high pole to complete the concept of Lichun. This kind of rehearsal requires a very powerful algorithm, and then Every actor's position, every rhythm is different.
Just like science, it counts very clearly.
Gao Zhiyi, director of the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony program: I think it is such a program that fully reflects a teamwork.
This tangible form to show our Chinese spirit, Chinese temperament, Chinese strength.
This day is the last joint practice for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the rehearsal three days later will usher in the first leadership review.
Since the light-emitting props are equipped with lighting control buttons, the 393 actors must switch the power on and off according to the director's unified password, so whether the performance is successful depends on whether all the actors are in the same pace, and the first second after the countdown is the most critical. .
The ground digital images of today's joint practice and Lichun performance have also been revised again according to the requirements of director Zhang Yimou.
Wang Zhiou, the visual effects director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: It was also changed back and forth many times. At that time, we were about to be forced into a corner. His scale felt like taking our first shot of the whole spring when the flowers bloomed. in 3D space.
I think on the world stage of the Winter Olympics, we must have our own expression, whether our own culture has a brand-new such a means of technology and art to let the people of the world understand China.
In today's rehearsal, the program team mainly solved the problem that the actors accidentally touched the switch of the light-emitting props and the pace was out of step during the rehearsal of the opening ceremony the night before.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: This is what worries me a lot. For this reason, we have a separate switch key and insurance, so maybe it's the children, because this is everyone, I can't be everyone. It has to be said that he may press the wrong button nervously at that moment, so he should emphasize this matter and repeatedly emphasize to avoid this kind of mistaken touch again.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: I hope they relax and calm down.
Now has come to a critical time to ensure that their movements are effective, the quality is effective, and no more difficulty is added.
There are still 7 days before the opening ceremony. During this day's rehearsal, the program team encountered new problems.
Zang Hua, the leader of the Chinese Martial Arts School in Laizhou, Shandong Province: The previous rehearsal pole was seriously damaged. Before, it was because the pole had to take the time to fall back after running to this position. At the same time, it was easy to hit because you didn't pay attention to the direction of the pole. The students in the back have to hurry up and withdraw from the field. Some of the pole tips fall on the ground, and it is easy to step on the pole one by one.
Due to a narrow exit and strict regulations on the time of the exit, the rehearsal this afternoon was mainly to solve how to exit the field quickly and orderly.
Wang Xing, director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics: I think any good work is constantly polished. During the polishing process, they do it more accurately. 393 people are like a whole to complete such a beautiful picture of the beginning of spring. This is my pursuit. .
Since mid-January, the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics has been rehearsed four times. After each rehearsal, the Lichun show will be criticized by director Zhang Yimou. Until the last rehearsal on February 2, Lichun's performance was finally presented perfectly.
After more than four months of high-intensity training, the last second of this night's countdown will be fixed at the beginning of spring, and a prelude of hope that everything will grow, prosper, and return to the earth in spring will be held up in their hands.
Zhang Yimou, chief director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics: The most important thing for me is to hope that the audience around the world can feel our enthusiasm and warmth, and jointly advocate a vision for a better future.
Chang Yu, Minister of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee: At the beginning of 2022, when our world has not yet stepped out of the impact of the epidemic, just like our Chinese understanding of Lichun, we may be in a severe cold At the end of winter, we have felt the hope that we have seen spring.