The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 451 New Art and Entertainment Transformation

Zhu Jianxuan talked to his secretaries for several days, explaining everything he felt should be made clear and asking them to record it clearly.

Zhu Jianxuan then gave them time to organize the documents and file the various specific regulations separately, and started implementation after all the personnel were in place.

Take out the direct orders and draft them into formal edicts, which can be issued and implemented at any time according to your own arrangements.

Zhu Jianxuan will personally monitor the progress of the most important basic arrangements.

For example, organizing a high-level art school.

There are no official literary and artistic schools in the Ming Dynasty. Relevant creative skills are either self-taught by the person concerned through talent, or passed down through traditional master-apprentice relationships.

During the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in the Ming Dynasty, the demand for various literary and artistic works in the folk market also rose rapidly.

Logically speaking, the situation where teachers starve their apprentices to death should be greatly reduced.

But at the same time, the Ming Dynasty's film industry had already taken off, and there were already theaters that publicly screened movies.

Moreover, due to Zhu Jianxuan's direct intervention, the Ming Dynasty's film technology matured too quickly.

The phonograph, camera, video recorder, and power amplifier equipment were invented soon, and the key was that the relatively cheap magnetic tape was invented in advance.

The film and television industry of the Ming Dynasty basically did not stay in the silent film era, but entered the sound era almost in one step.

Since the industry has only been established for a relatively short period of time, the market demand is growing very fast.

Coupled with the path dependence problem, most of the film companies in Ming Dynasty now focus on recording as their main business.

Record various performances that are popular in the market now and show them in more places.

Including opera, storytelling, crosstalk, folk songs, dance, instrumental music, etc.

Just by handling such simple business, the film companies are already very busy and have made considerable profits.

Simply taking popular performances from different places and broadcasting them in other places can directly create a strong sense of freshness and is far from causing aesthetic fatigue.

There is no era where the industry has to innovate scripts, write new stories and new dramas, or improve filming methods and techniques.

The kind of film and television products that Zhu Jianxuan pursued realism in his previous life are still not being specially organized for filming.

Therefore, the status of creators, performers, and directors is still very limited.

Those who provide equipment and funds have the final say.

When film companies record, they will try to find the best performers in the industry, and recording will squeeze the living space for ordinary performers.

For ordinary people, if cost is not a consideration, they will probably hesitate between video recordings of top performers and live performances of ordinary performers.

However, if the price of watching a recording of a top performance is significantly lower than the live ticket price for an ordinary performance, many people will prioritize watching the recording.

Especially for pure recording products, many wealthy families can directly buy a record player and listen to it at home.

This leads to the top performers trying not to teach others the techniques they have figured out in order to maintain their status as recording subjects.

Ordinary performers should keep performance costs as low as possible, improve the interactivity and diversity of their performances, and allow ordinary audiences to have an experience that is completely different from watching a video.

They may, as before, pass on their skills and experience to their disciples, but under the suppression of the film and video industry, such passing on will also be very cautious.

If Zhu Jianxuan did not intervene directly, the main players in the existing industry would have no motivation to set up schools.

New changes will only appear when the existing folk art has been recorded enough and most viewers have watched enough of it and are beginning to get tired of the old recordings.

There may be film companies that organize and write new scripts, explore new filming methods, and organize personnel to specialize in technical research and development.

This kind of demand within the industry may force the emergence of specialized schools.

Therefore, Zhu Jianxuan now has to take action himself and push this industry in the direction he hopes for ahead of time.

Zhu Jianxuan asked the cabinet secretary to write an order to the Ministry of Rites, asking them to organize celebration activities in the emperor's personal name.

Summon the world's famous novelists, playwrights, opera arrangers, film production agencies, famous musicians and performers to Shuntian Prefecture.

Relevant official personnel of the court would also be notified and wait for the local people to arrive and then wait to see the emperor together.

This order was drafted first and issued first, and it did not mention setting up a school.

If Zhu Jianxuan said that he wanted to set up a school, the most capable masters in the industry might not necessarily come to participate.

They were probably worried that after helping the court to open schools, they would become unemployed.

But if the emperor wanted to organize a performance and offered reasonable compensation, most of them would be happy to try their luck.

If you happen to be noticed by the emperor and allowed to serve in the palace, you would be able to rise to the top in one step.

Zhu Jianxuan's order was public and was sent directly to the Ministry of Rites through the Cabinet and the Ministry of Public Security. Everyone who handled it was a little surprised.

Their emperor has never liked playing since he was a child.

Although it has not specifically controlled private entertainment facilities, it has even proactively provided a lot of technical support and encouraged the free development of various private entertainment facilities.

Many new forms of games were invented, as were recording and playback equipment, as well as radio and film equipment.

However, he himself has basically never participated in various entertainment activities and seems to have no interest in any fun-filled things.

In all official ceremonial banquets, he would either start talking about business or leave directly after the ceremonial performances were over.

Except when celebrating festivals with his wife and children, he rarely summoned musicians and dancers to perform.

Although he occasionally listens to music on the radio and some folk art and storytelling segments, he obviously has very little interest in these things.

I often become impatient and turn it off after listening for just a few minutes, and I don't even want to watch traditional opera.

Has His Majesty suddenly changed his mind? He specifically requested to invite the most famous performing artists in the world?

But no one would consider whether their emperor would become obsessed with pleasure and lose his ambition.

Zhu Jianxuan's order to summon these performers even made senior officials in the court breathe a sigh of relief.

The main reason is that Zhu Jianxuan is old, and people’s personalities may change as they get older.

Many elderly people become more stubborn as they get older, and they do things stubbornly.

The cost of Zhu Jianxuan hiring a group of entertainers for entertainment was negligible for the Ming Dynasty.

If the old emperor indulged in entertainment activities, the pressure on officials would naturally be reduced.

So senior officials have no complaints about this.

It would be really scary if the old emperor continued to stir up wars all over the world and if he stubbornly did so.

So the officials of the Ministry of Rites were very cooperative.

The order was quickly spread around the world via telegram, and all local court officials and vassal states were notified.

The ideas of ordinary officials and feudal lords were similar to those of high-ranking officials.

Thinking that the emperor was finally going to come up with some entertainment programs, they cooperated very well and called all the well-known local performing artists and selected the best ones to send to the capital.

When the American elites returned to Shuntian Prefecture after visiting local areas for a few months, performing artists from all over the country had already begun to arrive in Beijing.

When the news that famous performing artists from all over the country were coming to Beijing reached many wealthy and free people, they also came to Shuntian Prefecture to join in the fun.

They felt that this was a great opportunity to directly witness famous actors from all over the world in Shuntian Prefecture.

At the same time, many ordinary performing artists who had not been selected or selected by local government offices also went to Shuntian Prefecture to try their luck. Many people were not qualified to enter Shuntian Prefecture directly and could only live in Tongzhou, Fangshan and other places near Shuntian Prefecture.

In the past few months, the entire Shuntian Prefecture has become increasingly lively.

Zhu Jianxuan also began to summon artistic performers from all over the country to the harem with the lists sent from the local areas, asking them to perform live for him in the palace.

But instead of asking them to perform their best shows, they choreographed new programs according to Zhu Jianxuan's requirements.

If they are performing operas, they are not allowed to use traditional opera makeup or wear stage equipment.

Instead, they are asked to imitate the characters they are playing in as realistic a manner as possible.

If you are playing the role of a master, lady, son or daughter of a wealthy family, then find a few wealthy people in the capital as models, and let them go to each other's homes to observe and experience.

If you want to play the role of an ordinary citizen, then go to ordinary residential areas in the city or to the garrisons in the countryside and find a few ordinary families for reference.

If they want to play the role of Taoist priests and monks, let them go to the nearby temples to learn.

If you play the role of a scholar, official, general or soldier, you will actually go to various government offices and military camps to learn on the spot from the civil and military officials.

Anyway, whatever role they are going to play, they have to learn it first, and let the singers learn it completely, including makeup, costumes, living habits, etc.

Zhu Jianxuan told them directly:
“You have to put yourself into the corresponding roles, and you just live a normal life with this identity. Our new drama is just a record of your life.

“It’s important to make sure you appear to be just going about your business in a normal way, not performing for anyone.

“The camera may be pointed at you, but you can’t perform for the camera.

“Don’t look at where the audience is—

"Unless you are acting as a person performing on stage."

Completely copying reality is obviously not suitable for stage performances, but it helps to quickly change the inherent performance style.

Zhu Jianxuan wants to watch modern film and television dramas instead of singing operas.

If the people are writing novels or scripts, Zhu Jianxuan will use their script writing as an example to guide them in adjusting the style and direction of the story.

Screenwriters in particular should be encouraged to learn from novel writing and write new scripts by directly telling stories, rather than aiming for stage performances directly.

The key is to let them open their minds and not be too restricted by the stage framework.

You also need to write a script that focuses on the plot rather than the lyrics, and put the storyline in the most important position.

Zhu Jianxuan directly told them what he had learned in his previous life and his experience in modern script writing.

If they are composers, lead them to create songs with more obvious differences. The key is to sing songs with faster tempos.

Understand the differences between different types of music and learn to create specialized music for different scenes.

For example, a song specially written for a short-duration home record player can be completed in just a few minutes.

And music used as background music for TV dramas, documentaries, and educational films.

If the other party is a technician from a film and television company, he is the one who leads the craftsmen to shoot and record images and sounds.

Zhu Jianxuan guided them into the role of director.

Let them explore the most appropriate shooting method and more reasonable performance method based on the shooting equipment and the characteristics of video broadcasting.

For the choirs and opera troupes coming from Europe, Zhu Jianxuan first asked them to change their singing style.

Their vocal methods can be used for practice, but should not be used for performance.

In the development of European vocal music, one very important influencing factor is to ensure that everyone in a theater can hear the singer's voice.

So they racked their brains to figure out how to make the sound as loud and clear as possible, and how to make the sound travel as far as possible.

This objective need directly affects the basic vocal methods of European vocal music.

There's a compromise between what sounds good and what can be heard.

Their singing style of continuously spitting out sounds at a high frequency is actually not really liked by the general public.

In modern society, with the emergence of power amplifiers that can directly amplify sound, traditional European vocal music can only be performed in specific occasions.

Even if ordinary people can enjoy it through television, most people will not only feel confused but may even feel disgusted.

The audio-visual content of ordinary people is basically light and natural pop music.

Daming now has basically mature power amplifier equipment, so the compromises in singing style made in order to allow more people to hear it must of course be abandoned.

But their technique of making the sound full and clear is preserved.

In the process of Zhu Jianxuan making requests and teaching these people, he also led them to conduct practical experiments.

Wrote some script fragments, filmed some short plays, and recorded some new music.

Some of these clips are not performed by professional actors, but are normal shots of ordinary people doing things for the actors to refer to and imitate.

Many of Zhu Jianxuan's requirements are subversive to these traditional performers.

Some of the skills that they once took pride in may be completely abandoned by Zhu Jianxuan, or even explicitly banned from use.

However, Zhu Jianxuan has always been a good teacher, and when he asked them to abandon certain skills, he also explained the reasons to them.

For example, the recording environment can be the whole world instead of that small stage, and the existence of power amplifiers means they don’t need to work hard to let more people hear it.

Coupled with Zhu Jianxuan's tremendous power and status, ordinary people like them certainly did not dare to resist the emperor's demands and could only cooperate as much as possible.

After the American elites returned, Zhu Jianxuan first summoned the fifteen princes in charge of American affairs, and then took the princes to summon these American elites together.

After giving them some final instructions, they were arranged to return to America by ship to deal with their own affairs.

Zhu Jianxuan turned back to continue his work in literature and art.

By the end of the 31st year of Tiangong, most of the performing artists from all over the world had arrived.

Zhu Jianxuan personally intervened in the organization of the New Year's Eve Party.

However, he did not directly host the preparation of the entire evening party, but instead squeezed in a few newly arranged song and dance programs of his own.

Since the evening party was broadcast live on TV, the court, nobles, bureaucrats, and wealthy businessmen could all watch it, but Zhu Jianxuan's new program did not receive a good response among these people.

Many old people thought the new songs and dances were strange, and many thought they were a bit too vulgar, but they didn't dare to say it out loud.

However, these programs were very popular in factories and health centers. Ordinary farmers and workers who watched the programs felt that they could finally understand them.

And most people think these things are very "interesting".

However, no matter whether they like it or not, no one would publicly criticize the emperor's preferences.

At the same time, both the royal family and nobles, as well as the civil and military officials in the court, have gradually understood some things.

It’s not that their emperor has no interest in entertainment, but that he has no interest in the old-fashioned entertainment.

Everything their emperor likes is created by themselves.

After the Chinese New Year, Zhu Jianxuan gathered creative personnel from all walks of life and began to organize the filming of a modern TV series.

The subject matter was directly selected from the most classic novel, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

(End of this chapter)