The sacred grass is hidden in a secret place, and the program comes from a dangerous situation丨"The Divine Grass in the Secret Realm" is a documentary filmed with life

After an 8-hour hike to a mountain with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, the temperature dropped to minus 10 degrees, coupled with lightning, thunderstorms and wind and snow, the film crew stayed in a tent to keep warm. In the early morning, the howls of wolves were heard from the surrounding hillsides again. The villagers rushed out of their tents, picked up flashlights and hidden knives, illuminated the hillside and shouted, and the howling wolves slowly disappeared. Lu Dao and his team got out of bed, sat in the tent, chatted and strengthened their courage, and spent the whole night.

After several days of heavy snow, they continued to climb the snowy ridge with an altitude of nearly 4,900 meters. Due to the harsh weather conditions, during the climb, one cameraman was forced to retreat due to altitude sickness and his heart beat violently. The remaining people finally reached their destination after many stops and adjustments.

After finishing the filming with difficulty, an accident happened again during the retreat. The subject of the photo, Chebu's daughter Deji, missed her footing while going down the mountain and rolled down the cliff. This accidental incident frightened everyone. Fortunately, Deji caught the bush while rolling down the mountain...

There were twists and turns, but this was not an adventure show, but the documentary "Secret Divine Grass" filming the villagers digging in the Kuxirong Gorge The scene of Cordyceps sinensis, and the filming team of "Secret Divine Grass" has gone through this kind of life-and-death shooting experience countless times. In the words of netizens, this is a "documentary shot with life."

On February 3, this six-episode human geography documentary "The Secret Grass" premiered on Guangdong Satellite TV. The Douban score reached 8.1 points and received praise from many netizens. Since the chief director Lu Dao has extremely high requirements for camera operators, the film crew captured every landscape shot with a poetic touch, and every story captured a poetic scene. After the show was broadcast, many netizens praised it and said, "Every picture can be used as wallpaper."

Climbing mountains and ridges, wading across rivers, digging for polygonatum on cliffs, and collecting cordyceps at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters... The film takes the perspective of ordinary people living in special landforms, and goes deep into each special landform in different seasons. Tracking people's footsteps in search of wild herbs tells the story of man and nature, and people and herbs. The program focuses on ordinary people who are exploring sacred herbs in secret places, and the camera crew is also using the camera to explore the traditional Chinese medicine stories and inheritance spirits behind the characters, and shows the broad and profound traditional Chinese medicine culture to the public through television. . Whether it’s the subjects in the film, the stories of ordinary people, or the team that “uses their lives to make documentaries”, they all deserve attention.

Adventure in a secret place: 7 months on location, 3 years of filming

In 2000, Lu Dao participated in a reality show "Survival" created by Guangdong Satellite TV as a traveling poet. "Big Challenge" has since entered the public's field of vision. In the next 17 years, Lu Dao directed documentaries such as "The Battle of the Far East Air Force" and "Yellow River Story". In 2013, when people rushed to their hometowns or travel destinations by sea, land and air, Ludao packed up their bags and returned to nature as always. On the way to explore the Dulong River, Lu Dao was "in trouble". Fortunately, he was taken home by a man from the Dulong ethnic group, and he was deeply attracted by the local herbal culture and humanistic sentiments. It was also that trip to the secret land of Dulongjiang that gave Lu Dao a rich gift in his mind, which was the germination of the TV theme of Materia Medica.

In 2014, the "Secret Divine Grass" project was approved. When the project started, in the field of Chinese TV documentaries, some popular "phenomenal" documentaries had already achieved spectacular ratings and reached the peak of social impact. As the planner and person in charge of the project, Lu Dao faces various problems, such as which path to take for "The Secret Herb", team formation, and whether the filming of the program goes smoothly, etc. And just as Lu Dao expected, all difficulties came slowly.

The secret realm of "Secret Realm Divine Grass", as the name suggests, is a place that is difficult for ordinary people to reach. Since it is defined as a secret realm, where can we find the subject matter? How risky is filming? These are real issues. "It is precisely because of the difficulty and immeasurable difficulty that this project seems to have twists and turns."

For thousands of years, the relationship between people and wild herbs has been passed down through the arduous journey of herb collectors. Herb collectors often find sacred herbs in inaccessible secret places, and the production and filming of the program also requires measuring every inch of the land with feet to feel the hardships involved.

In order to discover these stories, Lu Dao and his team went deep into various locations. In the mountains of western Sichuan, after many inquiries, he learned the story of an old man who lived deep in the mountains to collect herbs. In order to find this old man, he I rented a motorcycle with an outdoor traveler and rode more than 70 kilometers of mountain roads. "The steep mountain road, with its cliffs, winding stone pits and mire, is heart-stopping. From the afternoon we started climbing until dusk, our internal organs and lungs were almost shattered. We walked on the most thrilling road in the world, half of On the way, due to the carelessness of the motorcyclist, I fell down the hillside. If I had not grabbed the bushes, I would have been unable to return once I rolled down the cliff."

On July 12, 2015, Lu Dao took the film crew and the protagonist into more than 80 kilometers of no-man’s land in the Altyn Mountains of Xinjiang. Since there are no roads, these 80 kilometers are farther than the more than 200 kilometers. After arriving at the destination, the protagonist discovered some herbal plants and all the shooting work was ready. Suddenly, the sky was full of wind and sand. "At that moment, it was really the end of the world. Not only was the visibility low, but it was also difficult for people and vehicles to move.

"Fighting against the wind and sand, everyone in the film crew turned into sand people, with flying sand entering their nostrils and eyes. Finally, the film crew rushed out of the sand enchantment formation before dark. Although the work efficiency was zero, they successfully experienced The test of life and death. A few days later, the film crew still took the risk and broke into the no-man's land again, and completed the filming experience without fear of life and death, in high altitude areas, deep mountains and dense forests. This team has experienced rivers and canyons several times.

Walking into the mountains, going deep into the countryside, staying in farmhouses, eating and living with herb collectors, they spent 7 months searching for each mysterious herb. The story of people and the arduous search for medicine gradually became clear.

In order to restore and record these stories more realistically, Ludao has extremely high requirements for cameramen to be responsible for different fields, and there are special character cameras. Photographers, time-lapse photographers, aerial videographers, etc. strive to capture every frame to achieve the visual perfection. “In order to capture the magnificent mountains and rivers from the perspective of time-lapse photography, the camera team often stays in the wilderness and sleeps. In the car, waiting for the best light at sunset and sunrise. "Lu Dao said, "I have always asked the photographers to strive to capture poetry in every landscape shot, and to capture poetry in every story. To take the most beautiful pictures and the strongest visual effects. Some cameramen were so tired that they went crazy and shouted at me, "You are risking your life and everyone's life. If you continue to play like this, you will quit." "But in the end, the cameraman persisted and worked tirelessly until the shot was satisfactory.

Shen Nong tasted hundreds of herbs, Li Shizhen traveled through mountains and rivers, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" recorded more than 10,000 kinds of herbal medicine. And "The Secret Divine Herb" "The film crew spent three years and traveled more than 800,000 kilometers. The filming locations were in 16 provinces (regions) including Guangdong, Yunnan, Jiangxi, Tibet, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Gansu, and Heilongjiang, and set foot in the Hengduan Mountains and the Altun Mountain National Nature Reserve. Judging from the experience of the film crew, the filming of "Secret Divine Grass" was extremely difficult in nature reserves, the Nujiang Grand Canyon, the Dulong River Basin, the Taklimakan Desert, the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the Hulunbuir Prairie. It is rare in the "phenomenal" documentary mode. "Secret Herbal Medicine" not only records the stories of people and nature in the field of herbal medicine, but also records the magical and magnificent scenery of China.

Firm belief: recording and inheriting herbal medicine. Culture

Paying attention to Materia Medica, life and health, "Secret Divine Herb" interprets the TV version of "Compendium of Materia Medica", making the traditional Chinese medicine culture on paper beat the pulse of the times. Lu Dao said, "For medicine. As for the industry, I want to make a TV version of "Compendium of Materia Medica" to show the breadth and depth of traditional Chinese medicine culture through TV. But I can only say that this is just one page in the "Compendium of Materia Medica", and there are still many pages that need to be recorded and passed down slowly."

In addition to the exploration and presentation of the secret realm, "The Secret Realm of Divine Herb" is more important The film not only reveals the medicinal and divine properties of some wild medicinal herbs in China, but also passes on these medical knowledge.

Phellinus linata is a kind of medicinal. It is a very valuable fungus. The wife of Li Zicai, an uncle of the Dulong ethnic group, fell ill with cold and became bedridden. He and his son A Sheng went to the deep mountains and old forests to find Phellinus linteus and boiled water for his wife to drink to relieve the symptoms; Zhao Jingwen, a Buddhist layman who lived in seclusion in a temple, led his disciples Searching for Huang Jing, strictly selecting medical successors, asking Taoist priests with superb medical skills to secretly teach medicinal methods, and masters and apprentices preparing Huang Jing to make medicine. The medical skills are passed down and the traditional Chinese medicine culture is continued.

Traditional Chinese medicine is closely related to people's life and health. It is a treasure of ancient Chinese science. "Secret Herb" is the project that Guangdong Satellite TV has invested the longest and invested the most money in each episode in recent years. It is also the creation of the International Cooperation Department of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. One of the TV documentaries directed by Guangdong Satellite TV and Kangmei Pharmaceutical under the background of the “One Belt and One Road” development of traditional Chinese medicine. Its far-reaching significance and positive social benefits. , is self-evident.

At present, although there are many excellent documentaries, they are still difficult to compete with variety shows. Lu Dao also sees this pressure, "The program is selected on Friday nights: 9: 10 broadcast, the competition is very high, but we are trying to compete and see how much damage the phenomenal documentary can do when it is on the same stage as a powerful celebrity variety show. "In Lu Dao's view, it may be difficult for "Secret Land Divine Grass" to surpass popular variety shows in terms of ratings for a while, but its fermentation on the Internet is very strong, and this result exceeds expectations.

"I am The summer of documentaries is here, and it’s full of expectations. Lu Dao believes that documentaries must struggle and have faith and spirit, otherwise they will not be able to persevere. At the moment when variety shows dominate the screen, documentaries have the responsibility to pay attention to the living conditions of mankind. China’s stories are endless and documentaries are needed. People have to dig, but this road is destined to be difficult

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