Red theme+wild adventure, the documentary ＂The Journey of the Brave＂ is a hit.

On the Jiajin Mountains, explorer Wallace Chung and New Zealand explorer Josh James experienced extreme weather changes from clear Wan Li to heavy snow to fog in a short time. The journey they have traveled is only a short part of the arduous long March of the Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants. Here, on average, one Red Army soldier fell every 100 meters.　

Together with international explorers, we can experience the double test of the extreme environment on the body and spirit, and feel the indomitable quality of the revolutionary predecessors. The documentary "The Journey of the Brave" of the Red Road adventure experience was broadcast on Tencent video on November 9. Zhu Lexian, one of the chief producers of the works and the head of A4 Studio of Tencent’s online video program content production department, expressed the hope that through the cooperation of Chinese and foreign teams, the elements of wild adventure will be integrated and new expressions of works with red themes will be explored.　

　

Real experience creates a "sense of experience"　　

The combination of red theme and wild adventure has made many viewers shine. Zhu Lexian told Variety Daily that the field survival works, as one of the important categories of foreign documentaries, have always been concerned by the Tencent video documentary team. How to integrate it with China’s history, culture and geography, and make typed works that meet the taste of China audience is a topic for team thinking. In 2020, the team began to plan the works with the theme of Red Road. When discussing the innovative direction of the program form, some members suggested that the revolutionary history of China should be used as the creative source of the field adventure documentary, trying to launch new types of works.

"In the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China (CPC) people have worked hard to explore. Among them, in the first half of the 20th century, the Northeast Anti-Union at the northern end of China and the Red women soldiers at the southern end all fought in extreme environments and experienced physical and mental tempering. With the support of simple beliefs and firm beliefs, they have gone through a glorious course, which is worth writing and recording. " Zhu Lexian said.

Josie James is the host of the Discovery Discovery Channel adventure program and a world-renowned explorer with rich experience in field survival. He and explorers such as Wallace Chung, Shawn Dou, Viann and Yan Xujia will "cross" five dangerous places in China’s revolutionary history, such as the Long March of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants, the bitter struggle of the Northeast Anti-Union Snow Country, the red women soldiers’s move to the jungle, and the rescue of the Flying Tigers by Dongjiang column. Zhu Lexian introduced that the combination of programs and field adventures can improve the richness of content and present this history more vividly.

Through Journey of the Brave, the audience saw Josie’s altitude sickness while climbing Jiajin Mountains. The rapidly changing weather made the two guests lose their way in the uncomplicated terrain … The real experience lens allowed the audience to take risks with the guests in a sense.

In addition, the knowledge of field survival shared by Josie in the program has increased the interest and visibility of the works. According to reports, as a part of Tencent’s video "Three Good Tracks" (that is, "Live Well", "Study Well" and "Exercise Well"), the knowledge sharing and historical popularization in "Journey of the Brave" will be the key works of "Study Well" track, which will help the audience gain the wisdom and strength of history and inherit and pay tribute to valuable culture and beliefs.

International communication of Sino-foreign cooperation

In January, 2021, Journey of the Brave was launched in Yang Jingyu Miying, Hongshi National Forest Park, Jilin Province. The shooting team from New Zealand and the Chinese team went to Tiannanhaibei, China for a three-month field shooting.

At the beginning of the text planning, the two sides have a clear division of labor. The Chinese team systematically sorted out the basic contents such as shooting location and route, and the international team put forward the first draft suitable for global communication. On this basis, the Chinese team integrated the historical content into it, adjusted and revised it through several on-site discussions, and finally determined the shooting plan.

The field survival programs started earlier in foreign countries, with a large audience, forming a stable creative system and creative environment, and the international team has rich experience in shooting. Zhu Lexian bluntly said, "The international team let us see the role of the documentary industrialization system. The overall shooting control of the international team is very professional, with a strong sense of time, and the shooting efficiency and work completion are relatively high, which are worth learning. "

During the three-month filming, the two partners are also influencing each other. Although the international team doesn’t know much about the revolutionary history of China, it doesn’t prevent them from feeling the outstanding spirit of heroes through filming. On the Jiajin Mountains, when Josie listened to Wallace Chung’s introduction, when the Red Army soldiers wore light clothes and passed through the dangerous snowy mountain road, he couldn’t help feeling: "What lofty ideals they have to have in order to move forward in such an environment!" Zhu Lexian said that human beings’ thinking in the face of difficult environment is common all over the world. On this basis, the Journey of the Brave combines historical materials to build a three-dimensional vivid and deeply empathetic video work.

On the whole, The Journey of the Brave adopts a more western creative mode, and the Chinese team is more in control of content and quality. This is also for the future international communication. On November 28th, "The Journey of the Brave" will be launched on the Discovery Discovery Channel International TV Network, and spread worldwide in multiple languages.

Dialogue Zhu Lexian: resonate with the audience with real details

Variety Daily: What designs are used to attract young audiences?

Zhu Lexian:Mainly by personally measuring and feeling the real historical environment, it can arouse empathy and resonance to attract young audiences, and immerse the audience through the sense of substitution. At the same time, this is also the reason why we choose the outdoor adventure mode-this mode is popular with young audiences both in the west and at home. We added the knowledge of field survival to it, hoping to make the audience feel the difficult living conditions of the Red Army, Northeast Anti-Union and Red women soldiers, and impress the audience through real details and feelings.

Variety Daily: What are the criteria for choosing the shooting location?

Zhu Lexian:First of all, it should be representative in the historical journey, and second, it should meet the standard of "the most difficult environment". In addition, we hope that the shooting locations can be relatively evenly distributed in China. To this end, we invited Li Junru, former vice president of the Central Party School, and other experts to help screen. The selected location not only has a clear context in the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC)’s struggle, but also has a representative story.

　

Variety Daily: How does the creative team choose the participating guests?

Zhu Lexian:Due to the theme, we also have comprehensive considerations when inviting guests. The first is whether the guests are willing to participate in the form of survival in the wilderness, whether they can face the dangers that may be encountered during the challenge and complete the challenge. Secondly, based on the consideration of international communication, guests need to have certain English communication skills and be able to communicate with Josie and the international team. Therefore, most of the invited guests have outdoor sports experience. For example, Shawn Dou is a rock climber, and Wallace Chung likes diving, all of which have a certain physical reserve and skill training foundation.

　

Variety Daily: Is there a big creative difference between the red-themed documentary and the works of life and nature?

Zhu Lexian:I think even the works with red main lines can still be represented by living scenes, or by the way closer to young users as adopted in The Journey of the Brave, which is also an ongoing creative attempt.

　　

Image source: "The Journey of the Brave" official blog

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