Four years ago, Zhang Ran filmed "Before Dawn" and stayed in Hengdian for several months. At that time, he was still a new director and didn't know him when he walked on the street with his face facing the sky. Now he is the leading director in China. Appearing on the street without wearing sunglasses will definitely attract onlookers.

The hotel where Zhang Ran and the creative team of the opening ceremony were settled in Hengdian's famous VIP building, and the cost was paid by the crew of "Golden Armor". The creative team came to Hengdian because Zhang Yimou wanted to film "Golden Armor". The crew must make arrangements and it is impossible for everyone to pay for it themselves.

After checking in the hotel, Zhang Ran and everyone followed Zhang Yimou to the Ming and Qing Palace Gardens, where the scenes of "Golden Armor" in Hengdian will be completed.

The Ming and Qing Palace Garden was a filming site built in the Beijing Forbidden City. However, after more than two months of construction, millions have been spent on renovation, and the entire scene has been transformed into what Zhang Yimou wants.

As soon as you enter the Meridian Gate in the scenic area, Zhang Ran saw that the red walls were inlaid with gold edges, and hundreds of thousands of chrysanthemums mixed with real and fake were paved with nearly 10,000 square meters on both sides of the corridor. At first glance, it was golden and dazzling.

Zhang Yimou told everyone with some pride that at the end of the movie, the second prince, Chou Jie, will lead tens of thousands of soldiers in golden armor and the silver armored warriors of Emperor Chow Yun-fat to start a shocking battle in this sea of ​​chrysanthemums.

The corridor outside the chrysanthemum is covered with carpets embroidered with patterns. In order to prevent it from being damaged by rain, the carpet is covered with a layer of film. At this time, the film's art director is leading a group of people to do the final work of filling the scene, striving to give the audience a strong visual impact.

In order to shoot, the crew members built a cylindrical platform with steps in the Ming and Qing palace gardens, which looked a bit like the Temple of Heaven in Peking. The entire building was 12 meters high and 28 meters in diameter. There was a staircase more than 20 meters long leading directly to its top. This is the most important scene in the movie, the chrysanthemum platform.

Zhang Yimou took everyone to the chrysanthemum platform and said as he walked: "The plays in Hengdian will take about a month to shoot, and then go to Wulong. There are very few literary plays in Hengdian, most of them are martial arts plays, and they are night plays, and Cheng Xiaodong is in charge. Many of the work can be handed over to him, so that I can take time to talk to everyone about creativity."

Zhang Ran looked around and felt that the environment here was very good, so he said, "I don't think so. Please build a shed here. Let's talk about creativity in the shed, and you can come here when you rest."

Zhang Yimou thought this idea was good, but he also had concerns: "The shooting scene is quite noisy, and I'm afraid that everyone can't concentrate on talking about creativity!"

If Zhang Yimou is not here, then the entire team is Zhang Ran. Chen Weiya doesn't want this and immediately said: "It's nothing to be quarrel. We are all used to it. The key is that you can come over and talk to us about creativity at any time!"

Ma Wen also likes this here: "We can come out to watch you film when we are tired of chatting, and change our minds!"

Others also agreed, thinking it’s good to talk about creativity here.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Zhang Yimou called the art director over and ordered him to build a shed in the open space next to the Meridian Gate so that the creative team could talk about creativity inside, and then took everyone to the chrysanthemum platform.

Standing on the chrysanthemum platform, looking around, it was a golden sea of ​​flowers, plus a gorgeous carpet that lasted hundreds of meters long, the whole scene seemed magnificent. Zhang Jigang was full of poetry and recited: "When autumn comes September 8th, I will kill all the flowers after the flowers bloom. The fragrance array soars into the sky and penetrates Chang'an, and the whole city is covered with golden armor!"

Everyone applauded, praised Zhang Jigang for his good recitation, and recited that momentum, and then recited them one by one.

Zhang Ran looked at the Meridian Gate in the distance, and a light of inspiration flashed by, slapped his thigh: "I came up with another idea."

Everyone in the creative team looked at Zhang Ran and waited for him to say a new idea. Zhang Ran is a monster in the creative team, with many creative ideas, and often very interesting ideas. For example, build the stadium into a raised surface of the earth; write a large "one" with a brush, project it into the middle of the venue, and then tear the "one" apart into a performance area, etc.

Zhang Ran smiled and said, "You can perform dramas at the opening ceremony. We have also thought of many tricks about drama singing. My idea is this. You should have received greeting cards, which are folded greeting cards. After opening them, a Christmas tree or characters will be erected, which looks very three-dimensional. I think you can make a folding device, which looks like two boards, placed in the center of the stage. After the folding device is opened, a paper-cutting-style theater will slowly stand up, and then two actors will walk up to perform, which is much more interesting than if you set up a stage to perform. And it can also be like this. The stage is covered with yarn, and the actors are performing inside, and the audience sees shadow puppets, which combines shadow puppets and drama. What do you think?"

Zhang Yimou has a special liking for shadow plays. In the movie "Living", Fugui likes to play shadow plays. He praised Zhang Ran's creativity: "This idea is interesting, combining opera, shadow play, and paper cutting. Moreover, it is a product of modern technology, both classical and modern, and it is really interesting!"

Others were also excited and kept savoring: "This is much more interesting than just setting up a stage to perform. When the audience set up a stage, they were about to sing and sing, and they lacked the expectation. But for this creativity, the audience first saw two boards, and then when they opened it, a stage appeared. It was very magical, and the expectation came out at one moment!"

"This is a combination of ancient drama and modern mechanical devices, which will look very innovative!"

"The audience will definitely think that we will act in dramas, but they will definitely not think that we will act in this way!"

Of course, not everyone expressed their appreciation. Chen Weiya gave a negative view: "Your idea is too stolen, it is entirely a performance of installation. The audience is focusing on installation, not national treasures!"

Zhang Jigang liked this idea very much and retorted: "This is a combination of installation performance and dramatic performance, providing the best platform for opera performance, which is very innovative. If it is just a simple drama, there will not be too many people interested, and it will be very dull."

Everyone stood on the chrysanthemum stage and discussed Zhang Ran’s creativity. Most of them thought that the creativity was very good and could be put at the opening ceremony. Of course, this idea was only temporary. This program would definitely be like many other excellent ideas. In less than three days, everyone started to criticize it. No matter how you look at it, they felt that it was not possible, and then they rejected it.

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games only lasted for an hour, but behind it was the hard work of tens of thousands of people over the years. There was no way, this was the Olympic Games, the expectations of the Chinese people for a hundred years. They could only succeed but not fail. Everyone involved was carrying an invisible responsibility.

Zhang Yimou had to check the scene and prepare for tomorrow's shooting, so he went there. Zhang Ran and the others chatted on the chrysanthemum stage for a while, and then began to walk down the steps.

As soon as he reached the Meridian Gate, Zhang Ran suddenly stopped: "Have you noticed that the creativity we think about now is ancient, and there is basically no modern part. This is not possible. Our performance must be divided into two parts, the splendid civilization of the ancient times and the glorious era in the present. We cannot only play the ancient times, not the modern ones."

Not only Zhang Ran, but most of the creative team have noticed this. Cai Guoqiang said: "The ancient part can easily grasp some elements and make many wonderful programs, but what is played by the modern part is a big problem. We lack such a major impact as the four major inventions!"

"Yes, what is a big question for contemporary China to perform. In ancient times, we could perform four great inventions, perform the Great Wall, perform Chinese characters, and perform Chinese paintings. There was too much to perform, and contemporary China really had nothing to perform."

The entire creative team is a little worried. What to play in contemporary China and how to play is really a big question.

Zhang Ran took a heavy breath. He always thought that the opening ceremony of the Peking Olympics in his memory was extremely outstanding, and it can be said to be the most outstanding opening ceremony of the Olympics in history. Of course, he did not think that the Peking Olympics was really perfect. The biggest problem was that the rhythm was not well controlled, and it seemed to be a bit scary. The opening ceremony was done too beautifully, and the song was really shocking, which made people stunned. The whole first half was very exciting, and the appearance of the scrolls and the printing of movable type continued this shock, giving people a strong visual impact. But it was precisely because the opening rhythm was too strong that the whole first half was too shocking, but the second half failed to continue this shock, which seemed a bit dull, so the rhythm of the performance became a bit slow.

The reason why the second half seems plain is that it talks about the great achievements of the 30 years of reform and opening up. This part is difficult to play. Unlike the ancient part, there are too many good things, modern China does not have much to show to the world. For example, the British can play Harry Potter, and the Japanese can also display their animations and games. However, contemporary China lacks such a world-class thing, so it can only be discussed in general.

If there is a program similar to movable type printing in the second half, especially the last program, which can be astonishing as movable type printing, then the overall effect of the entire opening ceremony will be taken to a higher level.

Zhang Ran’s biggest wish to join the opening ceremony director team is to work hard to improve the quality of the second half, and to produce one or two shocking works in the second half to take the entire opening ceremony to a higher level. It seems really difficult now, at least much more difficult than imagined.

After walking out of the Ming and Qing palace gardens, many people in the creative team suggested to browse around and see what the legendary Oriental Hollywood was like, and maybe we could draw some inspiration from it.

Among all the people present, Zhang Ran had been to Hengdian, so he naturally became everyone's tour guide. He led everyone forward, introducing them while walking.

As he was walking, a young woman and a 14 or 15-year-old boy suddenly came towards him and shouted in surprise: "Director, long time no see!"

Zhang Ran looked closely and saw that the person coming was Li Yue and her younger brother Qin Junjie. Qin Junjie played the young Qiao Zhengfei in the movie "Flying Man", and the whole performance was very well received. He couldn't help laughing: "It's you, it's you, it's been a long time no see, are you okay?" He didn't say anything when he saw Qin Junjie, but just looked at himself and said: "Junjie, don't you know me anymore?"

Li Yue taught a lesson: "Junjie, what's going on? Don't you often say you want to play with the director and Sister Jingchu? Why don't you even say hello when you see the director?"

Qin Junjie smiled embarrassedly and said, "Director, why are you here?"

Zhang Ran reached out and touched Qin Junjie's head: "We are here with Director Zhang Yimou this time. I will also go to the set to see it. You have to act well, otherwise I will scold people!"

Qin Junjie nodded seriously: "I will act seriously."

Seeing Zhang Ran being followed by a group of people, and they were all very demeanor. Li Yue knew that Zhang Ran must have something to do, so she chatted for a few simple words, indicating that she would come to visit again when she had time, and then took Qin Junjie away.

Zhang Ran was about to take everyone to continue the tour, but Ma Wen suddenly smiled and said, "Zhang Ran, there is a girl over there who has been watching you for a long time. She must be your acquaintance!"
Chapter completed!