Television Documentary: Art, Techniques, and Chinese Perspectives

Author: Shi Yi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-08-01
Features: What is preserved in a collection of authentic documentaries is a history of human civilization, and its invaluable worth is irreplaceable. This book not only provides a cultural and theoretical review of the history of Chinese documentary creation but also analyzes the characteristics of representative works of over 20 middle-aged, young, and elderly television documentary creators who represent the mainstream culture of Chinese television documentaries. It also elaborates on the formation and development of excellent foreign documentary styles, showcases and interprets master-level documentary works and documentary concepts, and looks ahead to the development of television documentaries in the 21st century. This book is the first comprehensive and in-depth study of Chinese television documentaries in our country. The entire book takes the art and techniques of outstanding Chinese and foreign television documentaries as a reference, with a broad and avant-garde perspective, solid and rich materials, and a majestic and vibrant style. It is suitable for teaching use in departments of journalism, communication, film and television, and related disciplines, as well as for reference by television professionals, enthusiasts, and researchers.
Large-scale television documentaries are considered the epic works of documentaries, representing the development and extension of television documentaries and a distinctive cultural symbol of Chinese television art. The term "large-scale" refers to programs with broad themes, large capacity, systematic completeness, profound historical and aesthetic value, and a duration of approximately 10 episodes (3 hours) or more, capable of creating a certain scale of communication effect. Large-scale television documentaries can fully reflect the business strength and comprehensive cultural level of a television station's program production. The creation of large-scale television documentaries in our country began in the late 1970s, starting with The Silk Road, and has continuously produced one after another renowned large-scale television documentaries such as The Yangtze River Speaks, The Grand Canal Speaks, The Tang-Tibetan Road, and Let History Tell Us, achieving remarkable peaks and results.
Categorized by creative themes, China's large-scale television documentaries can be divided into two major cultural series: the Yellow River cultural theme series and the military cultural theme series. Below, we will respectively elaborate on the cultural characteristics and creative features of works in these two major cultural series.
The Yellow River is the cradle of the Chinese nation and the source of ancient Chinese culture. Large-scale television documentaries in the Yellow River cultural theme series have the following creative characteristics: they all follow the traces left by history—such as a river, a mountain, a Great Wall, or a road—to shoot, and their thematic ideas unfold along the main line of national culture; they reflect the historical culture and economic and developmental changes of our country. Because some of the documentaries in this series are themed around the Yellow River and Yangtze River, for the convenience of narration, we refer to large-scale documentaries with similar characteristics as "Yellow River cultural series" large-scale documentaries.
Starting in the 1980s, Chinese documentary creators, with passion for promoting national culture, tracing history, and looking to the future, traveled across the vast mountains and rivers of the motherland, producing many excellent large-scale television documentaries in the Yellow River cultural theme series. The Silk Road was the pioneer of the Yellow River cultural series. Since The Silk Road, Chinese television documentaries began the shooting of a series of large-scale television documentaries featuring the great culture of China—rivers (The Yangtze River Speaks), canals (The Grand Canal Speaks, The Yellow River), roads (The Silk Road, The Tang-Tibetan Road, The Sichuan Road, The Golden Road, The Volga Diary), and cities (Wangcheng). Among these, The Silk Road, The Yangtze River Speaks, and Wangcheng had the strongest social impact, with their rich connotations and magnificent grandeur producing epic power. Their sensational impact in China lasted for over a decade, and their influence remains enduring. The famous Dutch documentary master, Joris Ivens, once revealed the secret of the enduring enthusiasm of Chinese audiences for The Yangtze River Speaks during its six-month broadcast: "Your program has captured the main artery of your audience!"
The reason the Yellow River cultural series documentaries evoked such enduring enthusiasm among audiences is primarily that they captured the main artery of the audience. The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are the main arteries of the motherland's body, nourishing the splendid land and raising generations of descendants of the Chinese nation, giving birth to the splendid culture of the Chinese nation. Capturing this main artery moved the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese people and kindled their profound and noble patriotic passion. The Yellow River cultural series documentaries, in their function of promoting traditional national culture and spirit and inspiring patriotism, are consistent in fulfilling people's thirst for knowledge and appreciation and entertainment.
In terms of structure, Yellow River cultural documentaries share a common characteristic: they are structured according to the spatial thread method, arranging the content of each part based on the concept of space. In short, they are structured according to a certain geographical concept, relying on the boundaries of regions and river basins. In terms of form, Yellow River cultural documentaries all unfold along the traces of history—such as a road, a river, or a Great Wall. The Silk Road reflects the historical culture and economic and developmental changes of our country from a fresh perspective. The Yangtze River Speaks, in terms of production form, incorporates a program host in post-production, with equal episode lengths and fixed broadcasts, making the program form increasingly perfect. Wangcheng, from the beginning, uses a program host to connect the program, and forms a rich and vibrant body of the work with synchronous sound and on-site sound, thus enabling Chinese television documentaries to achieve a complete understanding of the nature of television.
The renowned Yellow River cultural series documentaries, from the perspective of their operation and incubation process, have been continuously released, maintaining vigorous vitality from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. When The Silk Road was still in the filming stage, China Central Television had already begun planning the shooting of the large-scale television documentary The Yangtze River Speaks. The Grand Canal Speaks, The Yellow River, and other films also underwent similar continuous processes in operation, so they are interconnected in creative rhythm. The birth of each large-scale documentary is based on the accumulation and inheritance of the creative experience of the former, while also breaking through the former, until Wangcheng appeared. This dynamic and innovative operational process in the creation of China's Yellow River series large-scale television documentaries is extremely beneficial for the development of the television documentary industry. It can be said that without the accumulation of quantitative changes, there would be no qualitative leap of Wangcheng.
### 2. The Creation of Artistic Conception in Prose-style Television Documentary Narration
Artistic conception refers to the sum of specific artistic images, the artistic sentiments and atmospheres they express, and the rich artistic associations they may trigger. The composition of artistic conception requires the fusion of scenery and emotion, and the transcendence of the image beyond the literal. The creation of artistic conception in prose-style television documentary narration revolves around the specific artistic images and the artistic sentiments, atmospheres they express, as well as the rich artistic associations they may trigger.
In The Waters of Li River, there is a sequence of shots: a child releasing ducks in the water, an infant on a raft, and a fisherman mending nets at the bow of a boat. The narration reads: "Poetry floats in the water shadows, paintings vanish in the ripples, and tunes swirl in the clear streams." The author does not simply explain the scenes but focuses on the specific artistic image of the Li River water, expressing various emotions and integrating poetry, painting, and music into the water shadows, ripples, and clear streams. At this point, the artistic conception of "the beauty of the Li River water, the Li River water is truly beautiful" has already enveloped the audience's heart. Later, when the scene shows the river water combing aquatic plants and the breaking the tranquility of the river, it comes as a surprise: "Sometimes she is so gentle and tranquil, combing her green hair with gentle waves; sometimes she is so lively and cheerful, intentionally showing off her peacock-like attire." Thus, the Li River water flowing through has both gentleness and a lively spirit. The green hair and peacock-like attire are no longer directly depicted in the scene; they are the author's tender associations and imagination, the poetic flow from the bottom of the heart. The narration, full of symbolic descriptions, triggers the audience's artistic associations, making it not only the gentle water, slender grass, scattered stones, and gentle waves that the audience cannot forget, but also the artistic sentiments of the Li River's ripples, gradually diffusing and deepening.
The creation of artistic conception in prose-style television documentary narration not only emphasizes artistic sentiments but also artistic atmosphere. That is, the creation of artistic conception is not only the expression of subtle emotions of the subject but also the creation and elevation of the atmosphere of the object. In the prose-style television documentary Pine, facing the proud and varied ancient pines, we hear the author's profound words: "If the Huangshan pines are compared to transcendent hermits, it would be more appropriate to call them philosophers who have weathered the vicissitudes of time. Because these Huangshan pines can cultivate people's sentiments, purify their minds, and give them philosophical enlightenment." At this point, the image of the pine becomes lofty and profound; it is no longer an ordinary Huangshan pine but an embodiment of noble character.
The creation of artistic conception in prose-style television documentaries emphasizes revealing the various artistic associations hidden behind specific artistic images through narration. The images in prose-style television documentaries have strong metaphorical significance, and this metaphor relies on the narration for revelation. The process of revealing the metaphor is the process of creating artistic conception. In the prose-style television documentary Mount Tai—The Solemn of the Five Great Mountains, we see the porter struggling forward on the 18th step, but what we feel goes far beyond that: the porter carrying a hundred-pound load, with steady steps and a composed demeanor, resembles a bronze statue of a Taoist sage, adding even more strength to the climb. They do not utter a word; the difficulties weighing on their shoulders for ten or eight years are not just burdens; what they carry up is not just the civilization of Mount Tai but the backbone of the Chinese people! The feet of the Chinese people! The 18th step is a path that tests willpower and endurance; it is a path that sharpens perseverance and tenacity. In life, one will inevitably encounter difficulties of all kinds. Often, the greater the difficulty, the closer one is to victory. Here, it is precisely because of the author's profound and far-sighted elaboration that the metaphor of the image is transformed into a sense of reality. We feel not just an ordinary porter but a touchstone that highlights the indomitable spirit of the Chinese people, triggering the audience's associations and realizing the metaphor of the image, creating a new artistic conception.
### 3. The Rapid Development of Cable Television and the Increase in Channels
This revolution can be traced back to 1948 in the stage in the United States, where its seeds were sown. In 1948, in the small Appalachian mining town of Mahone, John Wilson and his wife ran an electronics store. Because no one could receive the broadcast signal, the store was full of unsold televisions. John often put televisions and customers in his truck and drove them to a nearby hilltop, using a generator and a tall antenna to show them what they couldn't see from below. One day, while traveling on a bumpy road, John realized that it would be much easier to connect an antenna from the hilltop to his store. So, he placed three televisions in his window, each playing a different channel. This caused a sensation. People came in groups to see the televisions, and orders flooded in. So, John connected cables along the power company's utility poles to customers' homes, providing them with signals for $100 upfront and $2 per month thereafter. In just a few months, the number of subscribers reached 7,000. John Wilson pioneered this form of cable television. Subsequently, American cables were used to establish rural bases surrounded by cities. The results were excellent; by 1985, 44.6% of American households were connected to cable. The growth of subscribers was as follows: it took cable television 27 years to reach 11 million subscribers by 1975, but it only took 10 years to reach 26 million subscribers by 1985.
The second factor is the combination of synchronous satellites and cables, which brought a complete transformation to the television industry. In 1962, the United States Bell Labs launched the first human-made satellite. This satellite was not a synchronous satellite, but its birth sowed the seeds for the information revolution. In 1967, with the launch of the Indian Ocean satellite, this dream was realized. At that time, the jumping black-and-white images were still far from the crystal-clear satellite images of today. In 1975, with the launch of the United States Communication Satellite 1, the combination of satellites and cables became a reality, completely reforming the television industry, reducing the value of terrestrial television broadcasts, and leading to the establishment of numerous new channels that easily entered all wireless television markets in the United States. These channels included ESPN, which was dedicated to sports programs, the Family Theater, which aired new films without commercials before other television stations, and WTBS in Atlanta (a local station in Atlanta that used satellites and cables to become a television network). By 1986, there were 4 communication satellites carrying 101 wireless television channels.