Paralanguage Interpretation and Features of Documentary Interpretation

As an important element of the sound system in the "sound and picture" language system of TV documentary, the commentary has a power that cannot be ignored and plays a unique role in the documentary. With the innovation of TV documentary technology, the breakthrough of creative concept and the diversification and complexity of film mode, the way of narration is also complicated, either directly or indirectly or symbolized, signifier and signified. In view of the different transformation methods of commentary, this paper attempts to reinterpret and demonstrate the commentary and its sub-language and characteristics of TV documentaries from the concept of "big commentary"

[Keywords:] comments; Paralanguage of comments; characteristic

Truth is the soul of documentary creation, and objectivity is the objectivity of subjective consciousness choice. As an art of combining sound and picture, TV documentary not only provides us with intuitive visual images, but also provides imaginative, associative and emotional text descriptions and sound information for our hearing. As a branch of the sound and picture language system of TV documentary, how should we interpret the various explanations at present? Let's discuss and analyze together.

It is difficult to verify exactly where the commentary was made. Literally, explanation is nothing more than a compressed term of "explanation" So what is a comment? The definition of the word interpretation in Modern Chinese Dictionary is: interpretation-explanation. (1) said: it means to explain, speak, etc. Word: the smallest and freely usable unit in language, the combination between words, etc. ② According to the definition of Modern Chinese Dictionary, we can understand that annotations are "explanatory words". This definition is too general and vague for TV documentaries. Secondly, it is difficult to integrate with the sound and picture language system of TV. In Radio and Television Dictionary, commentary is defined as "the written version of TV documentaries and TV special programs". Introduce and describe news events and program contents, express opinions and express feelings. Interpretation is the main means to express the theme. "The problem with this definition is: First, the term' script' is too vague and easily misunderstood as a script or planning scheme before the program is created. In fact, TV commentary writing and the so-called "text draft" are completely different concepts. Secondly, it is obviously difficult to cover the use of commentary only in "TV documentaries and TV special programs". In fact, in various TV programs, commentary can be used in different ways. ③

In the book TV Commentary: Arrangement and Processing, Professor Xu defines commentary as a combination of two factors: a fairly long picture with a certain number of words of commentary sound, and later there is a part of audio language besides the actual sound, which can be called "TV commentary". (4) This definition is a bit too general and not very rigorous.

What is a comment? In fact, simple understanding is an auxiliary means to explain explanatory words and help people understand things. So what is the commentary of TV documentary? The author believes that with the innovation of TV documentary technology, the breakthrough of creative concept and the diversification and complexity of film mode, the way in which commentary appears is also complex and changeable, either directly or indirectly or symbolized, referred and referred. Therefore, this paper gives the definition of such a big commentary: as long as it explains all the text and sound elements of the theme and picture language to the audience watching the documentary. It can be further understood as text (subtitles), live voice (dictation, explanation, interview, dialogue, etc. ), dubbing, music, sound, silence and other elements and language information symbols that can help the audience explain the theme and picture language when watching documentaries.

Because this definition includes subtitles, live sound (spoken language, explanation, interview, dialogue, etc. ), music, sound, silence and other language information symbols. The author calls it the sub-language or indirect language of criticism.

What people usually call commentary-mainly refers to dubbing, that is, the dubbing staff reads the written commentary aloud and converts it into the audio language we hear. The author defines this conventional comment as the first language or direct language of comment.

So what are the characteristics of this sub-language?

① Music

Music is one of the most subjective expressions of documentary creators, an important part of explanatory sub-language, and one of the most comprehensive TV languages that are good at expressing emotions. As a language, it expresses the meaning, depicts the characters, supplements the blank, and can also extend the lens and space infinitely to express the "meaning" of the picture. It plays a role in setting off the atmosphere, rendering emotions, making people associate, imagine and sing emotionally.

In the documentary "Sand and the Sea", in the classic passage "Playing Jujube", * * * used 17 shots, which lasted for two minutes and 47 seconds, of which the music lasted for one minute and 28 seconds, during which there was no dubbing explanation, and the director's intention was expressed through the cooperation of music and pictures. The director skillfully used the combination of music and pictures to express that in the desert of northwest China, Liu Zeyuan's family depended on the sky for food, and their living environment was harsh and life was hard. At the same time, this bleak music gives people pity, deep thought and sympathy ... The director also introduced the characteristics of Elaeagnus angustifolia's drought and cold tolerance and sweet fruit to the audience, which set off Liu Zeyuan's strong life in the desert.

Through the expression of music and live voice (paralanguage), it is more profound than the direct dubbing explanation, leaving a lot of imagination, feeling and emotional voices for the audience. Through this desolate music, the creative purpose of "silence is better than sound" is achieved, and the emotions and themes conveyed to the audience are brought into full play. Coupled with the wind at the scene and the sound of playing Elaeagnus angustifolia, it is more immersive. The combination of music and live sound is ingenious and reasonable, which is a wonderful pen.

At the beginning of the documentary "The Temptation of Tibet", with gentle and mysterious music and lyrics, the author's yearning for Tibet was vividly expressed. The author skillfully interchanges dubbing commentary with songs to express his reverence and yearning for Tibet.

Background music is one of the commonly used music forms. In the documentary, it can show the emotional tendency, geographical environment and location of the creator, and it is also one of the methods to enhance the sense of reality and the identity of the interviewee.

In the documentary "Into Mao Zedong", the music created by the creator has a strong subjective tendency. Every change of music has played a good role in contrast and rhythm adjustment, revealing the attitude and practice between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party and the Anti-Japanese War. The song "Jasmine" in the documentary "Kindergarten" plays a role in dividing paragraphs and adjusting the rhythm of the film.

Among the various artistic forms created by human beings, music is the best at fully and profoundly expressing people's inner feelings. Roman? Roland said that "only music is the medium that guides our spiritual life to the feeling life", Nietzsche said that "without music, life is a mistake", and Einstein also said that "death means never hearing Mozart's music again". It can be seen that music has a wide range of applications in all aspects.

(2) Sound

Voice is also an important part of TV documentary commentary sub-language, which plays an important role in extending the meaning of commentary and picture language, deepening feelings, infecting the audience and so on, and better showing the artistic effect of TV documentary.

For example, in Home Away from Beijing, with the cock crowing and the dog barking at the beginning, we can easily understand that this place is in the countryside, not in the morning. In a passage looking for Wang Xiangrong in Looking at the Great Wall, when the reporter came to Wang Xiangrong's home, the creator clearly explained the environment with the sound system and so on. There are also fights and quarrels in other documentaries, which can explain the strength of sound performance and the occurrence and progress of events in documentaries.

In The Last Mountain God, Meng, as the last shaman of Oroqen, performed a shaman jump at dusk. In this passage, the photographer hinted at the departure of the gods with the unique direction and color temperature of the sunset through the last shaman jump, which further penetrated the helplessness and sadness of the Oroqen people about the decline of the nation. Through Meng's last jump, the unique things of the Oroqen nationality gradually drifted away. We can no longer hear the voice of shaman drum and primitive singing, and we can no longer see the primitive dance of Oroqen nationality. Through the drum music and dance sound of the shaman at the scene, a sense of desolation arises spontaneously.

(3) Live sound

With the appearance of documentary style represented by the documentary "Looking at the Great Wall", people pay more attention to the recording and use of live sound, which can bring us the feeling of being there, enhance our sense of presence and explain the authenticity of our recording. It plays a way of narration, explanation and rhythm adjustment in the film, which greatly promotes our interpretation of the documentary.

There are many documentaries that let everyone know what the creator is talking about and express the director's creative intention by interviewing the parties, insiders, people (things) and the language on the spot. In the documentary "My Father and My Mother", Jiao Bo's narrative plays a very good role in narrative, structure and inheritance, so it is easy for us to understand the information conveyed by the creator.

In the documentary "The Old Man", there is not a dubbing explanation from beginning to end, but the creator gets information from the fragmented live chat of the old people. The real clips after objective recording and subjective screening let us clearly understand the problems that the old people care about and their living conditions. Show all aspects of the old men to the fullest, and the narrative is smooth and complete.

The documentary "English and White" has no dubbing commentary. Through the creator's tracking shooting for half a year, through objective display, as well as the exchange of subtitles and music sounds, a lonely soul is interpreted. "The outside world is wonderful, and the people in the house are helpless." The distortion of human nature, the complexity of society and so on. In addition, the existence of this live audio (TV) also reveals the living environment, changes in the external world and the depths of their inner world.

The use of these narrative methods skillfully and appropriately expresses the creator's subjective intention and theme. The objective record in documentary is the soul, and the subjective choice is the means to highlight the theme. Cleverly turning the sound of the scene into the theme that the creator wants to express is also a clever use of the auxiliary interpretation language.

(4) subtitles

As an indispensable part of TV documentaries, subtitles are also a part of explanatory sub-language, especially the people, things, things and details that need to be explained. With the appearance of subtitles, the audience can deeply understand the theme and creative intention that the director wants to express, and subtitles play an irreplaceable role in TV documentaries.

In the documentary Nanuke in the North, the appearance of subtitles plays a role in paragraph transition, inheritance, interpretation of character events, and adjustment of picture rhythm. Let the audience have no obstacles when watching movies. If all the subtitles are translated into dubbing commentary, the rhythm of the film will be disrupted and the taste of the atmosphere will be greatly reduced.

In the documentary "English and White", subtitles not only play a role in explaining, introducing the basic situation, explaining people, environment and relationships, but also play a role in regulating the rhythm. In the documentary "Kindergarten", there are many children who are not easy to recognize, but the appearance of subtitles can make us remember the basic situation of each child well and play a very good role in explaining.

(5) Silence

Silence, as a part of the sub-language of documentary commentary, often plays the role of "silence is better than sound" in documentaries, which can better reflect the feelings and emotions of creators and subjects.

In the documentary "My Dad and My Mom", Jiao Bo's father died in a short period, showing Jiao Bo's grief for his dead father. The creator used ten seconds of silence. Jiao Bo sat alone in front of his father's grave and looked at his father's grave silently. The brewing of this emotion made the audience moved by this deep affection between father and son, and shed countless emotional tears. The role of silence can give full play to emotions, and then music gradually becomes more precious, extending this emotion and emotion.

Different forms of explanatory sub-languages constitute a complete TV documentary. The organic combination of these elements and language symbols, reasonable arrangement and the participation of * * * complete the creation of the whole documentary, which is an indispensable element of a complete TV documentary. The analysis of documentary commentary and its sub-language lays a foundation for us to further understand and analyze the integrity of documentary creation.

Precautions:

① ② Modern Chinese Dictionary, 5th edition, page 1285, page 22 1.

③ ④ Xu: TV Review: Arrangement and Processing, Beijing Normal University Press, 2009, p. 4, p. 5.

[References]

Wang Lie. Tutorial of TV Documentary Creation [M]. Beijing: China Radio and Television Press, 2005.

[Author Brief Introduction] Wang Ying (1986-), female, from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, is a teacher at the School of Radio, Film and Television of Chengdu University of Technology. Main research directions: film and television cultural communication and basic theory of film and television; Zhu (1984―), male, from Zhoukou, Henan Province, is a teacher at the School of Radio, Film and Television of Chengdu University of Technology. His main research interests are film and television cultural communication and documentary theory.