The TV series "The Long River in the World" is an "unusual number" among ancient costume dramas in recent years. It focuses on the management of the Yellow River, and takes Jin Fu and Chen Huang, two technical officials in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, as the main characters. The well-known history of Yellow River governance is currently stable at 8.3 on Douban.

As the chief producer of the play "The Long River in the World" and the president of Haoku Film and Television, Yao Yuzhu (Yao Jia) mentioned when talking about the creation idea of the work, "The play "The Long River in the World" shows a story that contains The "long river" of the great Chinese national spirit is a "long river" that symbolizes the struggles of countless guardians of the Yellow River. It is a "long river" that will shock and touch everyone after seeing it. The 'long river' of sweat".

"The Long River under Heaven" poster

A "single seedling" exists

In 2018, producer Yao Yuzhu saw the script of "The Long River of the World" written by director Zhang Ting. The two had already collaborated on "Daming Fenghua" before. Yao Yuzhu likes the script of "The Long River of the World" very much. He thinks that the angles and themes are novel, and the group portraits are vividly created. "The best thing is that the characters are vividly written, and the various life styles in a period of history are written. I have been in the industry for so many years. I have seen There are many scripts, but not many can make the characters so vivid. At first, I didn’t know much about this period of history, and I didn’t know much about the two characters Jin Fu and Chen Huang, but after reading this script, I found that From the bottom of my heart, I was shocked by their contribution to the cause of river control, and was sincerely touched by their spirit of serving the country and the people without seeking personal honor or disgrace. In them, I saw the combination of patriotism, craftsmanship, and hard work. Performance."

Yao Yuzhu, Producer of "The Long River Under Heaven"

But the problem is that at that time, it was the stage when the market for the theme of "big heroine" was extremely hot, and "The Long River of the World" seemed to be a relatively rare work on the market at the time. "I really like the script. It is like a historical miniature of the guardians of the Yellow River from generation to generation. It is a portrayal of the spirit of the Chinese nation's unswerving determination and hard work. But how can such an unpopular theme focusing on the governance of the Yellow River get out of the circle?" ' became a problem that had to be solved". Yao Yuzhu thought over and over again, and told Zhang Ting: I like this script so much, but we have to consider how to make it liked and recognized by more people, and how to make it enter the eyes and hearts of the public.

"The director also had a lot of trust in me. He directly said that the script of "The Long River under Heaven" was completely entrusted to me, so I took the script to the leaders of the Zhejiang Radio, Film and Television Bureau for advice. After the experts and leaders of the Zhejiang Bureau read the script, It is particularly recognized, saying that there are almost no TV dramas with major historical themes in recent years, and they especially need such works, and joked that this "single seedling" must be done well, and the stone in my heart will fall to the ground."

At the end of 2018, the "Long River in the World" project was established, and the Zhejiang Radio, Film and Television Bureau designated this project as a public welfare key theme TV drama production service project of the Zhejiang Provincial Radio, Film and Television Bureau. When it passed the approval of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the State Administration also expressed its approval of the script and set up the play as a major historical theme project.

In 2019, Yao Yuzhu and Zhang Ting went to Changsha to participate in the Golden Eagle Festival and met with Cai Huaijun, the president of Mango TV. Cai Huaijun asked them what projects they had recently, and Yao Yuzhu chatted about the project "The Long River in the World". Cai Huaijun immediately realized the scarcity of this subject matter, so he made a decisive decision and asked Yao Yuzhu if he could give this project to Mango? "I thought he was just talking, but I didn't expect that the next morning, a relevant person in charge would contact me to promote the project to the Merchants Fair and conduct market research on the project. But at that time, we didn't even have a poster yet. Can give the past a project proposal, "The Long River of the World" has just appeared in the advertising investment conference, and at the same time, the cooperation process with Mango TV has been intensively started." Yao Yuzhu laughed.

Make every effort to show the "truth" of history

The approval of the script by all parties has given Yao Yuzhu strong confidence, but the actual operation of the project still needs to overcome various difficulties. Especially in order to show the "truth" of history to be shown in the work, the crew can be said to be doing their best.

Yao Yuzhu recalled that the script creation has undergone many revisions and adjustments. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television organized several script seminars to help improve the script, inviting six or seven experts including authoritative Qing history experts, experts from the National Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, and Huang He Experts from the Water Conservancy Committee, literary and art theorists, and script experts formed an expert group to provide valuable advice to the crew, "The experts from the Yellow Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources helped us check technical issues, including our flood-fighting tools, specific dimensions, materials, and usage methods. There are experts who provide blueprints and textual research. At the same time, the leaders and experts also worked tirelessly and painstakingly. They not only accompanied us to polish the script year after year, but also went deep into the shooting period to help review the art renderings, determine the makeup of the actors, and come several times. Going to the scene to watch the material, it can be said that we have been fighting side by side with us from the beginning to the end. Everything is just to truly restore a magnificent picture of water control in the Qing Dynasty."

In addition, the entire art team spent two months conducting historical research on costumes, props, sets, etc., and produced tens of thousands of drawings of props, hundreds of costumes for leading actors, thousands of costumes for group performances and special guest costumes. Clothes show simplicity in technology and highlight reality in content.

The ancient "big gong" used for revetment

In many media interviews with director Zhang Ting, he also described the art production process of the crew. First, referring to the historical documents of river engineering tools in the Qing Dynasty, the art team reproduced the tools, learned how to use them himself, and then taught the actors. For example, plum blossom piles and big gongs, "It is simply a craft of tamping, and it is restored according to different forms. Several people hold wooden pillars to beat, some throw them into the air, and six or seven people walk along Although these crafts actually no longer exist, we still reproduce them according to the schema of the Qing Dynasty, striving to show the truth and interpret history from the subtleties."

For the layout of the historical scenes, the crew also did a lot of research and restoration, "For example, the South Study Room and the Compassion Palace, which often appear in the play, we have restored them to the greatest extent according to the layout of the Qing Dynasty." This ingenuity is also reflected in the spectacular scenes of Kangxi's southern tour. "The boat that Kangxi was on in the picture was artificially built by us. The bigger the ship, the more exciting the atmosphere of Kangxi's southern tour." In addition to the exquisite props, the crew has also done a long-term research and discussion on the costumes of the characters. "From the emperor's courtiers to the river workers, we all made reference to the ancient paintings of that era."

Part of "Wang Hui et al. Kangxi's Southern Tour Scroll", picture from: Palace Museum

For the setting of the Yellow River, a man-made "Yellow River" of tens of acres was dug in Hengdian. "After the excavation, the water needs to be pulled by water trucks, and each time it takes a whole day." Shooting started It was September, and the weather in the south was still hot. The water surface evaporated and the ground soaked, and the water level could drop by a foot a day, and it had to be replenished. The saplings that have been dug out must be replanted." Yao Yuzhu said.

The construction site of the early setting of the crew of "The Long River under Heaven"

A work that everyone "desperately" puts into

As soon as the first episode came up, it was the flood control scene of the huge waves of the Yellow River during the flood season.

The opening scene of "The Long River in the World" shows Kangxi's 15-year flood

The big waves hit the crowd. According to Yao Yuzhu, this kind of play is difficult to produce with special effects. "Whether it is in terms of the authenticity of the plot or the production cost, special effects cannot be done with the huge waves. Without their real faces, the audience will not be able to be moved by their true feelings." What can we do? I can only splash it over and over again, and shoot one by one. Artificial wave-making uses two motorboats to create waves when turning on the water surface, simulating water waves. When the huge waves hit the crowd, a large excavator was used to "scoop water" to simulate the huge waves of the flood and splash them on the actors.

At the beginning of the first water show, two or three tons of water rushed over, knocking Huang Zhizhong, who played the role of Jin Fu, an official in charge of the river, into the air. "Before filming, he was still thinking about designing some action. When the water splashed over, he didn't have time to react. He was injured in the first scene. For almost half a month, he walked with a limp." Yao Yuzhu recalled Said, "It can be said that Mr. Huang Zhizhong is playing the role of Jin Fu with his life. On the set, he seems to travel through time and space, and become one with Jin Fu in history."

The filming scene of "The Long River under Heaven"

"The Long River under Heaven" was launched in September and completed in January of the following year. Sixty or seventy days of it were filming water and rain scenes. The photography team wrapped the camera tightly with several layers of plastic paper all day long, because the machine cannot enter the water. There was a rain scene that was filmed for 5 consecutive days, and it rained every day, so everyone didn't do much.

The filming scene of "The Long River under Heaven"

It was winter, "the extras in Hengdian heard that they were the crew of "The Long River of the World", so they didn't come, saying that we "water everyone like flowers of the motherland" every day, and they were all frozen into icicles. But our crew every day The filming requires at least 500 group performers, and sometimes more than 1,000 people, and this demand has lasted for more than two months." And because of the shooting schedule, many scenes with heavy snowfall are in summer Completed, "including the scene of Xiaozhuang's death, the scene of Kangxi walking in the snow, and the lonely figure of Jin Fu lost in the vast snow, all are scenes made by us with artificial snow. Only in this way can we perfectly create That kind of tragic and desolate atmosphere." Yao Yuzhu said with a smile, "Our drama is suffering from heavy rain and snow."

Stills of "The Long River under Heaven"

"It can be said that in this play, every actor has reached the level of ecstasy, desperately playing the role to complete the filming, and every scene is presented by the actors with sweat and painstaking efforts." Yao Yuzhu recalled, "The first The whole filming was very hard. The second is that the male actors had to shave their heads. Many actors thought the script was good, but when they heard that they wanted to shave their heads, they stopped coming. After half a year of shaving their hair, their hair would not grow back, but appearance is very important to them. But we are You must shave your head, you can’t wear a fake headgear, and if you don’t shave your head, we don’t need to talk.” Luo Jin, who played Kangxi, read the script and said without saying a word, “He made sacrifices for this role, and the degree of cooperation is very high. The final effect everyone saw is also very perfect, not only giving the role of Kangxi a new performance, but also gaining wide recognition from the audience."

"The Long River Under Heaven" Stills, Luo Jin as Kangxi

"The Long River Under Heaven" stills, Yin Fang as Chen Huang

Yin Fang, who plays Chen Huang, has never acted in a costume drama, but he was moved by the role of Chen Huang. "Chen Huang has a clean heart and is full of enthusiasm. He only cares about one thing from the beginning to the end, and we only show one thing he does, which is to control the river." Yao Yuzhu thinks that Yin Fang has a pure energy, which is different from Chen Huang. The role fits very well, "Yin Fang is very simple, he just plays tricks well. He has never acted in ancient costumes. This character is a technical official with a large amount of lines and strong professionalism. He memorizes his lines until three or four o'clock every day."

River management officials in the Qing Dynasty measured the Yellow River with their feet. The crew of "The Long River in the World" also traveled all over the ancient Yellow River. There was a scene in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. "I couldn't stand standing in a down jacket and down pants for ten minutes. Yin Fang stepped on the ice with bare feet to shoot." The scene where Chen Huang measured the Yellow River with bare feet took two or three days.

Stills of "The Long River under Heaven"

Building bridges between history and art

Most of the historical legendary dramas familiar to the audience describe the political struggles in feudal dynasties, and only see "son of heaven", "harem" and "court hall", but in the eyes of the creators of "The Long River of the World", this is far from a historical legendary drama all faces. "The Long River of the World" puts the starting point on the technical officials who do things pragmatically, and sees how several technical officials in the Qing Dynasty used the science and technology at that time to do some practical things that benefited the people for thousands of years. Some common people will commemorate them, water conservancy experts will read their books, and people today are still benefiting from what they did at that time, which really touches me." Yao Yuzhu said.

"In historical legendary dramas, plots of power and conspiracy can attract a lot of audience attention, so if the drama "The Long River" does not touch on these, it will easily become monotonous. Harnessing a river is a huge project. Is it easy to be corrupted when it involves engineering in ancient times? , there are interest groups? And if you don’t write this, you will lack dramatic resistance. Even if it is pure river governance, it needs resistance to enhance the sense of dramatic conflict. For river governance, the resistance includes character contradictions and conflicts. Strategy struggle." But if I write too much, the focus will easily shift to the strategy struggle, which is not good. Yao Yuzhu praised Zhang Ting for being very wise in directing "The Long River of the World", "This play is just a lot of money, weakening the strategy. It's handled in a light comedy way, but you can still hear the lines in the lines."

"The Long River Under Heaven" stills, Gong Lei (left) as Mingzhu, Liang Guanhua as Suo'etu

In "The Long River Under Heaven", Mingzhu and Suo'etu have a strong conflict of interest. Gao Shiqi has a line: If you two don't quarrel every day, you will feel uncomfortable. Mingzhu immediately said: If the two of us don't quarrel for a day, the emperor should be worried. "For the feudal rulers, the emperor can feel at ease only if the two parties fight each other, because they restrain each other. These lines are all memorable and clever." The dark side of the feudal dynasty is hidden in a light comedy Under the surface, although Mingzhu Suo'etu is a political enemy, he maintains a delicate balance. In the play, Mingzhu finally fell from power, Suo'etu died and the fox was sad, and the complexity of the characters also emerged.

"Why do I particularly appreciate Director Zhang Ting's script? He just writes the characters full and complex. Another example is the character Yu Zhenjia, who killed dozens of people in the three provinces for the one-acre land in Taoyuan County. Thousands of people. The experts who reviewed films at the General Administration also said this, and many officials in the feudal period only cared about their own 'turf', which is very undesirable."

Officials like Chen Huang and Jin Fu are the embodiment of some kind of idealistic doers. They "govern the river for the sake of thousands of people along the Yellow River, not for the emperor." The actors agree with the script, and it is easier to take on the role. "A group of good actors are playing, and I am very excited when I watch it." Yao Yuzhu said.

"The Long River Under Heaven" stills, Huang Zhizhong as Jin Fu

Cherish every "feather"

"Judging from the current results, although the whole process is suffering, it is worth it. As a producer, the market and cost must be considered, but the value and significance of the project itself are also indispensable, although some There are often times when the pay is not proportional to the return," Yao Yuzhu said frankly, "but the subject matter of this project is indeed scarce, even rare, and I can't find any reference works, and it was not popular in the market at the time. But the investment It’s big, and the stakes are high. It’s really stressful for the producers.”

Six drafts of the script were reviewed, three or four drafts were reviewed for the finished film, and the broadcast schedule was changed several times. "In order to make this work more perfect, so many people came to help us polish it and find problems in terms of logic and plot. Avoid problems. Faced with everyone's trust and everyone's spiritual and material investment in this drama, as a producer, I am under great psychological pressure." , I have been suffering in my heart, "I was a little relieved after that kind of pressure was successfully broadcast. But I am also firm, the current environment of the film and television drama industry is not easy, we are engaged in creation, we must cherish feathers, one is one. Ministry, quality and quantity must be worthy of one's conscience."