Presenting a borderless carnival, the chief director reveals the closing ceremony of the Universiade: Moving the stage to the park in Chengdu | Closing Ceremony | Park
On the evening of July 28th, a grand opening ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade showcased China's brilliance to the world. The opening also signifies the countdown to the closing. As the Chengdu Universiade events enter a heated stage, the preparation work for the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade has also entered the final sprint stage.
Recently, the reporter interviewed Jia Ding, the chief director of the closing ceremony of the 31st Summer Universiade in Chengdu, and Wei Sijia, the executive director of the closing ceremony, to exclusively reveal the highlights of the closing ceremony.
In the eyes of the two chief directors, the closing ceremony is more like a youthful and joyful carnival, full of deep emotions of farewell and longing for the future. Especially the city of Chengdu has given this carnival too much innovative inspiration, both in form and content, interpreting the characteristics of a park city demonstration area, which will surely amaze the audience.
This is a closing ceremony in a park - the venue for the closing ceremony is located in Chengdu Open Air Music Park, which is a breakthrough for the opening and closing ceremonies of world major sports events to leave the venue and enter the park.
In addition, this is a closing ceremony presented through "live streaming", which is about to be tested by the audience: the stage of the closing ceremony is designed with "mobile phones" as the element, the mobile phone windows are staggered, and a "Universiade photographer" is creatively added to complete a global linkage of youth "live streaming".
▲ Jia Ding, Chief Director of the Director Group at the Closing Ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade
Entering the Park at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of World Major Events
Presenting an open and borderless carnival
The closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade will be held at the Chengdu Open Air Music Park, and the choice of venue alone is enough to challenge. "This is very innovative," said Wei Sijia. This is a breakthrough for the opening and closing ceremonies of major sports events around the world, as they step out of the venue and into the park.
This is based on the "Universiade complex" and "Chengdu complex" of the chief director Jia Ding. 22 years ago, the Universiade was first held in China. Jia Ding served as the chief director of the closing ceremony of the 2001 Beijing Summer Universiade, and now he is directing again. He also hopes to summarize himself through the Chengdu Universiade. At the same time, Jiading has a deep affinity with Chengdu. His career started in Chengdu, and he has full memories of riding a bicycle to feel the fireworks in the alleys, and riding to Dujiangyan Irrigation Project to feel the magnificent landscape. Therefore, the task of the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade, Jia Ding hopes to present the unique and unique characteristics of Chengdu people based on his understanding of Chengdu people.
Jia Ding insists on breaking through boundaries, the first thing he breaks is the conventional stage format.
No floor screen, no projection, and not in the same sports stadium. The stage of the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade has been moved to the Chengdu Outdoor Music Park, divided into three performance spaces: far, middle, and near.
In close proximity, actors perform in close proximity to the audience area at any time; In the middle, it is the plot and characters of the main thread of the closing ceremony; In the distance, there is a park atmosphere created by the dusk lawn and camping fireworks. This expresses the expansion of space to the outside world, and the infectious power of joy extends to the entire park.
▲ Chengdu Outdoor Music Park
"We have made the entire music park feel like a fireplace." Wei Sijia said that below the level of the three scene performance space, the most special is the borderless exterior. From the farthest end, one can feel that Chengdu is a very comfortable and romantic place, because of the green lawn, tall sky curtains, colorful tents, and a family of men, women, and children sitting on the ground. All the tourists camping nearby can serve as a background for the entire performance, invisibly becoming a part of the actors.
"We really didn't design deliberately. I think it's Chengdu, the region itself, that naturally reveals the beautiful state of life," sighed Wei Sijia.
In this way, enjoying the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature in the landscape and countryside is exactly what the director team has explored in Chengdu. "Now when we talk about Chengdu, we don't just talk about Jiuyanqiao and Dujiangyan Irrigation Project. The real Chengdu is to go into the hearts of Chengdu people and show the spirit of the city." Jia Ding said that he saw two key words in Chengdu, one is the park city demonstration area, the other is the international music city. The form of the stage presents the characteristics of a park city, while the content of the stage interprets the connotation of the international music capital. The entire closing ceremony will use musical performances to express music and perform spiritual communication.
▲ Jia Ding, Chief Director of the Director Group at the Closing Ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade
In fact, throughout the closing ceremony, the clues to the park city were like "Easter eggs" buried in the details.
Jia Ding revealed that during the small climax of the closing ceremony, the audience will see a naked eye 3D Gong Tong tree rooted on the stage, exploding from the audience's side all the way into mid air. The lush posture showcases vibrant vitality and will instantly shock the audience. This plant from 60 million years ago is known as the "giant panda of the plant kingdom". The bracts of the dove tree resemble the wings of a pigeon, and its dark red head shaped inflorescence looks like the head of a pigeon. It is also named the "pigeon tree".
"When we welcome the flags of all the delegations into the venue, the overall visual design is dove flowers. As you can imagine, this tree is completely rooted on the stage, and pigeon flowers bloom in the middle. Jia Ding said that the guides have two pigeon like white wings. When the flags of each delegation gather on the stage, pigeon flowers also bloom on the stage. This rare tree species growing in Sichuan will convey the hope of peace to the world.".
▲ Gongtong Flower
The "Overview of Sichuan's Victory", which dates back over 1000 years, will also be presented on stage. "The mountains and rivers on both sides of the Shu River, as well as the halls and buildings, are breathtaking." It is said to be the masterpiece of Li Gonglin, a painter of the Northern Song Dynasty, and was once listed as one of the Four Beauties of Painting Art Treasures. At the closing ceremony, the stage design will be presented in a contrasting way between ancient and modern times, allowing the magnificent scenery in the "Overview of Sichuan's Prosperity" to be compared with the current construction style of the park city demonstration area. These two images will showcase the urban evolution of Chengdu, and the depth of history will be overwhelming.
Live broadcast room set up stage, barrage from all over the world
The closing ceremony of the "Da Yun Pai Ke" live broadcast throughout the entire process
Live streaming, as a form, organically integrated into the entire closing ceremony.
The closing ceremony will break the balance of a single performance space and set up the CCTV live broadcast room in the center of the stage as part of the entire performance. After the audience enters the live broadcast room, real-time barrage and likes will also be projected onto the performance site. No matter where the audience is, in any language they use, as long as they contribute exciting content and words, they have the opportunity to be presented at the closing ceremony.
Especially, the main screen of the stage is presented as a naked eye 3D window, which gives a very new, unique, and clever visual feeling. Here, "Rongbao" will continue to dress up, becoming a "trendy cat" wearing headphones to listen to music, a "costume cat" in the shape of a rap figurine, and a "machine cat" in the shape of a cyberpunk. The naked eye 3D visual technology allows "Rongbao" to jump out of the screen and interact with people at any time, making the whole scene lively and adorable.
The closing ceremony creatively added a "Universiade photographer" and conducted a live broadcast throughout the entire process. Why choose live streaming? "It is the most fashionable and popular way for everyone to receive information," Jia Ding said, hoping that the consistent concept of live streaming can inject a sense of "present progression" into everyone. Nowadays, young people's communication is limitless. They rely on mobile phones to connect with each other. The live broadcast reflects the current state. Because there are mobile phones and the Internet, we melt the distance between each other.
Wei Sijia revealed that in fact, the entire closing ceremony revolved around a single shot, which was taken by this "Universiade photographer". As a photographer, he runs through the entire closing ceremony, with his camera and eyes leading all the audience into the 12 steps of the 70 minute closing ceremony. So his live broadcast shot is the eyes of the closing ceremony, and he is the soul of the entire audience. Wei Sijia revealed that when the countdown starts, the appearance of the "Universiade photographer" will definitely make everyone exclaim. He will count down with the audience, "I hope everyone on site can feel that his debut was so special. Chengdu is a park city under a snowy mountain, and the summit of the snowy mountain awaits everyone's admiration."
▲ Wei Sijia, Executive Director of the Director Group at the Closing Ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade
In addition, there are 31 mobile phone screens on stage, symbolizing the 31st Chengdu Summer Universiade, and the middle one is the "Chengdu Window". Wei Sijia said that the decentralized expression of young people represented by live streaming will also be embedded in many details of the closing ceremony, such as 31 mobile phone screens presenting real-time status of the audience.
On the left and right sides of the stage, there are also lively choirs composed of a group of college students performing, as well as orchestras composed of electronic, percussion, and light bands. College students wear colorful bachelor's uniforms, and the theme of youth is performed with ease and a sense of ceremony. "This time, what everyone sees and hears happens in the present moment, everything is in the present progressive." Jia Ding said, allowing youth to fully enjoy the present moment.
The International General Assembly Song is presented by a light sensitive band
Rap figurines and popular girl groups in a dreamy collaboration
"Carrying on the joy to the end and deepening the emotions of bidding farewell is something we pay special attention to." Jia Ding revealed that the closing ceremony is based on his exploration of the "innovation" and "optimism" characteristics of Chengdu people. Through the mixing and fusion of Bashu culture and popular performance forms among young people, it collides to create art forms that are in line with youth aesthetics, while expressing Chengdu people's freedom and romance through music.
He believes that the Chengdu Universiade has completely changed or affected the lives of a generation in Chengdu. When bidding farewell, the lives of Chengdu people have actually been tightly labeled with the Universiade. So when this label is finally torn off, there should be some traces left. "I hope to leave you a trace of your heart, so that you can remember a certain scene, a certain episode, and a certain kind of emotion that we expect to convey to each other when communicating with Chengdu people."
He set the closing ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade as a large-scale musical and dance drama with plot, characters, and emotions, resolutely avoiding all the conventional methods used in the opening and closing ceremonies of previous international comprehensive competitions. "This time, whether it's lyrics and composition, or the entire presentation technique of choreography, it's a consistent state. It's not text-based or paragraph based." Jia Ding gave an example, saying that the entire closing ceremony formed a complete music system, with all the music being acabelarized and expressed in the world's most avant-garde and trendy ways.
▲ Jia Ding, Chief Director of the Director Group at the Closing Ceremony of the Chengdu Universiade
The most typical example is the closing ceremony, which presented the International Federation of Nations anthems that had remained unchanged for over 60 years using a light sensitive band. "When officials from the general association came to see it, they also felt amazed. They had never heard of such a thing before, but I gave birth to it and hoped that it would form a new form in the future, becoming the voice of young people today." Jia Ding said, replacing the recitation style of the song with a new form to express it would be unexpectedly pleasant and innovative.
Throughout the entire performance, we hope to select the unique cultural connotations of Bashu.
For example, in the process of collecting folk customs, the drumming and rap figurines from the Eastern Han Dynasty became the best choice to express the cultural characteristics of Shu. "This image is too vivid and hilarious. Many of the cultural relics we unearthed are serious, and the rap figurines are extremely friendly!" Wei Sijia said. The director's team used technical means to revive the rap figurines from the Eastern Han Dynasty on stage, and the rap on the mobile screen would "jump out of the screen" under everyone's noses. "I believe that at that moment, all the audience will be very surprised." At the same time, popular girl group singers will dreamily collaborate with the rap figurines to have a harmonious resonance between ancient and modern times.
▲ The Wuhou Temple Museum houses the Eastern Han Dynasty gray pottery rap figurines
As the closing ceremony of a global competition, the performance also emphasizes the expression of global languages. "We have selected popular cultural forms that young people like, such as rap and hip hop, to collide and mix with traditional art," Wei Sijia said. For example, Sichuan Opera's Qingyi and rap singers will sing in a traditional and fashionable way, showcasing the fashion style of contemporary Chengdu through a static and dynamic stage presentation, collision of classical and trendy elements, and a singing and speaking performance process.
This closing ceremony will draw a perfect conclusion for the Chengdu Universiade, but the future will also start from it. Jia Ding said, "I think the biggest feeling is that Chengdu is bound to have a particularly beautiful future, which will give everyone a feeling of a thousand different atmospheres. Why is this so? Because the people of Chengdu are indeed working hard to innovate and transform this city."
