Since the hit TV series "Fang Hua" aired last year, Huanghe Road has become an important check-in itinerary for Shanghai's cultural tourism. The revival and restoration of the era in the play, as well as the combination of Huanghe Road and business war elements, have aroused the curiosity and nostalgia of the audience for this street. Whether it is tourists from other places pursuing the glory of the Shanghai dream or local natives recalling their childhood memories, Huanghe Road carries a lot of expectations and feelings. However, the Huanghe Road in the TV series has been "processed" by Wong Kar-wai's unique vision, with brighter and more colorful neon lights and retro signs, which have added a legendary color to this landmark section of Shanghai in the 1990s.
On July 27, Shanghai Film and Television Park's "Yellow River Road", the filming location of the phenomenal TV series "Flowers" produced by Shanghai Film Group, will be officially open to tourists for the first time after more than four months of restoration work. At the same time, the park's "cat star" carnival night immersive theme night tour event was launched simultaneously, becoming a hot spot for summer cultural tourism in Shanghai.
On the evening of July 22, the "Yellow River Road" section of Shanghai Film and Television Park was open to the media for a visit. In the dark night, when the lights came on and fireworks bloomed, famous "dinner spots" in the play such as "Zhizhen Garden", "Jin Meilin" and "Honglu" appeared one by one, and a legendary time with Shanghai flavor seemed to be re-ignited.
Zhizhen Garden
From "watching the movie" to "entering the play" to personally experience the prosperity of "Flowers"
The opening of the Yellow River Road filming location is not only a strategic action to implement Shanghai Film Group's large IP development, but also provides a new carrier and form for the inheritance of Shanghai culture.
The neon lights on Huanghe Road were the most iconic symbol of Shanghai in the 1990s. In order to restore the scene as much as possible and create an immersive film and television experience, the park spent more than four months to restore the neon lights of Zhizhenyuan, Jinmeilin, Honglu and other restaurants in the play "Flower", more than 30 storefront signs of different sizes, as well as 10 large lamp posts and nearly 700 neon tubes above the Zhizhenyuan building.
From shooting scenes to sightseeing scenes, the same landscape has different application scenarios and requires different preparations. Lu Xuling, general manager of Shanghai Film and Television Park, said, "After all, this is a filming scene for a movie, and it is also a studio. It cannot fully meet the conditions for opening to tourists, so we need to repair the site first." The neon lights in the play belong to the 1990s, which are very different from the lighting technology on the market today. "Nowadays, there are very few masters who can complete the technology. In order to give tourists a better experience, we specially invited the master who has been making neon lights in the play to completely restore the scenes in the play."
The work of restoring neon lights is extremely difficult. The two signboards of Zhizhen Park are 15 meters high and 2 meters wide. Due to their height and unique shape, they pose a great challenge to the production of neon lights. The overall signboards that tourists see are actually divided into 4 parts, upper and lower, during the production process, and installed separately. At present, there are very few workers who can restore the level of the drama. In the days when the filming location of Huanghe Road was not yet open to the public, the park invited 4 professional masters who made neon lights in the drama. It took several months, and they had to work in the area for nearly 10 hours a day on average to complete the restoration work.
In addition, in order to truly restore the scenes in the play, the park also worked with the original art team of the "Flower" crew to participate in the restoration of the scenes. Among them, the much-watched scene - Jingxiu Tobacco and Paper Shop, from the creation of the exterior to the display of every prop in the interior, and even the posting of an advertising poster, were all carefully reproduced according to the actual scenes in the play.
To further enhance the Shanghai culture experience, Shanghai Film and Television Park has restored the atmosphere of Huanghe Road in the 1990s through props and set art, and has planned a series of check-in experiences on this basis: visitors can press the shutter at the recommended shooting points to capture the prosperous scene under the neon lights and become a character in the drama "Flowers"; they can taste the authentic snacks of the era in their memories; they can also interact with the actors and perform their own film and television drama stories. In addition to the exterior of Huanghe Road, the interior of the first floor of Zhizhen Garden will also be open to visitors, allowing you to appreciate the architectural aesthetics of the Huanghe Road restaurant in the 1990s up close.
In addition to traditional photo-taking and check-in, viewers who like "Flower City" can also get more special experiences through interaction. The reporter randomly interacted with several "NPCs" dressed in scenes from the show. Some pretended to be familiar with "Boss Bao" and urged the reporter to eat and drink on Huanghe Road in the name of Boss Bao. He also ran into the proprietress of Jin Meilin. She clarified that she was not fierce at all and welcomed guests from other places to come to Jin Meilin to taste the authentic local cuisine. She also said that she was not worried that Zhizhenyuan across the street would take away her business.
You can also get the latest news about Miss Wang at the window of Brother Jingxiu's tobacco and paper shop. How much you can get depends on how close you are to the boss.
"Night" economy revitalizes consumption
The Huanghe Road is also full of Shanghai elements. Many Shanghai movies and TV series were shot here, and "Fang Hua" added a piece of the 1990s puzzle to the Shanghai style here.
Wang Jianer, the producer of "Fang Hua", the Party Secretary and Chairman of Shanghai Film Group, said that focusing on big works, producing big productions, creating big IPs and forming a big influence are important tasks assigned to Shanghai Film by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department, and are also important goals of Shanghai Film's new strategy. Shanghai Film Park will accelerate the exploration of new formats of film and tourism integration, and strive to contribute to the creation of a Shanghai model of cultural self-confidence and self-reliance, and to the construction of a Shanghai-style cultural brand with global influence, and provide Shanghai Film's strength and cases.
Represented by the opening of the night tour of the "Yellow River Road Filming Location of "Fanhua", Shanghai Film Group is giving full play to the phenomenal effect of film and television IP, continuously developing rich film and television cultural nightlife products, and bringing a diversified "culture and tourism +" consumption model.
During the same period, Shanghai Film and Television Park, from the perspective of a kitten, combined the traditional intangible cultural heritage of Zigong lanterns and the characteristics of the park itself, and jointly planned the "Cat Carnival Night" themed night tour with Xuhang and Zizaiyou Culture and Tourism, creating a dreamlike, cinematic and immersive interactive journey for tourists.
The opening of the night show has received strong support from Songjiang District and Chedun Town. Shanghai Film and Television Park will strive to make this themed night tour event a demonstration model of the integration of film and tourism in Songjiang District.
More than a hundred cute cat-themed lanterns are scattered on both sides of the streets of Old Shanghai, with different shapes. Some are transformed into graceful female stars, some are dressed as quirky dancers, and some are peerless beauties immersed in a dream of flowers... Visitors can take photos and check in at many popular scenes such as the 100-meter Avenue of Stars, the Super Cute Cat Paw Corridor, and the Midsummer Firefly Forest. During the night tour, scattered performances such as the Meow Meow NPC interactive performance, the Clang Clang Car Wonder Cat Parade, and the Cat Star Carnival Party will allow visitors to enjoy the unique charm of the night economy while enjoying the Shanghai culture feast with exciting content and forms.
In addition, many Shanghai specialty snacks and cultural and creative markets will gather in the park to enrich the park options; the one-second dress-up hall has prepared costumes of different styles, especially the classic cheongsam, to provide an immersive park experience; the Hi King Wild Luxury Movie Camp will hold a 90s nostalgic theme karaoke competition, feeling the Shanghai memory in the singing; the "New World Manor" immersive theater repertoire "The Feast of the Broken Cage" will start a special session on August 14, with a major upgrade in content, bringing a refreshing immersive audio-visual experience to new and old audiences.
Located in Shanghai Film and Television Park, Shanghai Stage Hotel, which is positioned as "film and television drama + humanistic lifestyle", officially opened at the beginning of this year. The overall architecture of the hotel inherits the original style of the Wukang Building. At the beginning of its opening, it won design and operation awards such as "AD100".
In the next stage, Shanghai Film and Television Park will combine Shanghai-style real scenes such as the "Yellow River Road" to create new consumption scenarios, and continue to launch new "film and tourism integration" products that are more in line with the market and have greater brand effects, creating more possibilities for the "night economy" and adding a unique new cultural and tourism consumption experience to the "Summer in Shanghai".
