Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 488 How Unjust Heaven Is
To show that CCTV attaches great importance to this visit, the delegation was led by the deputy director and consisted of four people.

In addition to Deputy Director Fan, there is Zhu Tong, Director of the Comprehensive Channel and Director of the Program Acquisition Center; Liang Hong, Deputy Director and Deputy Director of the Film and Television Documentary Center; and Liu Ying, Deputy Director of the Documentary Department III of the Film and Television Documentary Center.

This lineup is indeed quite impressive.

Even Liu Ying, the deputy director of the documentary film department, who seems to have the "lowest" position, is someone that private film and television companies need to treat with special care.

"I don't think Director Cao has ever made a documentary since his debut, has he?"

While the staff at Beijing Film Academy were setting up the equipment in preparation for playback, Liang Hong, deputy director of the Film and Television Documentary Center, whispered to Zhu Tong.

"No, based on publicly available information, this should be the first time."

Zhu Tong replied.

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Tong said to Liang Hong, "I checked the internal information. Our Director Cao had already worked with CCTV before his debut. At first, I thought it was just someone with the same name, so I specifically checked the organization. I didn't expect it to be him."

This immediately piqued Liang Hong's interest. She turned to look at Zhu Tong and quickly asked, "Really? He interned at CCTV? In which department?"

Liu Ying, who was standing next to her, couldn't help but look over as well.

"It's not an internship."

Zhu Tong said with some regret, "Director Cao made a public service short film as a practical assignment in the first semester of his sophomore year. It was recommended to Guang Er Gao Zhi and was even used..."

such a pity!
If they had known that Director Cao would become so successful, they would have definitely "seized" this biggest potential asset back then and continued to collaborate with him.

For example, Director Cao was about to shoot his debut film, "A Night Alone on the Beach," and it is said that he encountered many difficulties at the time, including funding, actors, and equipment, all of which CCTV had.

Zhu Tong didn't even dare to imagine what he would be like now if he had been more discerning and had landed the role of Tian Zhuangzhuang, becoming Director Cao's "mentor"...

Thinking of this, he unconsciously glanced at Director Fan not far away, then quickly looked away.

At the same time, I couldn't help but think that might be the most conservative position.
"It's a pity that the practical assignment photos are so good..."

Liang Hong first exclaimed in surprise, then couldn't help but shake her head. However, her "what a pity" had a different meaning from Zhu Tong's "what a pity".

Zhu Tong understood Liang Hong's meaning. At the time, he wasn't in charge, and the selection of public service short films for the Guang'er Announcement program was decided by his subordinates, not by him.

He could understand why the people below didn't pay much attention to Cao Yang.

If it were him, he probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it either.

The reason is very simple.

For a sophomore student to have a short film recommended to the point of being selected for widespread publicity, it's hard to believe there wasn't something fishy going on.

Who knows if it's some rich "young master" getting his resume gilded?
It's important to know that the broadcast time of "public announcements" at that time was known as the "golden time". Every public service advertisement that was selected had gone through layers of screening.
However, the selection process focuses on the quality of the works; who directed or produced them is not the primary consideration.

"Director Fan is really taking Director Cao's graduation project very seriously this time. Do you think... Director Cao can give us a surprise?"

Zhu Tong asked softly.

He's always worked on the general channel. Although the general channel has also broadcast some important documentaries, in terms of documentaries, he certainly can't compare to Liang Hong, a professional.

Liang Hong is the deputy director and deputy director of the Film and Television Documentary Center, and her main responsibility is documentaries.

The deputy director of the center may not necessarily know much about documentaries, but if he also serves as the deputy director, it proves that he is a professional and has risen from a position such as planner or producer in the documentary field.

And he must have made achievements as the chief planner or chief producer of a documentary program, otherwise he wouldn't have been promoted to the position of deputy director.

Liang Hong hesitated for a moment, then leaned closer to Zhu Tong and whispered:
"Director Cao's teacher is Teacher Situ, who is an authority in the field of documentary filmmaking in China. He has taught many masters in the traditional documentary filmmaking field. I also attended Teacher Situ's classes back then."

He advocated that "truth is the first principle of documentary filmmaking," opposed staged scenes and fabrications, and emphasized recording objectively existing real processes. He believed that documentaries should be like "visual archives," faithfully reflecting real events and people in the course of social and historical processes.

After a moment's thought, Zhu Tong understood what Liang Hong meant.

In recent years, the documentary field has also been undergoing changes, with people constantly trying to incorporate various styles into documentaries.

While the "realism" faction, represented by Situ, remains the mainstream, it is also known as the traditionalist faction.

Being a traditionalist means sticking to the old ways, with humanistic concern and social criticism being indispensable.

What are the humanistic concerns and social critiques within a food documentary?
Or it might subtly criticize how modern food standardization erodes traditional flavors, or it might reflect the differences in values ​​between the East and the West through a comparison of food cultures, or it might document the "high-end" traditional cuisine...

Zhu Tong frowned slightly. If it were a traditional documentary like this, would Director Fan be disappointed after going to all this trouble to come?

Certainly not.

Everyone's purpose in coming was actually quite "simple"; to put it bluntly, they came because of Director Cao's reputation and influence.

Thinking of this, Zhu Tong gave a self-deprecating smile, and then felt relieved.

Wasn't that what I came here for too?
Is it really because of a documentary? Or a food documentary at that?

How can it be!

Let's not talk about Director Fan anymore.

To put it bluntly, even if Mr. Situ himself were to come out of retirement to film a documentary, he would not allow his own person as the director of the comprehensive channel and the head of the program acquisition center to personally appear.

Zhu Tong glanced briefly at Liang Hong beside him.

Even Liang Hong might not personally come forward.

Then she glanced at Liu Ying next to Liang Hong. Perhaps it was a little less effective for the deputy director of the Documentary Department III of the Film and Television Documentary Center to step forward, but if it went a little higher, the director of the Documentary Department III should be sufficient.

"Let's see how it goes."

The lights in the small screening room dimmed, and as traditional music played, the image of rice stalks unfolded like an ink wash painting. But it only lasted a few seconds before the image flashed, revealing a pair of rough, slightly dark hands kneading dough...

"This……"

As those hands flashed by, both Zhu Tong and Liang Hong beside him sighed inwardly.

"Is it a true record, a humanistic concern, and a social critique? It seems to be right, it is indeed a traditional documentary."

"Can I say that he truly deserves to be called Master Situ's disciple?"

As Zhu Tong watched the footage that flashed by at the beginning of the documentary, although some of the "characters" didn't seem very appealing, to be honest, the editing was quite smooth.

The entire "prologue" is like a landscape painting, with distinct layers, slowly unfolding before your eyes. As expected of an internationally renowned director, the combination of music and the beauty of this "landscape" is something that ordinary documentary directors cannot edit.

At the end of the "prologue," "A Bite of China" was presented on the entire screen like bamboo slips, with a line of small print "jumping" out below: Chief Planner and Chief Director, Cao Yang.

"I'd give this opening a 9.9 out of 10. I'd deduct 0.1 points because the rough hands that appeared at the very beginning slightly affected the viewing experience," Zhu Tong muttered to himself.

"Just looking at the opening, it has already reached the level of a movie, no, it even surpasses the picture quality of most movies. Every frame is almost a work of art. It's a pity that it was made into a traditional documentary."

Liang Hong, who was standing next to her, didn't think so.

She believes that, judging from the opening alone, even if it were made into a traditional documentary, it would definitely be a high-quality documentary. As long as the rest of the content isn't too dry and boring, she believes that if it were broadcast on a documentary channel, the viewership would still be guaranteed.

"It looks like it should be good."

Liu Ying, who was standing next to Liang Hong, spoke softly in a voice that only Liang Hong could hear.

Both are professionals in the documentary field. You might not be able to tell the quality of a documentary just by looking at the prologue, but you can still roughly tell whether the filming was done with care and what the quality of the documentary is like.

Of course, there are also documentaries that, in an effort to attract viewers, only have a good opening sequence but are generally terrible.

But big shots like Director Cao don't believe that he would deliberately make the beginning high-quality just to attract viewers, and then skimp on the rest.

After the prologue, the film maintained its high-quality visuals and narration standards. The only thing that left the CCTV crew with some regrets was, as they had expected, the traditional overall visuals and traditional narration...

At 1 minute and 45 seconds, the title of this episode appeared: "Nature's Gift".

Up until 5 minutes and 25 seconds, this documentary, titled "A Bite of China," still follows a traditional narrative and is not significantly different from other documentaries.

The only difference is in the image quality.

At least Zhu Tong and Liang Hong had never seen a documentary intended for television broadcast with such top-notch picture quality, even surpassing the picture quality of many movies.

"A director who comes from the Beijing Film Academy, regardless of other factors, is absolutely impeccable in terms of visual presentation."

Zhu Tong couldn't help but think.

"High-end ingredients often only require the simplest cooking methods..."

When this narration came on the documentary, almost everyone in the small screening room had their eyes light up.

That's a brilliant line!
Watching the matsutake mushrooms being simply fried is the perfect description for this scene.

Before the people in the small screening room could even process the simple yet incredibly insightful narration, the documentary's style began to shift.

Documentaries are beginning to break through the traditional framework of food programs, connecting the survival wisdom and emotional memories of the Chinese people through food, which is both down-to-earth and culturally profound.

As "A Bite of China" aired, it began to break away from the traditional three-part structure of ingredients, cooking, and tasting, adopting a three-dimensional narrative that combines food, people, and seasonal events. This is no longer the format that traditional documentaries should have.

Then, the use of aerial photography, macro photography, and time-lapse photography gave the food a sense of epic scale!
Zhu Tong was somewhat confused.

This... isn't this referring to traditional documentaries?

This is a complete idiot, a traditional documentary!

This has already broken the framework of traditional documentaries!

"Macro lenses capture dewdrops on the fuzzy surface of matsutake mushrooms, high-speed photography records the moment ramen noodles hit the water... Documentaries can be filmed like this?"

It wasn't just the people at CCTV who were shocked.

Even for Old Situ, even though he already knew about Cao Yang's plan, he was still deeply shocked when he saw these scenes that had never appeared in the documentary.

After the first episode finished airing, the small screening room was no longer quiet.

"We usually use a tragic narrative of 'rescue-style documentation' when filming folk customs, but this way of presenting the chain from matsutake mushroom growth to trading creates a cinematic rhythm and tension in the economy and cuisine of the remote mountains. This narrative approach..."

Old Situ muttered to himself.

Then his eyes lit up. Could it be that film directors could easily create a sense of epic rhythm and aesthetic beauty in their documentary films?
If so...

But then, Old Situ frowned and glanced at Tianzhuang Village not far away.

Tian Zhuangzhuang also filmed the documentary "Tea Horse Road: Delamu", which faithfully recorded the lives of the local people along the Tea Horse Road and provided a panoramic depiction of the Tea Horse Road and the plateau landscape of Shangri-La.

how to say.

Old Situ thought for a moment and realized that the filming techniques of "Tea Horse Road: Delamu" were the same as those he had always advocated, so it could be said that they were in line with his own ideas.

However, it is clearly different from Cao Yang's documentary.

The narrative style, shooting techniques, lighting aesthetics, and even the rhythm and flow are completely different.

We won't compare which approach is better for now, but from the audience's perspective, the narrative style and cinematic aesthetics of "A Bite of China" are absolutely superior.

"This combines cinematic shooting techniques with the narrative style of art films, right? Documentaries can be made like this?"

Xie Fei asked himself this question.

"This creative perspective redefines the way documentaries are filmed and expressed—no longer recording reality, but reconstructing it in all aspects using fragments of reality. Isn't this a heavy use of cinematic narrative techniques?"

Zheng Dongtian whispered to Xie Fei.

Xie Fei nodded and said softly, "Cao Yang used the triple deconstruction strategy of space, time and senses commonly used in movies to elevate food to the level of carrying the code of civilization. This narrative method is indeed brilliant."

"Has Cao Yang revolutionized traditional documentaries and forged a completely new model?"

Zheng Dongtian glanced at the lucky old Situ and said to Xie Fei with envy in his voice.

Xie Fei thought for a while, then shook his head slightly and said, "It's not that exaggerated, but it has opened up a new path for traditional documentaries. I estimate that this kind of narrative style will appear in large numbers in the future."

Although it's not a completely new model, it's already an amazing innovation, and it's the most meaningful innovation.

Xie Fei glanced at Cao Yang not far away, then at the old Situ beside him who was calm and smiling. Suddenly, a surge of grief and anger welled up in his heart.

How unfair is God!

Such a crude person neither understands the deconstruction philosophy, visual language, and value of art films, nor the operation of commercial films.

It only has a “tiny” reputation in the “marginal” documentary field.

But why is it that he can both mentor a large number of mainstream film and television directors such as Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang, and also mentor a genius director like Cao Yang who excels in all fields?

Why is this?

Why!

Pooh!
Pooh!
Pooh!
(End of this chapter)