[Exclusive Interview] Deeply reveal the West Lake version of Swan Lake that Putin has never seen.
CCTV News:On September 4th, 2016, the performance of Hangzhou g20 Summit "Most Remembering Hangzhou" was staged in Yuehu Scenic Area of West Lake. Beautiful music, graceful dance, bright lights and the natural beauty of the West Lake made a perfect performance. Zhang Yimou, the general director of the party, described the performance as "the success of all, the success of the whole team and the success of China" in an interview with CCTV news new media immediately after the performance.
As a highlight of the party, Swan Lake, which perfectly combines ballet classic repertoire with 3D holographic projection technology and even Putin has never seen it, has undoubtedly become the focus of attention and curiosity of the audience. How many swans are there? Why is there no prince? Where did the geese suddenly appear?
△ "Swan Lake" performance live screen
A few days ago, Huang Hui, director of the holographic video of the party, and Tao Wenting, one of the three directors of Swan Lake, accepted an exclusive interview with CCTV news new media and revealed the little-known details behind the performance.
The original plan revealed that swans had flown in the air.
Tao Wenting told CCTV reporters that in the original plan, "Swan Lake" was not performed on water.
Last December, at the beginning of the program of Swan Lake. Zhao Ming, the executive director of the party, had planned to let the swans "fly" over the lake. The director group also designed a luminous dance skirt for the swans, which made the swans in the air and the reflection in the water form a starry visual experience.
△ luminous dance skirt
△ Executive Director Zhao Ming demonstrated the choreography.
This scheme was recognized by many people at that time. However, it was later suggested that building the Weiya frame on the Su Causeway on such a large scale would bring irreparable harm to the cultural relics of the West Lake and the surrounding ecology. Therefore, the director group urgently stopped all programs related to air projects in the party.
△ Zhang Yimou discussed the revision of the program with the director group.
The aerial version of Swan Lake ran aground, but this program, which shows the cultural exchange and integration between China and foreign countries, can’t be without it. In the discussion between Zhang Yimou and the director group again and again, swans landed on the water from the air and added scientific and technological elements — — 3D holographic projection.
The task is clear, the water dance is the responsibility of the director group, and the holographic work falls on Huang Hui.
The multimedia visual design of the party reveals the mystery of "holographic swan"
As the overall multimedia visual design of the party, Huang Hui was responsible for making all the images of Swan Lake.
The name of the holographic projection technical specification should be "virtual imaging technology". He told CCTV journalists that if we want to explain its principle in a popular way, some of them are similar to film screening. It’s just that the curtain of the cinema is replaced with a fully transparent film inclined at 45 degrees — — Holographic film; The projector has also been replaced by an LED screen under the film.
Many people may still remember that the Chinese style song "Shu Embroidery" performed by singer Chris Lee in the Spring Festival Evening of 2015 is an example of the application of holographic projection technology to the stage.
Unlike the stage of the Spring Festival Evening, this performance will be completed on the open West Lake, and the difficulty will almost increase geometrically.
△2015 Spring Festival Evening Program "Shu Embroidery"
Huang Hui introduced that the previous performances were all performed indoors, mainly because the indoor light is controllable, and the darker the surrounding light is during holographic projection, the better the effect will be.
The original intention of the design of Swan Lake on the water is to let the audience enjoy the blend of foreign ballet and the lakes and mountains of China, and the surrounding lights must not be turned off.
△ The holographic film is reflected in front of the actor.
In addition, the holographic film used in general indoor performances will be completely damaged within a few hours if it works on the West Lake full of water vapor, and the performance cannot be guaranteed.
Huang Hui’s vision team can only improve the picture quality on the low-precision outdoor film, and make adjustments to the sharpness, chroma and saturation of the picture again and again.
△ Holographic image seen in sunlight
The recording of holographic images was not so smooth, and the imaging team traveled to Shanghai and Hangzhou three times to complete the previous recording work.
Because of the professional habits of ballet dancers, dancing always involves a set of coherent movements in one breath, while video recording requires the actors to interpret each movement separately. The audience finally saw a short 6-point holographic picture on the stage, and the actors filmed it for 3 days and 3 nights. Later, the team produced more than 100 virtual "swans".
△ The actor is recording holographic images.
△ holographic image scheme that failed to meet the audience
The later matting, editing and rendering took three months. At the request of director Zhang Yimou, the later team constantly revised the picture. Huang Hui told reporters that after each revision, it takes more than ten hours to render a film.
What is even harder is the ballet dancers. After each modification, they have to re-arrange according to the picture on the spot, and then practice to dance exactly the same as the picture.
△ Actors should ensure that they are exactly the same as the blue villain.
How many swans are there?
The audience who have seen the performance will be curious. How many real swans are there on the stage? The answers of Tao Wenting and Huang Hui are obviously different.
She told CCTV reporters that after the water plan was formulated, the original aerial version of the actor was not a professional ballet dancer. Therefore, it became a top priority at that time to look for "excellent ballet dancers who can represent China".
It was June, and the domestic colleges and universities ushered in the summer vacation one after another. The director group traveled to many places in one day, and finally selected the current ballet dancers before the holiday of the ballet department of Beijing Dance Academy. In the end, these 24 geese and 2 swans formed the lineup presented in the final performance.
△ Actors of Ballet Department of Beijing Dance Academy
It is noteworthy that Sun Yimeng, one of the leading dancers of the "Big Swan", is now an actor of the Finnish National Ballet. In June this year, he won the gold medal in Helsinki International Ballet Competition, one of the four major events in ballet.
△ Sun Yimeng (left) and Tao Wenting jpg
The "Four Little Swan Dances" in the classic "Swan Lake" is performed by four actors holding hands and jumping together, which requires uniform movements and consistent steps. Generally, only the best actors in the ballet can complete it. The difficulty of dancing is that as long as one of the four dancers does not coordinate with other dancers, it will lead to the deformation and even fall of the four dancers.
△ "Four Little" in Classic Dance Drama
In this performance, the "Twenty-four Little" performed by the girl from Beiwu was not forced or smooth at all, and the difficulty of training can be imagined. Tao Wenting said that every time she rehearses, she will record herself with her mobile phone and record everyone’s problems. After the rehearsal, I communicated with the actors one by one. "Almost every movement can be accurate to centimeters."
△ In the party, 24 cygnets danced hand in hand.
The swan has it. Where’s the prince?
The audience who have seen the ballet Swan Lake will be deeply impressed by the love story between the prince and the swan princess. Why is there no prince in the Hangzhou version of Swan Lake?
△ Prince and Princess in Traditional Swan Lake Plays
There are special reasons why the "two" swans are used instead of the prince and princess. Tao Wenting told reporters that the form of the prince and princess is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but this performance is not a re-interpretation of the original version, but should be placed in the context of the G20 meeting. In contrast, the setting of the two big swans can better reflect innovation and the balanced, inclusive and harmonious relationship among participating countries.
The steel stage is too slippery to stand on.
Before the formal rehearsal, when Tao Wenting first came to the West Lake performance venue, the stage was not completely immersed in the water. She deliberately wet her pointe shoes with the lake and tried to jump for a while. Although it can’t be compared with professional dance floor, it’s not impossible to dance at all.
But when the "swans" really went into the water to rehearse, the problem appeared. Because the stage has to rise and fall in the water with different performances, the stage covered with drainage holes is like a sieve, and every time it rises again, it will pick up a layer of moss in the lake. Walking on such a stage will slip, let alone dancing.
△ Steel plate stage without anti-slip treatment
At this time, the director group thought of the principle of plastic runway. What if the stage was also covered with similar granular plastic? Tao Wenting told CCTV news new media that if rubber particles are laid on the stage, the anti-skid problem can indeed be solved. But many sliding steps in ballet dance will definitely be affected.
△ After treatment, the stage surface is covered with particles.
Therefore, the staff responsible for stage construction tried to break the plastic particles several times before laying them. After two times of painting, the problem of slipping was basically solved.
Dance shoes soften when exposed to water.
At the same time as the stage slip, there is also the problem of dancing shoes.
The actors who went into the water to rehearse found that pointe shoes soon became soft after soaking in water, and could not stand on his toes at all. According to Tao Wenting, the front end of pointe shoes is not filled with hard objects such as wood blocks, as everyone thinks. The main materials that make up the shoe body are only ribbons, burlap and paste. Therefore, water is almost the natural enemy of pointe shoes.
△ Ordinary pointe shoes that is bad when it meets water
After testing almost all the dance shoes on the market, the director team found an imported dance shoe that can stand on the tip of the water. They plan that if each actor is provided with three pairs of such dancing shoes, they should be able to wear them until the day of the official performance if they are only used in important drills.
However, after the crew bought all the dancing shoes in the brand market, they couldn’t guarantee each person a pair. However, it takes half a year to customize dance shoes from American manufacturers, and the existing pairs of shoes can’t last until the official performance no matter how carefully they are calculated.
In desperation, the director group asked Li Jianqing, an expert in ballet shoes of the Central Ballet Company, for help.
By "dissecting" imported dance shoes, he gradually introduced the materials and production processes needed for this kind of dance shoes. After several pairs of sample shoes were well received, the special dance shoes were finally put into mass production, and finally 168 pairs of waterproof pointe shoes were provided for the actors.
△ Waterproof pointe shoes made in Li Jianqing
"I have no strength in the middle of the jump."
The actors were dumbfounded at the first rehearsal in the water and couldn’t jump at all! Although the performance was staggered, even the normal level of stage performance could not be achieved, let alone surpassed.
Some dancers even told Tao Wenting, "I have no strength at all when I jump to the middle. I really want to kneel on the spot."
△ The actors hid in the water behind the stage.
△ The actors rehearse in the water.
What should we do? The director group thought of weight-bearing training — — Tie sandbags. "This will definitely not work!" The teachers of Beiwu are anxious as soon as they hear sandbags. The leg shape of ballet dancers is very important. Long-term load-bearing will make the leg shape out of shape, so it is absolutely impossible to tie sandbags.
"There is no way but to let the actors rehearse in the water as much as possible." Tao Wenting said that the water level during training often reaches the actor’s ankle, far exceeding the height of 3 cm in the actual performance. Although I feel sorry for the actor, I can only improve the actor’s physical fitness and skills with such high-intensity training.
△ The water level used in rehearsal is much higher than 3cm.
Compared with dancing in the water, it is not easy to move the movements on the stage.
From the audience’s point of view, it is difficult to find that the moving stage of Swan Lake is only about 1 meter deep. The "two" big swans are going to complete such actions as jumping and misplacing on such a stage.
△ Actors practice on a one-meter wide stage.
What the audience doesn’t know is that the holographic projection film is in front of the two actors, and moving a little forward will break the extremely fragile film. Behind the actors is a 1-meter-high baffle, and the other 24 actors are hiding in the water behind the baffle. The actors on the stage will fall into the water if they move a little later.
In addition, when dancing on the active stage, the actors should predict the inertia caused by the start and stop of the stage, so as to ensure that they are in perfect harmony with the holographic image and will not be worn out. (CCTV journalist Luo Wei)
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Huang Hui, a cutting-edge visual director and visual artist.
He used to be the holographic multimedia director of AsiaInfo Summit in 2014, the visual design of China Pavilion of Milan Expo in 2015, and the holographic video director of cultural performance of G20 Summit in Hangzhou in 2016.
Tao Wenting was born in Wuhan in 1989. He has participated in the creation and performance of many award-winning plays in China.
At the age of 11, he began to study dance in the Dance Department of PLA Art College. Since 2006, he has joined the Lanzhou Military Region Combat Art Troupe as an actor. From 2010 to 2014, she studied modern dance choreography in Beijing Dance Academy. Since 2015, he has been studying for a full-time graduate student in dance choreography at PLA Art College.
In September this year, the programs "Swan Lake" and "Unforgettable Jasmine", which she participated in the creation and arrangement, appeared in the world at the G20 Hangzhou Summit.
What is holographic projection technology?
Holographic projection technology, also known as virtual imaging technology, is a technology that uses the principles of interference and diffraction to record and reproduce the real three-dimensional image of the object. It first records the light wave information of the object by using the interference principle, making it a hologram, and then reproduces the light wave information of the object by using the diffraction principle, so that the image is displayed.
In the CCTV Spring Festival Evening in 2015, the Chinese style song "Shu Embroidery" performed by singer Chris Lee is an example of the application of holographic projection technology to the stage.