Artistic imagination drives technological creativity (adhere to “two innovations” to write epics) – Entertainment Grand View – Market Information Network

Artistic imagination drives technical creativity (adhere to “two innovations” to write epics)

——Take stage art design practice as an example

Market Information Network 2022-04-14 17:22:58 Source: People’s Daily Online Comments:

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Stage beauty is the visual embodiment of the inner spirit of a play. Artistic imagination often determines the characteristics and value of works, and also affects the appeal and dissemination of art.

Stage designers should understand the dynamics of art and social life. They should not only be experts in solving various creative problems, but also generalists who keep pace with the times.

With the advent of the digital age, technological progress has profoundly changed the visual presentation of performances and continuously promoted the development of contemporary stage landscapes. In recent years, new expression elements such as AR (augmented reality), interactive images, digital technology, and large-scale stage technical equipment have provided richer possibilities for stage aesthetics. It is a creative trend in recent years to make stage art better serve the presentation of plays and not blindly pursue “visual spectacles”.

How to make good use of scientific and technological means in stage art creation? How to release the infinite artistic charm of stage art in the limited theater space? How to better use the power of science and technology to release beautiful artistic imagination and protect the audience’s yearning for stage art? The wonderful and hard-working stage art workers of this moment” have never stopped exploring and practicing.

The blending of people and scenery, the echoing of viewing and performance, and the precise expression of the theme of the work

Stage designers need to clearly convey their creative intentions, so that the audience can experience the main ideas and aesthetic concepts that the creators want to express through the stage space they create. This kind of creation requires the use and transplantation of various artistic elements, which is a process of creative transformation and innovative development. Embracing high technology and trying various new technologies can resonate with the audience; finding unique methods and choosing a simple and simple visual language can also reflect artistic imagination.

Introducing technological means into stage design, the most important thing is to add charm to the art and make the technology fit the theme expression. For example, on the stage of the drama “Shangganling”, the “battlefield” carrying more than 10 actors who played volunteer soldiers was lifted into the air and turned into the top of the tunnel. We used gas explosion technology to reproduce the war scene of gunfire and gunfire; Shanghai Opera House’s original dance drama In “The Legend of Chang’e Moon”, we designed a full moon set with a diameter of 9 meters that can be slowly moved out from one side of the front area of ​​the stage to complete a 360-degree rotation. The full moon set also projected the audience into the “moonlight”. Let them be “witnesses” of the dramatic story.

Establishing a unique stage vocabulary and pursuing “one drama with one style” is not an easy task. At the beginning of the creation of the dance drama “Only Blue and Green”, I had several discussions with directors Zhou Liya and Han Zhen on the issue of “how the actor’s performance and the stage vision can be more closely coordinated and integrated with each other”. creative consensus. A dance repertoire based on an ancient painting of the Song Dynasty needs to explore the most accurate visual language expression. When the text of the dance drama sets the “roller” as the performance perspective, it makes me think about how to establish multiple narrative spaces to better show this journey of time and space “through the millennium”. When the concept of “Dance Painting “A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains” was established, I had to give up the previous idea of ​​using Wang Ximeng’s line drawing ink draft as a visual appearance or using green tulle as an installation method, and let the dancers “complete” through multimedia methods. painting. When the interwoven and three-dimensional narrative structure is established, I must abandon the usual means of constructing chapter scenes in stage design and establish a new visual continuity narrative system.

Artistic imagination drives technological creativity. On a sunny spring day, I was fortunate enough to see the original work with the creator at the Palace Museum. Looking at every detail of the exhibition scrolls of the experts in awe, we were deeply moved by the unique way of viewing paintings in Chinese traditional culture. The first draft of the stage design is to express the beauty of “unwinding” through the operation of the multi-layer concentric circular mechanical device on the ground of the main stage, but the ground rotating device is inconsistent with the vertical running trajectory of the boom, making it difficult to achieve the poetic beauty of overlapping spaces. I have come up with a new creative idea: can I abandon the conventional stage equipment of the theater, create a set of stage technology system, take the picture scroll as the central vision, let the stage ground and the air form a running whole, let people blend the scenery, echo the performance, let the dancers Freedom to “paint in and out”?

The way of viewing paintings by “exhibiting scrolls” provides a soothing and smooth visual language for the performance, presenting the simple and elegant aesthetic atmosphere of the Song Dynasty. It can be said that turning the stage of “Only Blue and Green” into a sophisticated art installation is by no means “showing off”, but a need to accurately express the theme of the work from the perspective of performance.

Create “infinity” in “limited”, create a simple and rich imaginative space

Stage designers often face multiple challenges: they must adapt to tours in different cities and theaters, and they must strive to achieve the best artistic effect under the constraints of the budget range, theater space, and stage installation time. Creating “infinity” in “limited” is the normal state of stage art creation, it is an experience, and it is also the starting point for soaring imagination.

Stage beauty is the visual embodiment of the inner spirit of a play. Artistic imagination often determines the characteristics and value of works, and also affects the appeal and dissemination of art. The stage design should be based on the artistic body, creating a simple and rich imaginative space. In Zhang Yimou’s rehearsal of Peking Opera “The World Returns to the Heart”, I reconstructed the traditional Peking Opera stage style “one table and two chairs”, using black, red and white as the main colors, and fused them into brush and ink images to create an abstract and simple subject. visual. A crescent moon echoes the mood of the characters and creates a situation; the attack is expressed by breaking in, which is full of changes compared to the static traditional dance techniques. In the NCPA version of the Peking Opera “Red Cliff”, we used the method of combining virtual and real to hang hundreds of “arrows” with suspension rods to form a rainbow flow as a whole, which is visually interesting and is very interesting on stage. Shang made a huge boat for Cao Cao, and made a small moving boat for Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. Many viewers of “Red Cliff” are born in the 80s and 90s, and some have watched it more than once, and brought their classmates to watch it.

The simplicity of the dance is supported by technical precision. “Only Blue and Green” uses the ground design as multiple turntables, combined with multiple rotating devices in the air, which can accurately fit the visual expression of “unwinding”, but the technical difficulty is very high. The ground is a four-circle turntable, forming a constantly changing stage space; the aerial device drives the three “picture scroll” arc-shaped boards to slide freely, lift up and down; the two sets of devices in the air and on the ground are programmed by computer and operated by experienced professional technicians respectively. When the music sounded, the picture scroll slowly unfolded, rotated, and lifted into the air… A total of 72 points on the ground and in the air changed. During the 2-hour performance, it always kept close cooperation with the dancers, and the positioning was accurate, and the error was within 2 centimeters. The “immersive” painting appreciation experience of “Only Blue and Green” has won the heartfelt affirmation of the audience, and it is also an encouragement to the workers behind the stage art.

Explore a unique stage visual language, craftsmanship is a necessary quality

The stage designer should be proficient in the methods of stage design for their own work, and should also have an in-depth understanding of various types of theatrical performances such as directing, lighting design, and costume design, and give clear suggestions when necessary. Stage designers should understand the dynamics of art and social life. They should not only be experts in solving various creative problems, but also generalists who keep pace with the times.

Even in the face of the same drama, keep it fresh and explore new ways of interpretation. In the creation of the opera Turandot, director Zhang Yimou and I tried to make each version of the play unique. This play has been staged in many countries. Every time we go to each place, we will adjust measures according to local conditions and gain a deep understanding of the cultural features of the performance place. Starting from the audience, theater style, and cultural environment of the performance, we will create a film that meets the aesthetic needs of the audience in the region. This work refreshes the audience’s visual imagination of this classic repertoire.

“Only Blue and Green” shows that the craftsmen integrate their hard work into the theme perspective of the Danqing long scroll, which is very inspiring to me. In the process of exploring the unique visual language of the stage, the craftsmanship of the creator is a necessary quality.

The choreography of “Only Blue and Green” is sophisticated and complex, and the production cycle is short. It requires strict calculation and scientific planning before the stage installation can be completed within the time limit. Last year, we installed the stage in the Taihu Theater of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Although the smooth operation of the aerial and ground installations brought great confidence to the creative team, the subsequent problem was that the programming was too complicated, which caused the numerical control system to be extremely unstable. At first, I chose a double-layer translucent material close to silk. The complex motion design brought great difficulties to the light projection. Too light and too heavy materials would affect the accuracy and stability of the operation… Various problems, from the courage to innovate and try, to Persistence in practice and exploration, the main creative team supports each other and adheres to the quality of creation. With the unremitting efforts of the team, these technical problems have been effectively solved in the end.

The amazing moments created by the creator’s ingenuity endow the stage installation with fresh vitality. The director, screenwriter, music, stage art, multimedia, costume and other departments have made great efforts to present the stage art, and the contributions of countless participants in front of and behind the scenes are the best embodiment of the craftsmanship spirit. Only this reverence is worthy of the audience; only this ingenuity is the greatest respect for one’s own profession.

(The author is the stage director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts and a national first-class stage designer)

“People’s Daily” (page 20, April 14, 2022)

Editor in charge: gaoxuejing Liu Yuan