China's five thousand years have produced many rich and tortuous stories, from individual fate to the rise and fall of nations, from the joys and sorrows of life to the change of dynasties, which are full of drama and legend. The recently broadcast documentary "The Turning Point of History" with 5 episodes and 26 episodes is different from focusing on a generation and a person. It extracts five nodes from the history of China, reproduces them in a dramatic way, presents a novel creative concept and aesthetic form, and causes some thoughts: How does documentary intervene in history?
Documentary intervention in history can be roughly divided into three ways: first, restore history, try to restore history according to its true colors, do not go with the flow, and do not judge arbitrarily; The second is to express history, interpret human nature, express emotions and interpret legends with historical figures and stories as carriers; Third, reflect on history, re-examine and judge history with today's eyes, and enlighten the present with history.
The Turning Point of History interprets five turning points in China's history by way of scene reappearance: Shang Yang's political reform, Sino-Hungarian war, Yuan Dynasty alliance, voyage to the West and Sino-Japanese War, and is a documentary reflecting on history. The film goes deep into the historical node, that is, the gestation moment, trying to reveal the internal motivation of China's historical changes. As the director said, the purpose of filming this film is to "better grasp the direction of our nation and the future of the world, and hope to inspire the audience to find the wisdom of survival from the mystery of history." This documentary not only hopes to become a masterpiece, but also hopes to inspire life and inspire the contemporary. People may have different understandings of the choice of these five nodes, but we can't deny the speculative characteristics of this film. In the exposition, the director said: "Cut into the narrative from a unique perspective, and at the same time join the thought-provoking discussion. Avoid the historical record like a running account, but sublimate a speculative point of view in the dialogue. "
Documentary, as a product of mass media, cannot ignore the audience's expectation of dramatic stories and video wonders. Therefore, scene reappearance has become an important expression of documentaries, especially historical documentaries. The turning point of history is a documentary with a complete scene reappearance. The main scenes are played by actors, and the earlier the time, the more performative it is. There are still exact historical materials, files and photos in the Sino-Japanese War, and the first four episodes are almost all reappearance and interviews. Although historical documentaries can tell stories like TV dramas, the most important thing is truth. Even if dramatic moments are magnified, the materials used must be based on literature and cannot be fabricated at will. This is the fundamental difference between documentary and TV series, and also the irreplaceable value of documentary. It can't distort history to entertain the audience. The turning point of history is based on historical documents, and its historicity is endorsed by historical records, expert explanations, sites and folk customs that have been passed down to this day. Among them, documentary paragraphs add a sense of life to the documentary. "Shang Yang Reform" is about the folk snacks in Gaoping, Shanxi, which are "boiled from the ground". At that time, the descendants of these holocaust survivors boiled tofu as meat and treated garlic and ginger as brains to curse General Qin's massacre atrocities. The houses called shells by Quanzhou people in "Journey to the West" are the products of Zheng He's voyage to the West-these oyster shells were picked up when the fleet returned from Africa. These documentary scenes not only activate history, but also connect history and reality.
In addition, even if the scenes of documentary paragraphs are reproduced, the aesthetic principles followed by historical documentaries are different from those of TV dramas. From the audience's psychology, TV plays pursue immersive communication, let the audience enter the historical scene and regard the actors as historical figures; The historical documentary pursues the effect of alienation, and draws the audience away from the historical scene through interviews, documents and documentaries. Scene reproduction is only a means to express history. From the narrative way, TV plays pursue ups and downs of dramatic structure, complex and full personality and complete and continuous stories; The scene reproduction of historical documentary focuses on setting off the atmosphere, which reproduces the main outlines and details of historical stories in fragments and discontinuously, rather than completely and continuously. From the perspective of audio-visual performance, TV drama narrative adopts multiple scenes, and creates a closed and illusory time and space through audio-visual elements such as dialogue, music and sound; The scene reproduction of historical documentary highlights the use of lens, replaces dialogue with voiceover, and creates an open space with music and sound. Therefore, the documentary with full scene reappearance is the fusion of thought and aesthetics, which gives the audience the shock of humanity or the revelation of truth, not just entertainment.
Expert interview is an indispensable element in historical documentary. This is not only the protection of authenticity, but also the expression of ideas. The Turning Point of History interviewed Bao Kunshan, Li Shan, Sassu, Mao Peiqi and other well-known experts. Their research and interpretation of basic historical materials are convincing and inspiring. For example, when talking about Li Hongzhang's signing of treaty of shimonoseki, the guest Li Honggu said: "It is very difficult for such a huge empire to move towards a modern country ... At this time, our understanding of sympathy becomes particularly important. When you reconcile with history, reason will go further than confrontation. " This passage of Li Honggu tells us that it is far more important and valuable to go deep into the historical situation, understand history and draw inspiration from it than to blame history.
Historical classics are also the soil on which historical documentaries live. TV plays can absorb a lot of nutrition from folklore, unofficial history and legends, while documentaries can only look for stories from serious historical classics, and absolutely can't play them in order to dramatically destroy the historical truth. Although the stories told in "The Turn of History" are also climaxes and twists and turns, they are all from official historical records such as Historical Records, Hanshu and Zitongzhi Bamboo Slips. Of course, there is no shortage of drama in real history.
In recent years, some historical documentaries, forced by the pressure of viewing, are keen on digging graves and robbing tombs, so they are mystifying, and the scene reappearance is rampant, lacking the support of historical materials and the textual research of costume props, making serious historical documentaries into third-rate TV dramas. Scene reappearance is not the crux of the Taoist king in A Dream of Red Mansions. If you cross the line and use it improperly, it will certainly damage the aesthetic principles of documentaries.
The long history has endowed us with rich human resources, which is a civilized tradition that supports us to move forward. Since the new century, historical documentaries have constantly challenged new boundaries, extending from modern times to ancient times, from the Forbidden City and Yuanmingyuan to historical turning points. Scene reappearance constructs a new way for documentaries to intervene in history, finds a delicate balance between historical speech and public acceptance, and expands a dynamic new space for historical documentaries.