After watching the documentary "Imperial Examination"

The large-scale TV documentary "Imperial Examination" shows the rise and fall of China's imperial examination system with broad vision, detailed historical materials and vivid forms, explores the unsolved mystery of the origin of imperial examination, and reveals how the dynasty skillfully used imperial examination to realize the political appeal of "netting talents and herding the world". This paper analyzes the little-known and unheard-of cheating phenomenon in the imperial examination, focusing on the wonderful seesaw of cheating means and anti-cheating measures.

The documentary "Imperial Examination" also shows the mystery behind a mature system. Learning to be an official is how to create a complete bureaucratic political system in ancient China and form the largest scholar-bureaucrat class in the world. While the imperial examination system prevailed for thousands of years, why did it come to a dead end in the late Qing Dynasty?

The documentary "Imperial Examination" is divided into five episodes, namely, misty rain in Sui and Tang Dynasties, animal husbandry controlling the world, learning officials, the road to the last foot, and the end of the road, with each episode lasting 50 minutes. "Imperial Examination" spans the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is a big vision for the drama to reproduce the classic historical scenes! Big hand Big production!

Reflections on the Documentary Imperial Examination

1, storytelling is an attitude.

The imperial examination system originated in Sui and Tang Dynasties and was abolished in the late Qing Dynasty, which lasted 1300 years. If we go back to the time when other official selection systems existed in the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, the time will be longer and the historical span will be amazing. While recording history, most historians only like to record the results, leaving behind a boring chronology of major events. For viewers who have countless online information and TV channels to choose from every day, they are certainly not interested in these piles of old newspapers.

Indeed, our audience has long passed the period of watching and eating, and will no longer be as hungry for information as in the era of lack of information. Nowadays, the audience has entered the era of fine viewing, which requires not only rich nutrition, but also good color, flavor and taste. In other words, the story should be told better. Therefore, in the process of creating the imperial examination, we all got treasures, whether it is official history, unofficial history, opera, folk stories or even anecdotal legends. We use the research results that have been repeatedly demonstrated by historians and can stand the test of time to construct our view of history and build a complete historical space. As a supplement, unofficial history and legends have opened a number of different skylights for the historical space, allowing the audience to observe history from different angles. We believe that everything can be reflected, whether it is gems or glass, pearls or water drops. The key lies in what kind of world view and historical view the creator has.

For example, when the imperial examination tells the history of the last imperial examination in the late Qing Dynasty, it first borrows an anecdotal legend to vividly describe the dramatic process of how Empress Dowager Cixi appointed the last champion, and then historians analyze the suspicious aspects of the anecdotal legend to set the record straight. This not only avoided cheating, but also let the audience see the dictatorship trampling on the fairness of the imperial examination and the dynasty losing control of the situation at that time, and felt the chaotic state of the late Qing Dynasty, and interpreted this history from another side.

In the process of documentary creation, we deeply realize that storytelling is not only an expression, but also our sincere attitude towards the audience. And let's learn to shoot documentaries with the expression of feature films, which is a generous gift from God!

2. Reproduce historical classic scenes.

It is an insurmountable obstacle to shoot a documentary that spans thousands of years. In the long historical process, except for the invention of western photography in the late Qing Dynasty, mottled information remained in images, and other dynasties, whether paper materials or architectural entities, were destroyed by war or weathered by years and could not be found. So, how to reproduce the imperial examination with a long history? Can we only aim at the remnants covered by historical rubble and make an empty historical review?

Scene reappearance is undoubtedly one of the better solutions to this problem, which has been proved by literature explorers and practitioners from Nanuk in the north to Homo sapiens and Julius Caesar.

For example, there are different opinions about which dynasty the imperial examination originated from. One of them said that the imperial examination originated from a solar eclipse in the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wen of Han witnessed the solar eclipse and was horrified. He thought that heaven condemned the emperor's incompetence, so he hurriedly wrote down the imperial edict to let people of insight in the world take the imperial examination, and the winner was appointed as an official to help the emperor govern the country. Another way of saying it is that the imperial examination began on the whim of Yang Di, saying that Yang Di suppressed his temperament for a long time in order to seize the throne and pretended that he was not a good singer, thus defrauding his father's trust. As soon as he ascended the throne, his nature was restored. He not only went hunting in the west, but also set up a "Jinshi Branch" and held a national poetry talent competition, which was extravagant.

How can the imperial examination be abandoned with such dramatic historical details? There is a set of data that seems to explain the problem. The documentary "Imperial Examination" * * built 84 ancient scenes, rented and produced more than 10000 furnishings, used more than 1500 actors, and * * * filmed 1 17 scenes to reproduce the classic historical scenes one by one.

Of course, our scene reappearance has an attitude, that is, while telling stories, we tell the audience which stories belong to anecdotal legends and which ones are recognized by the current historians.

3. Through the "historical perspective"

About two-thirds of the documentary "Imperial Examination" is expressed through scene reproduction. In order to convey a quiet power, we don't use popular large-scale and fancy sports shots, but use some simple lens language to express history in a quiet and staring way. But the risk is that because you don't use popular words, others may think that you can't use these languages. Of course it doesn't matter. What matters is how we can tell the story better.

There were about 8,000 shots in the Imperial Examination, and I asked photographers and artists to take a foreground for each shot. This is a very demanding and difficult requirement, which is even rare in many Chinese and foreign documentary works. The reason why I advised them to do this is that I hope to "sneak shot" history from a "historical perspective". Historical space and our real space are two incompatible spaces. I don't think documentary creators can break into the historical space at will and disturb the sleep of the elderly. I prefer to stand outside the layers of time rings and "sneak shot" history through a "historical perspective". Foreground is the element that constitutes the "included angle".

For example, when we were recreating the historical scene of "returning to the field with a glass of wine", artists lit a raging fire around them, while photographers used the fire to shoot the scene of Song Taizu luring and intimidating military commanders to give up military power. All the shots were shot through the fire, which on the one hand made the banquet reveal a deep sense of murder, on the other hand, it also created the effect of "watching the fire from the other side", allowing the audience to observe the mysterious political situation in the early Song Dynasty more calmly and rationally.

Why are the mottled bronzes lying in the museum beautiful? Because of the dim light separated by security glass, quiet posture and viewing distance, this is the "included angle" effect. Only through the "included angle" can the people and scenery in the lens be deeper, more mysterious and more textured.

Documentaries shot in the way of scene reproduction are easily criticized as TV dramas. Indeed, the scenes of many documentaries are too straightforward and mysterious. Fortunately, from League of Assassins to Northern Warlords, from suspense films to Goodwill Hunting, and then to Great Xinhai to Imperial Examination, the documentaries filmed by our team have rarely been accused of being like TV dramas, perhaps because we have found a "historical perspective".