I have found some direction, record which moments, Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Yang: Dialogue who program | Interview | Direction

Carving light and shadow, shaping a cute and respectable "Sailer"

The high-profile interview program has been updated.

"In the year of my college entrance examination, the director department of Beijing Film Academy had no enrollment plan in Shandong." Inside the China Film Museum, film director Guo Fan talked to Zhang Yang about how he missed his dreams when he was young.

"This projection needs to be adjusted... the boom is up late, you have to do it again..." At the Beijing People's Art Theatre, the new version of the play "Sunrise" is being rehearsed, and the director of the People's Art Theatre, Feng Yuanzheng, is adjusting every detail of the stage.

"There is still a big gap between us in the high-intensity running of attack and defense conversion." Chinese women's football head coaches Shui Qingxia and Zhang Yang walked on the field in the suburbs of Shanghai, discussing the current situation of women's football. Shui Qingxia did not avoid the existing problems.

"When I first arrived at the Forbidden City, this walnut tree was as thick as a duncloth stick. It has been almost 40 years now..." Researcher Lv Chenglong from the Palace Museum has been studying ancient ceramics in the Forbidden City for a lifetime. His office is located on the east side of the imperial tea room, and the walnut tree outside the window is now lush with branches and leaves.

This is a brand new interview series from Xinhua News Agency's Zhangyang Studio - "Sailers".

After the latest episode of this series, "Zhang Yang's Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng: Embracing Every Character in Life," was aired, many netizens commented on the immersive feeling of the video. Following Zhang Yang into the theater, they gained a deeper understanding of theatrical art and performance. A major feature of this interview series is the integration of a large number of vivid documentary paragraphs, designing multiple conversation spaces around the professional characteristics and personality of the guests. Through the use of documentary like camera language, the character's state is more relaxed and the image is more vivid.

The main interview scene was also well received, which was a painstaking choice made by the Zhang Yang team. According to Zhao Shitong, the executive producer of the team, a common choice for filming the main interview at the Caoyu Theater of Beijing People's Art Theatre is to expose the red chairs and starry sky ceiling of the theater. This is a more symmetrical composition and brighter color scene.

Zhang Yang's Dialogue with Feng Yuanzheng, Dean of Beijing People's Art Theatre, Filming Scene

"But we believe that the stage is more in line with the character's identity. He is not an audience, and most of the time he is in a rehearsal and performance space. Currently, the composition of this interview vaguely reveals the prop box in the backstage, which not only presents the elements of the stage, but also highlights the documentary style interview's documentary sense." Zhao Shitong told reporters.

The second episode of "Sailer" stills

The latest dissemination data has relieved busy friends. After the first release of "Sail Runner", it was displayed on the top of the entire network, with over 440000 comments, likes, and interactions within 48 hours. When the second issue was launched, it was listed on the hot microblog search list, and three related topic words occupied the hot spot of Tiktok in real time. Being seen and recognized by more people is the greatest driving force for studios to create high-quality content.

"Day and night", challenging the limit of 31 hours

The documentary filming of Feng Yuanzheng started before the noon rehearsal and ended after the rehearsal at 10 pm. For 10 hours, handheld filming from three different positions was uninterrupted, fully recording the stage and behind the scenes of a drama rehearsal and performance. This kind of work rhythm, boasting and laughing, has become accustomed to it. She mentioned to the reporter an experience of "challenging the limit for 31 hours"——

That was October 2021, less than a year after the establishment of the studio, Zhang Yang reported on the launch mission of the Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Center. At 5 pm on the 14th, she first secured an opportunity to ask Wang Yaping how to celebrate the Spring Festival in space during a media conference. This clip quickly scrolled through the social media of the day. Immediately, she recorded another journalist observation on site, while sharing the material and contacting the next shooting.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, she met Commander Wu Hua of the launch mission. The night in Jiuquan was chilly, and she and the interviewee walked and chatted beside the huge light blue launch tower, feeling the tension of the commander who was about to count down 10 seconds during the launch. This "tightness" is completely different from the state she presented when interviewing Wu Hua again after the successful launch. In the early morning, Zhang Yang and his colleagues returned to their residence to organize the shooting materials for the day.

At 9am on the 15th, she rushed to Wentian Pavilion to set up the venue and set up machines. More than an hour later, she interviewed Huang Weifen, the chief designer of the astronaut system, and uncovered the unknown story of this behind the scenes hero. In the afternoon, through multiple contacts, Zhang Yang interviewed Wang Yaping's mother and daughter who came to see him off on a business trip. In the reed marshes of Aerospace City, her conversation with a little girl about "Mom Picking Stars" later became a "hot topic" with over 100 million views across the internet. At this moment, with only 5 hours left before the astronauts set sail, she tirelessly headed to the launch tower to find the best filming location. At around 10 pm, she was already in position waiting for the rocket to take off.

At 0:20 on the 16th, she began reporting on the successful launch and saw Wu Hua and Huang Weifen again. Everyone's joy was beyond words, and Zhang Yang and Huang couldn't help but embrace excitedly. After all the filming was completed, Zhang Yang returned to their residence, edited and broadcasted relevant short videos overnight, and transmitted them back to the rear.

The front team spun around, and director Li Zhenyu, who provided support from the rear editorial department, also experienced an equally unforgettable 31 hours. Two days before the publication, Li Zhenyu had prepared his toiletries and moved into the office. Together with his friends, he sorted out materials, wrote articles, and connected with the massive footage transmitted in front of him. He began tirelessly editing and producing. At that time in Jiuquan, the team made a total of 27 reports, with a total browsing volume of over 460 million on the entire network, and 21 times made it to the popular list on social media platforms.

Publicity Dialogue Chinese Astronaut Wang Yaping Stills

Ten years of accumulation, encountering an opportunity

These hardships and tiredness, at the moment when the slight vibrations transmitted from the launch tower seemed to resonate with my own excited mood, all turned into a wonderful "romantic" experience. Zhang Yang said that this "romance" combines the rationality and wisdom, passion and poetry of the aerospace industry, as well as the ideal and mission of being a journalist to witness the historical moments and major scenes of our country.

Visiting, documenting, and sharing is the greatest attraction of the journalist profession to publicity. When reporting on the 2020 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Zhang Yang encountered an opportunity to be recognized by more people.

Affected by the epidemic in 2020, the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference were postponed to May. According to the reporting plan, she needs to release a short video introducing the preparations for the conference before the meeting. How to complete the report without leaving the building door? Zhang Yang made a Vlog introducing the preparation for reporting on the Two Sessions. Unexpectedly, this 3-minute short film was covered by barrage from beginning to end on Bilibili, and the effect was surprisingly good. In the following Vlogs of the two sessions, she tried to connect the front and back of the stage, better balancing authoritative voices and personal expression. These works became successful practices for central media to showcase personality traits in major political theme reports.

The Two Sessions vlog produced by Zhang Yang in 2020

The Two Sessions vlog produced by Zhang Yang in 2020

Coming out of the spotlight was an unexpected joy, but looking back, Zhang Yang believes that there is also an inherent inevitability: "I have reported on the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for ten years, and I have a high level of familiarity and control over the content of the reports. My innovative attempts in shooting methods and narrative styles also cater to the viewing preferences of new media audiences."

Next, she tried more different types of Vlog works and more personal style character interviews, and increasingly felt the charm and influence of personalized communication. In December of the same year, Publicity Studio was established. On various platforms such as Station B, Tiktok and Weibo, Publicity IP has gradually become a "lamb" active in the "flower house" in the eyes of fans.

Dialogue promotion

Jiefang Daily · Shangguan News: What is the reason for naming the new interview series "Sailer"?

Zhang Yang: There is a slogan in this series called "Dare to Sail, Happy to See the Waves". Our considerations for "Sailers" are twofold: firstly, the interviewees have outstanding achievements in the industry, and secondly, they need to play a significant role as "paving the way" to contribute to the future development and talent cultivation of this industry.

We hope that the interview with "Sailer" can show everyone that behind the identities of head coach and dean, there is a full and three-dimensional person. They have their own perseverance and effort, as well as their own anxiety and pressure. What we want to mobilize is their true state in life and work. We look forward to seeing the struggles of various industries and the development and changes of the times through one person's experience.

Jiefang Daily · Shangkan News: Compared to the interview programs produced by the studio before, what are the differences between "Sailer" and what challenges does it bring to the team?

Zhang Yang: There are many challenges. On the one hand, the selection criteria for "Sailers" are relatively strict, the difficulty of scheduling visits is also high, and the program production cycle is longer. On the other hand, as the interviewees are influential representatives in the industry, the public is already quite familiar with them, and it is difficult to create our own style and characteristics.

In terms of content, the video volume, structure, and multi storyline narrative of each episode, which is about 30 minutes long, require many rounds of brainstorming, repeated revisions and adjustments. We are also in a process of continuous learning and progress.

From a technical perspective, we have comprehensively upgraded our shooting equipment this time, and everyone has put extra effort into setting, lighting, photography, and post production. I personally think that there has been a noticeable improvement in the production level of this series, and I believe everyone can also experience it when watching the 4K version.

Jiefang Daily · Shangguan News: The studio has been established for almost 3 years, and what is the biggest change it has brought to you personally and as a team? What level of tacit understanding has everyone reached now?

Zhang Yang: In the first year of the studio's establishment, the entire team was in an overloaded working state, and it was common to leave work after 12 o'clock. The next morning, everyone appeared in the office again. At present, our publishing pace is more stable, the product form is clearer, and it is still tiring, but it is in a very orderly state.

After more than two years of work, everyone has become too familiar with each other. Our team now consists of 6 people, and it can be said that everyone is versatile and deeply involved in the entire process of content production. Everyone's strengths are also very prominent, for example, the youngest colleague Song Yuze was born in 1998, and she is also the most "internet savvy" among us. She is very good at creating products suitable for new media platforms and always finds different "points" to spread the topic.

Having been a journalist for over a decade, I used to be accustomed to working alone. Now that I am transitioning into a studio, I need to do more work, have an overall control over the studio's products, and consider the main direction of the team's future efforts. My team and I are both growing step by step.

Zhang Yang attended the 2023 China New Media Conference and gave a forum speech

Liberation Daily · Shangguan News: What has been your biggest gain since the establishment of the studio?

Zhang Yang: The biggest gain is undoubtedly the accumulation of over 5 million fans and friends on various platforms in the past two to three years. They often share with me the moments of life in the background, such as "getting into college", "successfully taking the postgraduate entrance exam", and so on. Every time I see such a private message, I try my best to reply. My audience is mostly young people, who are generally facing various pressures such as postgraduate entrance exams and work, and are in a stage of confusion and confusion. If my work can bring them warmth and encouragement, it would be a great sense of achievement for me.

A while ago, I participated in the Xinhua News Agency campus activity and had face-to-face conversations with my classmates at Beihang. They said they have always been following our reports, seeing a bigger world through our works, and drawing a lot of strength from them. In fact, it's not just me who has brought them a positive and positive impact, but they have also been supporting and accompanying me, giving me the motivation to create more good content.

Zhang Yang Dialogue Film Director Guo Fan Filming Scene