There is a lot of space outside the opera movie theater."Don't seek box office, but focus on popularization"

After experiencing a period of decline since the 1990s, the development of film technology has pushed opera films to re-enter a prosperous period of creation. Industry insiders pointed out that judging from the environment of the film market and the main functions carried by opera films, opera films should find more space outside theaters.

Original title: Space for opera films. The

Yue opera film "The West Chamber" and the Kunqu opera film "Jingyang Bell", which should be filmed outside the theater using 3D technology, will have their premieres at the Hong Kong City Hall one after another. This means that substantial progress has been made in the Shanghai Opera 3D film project launched by the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and produced by the Shanghai Opera Art Center. The 400-seat Hong Kong City Hall had 100% attendance for "The Western Chamber" screened last night; the ticketing of "Jingyang Bell", which will be released this Sunday, was also quite gratifying. Many viewers said that modern imaging technology has opened up a new dimension in opera appreciation and given them a new experience of watching a theater.

It is reported that the Shanghai Opera 3D Film Project plans to shoot 10 3D opera films in three to five years. Coupled with "Farewell My Concubine","Xiao He Yue Chases Han Xin" and "Kan Yuchuan", which were previously included in the national drama shooting project, five 3D opera films have been filmed in Shanghai in the past few years. People thus discovered that after experiencing a period of decline since the 1990s, opera films have once again entered a prosperous period of creation.

At the same time, what to do after the opera movie is filmed has also become a topic of concern to people. Industry insiders pointed out that judging from the environment of the film market and the main functions carried by opera films, opera films should find more space outside theaters.

Technological development promotes the craze of opera and film creation.

This time, the Shanghai Opera Art Center was invited to Hong Kong to participate in the ongoing China Opera Festival. The China Opera Festival was founded in 2010. Since the second session, an opera film section has been established every year. In addition to Cantonese opera films, the films screened also include the Peking Opera film "Yangmen Female General", the Kunqu Opera film "Shiwu Guan" and other local opera films such as Liyuan Opera. This year, it is the first time that a 3D opera film has appeared in this sector.

Some experts believe that this wave of creative craze in opera films is inseparable from the development of technology. Starting with the Peking Opera film "Farewell My Concubine", several opera films in Shanghai have been filmed using 3D technology. The maturity of this technology not only satisfies the faithful recording and reproduction of opera performances, but also allows the combination of opera and film to produce a special chemical reaction, allowing the audience to watch a real stage performance, but can break the single stage viewing perspective. Take the two films premiered this time as an example. In "The West Chamber", every graceful dance step and every set of exquisite and gorgeous costumes of Cui Yingying present a complex but not complicated, exquisite but not extravagant beauty in the 3D picture; The multiple consecutive stabbing spears in the middle martial arts drama of "Jingyang Bell" and the white exercises thrown out before Chongzhen committed suicide all bring a more shocking experience to the audience due to the use of 3D technology.

How many opera films "and then there is no more then"

? However, how can such opera films be seen by more audiences? This has become an important issue facing the industry.

As a unique genre of China films, opera films were once one of the most popular films. Data shows that a total of about 400 opera films have been produced in the history of China's film. However, since the 1990s, the pause button has been pressed for the prosperity of opera films, and there were zero opera films produced throughout 1992. Since then, although two or three opera films have been released every year, they have been difficult to enter normal market distribution and theater screenings.

In July 2015, the Kunqu opera film "Dream of the Red Chamber" was released at the Northern Kunqu Opera Theater. The box office was bleak amid the barrage of many commercial films during the summer, and there was even the embarrassment of going offline before it was released in some places. The reporter learned from the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe that in the past 10 years, the troupe's "Ban Zhao","Temple of Changsheng" and "Peach Blossom Fan" have been made into movies one after another, but they have not yet had access to the big screen; Shanghai Yue Opera Theater's "Sister Yu Qing" also encountered the situation of "then, there will be no more".

We don't seek box office, but focus on popularization and promotion

."We don't seek box office, but focus on the popularization and promotion of opera art, and ultimately let more people fall in love with opera and enter the theater." Zhang Ming, president of the Shanghai Opera Art Center, said this. After all, the most important value of opera films lies in the preservation, inheritance and promotion of culture. A classic case is that in 1962, Shanghai Film Studio and Hong Kong Golden Sound Film Company jointly filmed the Yue opera "Dream of the Red Chamber" into a color film. It premiered in Hong Kong in November of the same year. The first round was screened continuously for 38 days, with more than 400 performances, and nearly 400,000 viewers. Later, the film was screened nationwide and immediately became popular, becoming a popular audio-visual version of the original work of the same name, becoming a household name for a time; in 1978, the film was re-screened in China, rekindling the love of Yue opera among audiences across the country. People lined up all night long to buy tickets with bedding rolls, and the movie theater ran 24 hours a day."Sister Lin Falling from the Sky" became a well-known aria for all ages.

In order to reach a larger audience, we must strive for more screening space in addition to regular theater screenings. It is reported that after "The West Chamber" and "Jingyang Bell" are premiered, they will be screened in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu and other locations from the end of this year to the first half of next year, and then will be screened in communities and universities for long-term periods. Gu Haohao, head of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, said: "Now many schools and community cultural activity centers have film projection equipment, which can be combined with the Kunqu Opera lectures we have been doing. After all, the cost of showing a movie is much lower than performing a movie." In addition, Gu Haohao also came up with the idea of his own venue: "Our Yu Zhenfei performance hall has 180 seats, which can also be equipped with film projection equipment. We can even hold some viewing and discussion activities for movie and stage versions, so that opera films can truly become a form of popularization and promotion of opera." If this approach is feasible, the Zhou Xinfang drama space at the Shanghai Peking Opera Theater and the Wanping Theater under renovation may both be utilized.

Zhang Ming believes that we can learn from the models of some countries in promoting musicals and opera films, and cooperate with various libraries to show opera films as materials. Rong Guangrun, a professor at the Shanghai Theater Academy of Drama, was deeply impressed by the Metropolitan Opera Library in New York: "You can see all American musicals there. "Staff from the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department also told reporters that although there are few opportunities for opera films to be screened in Hong Kong, people can see the Cantonese opera films collected there at the Hong Kong Film Archive.

Editor: yvette