The chief designer of Hengdian Film and Television City is Zhang Xianchun

In 1996, Xie Jin wanted to make the movie "The Opium War" as a gift for Hong Kong's return. Zhang Xianchun, an artist from Beijing Film Studio, went with him Selection of scenes from various places. We first arrived in Guangzhou, a city at the forefront of reform and opening up, which was already full of high-rise buildings. Xie Jin was originally from Zhejiang, and had heard about Lu Zhai in Dongyang. He came here and took a fancy to it, and decided to build the Governor's Palace of Guangdong and Guangxi here. One of the people accompanying Xie Jin was the Propaganda Minister of Hengdian, and he was forced to take a look at two old houses in Hengdian Cultural Village. Zhang Xianchun told reporters that at that time, the 18 kilometers from Dongyang to Hengdian were all dirt roads and the mountains were desolate. This was just a small town developed by industry and could not be found on the map. They felt disappointed, but Xu Wenrong was full of enthusiasm and his intuition The return of Hong Kong is a big event, and the movie will definitely be a sensation. Xie Jin was also in trouble at that time. He had retired from Shanghai Film Studio. The film relied on private capital and funds were tight. Xu Wenrong promised to invest in building Guangzhou Street for the crew, and it was completed in three months. Xu Wenrong signed an agreement with them on the first day, watched the scene on the second day, and blew up three mountains on the third day. Zhang Xianchun has supervised the design of so many film and television bases, and this speed is truly unprecedented.

"Guangzhou Street" is located north of Hengdian. It spent 23 million yuan to restore the street scenes of Sanyuanli and Jiuhua Street in Guangzhou in the 1840s. The most eye-catching house is the “No. 1 Tea House in the World.” Zhou Guoping, deputy general manager of Hengdian Yuanming New Garden Co., Ltd., who showed reporters around, said, “In order to pursue a realistic effect, Xie Jin used an American red maple from the top to the back of the house. An antique-like wooden building cost several million yuan." The stone road under your feet is bumpy, the houses on both sides of the street are low and old, and the signs of "Rice Soy Milk" and "Laotang Umbrella" are being decorated for tomorrow's play, it feels like walking into old Guangzhou. "It looks like an antique, right? In fact, the houses on the street are specially made to be old and burned with gas." After the filming of "The Opium War", "Hong Kong Street" was built next to it. The former Queen's Pier has made many Hong Kong people came here to pay homage.

"Guangzhou Street only pursues realistic effects. The width of the street and the spacing between houses are restored according to the original location, but sufficient shooting space is not reserved for the crew. After the "Opium War" was withdrawn, it was given to tourists, Subsequent rental of the crew will bring inconvenience," designer Zhang Xianchun concluded. Even so, the popularity of "The Opium War" still attracted an endless stream of tourists to visit here, and Xu Wenrong tasted the sweetness of building a film and television city. Then came Chen Kaige, who filmed "Jing Ke Assassins the King of Qin". Like Xie Jin, the Qin Palace that the artist had been designing for three years was suffering from no land to build, and funds and time were getting increasingly tight. Zhang Xianchun introduced them to Hengdian, and Xu Wenrong spent 100 million yuan to blow up 5 mountains and built it in 8 months. The artist was so excited that he cried.

The Qin Palace covers an area of ??600 acres. The building is made of black wood and is magnificent. But it only looks like a grand structure from a distance, and it is easy to see through the "fake things that are fake" when you look up close. Xu Wenrong vigorously slapped the pillars outside the hall, "They are all fake!" The mottled city walls were formed by spraying yellow mud on the cement with high-pressure water guns. The four dragons on the high steps were originally made of fiberglass, but were later changed to Cement, imitation bronze effect. At this time, the Hengdian Group had begun to form a film and television industry chain. The purpose of building the city was very straightforward. It was built for filming, as long as it did not get involved. Tourists who take a closer look are often disappointed: so rough! It’s hard to imagine that such exquisite images can be captured in a movie. But the tour guide will immediately take you into another time and space, "When filming "Assassination of Qin", the background here was red, "Hero" was changed to black, "Emperor Wu of Han" was brass, and "The King of Kung Fu" was bronze. On the pillars The top and bottom of the coiled dragon are also different. The lower end was built by Chen Kaige, and the upper end was added later by Zhang Yimou. The central hall was originally a passage, but in "Heroes" it was turned into a pool, and the ceiling was opened for lighting." With this kind of imagination, these roughness seems to have a reason - to facilitate the superposition of the next drama. After entering the drama, tourists are more willing to rent clothes worn by the characters in the drama and take photos imitating the plot. In the underground palace, there are also hundreds of Qin Shihuang and his loyal terracotta warriors and horses, 1:1 size. Qin Shihuang even talked with Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the virtual performance of "Dream Back to Qin and Han".

The 600-acre "Along the River During Qingming Festival" was built proactively by the Hengdian Group and is more pragmatic. No one cares about its correspondence with the painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". Although it is built after the houses in it, only large yards are built, and the layout is more compact, all for the convenience of filming.

Such ancient houses are the most versatile and can be used to film plays from several dynasties and be used by dozens of crews at the same time. The name of the mansion in front of the door is also changed every day. Liaozhai and Song Temple have even developed a variety of games to entertain tourists. To experience the cycle of life and death, extras gather here from early in the morning, so it is always the busiest here.

The "Ming and Qing Palace" built in 2006 is the pinnacle of this round of city-building movement. It is said that 13 small peaks were blown up, covering an area of ??1,500 acres, with an investment of 800 million yuan, and it took 3 years. built. "Filming in the Forbidden City is too expensive, 30,000 yuan per hour, and we can only shoot for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. I suggested to Xu Wenrong, why not build another Forbidden City?" Zhang Xianchun became the designer of the "Forbidden City" in Hengdian. . The similarity between this place and the Forbidden City in Beijing is shocking. All the individual buildings are 1:1 replicas, except for "Tiananmen", which has been reduced by 20%, and its name also uses "Chengtianmen" from the Ming and Qing Dynasties - it is too similar. Just too sensitive. Daming Gate, Chengtian Gate, Meridian Gate, and then directly to Taihe Gate, Qianqing Palace is the end of the central axis. "In the Forbidden City in Beijing, only the central axis, the treasure hall, and the gardens are frequently visited by tourists, and no one goes to the rest, so we omitted some similar halls because they are unnecessary for filming." Zhou Guoping said. On both sides of the central axis is a different world. The gray brick houses of old Beijing have been transplanted, and there are also barbicans, overpasses, and eight alleys... Many things that disappeared in Beijing have reappeared here.

“From nothing to something out of nothing to everything, Hengdian now only lacks the Gobi Desert, deserts, and grasslands. Apart from that, it has everything.” “Transforming mountains and rivers” gave Xu Wenrong a great sense of accomplishment. Pointing to the mountain opposite, "There are now 500 life-size Arhats on that mountain. I also plan to build a 1.5-kilometer section of the Great Wall there. In fact, it is not impossible to build a desert. I also thought about building 1,500 acres, but during filming, What to do after that? How to develop tourism?”