How to shoot a revenge drama with Chinese aesthetics? How to tell a story of extreme forbearance and tragedy of revenge? Recently, a seminar on the domestic drama "Legend of the Tibetan Sea" was held in Beijing.
Stills from The Legend of the Hidden Sea
"Legend of the Hidden Sea" is directed by Zheng Xiaolong and Cao Yiwen, with Xiao Zhan, Zhang Jingyi, Zhou Qi and Huang Jue as the leading actors. Director Cao Yiwen said that "Legend of the Hidden Sea" tells the story of how a person from the lower class fights upward to complete revenge and redemption. "The revenge story full of plot tension and various reversals is the main line of the story. In addition, we also want to explore the complexity of human nature in depth - what kind of choices should be made in the life of revenge, and what kind of price and responsibility will be faced after making the choice."
Based on this, the director and screenwriter have always emphasized the importance of using the plot to deepen the protagonist's choices when polishing the script. For example, he tries to save people who may encounter natural disasters and does not kill innocent people. Many of these choices are not directly related to his revenge, but are based on his inner choices. "In this process, Zang Hai transformed from an avenger to a guardian, filling the void in his heart and getting rid of the shackles of hatred. This is the beginning of his true rebirth."
Zheng Xiaolong believes that there are two types of directors: passionate and logical, and he belongs to the latter. "When I talked with director Cao Yiwen, we said that we must shoot this film with a realistic attitude. Although it is a fictional story, we must use a realistic attitude, such as criticizing the imperial system of feudal society, truly and deeply exploring human nature, filling the holes that have been dug, and using details to reflect the plot, treating details as the plot."
Cao Yiwen also said that in line with the realistic creative attitude, "We finalized the texture and atmosphere of the story from the historical fiction to the Ming Dynasty, ensuring that a clear and intuitive aesthetic style is established in art, scenes, props, and ceremonial scenes, further displaying elements such as mortise and tenon joints, shadow play, Kunqu opera, and astronomy, using our own images to present an oriental aesthetic, hoping to better inherit China's traditional culture, which is the value we want to reflect in addition to telling a good story. In terms of audio-visual language, we use shadow play and animal totems to metaphor power and intrigue, and use light and shadow to present this kind of animal hunting to express these schemes in Zang Hai's heart, add classic Kunqu opera repertoires to contrast the bloody power struggle, and also specially for Zang Hai's return to Kuai's house, some flashbacks were performed in the later stage, and the color was restored from the scarlet gradient, and the flashback method was used to complete a cross-time and space interaction of Zang Hai spanning ten years, which strengthened his belief in revenge."
Chief Producer Zhou Jing pointed out in her sharing that the unique charm of "Legend of Cang Hai" lies in the fact that the audience walks side by side with the protagonist Cang Hai, sharing an unknown journey of exploration, and every moment is full of surprises. The character of Cang Hai is not a perfect setting of omniscience and omnipotence. He also experiences growth, confusion, pain, and even has flaws. This design gives the character a fuller dimension and room for growth. The charm of the traditional story in the play slowly unfolds with a delicate and long rhythm, providing a broad stage for the characters to show their personalities in multiple dimensions. This immersive experience of going through ups and downs and growing together with the protagonist is the most fascinating part of the original script.
