Comments on the co-production of Beautiful China by CCTV and BBC
Beautiful China is jointly produced by the world-renowned British BBC natural history production team and CCTV Media, the main film and television production force of CCTV. This film is also the first collaboration between BBC and China TV.
"Beautiful China" will be shot in high definition, which will expose the audience to the rich and colorful scenery of China, including palaces of the Han Dynasty, Mongolian grasslands and Uygur deserts, the Silk Road and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The film also includes precious life records of rare giant pandas and rare fish-eating bats endemic to China.
Sir Sir William Geoffrey Ehrman, British ambassador to China, said, "Beautiful China is a natural history series with unprecedented ambition. The successful shooting and production of this film is not only the success of TV program production cooperation between the two countries, but also the successful cooperation between the creative industries of China and Britain. "
In the mountain stream covered with Bo Xue, Chinese and British photographers responsible for shooting beautiful China have been lying in ambush here for several days. They set up tents in places frequented by wild pandas, and several people took turns on duty with telephoto cameras with 42 times lenses, but almost every time they failed before. "What we want to shoot most is the mating scene of wild pandas." Lu Xiao said that wild giant pandas are very cautious when mating, and it is difficult for people to know the exact mating position. Therefore, for a long time, it is almost impossible to shoot the mating scene of wild giant pandas.
However, when Xiao Lu and his colleagues arrived at the shooting location with heavy cameras, people saw in the telephoto lens that a young female panda kept screaming in the tree and a male panda courted around the tree. A few hours later, another male panda was attracted by the cry. After some biting and scratching, the "latecomers" left angrily. The female panda in the tree was finally captured by the warrior in the battle, and soon climbed down from the tree and squatted on the stone waiting for mating. In this way, an extremely precious image of wild giant pandas mating in the wild will remain in the beautiful China movies forever. This six-episode documentary, which has been successfully filmed for three years, is jointly produced by BBC Universal Pictures and China Zhong Shi Media Co., Ltd. and will be premiered on CCTV on the eve of the Beijing Olympic Games.
In the film, from the giant panda in Qinling Mountains, the wild yak in Tibet, the green grassland in Inner Mongolia to the spectacular rice terraces in Yunnan, this iconic series truly records the beautiful scenery and rich animal and plant diversity in China.
Mr John Shi, CEO of BBC Universal Pictures, said, "We are proud to introduce this magnificent series to audiences all over the world. All the shots are taken in HD. "
The 6-episode HD documentary Beautiful China, jointly produced by China TV Media and BBC Universal Pictures, will be released soon, which is expected to trigger another upsurge after Planet Earth.
The whole film filmed more than 50 national wildlife and scenic spots in China, 86 exotic wildlife species in China and more than 30 national life stories, showing the natural and human landscape of China.
"Before the opening of the Olympic Games, such a documentary was very meaningful. You can promote the beauty of China to the whole world and let people all over the world know the natural history of China. " Gao Xiaoping, Chairman of CTV Media Co., Ltd., is excited about the upcoming large-scale high-definition documentary series Beautiful China.
Beautiful China is divided into six episodes: rich South China, south of colorful clouds, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Great Wall, the dragon's territory and the noisy coast. CTV, controlled by CCTV, was co-produced with BBC Universal Pictures, with a total duration of about 6 hours and production lasting 3 years. The film crew visited 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. From Hezhe people living in the far north to boat people in Guilin, from the Great Wall, the landmark building of the Chinese nation, to Miao village in the southwest, from Tibetan antelopes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to wild pandas in Qinling Mountains, and then to Asian elephants in Yunnan ... all the customs and customs are presented in the six-hour panoramic description.
John Smith, president of BBC Universal Pictures, is full of confidence in the global release of Beautiful China: "At the BBC Show in February this year, we solemnly recommended this special series of programs to 560 buyers around the world. At present, it has become the number one target of the BBC natural history program, and channels in 25 countries including Germany and Australia have purchased broadcasting rights. " John Shi believes that Beautiful China will be the successor of Earth, which became popular all over the world in 2006. "Planet Earth" not only won high ratings and good DVD sales in the global TV network, but also swept almost all Emmy documentary awards that year.
"The production cost of Beautiful China is about 5 million pounds." In John Shi's view, the production cost is already very high in the documentary. "It doesn't include expensive equipment such as aerial photography that we specially purchased", but Gao Xiaoping figured it out and felt that it was not a loss: "We need such a film that fully reflects the local customs of China, and we can learn a lot by cooperating with BBC. Moreover, through this shooting, we also exercised our international team. "
Pole-cam high-definition photography technology, which was once used to shoot the planet earth, can present extremely rich and delicate images. "There are few such cameras in the world, and we brought one specially." Brian Schmidt, the chief producer of the documentary, detailed the "precision weapons" they used to shoot all kinds of "incredible" shots: "We also brought an ultra-high-speed camera, which is 80 times faster than ordinary cameras. For example, most people may not notice this process at all because it is too fast, but with this ultra-high-speed camera, you can capture the detailed process of snakes and birds frame by frame. There are also shots of leaves sprouting and branches growing. With special time-lapse photography technology, the growth and changes of a forest can be quickly presented. " In addition, there are underwater cameras to capture the beautiful coral reefs under the South China Sea in China, and infrared cameras to photograph langurs in caves in the dark.
"We also filmed the whole process of courtship and mating of wild giant pandas. This is the first time for foreigners; And with high-definition photography, I believe this is the first time. " Neil nightingale, director of the natural history department of BBC, is very proud.
Presenting "Wild China"
In Beautiful China, about one-third of the content is used to present the diverse regional and national cultures of China, and the other two-thirds is about natural ecology. Before the filming began, the staff did a lot of research. "Pre-research plays an important role in wildlife documentaries. Only through pre-research can we truly determine the authenticity of wildlife behavior, the exact time of mating and the location of their activities, and then decide which protected area to shoot, when to go, what to shoot, etc., and then make a detailed shooting plan. " China producer Lu summarized the importance of research.
Lu Si and his colleagues undertook most of the research tasks. Li Ke is also one of the producers of Beautiful China. She remembers that there were Chinese and British researchers in the early cooperation. "After the director puts forward topics of interest, the researchers study the feasibility and shooting information of each topic, such as the best time, place and species characteristics. For the BBC, it is very inconvenient to conduct research from the UK due to time difference and communication problems, so most of the research work is carried out by researchers in China. " But they are not professional bio-ecological researchers, so the opinions and experiences of experts are very important. During the investigation and filming, scientists and professional wildlife photographers from Chinese Academy of Sciences and nature reserves became their consultants. "Just like Professor Zhong of Shanghai Fisheries University, it is because of his help that we can photograph the Chinese sturgeon, a national first-class protected animal." Li Wei recalled.
China's vast expanse shocked BBC producers like never before. "We are surprised that 0/5% of the territory of China/Kloc is a protected area. The area of China Light Protection Zone is equivalent to four Britain. " Even Bourne used the word "humble" to describe his most direct feelings.
But it also increases the difficulty of shooting. The BBC Natural History Department spent four years filming Planet Earth, which tells a global natural story, while it only took one year to film beautiful China. For the past three years, Lian Bowen has been sitting in the back of the BBC Bristol production department. "My feeling seems to be that the shooting team has been on the road for more than 1 100 days. It seems that the road is too long to shoot." China's ecological diversity also left a deep impression on Natinger, who has an irresistible passion for nature: "China has the third largest rainforest after Brazil and Indonesia. I must admit that I didn't know that China is such a rich and diverse country until I saw the Gobi Desert in Taklimakan and the marine forest in Hainan. "
Although the shooting trip allowed them to enjoy the magnificent or magnificent scenery, there were still some accidents, although for Phil Chapman, a documentary director with many years of field shooting experience, "shooting itself was not thrilling, and we basically foresaw all possible accidents." While filming the Qinling antelope, the film crew met a lonely antelope. "If you move in groups, this precious animal is very docile. However, the' single cow' of running a group is different. They are very violent and very aggressive. " Natinger, who graduated from Oxford University majoring in zoology, explained. The film crew confronted them for a while and then quickly evacuated. What impressed Lu Si was that they met the black bear in a narrow way when filming the white-browed gibbon in Gaoligongshan, Yunnan. "We were chased by a black bear for a kilometer before we escaped." Li Ke still remembers shooting in Dalian Snake Island. Their allowed activity range is only about 4 square meters, except for the board, which is all snake territory. "This island is full of poisonous snakes. In the process of shooting, our spirit is always very nervous. We get up at 4 o'clock every day and work until the sun sets. " "Rollover, debris flow, sandstorm, snowstorm ...", Lu Si remembers that all six shooting teams have experienced different "disasters", "But in retrospect, everything is worth it." Li Ke said with relief.
Justin Maguire and Mike Lemmon, mainly engaged in photography, are freelance photographers, who have shot many excellent works for BBC, National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel. They have traveled all over the world, but it is the first time to shoot China in such a deep and extensive way. Lemmon has 27 years of experience in wildlife photography. He photographed the magnificent sunrise on five continents. This time, he waited for several weeks in Zhalong Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang Province, before he photographed the "perfect sunset"-the red-crowned crane danced gracefully in the radiant light of the sunset.
For the first time, the whole process of courtship and mating of wild giant pandas was photographed with high-definition camera, which made all the producers very excited. "For the whole world, giant pandas are idols, not to mention how excited they are. As far as I know, the international team has never taken such a shot before. " Even the staff of Qinling Nature Reserve didn't have much confidence in their plans at first. "We are all beginning to despair. We've been there about two or three times, and each time we waited for at least a week, but we didn't get the shot we wanted. The last time, I waited 10 days, and finally I waited for a pair of giant pandas in heat. " Chapman recalled.
During the filming of Beautiful China, even new scientific discoveries were made. When they photographed the langur in the cave with an infrared camera, they found that "langur is licking the liquid containing minerals oozing from the cliff". "Even experts who specialize in langurs have discovered this phenomenon for the first time." Lu Si was very excited.
Feel "Harmony between Man and Nature"
"In China, the relationship between people and animals, to be exact, is very real." Chapman first saw people fishing with cormorants in Xingping County, Guilin, Guangxi. Producers He, Lemmon and China filmed the process at sunset on the Lijiang River. "Floating on the Lijiang River in their small bamboo raft is a magical experience." The same thing happened once in Lashihai, Lijiang, Yunnan. The Yuanyang terraced fields in Yunnan also shocked them: "Every inch of cultivated land has been used and has a very long history." In Miao Village, Leishan, Guizhou, they saw the swallow's behavior under the eaves as a symbol of the Miao people's agricultural solar terms.
Lian Bowen and others call the Nujiang River "the Nujiang River of Heroes", and those who have the courage to cross the Nujiang River with hanging ropes are all heroes in their eyes. This roaring river running between Nu Mountain and Gaoligong Mountain is almost the biggest challenge for the film crew. "We photographers have to tie ourselves to the lanyard, hold the camera tightly and photograph the surging river," Chapman said with a smile. "It's really exciting." Residents on both sides of the strait, old and young, have slipped by the tightrope as usual, and many people are still buying and selling goods in the market. Chapman thinks they are worthy heroes.
"If there were no Chinese producers of CTV, we would definitely be finished." The diversity of China culture left a deep impression on Lienborn. "Many ethnic minorities can't speak Mandarin or Cantonese." But after the exchange, they all enjoy their time with the local people. Chapman and his team lived in Miao village in Guizhou Middle East for two weeks to experience the daily life of Miao people. "It was a village that lived completely in a cave, and they also built a basketball court in the cave. We play with local children. They play basketball very well! " After running in many villages in China for nearly three years, Chapman is full of affection for China: "My impression of rural China is that there are many beautiful scenery and many friendly, hospitable and helpful locals."
But they also saw that the natural environment was constantly influenced by the edge of the city, which made their shooting more meaningful. After three years of hard work, "it is the wish of all our staff to let people all over the world see the beauty of China. Of course, it is also our greatest wish to make people all over the world care more about our earth and animals living on it like us. " Lu Si concluded. There is no doubt that the filming of Beautiful China is of great significance. China's unique geological features, rare wild animals and long history and culture are fully presented to the world for the first time. In this way, China came to the eyes of people all over the world and entered their hearts. Many foreigners yearn for China, but their understanding of China is very limited. The appearance of this masterpiece has undoubtedly added an important method for people who want to know more about China. In fact, this work not only shows the unique scenery of China, but also describes many social problems to people and foreigners in China, such as environmental pollution, biological extinction and the gap between the rich and the poor. These problems are real in our country, but in fact, not only such problems exist in our country. It can also be said that it is a "common disease" in the world. Beautiful China is created by scenery and humanity, and we always believe that China can be more beautiful. With the strengthening of environmental protection and the deepening of the concept of a harmonious society, we can see the hope of making China more beautiful!