Herbal photography

After walking for 8 hours to the mountain at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, the temperature dropped to-10 degrees, plus lightning, thunder and snow, and the film crew stayed in the tent to keep warm. In the early morning, the howling of wolves came from the surrounding hillside. The villagers rushed out of the tent, picked up flashlights and Tibetan knives, lit them, shouted at the hillside, and the howling wolves slowly disappeared. Lu Dao and his team got out of bed, sat in the tent and got up the courage to chat, tossing all night.

After several days of heavy snow, they continued to climb the snow ridge at an altitude of nearly 4900 meters. Due to bad weather conditions, a cameraman was forced to retreat due to altitude sickness, and the rest of the people finally reached their destination after many stops and adjustments.

I finally finished filming, and there was another accident when I retreated. When Deji, the daughter of the protagonist Che Bu, stepped on the air and rolled down the cliff, the accident frightened everyone. Fortunately, Deji caught hold of the bushes as he went down the hill. ...

There are twists and turns, but this is not an adventure show, but the documentary "Mysterious God Grass" filmed the villagers digging Cordyceps sinensis in Kuxirong Canyon. The shooting experience of "Mysterious God Grass" like this is not afraid of life and death. I don't know how many times the shooting team has gone through it. In the words of netizens, this is "a documentary filmed with life."

On February 3rd, this six-episode documentary about human geography, The Mysterious Land of God, premiered on Guangdong Satellite TV. Douban scored 8. 1, which was well received by many netizens. Because the general director Lu Dao has extremely high requirements for the cameraman, the film crew made every landform poetic, and the scenes of every story poetic. After the program was broadcast, many netizens praised that "every picture can be used as wallpaper".

Climbing mountains and wading in the cliff, digging Polygonatum and picking Cordyceps sinensis at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters ... This film goes deep into every special landform in different seasons from the perspective of ordinary people living in special landforms, tracks people's footprints in finding wild vegetables, and tells stories about man and nature, man and materia medica. The program focuses on ordinary people who are exploring the mysterious land. The film crew is also using the lens to explore the stories and inheritance spirit of Chinese medicine behind the characters, and show the profoundness of Chinese medicine culture to the public through television. Whether it is the main body in the film, the story of ordinary people, or the team of "making a documentary with life", it is worthy of attention.

Tips for taking risks: step on the spot for 7 months and shoot for 3 years.

In 2000, Lu Dao participated in a reality show "The Challenge of Survival" initiated by Guangdong Satellite TV as an ascetic monk, and has since entered the public's field of vision. In the following year 17, Lu Dao successively directed documentaries such as "Fighting against the Far East Air Force" and "The Story of the Yellow River". In 20 13, when people went to their hometown or travel destination by land, sea and air, Lu Dao packed up his bags and returned to nature as always. On the way to explore the Dulong River, Kashima was "killed" and fortunately brought home by Dulong men, and was deeply attracted by the local herbal culture and humanistic feelings. It was also that trip to the secret land of Dulongjiang that gave Lu a generous gift, that is, the bud of the TV theme of Compendium of Materia Medica.

20 14 "Shencao Secret Land" was established. At the beginning of the project, in the field of TV documentaries in China, individual "phenomenal" documentaries that have been hit hard have already achieved spectacular ratings and reached the peak of social effects. As the planner and person in charge of the project, Lu Dao is faced with many problems, such as the way of "mysterious land", the formation of the team, the smooth shooting of the program and so on. As Lu Dao expected, all the difficulties came slowly.

As the name implies, the secret realm of "Shencao Secret Realm" is beyond the reach of ordinary people. Since it is defined as a secret realm, where can we find the theme? What is the risk of shooting? These are real problems. "It is precisely because it is difficult and incalculable that the project is tortuous."

For thousands of years, the love between people and wild vegetables has been passed down in the hard course of drug collectors. Herb collectors often look for sacred grass in secluded places, and the production and shooting of programs also need to measure every inch of land with their feet and feel the hardships.

In order to explore these stories, Lu Dao and his team went deep into various places. In the mountainous area of western Sichuan, after many inquiries, he learned the story of an old man who lived in the mountains and collected herbs. In order to find the old man, he and an outdoor traveler rented a motorcycle and rode more than 70 kilometers of mountain roads. "On steep mountain roads, steep cliffs, winding stone pits and mires are frightening. From the afternoon of mountain climbing to dusk, almost all the five internal organs and six lungs were shattered. We have traveled the most thrilling road in the world. In the middle, the motorcycle driver accidentally fell down the hillside. If I don't catch the bushes, once I roll off the cliff, there is basically no turning back. " Lu Dao said.

2065438+July, 2005 12, Lu Dao entered the no-man's land of Altun Mountain, Xinjiang, more than 80 kilometers with the film crew and the protagonist. Because there is no road, this is more than 80 kilometers, which is farther than 200 kilometers. After arriving at the destination, the hero found some herbs and everything was ready for shooting. Suddenly, the wind and sand raided all over the sky. "At that moment, it was really the end of the world. Not only is visibility low, but people and cars cannot move. " Fighting against the sandstorm, everyone in the film crew became a sandman, and their nostrils and eyes got into the flying sand. Finally, before dark, the film crew rushed out of the sandstorm maze. Although the work efficiency is zero, it has successfully passed the test of life and death. A few days later, the film crew ventured into the no-man's land again and finished the filming with difficulty. Shooting experience like this, which is not afraid of life and death, has been experienced several times in high altitude areas, deep mountains and forests, rivers and canyons.

Walking into the mountains, going deep into the countryside, staying in the farmhouse, eating and living with the herb gatherers, seven months of bitter search, the mysterious herb gatherers and the hard story of finding herbs gradually became clear.

In order to restore and record these stories more truly, Kashima has extremely high requirements for photographers. Different photographers are responsible for different fields, including special people photographers, time-lapse photographers, aerial photographers and so on. Try to shoot every frame well and achieve 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 wild, sleeps in the car and waits for the best light at sunset and sunrise." Lu Dao said, "From beginning to end, I asked the cameraman to make every geomorphic shot poetic and every story poetic." To shoot the most beautiful picture, the strongest visual effect. A cameraman was so tired that he shouted at me, "You are playing with your life and making fun of everyone's life. If you keep playing like this, you will quit." But in the end, the cameraman insisted on tossing and turning until the camera was satisfied.

Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, and Li Shizhen waded through mountains and rivers. Compendium of Materia Medica records more than 10,000 kinds of herbs. However, the "Mysterious God Grass" film crew took three years and traveled more than 800,000 kilometers. Shooting locations are all over Guangdong, Yunnan, Jiangxi, Tibet, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Gansu, Heilongjiang and other 16 provinces (regions). Set foot in Hengduan Mountains, Altun Mountain National Nature Reserve, Nujiang Grand Canyon, Dulong River Basin, Taklimakan Desert, Shennongjia National Nature Reserve, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Hulunbeier Grassland and other natural secrets. Judging from the experience of the film crew, the shooting difficulty of "Mysterious Grass" is really rare in the "phenomenal" documentary mode. Shencao in the Secret Land not only records the story of man and nature in the field of materia medica, but also records the magical and magnificent scenery of China.

Firm belief: recording and inheriting herbal culture

Concerned about materia medica, life and health, Mysterious Land interprets the TV version of Compendium of Materia Medica, which makes the Chinese medicine culture on paper beat the pulse of the times. Lu Dao said, "For the pharmaceutical industry, I want to make such a TV version of Compendium of Materia Medica to show the profoundness of Chinese medicine culture through TV. But I can only say that this is only one page in Compendium of Materia Medica, and there are still many pages that need to be recorded and passed down slowly. "

Besides exploring and presenting the secret realm, it is more important to explore and sort out the wild medicinal materials in China. The film not only reveals the medicinal properties and divinity of some wild herbs, but also inherits these medical knowledge.

Phellinus igniarius is a fungus with precious medicinal value. The wife of Dulong uncle Li Zicai caught a cold and was bedridden. He and his son A Sheng went to the deep forest to find Phellinus igniarius and boiled water for his wife to relieve symptoms. Zhao, a monk living in seclusion in a temple, took his disciples to look for Polygonatum sibiricum, strictly selected medical successors, consulted Taoist priests with superb medical skills, and secretly taught pharmaceutical methods. Polygonatum sibiricum was used as medicine by his disciples. In oral communication, medical skills can be passed down and Chinese medicine culture can be continued.

Traditional Chinese medicine is closely related to people's life and health, and it is a treasure of ancient science in China. In recent years, The Mysterious Land is the project that Guangdong Satellite TV has invested the longest time and the most money per episode, and it is also one of the TV documentaries directed by state administration of traditional chinese medicine International Cooperation Department. Under the background that state administration of traditional chinese medicine promotes the development of the "Belt and Road" of traditional Chinese medicine, it is self-evident that the joint production of Mysterious Grass by Guangdong Satellite TV and Kangmei Pharmaceutical has far-reaching significance and positive social benefits.

Although there are many excellent documentaries at present, it is still difficult to compete with variety shows. Lu Dao also saw this pressure. "The program was broadcast at 9: 0010 on Friday night. The competition is very fierce, but we are trying to beat drums and gongs to see how harmful it can be to have a phenomenal documentary and a strong star variety show on the same stage." In Lu Dao's view, it may be difficult to surpass popular variety shows in ratings for a while, but its fermentation on the Internet is very strong, and this result exceeds expectations.

"I look forward to the summer of documentary." Lu Dao believes that documentary people should struggle and have faith and spirit, otherwise documentary people can't persist. At the moment when variety shows dominate the screen, documentary people have the responsibility to pay attention to the living conditions of human beings. China's stories are endless, which need to be explored by documentary filmmakers, but this road is doomed to be difficult.

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