I took a bus from Shanxi in the morning, and after a long journey, I arrived at my destination at three o'clock in the afternoon. After getting in touch with the staff in Ganling, we got permission to shoot.
The photographer set up the machine and prepared to start shooting. Unexpectedly, the sun, which was just as radiant as a torch, was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and the sky was overcast, with lightning and thunder, followed by heavy rain. In the face of the sudden change of the weather, I can't help but feel a little tangled. Should I stop filming and come back after the weather clears up? Or do you want to shoot a rainy scene according to time? Rain is from heaven, so why don't I follow God's will and shoot the dry mausoleum in the rain? When I made this decision, there were images soaked in rain in the camera: the stone statue of a civil servant and military commander clutching his watch in the heavy rain, and the stone horse silent under the drooping cloud curtain, but it still made people feel that they were looking at the stone statue without a head in the distance ... The dry grave in the rain has a unique charm, revealing an unspeakable loneliness and vicissitudes, which is the Millennium silence after the prosperity receded.
Our filming is in full swing. Unexpectedly, the sky suddenly cleared up just after dark clouds were gathering. Then, a rainbow appeared on the horizon at the beginning of the rain, and then, it was a clear Wan Li, dry and bright. After the rain, the dry mausoleum is like a new life, the lead is washed away and the face is facing the sky. As time goes by, it is pleasant and pleasant.
When I came to Ganling, I couldn't help taking a tablet without words. That is a monument erected after the death of Wu Zetian, which is world-famous. Wu Zetian's life was full of power and glory, but after her death, she left herself an empty monument without words. Could it be suggesting that the queen's merits are boundless? Or to reflect the spirit of "judging the merits and demerits of future generations"?
Just as we were absorbed in shooting the tablet without words, photographer Jiaxiang Qian suddenly shouted: "There is a dragon in the sky!" Everyone was shocked when they heard the news. There are really clouds in the air, which look like dragons flying in the direction of the tablet without words. When approaching the monument, longan, longkou and African claw appeared one after another, which was clearly distinguishable. Time flies, a generation of arrogance has already vanished, and today, a thousand years later, only the wind and cloud can turn into dragons, and obeying orders can not help but make people think deeply. It sounds a bit like a myth, but fortunately, our camera recorded the whole process of Yunlong flying to the tablet without words.
In less than two hours, we experienced thunder, storm, rain, rainbow and sunset. It was originally a thrilling long drama that took the vast universe several days or even weeks to perform. It took only one evening in Ganling to condense it into an incredible sketch of the universe, allowing us to glimpse eternity in an instant and realize infinity in a tiny way! Today, the location photography team came to Shexian County, Anhui Province to shoot. Shexian county is dotted with some ancient villages with a history of hundreds of years. With the deepening of the lens, those old houses left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties and even the Song Dynasty are constantly coming into view. The prominent lintels, complicated decorations and exquisite carvings all describe the prosperity and glory of that year. Ten years of cold window, frugality, and sudden entry into the core management of the empire, with a prominent position and admiration from thousands of people, is proof.
Accompanying us in filming is Director Wang of the Propaganda Department of the County Party Committee, a middle-aged scholar who looks a little ignorant but is actually very sharp and funny. During lunch break, he casually mentioned one thing, saying that once he went to Xi 'an to visit the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, he saw a long queue of visitors at the door under the scorching sun, but the VIP passage for foreigners was empty. Feeling uncomfortable, he took his colleagues to the VIP channel and asked them in Shexian dialect: Did you wash the pot? The subordinate replied: I want to wash it. Ask again: Did you wash the dishes? Answer again: Yes. Ask again: Do you want to wash the pots and bowls? Answer: wash! The ticket inspector thought it was a Japanese friend, but it was right and he was released. The serious look of that pair of words turned us upside down in an instant.
The shooting in the afternoon continues. On a sunny day, there are no clouds in Wan Li, the sun is scorching, and the temperature is as high as 38.5 degrees. Sweating, each member's clothes are wet and dry, dry and wet. By the end of the evening, the photographer's dark undershirt was covered with salt. Shexian propaganda minister wants to invite everyone to dinner tonight. The photographer wanted to go back to the hotel and put on clean clothes, but because Director Wang said that the minister was waiting at the hotel, he had to give up the idea of changing clothes. I also deluded myself to comfort the photographer. The salt flower on the undershirt seems to be an irregular print, which is easy to fool others' eyes.
I didn't know that the other party was a female minister until we met. After sitting down, I haven't talked a few words, and the careful female minister has seen through the mystery on the undershirt. She was greatly moved when she learned that the photographer's sweatshirt was covered with salt flowers. She immediately filled the glass of wine, got up and made a toast to the photographer, and then gulped it down. At noon, in order to shoot an ancient bridge, the photography team had to cross a vast wheat field to find the best angle.
The ground temperature of more than 40 degrees is so hot that people are suffocating and groggy, and their partners are hanging their heads, and even the spirit of joking is gone. However, just as we bowed our heads and walked silently through the wheat fields, I found that the wheat seedlings less than half a person's height in the field were still standing quietly, not only standing upright, but also standing full of green, graceful. There was a sudden touch in my heart. In order to flaunt ourselves, we have all compared ourselves to a grass without thinking, and we are also very complacent about our false low-key and modesty. The moment I crossed the wheat field, I suddenly understood that it was not easy to be a grass. The scorching sun, high temperature, dryness, pests and crises are everywhere, but the wheat seedlings have explained the tenacity of life to me in the weakest, quietest and most inconspicuous way.
Imagine if I were put in the ground like wheat and exposed to the hot sun. In less than half a day, I will die. Compared with the tenacity of soil, I am far less than it! In an instant, the awe of life runs through my whole body until the details of my soul.
I know, from now on, I will never compare myself to dirt easily! Thank God, today is beautiful Wan Li. It has been turned on for more than ten days, and the weather in Hengdian is getting better every day.
According to the plan, the scene of the emperor shunzhi Imperial Examination was filmed in the Ming and Qing Palace of Studio City today, showing the plot of the emperor shunzhi's re-examination in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai after the case of Jiangnan Township, which caused a sensation in the Qing Dynasty, broke out. In order to play a deterrent role, the examination room is heavily guarded and military service is dense. Candidates all entered the venue wearing instruments of torture. Besides the emperor, there were many ministers and eunuchs, dozens of candidates and a large number of Hogo soldiers. It was a big scene.
Director and director Shen Yuqing loves acting. Because of his chubby and honest appearance, the eunuch he played was both physical and mental, and naturally he did his part. So he suddenly became an official of the Han Palace, a eunuch of the Tang Dynasty, and a eunuch of the Ming Dynasty. It is a great pleasure for him to travel frequently through the palaces of various dynasties. Of course, today he is a eunuch.
Unfortunately, most of the local extras who came for military service that day were middle-aged and elderly people, and they were the kings of a country. How does the veteran weak Ding make up the figures? In desperation, the stylist hit on the girl's idea. Unexpectedly, Director Wang was really willing to take the bait. Those days coincided with my daughter's visit to class. Wang Xu pulled her in, changed her costume and put on two fake beards. How can you tell a man from a woman standing in the distance? Today is a day worth writing. The five-episode documentary "Imperial Examination" was finally completed today.
Imperial examination is a big project.
1300 years of long history, voluminous historical materials, foggy legends and scattered relics, how should we start? After nearly a year of script writing, I took my team to read widely, searched for wonderful details in the old paper pile, and became an obedient student again in front of serious and interesting professors. After several drafts, it almost collapsed and finally melted into 50 thousand words.
Three months of location shooting, braving the heat, rampaging, salvaging the remaining memories squeezed and deformed by reality, looking for bricks and tiles covered by history, and gathering into 2400 minutes of audio and video materials.
More than a month of scene reproduction shooting, 1500 actors participated, more than 80 ancient scenes, more than 400 sets of costumes, and 1000 pieces of display props ran non-stop between Qin and Han Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Song and Yuan Dynasties and Ming and Qing Dynasties; Get up early, stay up late, get too tired to eat, laugh and curse, argue and fight, and finally condense into 60 precious HD videos.
More than three months of post-production, preliminary cutting, intensive repair, and repeated reinvention; Editing narration and pasting effect, more than 100 copyrighted music from world-renowned composers was finally refined into a 250-minute documentary "Imperial Examination".
Five videos were lying quietly on the table, and I suddenly felt reluctant to give up. In the past two years, I feel that I have been wandering on the edge of reality, shuttling between ancient and modern times, facing emperors and princes in distant times. I watch them from a distance, I stare at them, I listen to their inner voices, and I keep drawing energy and growing in communication with them. ...
I know it's time to say goodbye to them today. I want to get out of the imperial examination and embrace my first big movie. I'm crazy about blind date!