Dazhong reporter Gao Ruisong reported from Qingdao.
The stage is performed off-stage, and the highlights are full of joy. The performance form of "separation of spectators and performances" has continued for thousands of years, and now it has ushered in a new twist.
Looking back at the history of Chinese theater, from the "Kantan" in the Han Dynasty, the "Le Tai" in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the "Washe" in the Song Dynasty, the "Theater Building" in the Yuan Dynasty, the "Theater Garden" in the Qing Dynasty and then to the theater in modern times, although time has changed and the name has changed, the actors on the stage have worked hard to perform, and the form of the audience quietly has never changed. With the advent of immersive theater and immersive interpretation, this history has finally been broken.
* With the wind and waves on the large screen in the background that fit the story situation, accompanied by the loud call of the actors on the stage, the audience sitting quietly in the seating area of the antique large wooden boat seems to be immersive, and sails into the sea with the protagonist of the story in the bumpy shaking of the seat, and pursues those unknown dreams in the way of sailing.
On the day of the Lantern Festival in 2024, China's first large-scale immersive maritime epic drama "Dreaming of the Sea" produced by Qingdao Tourism Group officially premiered. Let the audience taste the charming storyline at the same time, but also full of praise for this cultural tourism interpretation project that tells the history of Qingdao navigation.
Next, let's follow "Dreaming of the Sea" together to ** how the immersive cultural tourism interpretation project "breaks the circle".
One. Nowadays, with the in-depth promotion of the integrated development of culture and tourism, the immersive repertoire of regional history expressed through interpretation is in the ascendant, and the scale has expanded rapidly, becoming a "dark horse" in the integrated development of culture and tourism, which is not only the inevitable path of cultural integration tourism, but also can effectively help people improve their sense of tourism experience and quickly absorb regional cultural characteristics.
The integration of culture and tourism focuses on infiltrating culture into the process of tourism, so that tourists' tourism experience is not only in the category of enjoying the scenery, but also combines humanistic colors and regional history to obtain a more cost-effective sense of tourism experience.
With the addition of the immersive interpretation project, it not only increases the sense of interaction and experience of tourists, but also shortens the time for tourists to integrate into local culture, so as to make the sense of tourism experience and harvest more cost-effective.
So, what are the characteristics of the immersive cultural tourism and performing arts project?
Hardware is built to accentuate immersion. The creation of an immersive cultural tourism interpretation project is not achieved overnight, and its hardware requirements such as venues, facilities, and props are very demanding. Taking "Dreaming of the Sea" as an example, the play will be performed in the "Sea Theater" of the Olympic Sailing Center of Qingdao Olympic Sailing Marine Cultural Tourism Zone, which is surrounded by the sea on three sides and has good hardware facilities, relying on its 270° immersive wrapping image to build a full-view ocean; The panoramic sound surround in the field can create a multi-dimensional, realistic and vivid sound field space; The seats in the auditorium, which act in real time as the story progresses, simulate a real-life sailing experience, giving you the ultimate sense of immersion.
Moreover, in order to make the immersion more comprehensive and appropriate, the production team of "Dreaming in the Sea" broke the relationship of "separation of viewing and performance" by designing the small stage between the theater seats, and the actors' performance paths either passed by the audience or came directly to the audience, allowing the audience to transform from an outsider to a participant. Coupled with the lifelike swimming of marine creatures such as whales and jellyfish set up in the theater, a realistic marine environment appears in front of the audience's eyes, which not only enhances the audience's cultural perception, emotional resonance, and scene integration, but also allows them to experience the immersive interpretation project at their fingertips.
The delicate plot triggers a sense of story. Whether it is a drama or a ** drama, the storyline is the main way to attract the audience. "Dreaming in the Sea" adopts the guidance of both narrators, the participation of the parties, the help of supporters, and the blessing of beautiful **, highlighting that people's pursuit and exploration of the boundless ocean has never stopped from ancient times to the present.
With the help of the ancient ink riverside ancestors, the navigator Xu Fu, who began in Langyatai in the pre-Qin period, and Qi Kunpeng, who returned victoriously after 180 days of sailing without stopping, the three protagonists deduce their indomitable perseverance for navigation, and tell their spirit of daring to take risks and pioneering, and then let the incoherent plot in the atmosphere of pursuing the same theme have a fusion of senses and feelings, making the sense of story more prominent.
How did the Ink Riverside Ancestor Shell set at the end find the Snow Country? Xu Fu went to ** in the end? When is Qi Kunpeng's next voyage? A series of unknowns leave the audience enough to think about and discuss, so that the story does not end with the end of the play, but continues to extend in the process of people's **Qingdao maritime history.
Reason triggers a sense of reality. Whether it is the persistence of the ancestors to sail despite all difficulties, or the re-departure after Xu Fu's pleading, or the revival of Qi Kunpeng after the elimination of the chyme, they all reflect the familiar sentence "If there is no dream in life, what is the difference between it and salted fish", which is also applicable in reality.
In addition, at the end of the story, when the old man who told the story calmly said: "If you ask me who I am, I am the old man Shi, the watchman of Qingdao, who has always stood in the east for ten thousand years." "In an instant, the story is finally located in Qingdao, a seaside city and a city of dreams, which is very ingenious.
Jin Tiemu, director of "Dreaming in the Sea", once said: "Dreaming in the Sea" can reposition people's understanding of Qingdao. Let people know that Qingdao has a real history of maritime development from Sanlihe to Langyatai and then to today's Olympic Sailing Base.
Two. Immersive repertoire has also been created in other parts of China, such as the Shanghai version of "Sleepless Night", "Tracing Luo Shenfu", "Fantasy 2099", etc., to a certain extent, they have achieved the leading role of cultural tourism of "going to a city and watching a drama". However, it is rare to truly integrate into the tourism industry and bring fire to the regional cultural tourism IP, mainly due to the following constraints.
Hardware is expensive to build. Immersive performance projects are significantly different from ordinary performance repertoire, and in order to make the immersion more comprehensive, it is not only more laborious to build the hardware, but also costly, which may be one of the reasons why immersive interpretation projects are still in the process of experimenting. It not only includes the creation of the overall atmosphere of the theater, but also involves the control and use of new technology and advanced props.
For example, in the production of "Dream of the Sea", the technical method of "dark ride" large-scale theme park was brought into the indoor theater for the first time. Director Jin Tiemu once said frankly: "This is not only the first in China, but probably the first in the world." ”
From this, it can be learned that the requirements for cost, equipment, and technology to produce a high-quality immersive ** drama are incomparable to ordinary dramas.
The excavation of cultural elements is still shallow. As an immersive interpretation project that highlights regional IP, the creation of the repertoire must not only have a storyline, but also have cultural connotations, and how to immerse it? Which part is immersive? It should be set clearly at the beginning of the build. After all, the cost needs of the creation of immersive interpretation projects are in front, which makes many immersive interpretation projects dare not dig deep into cultural elements in the process of creation, minimize immersion involvement, etc., and ultimately limit the integrity and culture of the immersive interpretation project display.
There are limitations to the promotion channels. Immersive interpretation projects related to cultural tourism often have regional characteristics, and most of them highlight the cultural heritage of the region, which has caused limitations in the promotion of immersive repertoire. Because of the blessing of regional colors, in addition to tourists having the best intention to go to their hometowns, how to open up external publicity channels and let the repertoire get greater publicity is also one of the reasons that restrict immersive repertoire from going out of the city.
Three. Although there are still some problems that need to be solved urgently in the immersive cultural tourism interpretation, the trend of its development has not been greatly affected, especially some repertoire that can be called good in terms of quality, which will definitely receive the support of large traffic. So what is the future development trend of immersive repertoire, we might as well carry out **.
Driven by technological innovation. With the continuous development of technology, technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) have come to people, and the immersive repertoire of the future will gradually integrate with these new technologies to achieve a more efficient interpretation of virtual reality. In addition, with the continuous advancement of big data, artificial intelligence and other technical means, immersive repertoire will also pay more attention to user experience in terms of immersive experience.
Policy support and guidance. **It plays an important role in the integration of culture and tourism. In the future, as the role of immersive repertoire in enhancing the sense of tourism experience continues to become prominent, more support policies will be introduced, such as providing financial support, tax incentives, etc., which will lead to the continuous emergence of new industry markets, and then pave more favorable conditions for the creation of immersive repertoire.
Cross-border integration and development. In the future, with the continuous iteration of immersive interpretation atmosphere, technology and works, it will further stimulate the development pattern of cross-border integration, such as integrating with movies and games, and jointly develop more high-quality scenes and content, so that the audience's viewing experience and entertainment experience will be more immersive and richer, and then broaden market channels and form a new business format.
The topic returns to the original point, as China's first large-scale immersive maritime epic drama that combines fiction and reality, its weight must not be underestimated, and it is definitely a masterpiece of today's immersive cultural tourism interpretation project. So, it is worth looking forward to whether it can successfully "get out of the circle" in terms of the number of performances, the number of audiences, and the IP of Qingdao cultural tourism.