Analysis of the Documentary "Sand and the Sea"

Sand and the Sea is a documentary jointly directed by Jianning Kang and Gao Guodong, which was shown in China on 1990. The film records the geographical environment and different lives of Liu Zeyuan, a nomadic family living in the desert, and Liu Picheng, a fisherman living in the sea. The following is an analysis of the documentary "Sand and the Sea". Come and have a look!

The vast desert and the isolated island in the vast sea are two unrelated extremes, but the magic hand of art closely connects them. In the artist's eyes, sand is a solid sea, which contains the vastness of the sea, and the sea is flowing sand, which embodies the grandeur of the desert. People who simply struggle in two completely different ecological environments and geographical types stubbornly survive in the face of harsh nature and write praises of life from generation to generation.

Brief introduction of documentary

The documentary "The Beach and the Sea" is a work jointly completed by Jianning Kang and Gao Guodong. They chose Liu Zeyuan's home in the desert of Inner Mongolia and Liu Pi's family on an isolated island in Liaoning to shoot. By comparing their living conditions, it reflects their tenacious will to survive in a harsh environment. At the beginning of the work, Liu Zeyuan, a herdsman, who came slowly with a camel in the desert dusk, and Liu Picheng, a fisherman clutching a fishing boat compass under the rolling waves, entered the painting in turn with images that could show their identity, and then fixed them separately. Life in Liu Zeyuan revolves around sheep, camels and pastures. Their family life is hard and happy, but the oppression and loneliness of their children are the unique inner and emotional scenes of Liu Zeyuan's life. Liu Picheng's dissatisfaction with the family business and his concern about the inheritance of the family business reflect the inner space and emotional demands of the developed workers in this kind of family business. The story of two people is the story of establishing a family business.

Behind the image-father and son are dating.

There is a very distinctive passage in the film-Liu Zeyuan and his son are playing dates, and two small figures in the vast desert walk towards two lonely jujube trees. There is a strong sadness in this photo. In the opposition between man and nature, man seems so small, but in the desert near death, the lonely life is still tenaciously alive. Moreover, the close-ups of those veterans who picked Elaeagnus angustifolia in the sand gradually made people produce because of time. The contrast between father and son playing Elaeagnus angustifolia and lonely people, trees, vast desert and sky inevitably gives people two feelings, one is the difficulty of working, the other is the desire for survival and the tragic pursuit.

The field of image

It is the basic mode of aesthetic cognitive process to transform the external things of reality into a sensible and understandable spiritual realm. In the creation of documentaries, it is the key point to integrate scenery, reality and history into the author's aesthetic taste and spiritual experience, so as to get rid of the simple pursuit of life records and make images transcend reality and gain aesthetic significance. People rely on their own experience to understand the connotation of the "meaning" strengthened by the picture, which makes the landscape picture both infectious and symbolic.

This is still an example of Liu Zeyuan and his son playing dating:

Direct meaning, connotative meaning and aesthetic meaning

Two jujube trees in the desert, the feeling of loneliness and sadness in the magnificent and wild life (farewell)

The two men walked towards the jujube tree, and man and nature were opposites.

The labor of jujube survival and the feeling (behavior) of difficult survival

An old man's face, traces of years.

A withered hand picking up dates on the beach is an endless hope.

The shock of life consciousness (length)

According to the above, we can see that the trees in the desert make people feel lonely and sad because of the impact of their large vision; Picking up Elaeagnus angustifolia is also because it lasts beyond the general tolerance limit, which makes people break away from the cognition that it is just a simple action and imagine its unexpected meaning, thus causing shock. At this time, due to the ideographic function of the image, the aesthetic value of the object is expressed in a unique perceptual form, which guides the aesthetic experience of the subject.

The music is just right —— Taking "Father and Son Playing Dating" as an example

As for the relationship between music, commentary and pictures, live sound was added in the second half of the commentary, but after the commentary, the music gradually began, and the music was parallel to the live sound, then the live sound faded and the music became stronger. When the music started gradually, the picture changed from the original panorama to the close-up. The music reached its climax when the camera shook the red dates on the blanket to the red dates on the sand and finally picked them up in Liu's hand. It is worth noting that this shot is an extremely eye-catching highlight in this picture. Music has also been strengthened here, but comments have been withdrawn here. The reason is that the audience's emotions are mobilized through music and pictures, especially music, which is very lyrical and does not need explanations to gild the lily. Therefore, the commentary quits here at the right time, leaving the sound space for music expression, which embodies the organic cooperation between music and commentary, music and pictures.

Artistic aesthetics

In the Sand and the Sea, there is a scene in which the eldest daughter of a herdsman is interviewed and asked what she thinks of marriage. She said she got married to come here, and then there was a long silence. This is a very realistic content, but from her silent language and unconscious movements, people can feel her complicated emotional waves. At this time, a long shot appeared in the film: a little girl playing and walking alone on the sand dunes. This girl is pure and lovely. First, she slipped her shoes down the sand dune, leaving two long lines where they passed. Then the girl slipped down the sand dune by herself. There is a bigger mark behind her. The camera opened into a wide field of vision, and the girl slowly merged into the yellow sand. This is a shot that is divorced from the previous reality, but here it is an emotional extension of the previous content. It can make people have rich associations, and can be regarded as a beautiful memory of young women's childhood, a vision for the future, and a symbol of endless life cycle. Without language here, the realm comes out.

A sudden inspiration

The author of Sand and the Sea once said that he suddenly saw a scene when he was shooting intermittently. There is a lonely tree on the sand dune, and a little girl is walking on it. In yellow, the little girl's red dress stands out. He immediately picked up the camera and took pictures of the little girl. The little girl walked a long way in the sand dunes, and then her head hung down and melted in the yellow sand. This is obviously a little girl playing. At that time, he didn't know what this shot was for, but in the program, he arranged this shot behind the speech of a herdsman's eldest daughter, creating a commendable emotional mood.

montage

The creator of The Sand and the Sea has a distinct montage consciousness. Whether it is Liu Zeyuan, a herdsman, or Liu Picheng, a fisherman, no matter how different the specific lives of the two families are, the creators firmly grasp their similarities to frame their works, which is their tenacious will to survive in the face of harsh natural environment and their spirit of fighting against nature.

There is an interview with The Real Voice of Two Daughters in Sand and Sea, which typically reflects the structural thinking of parallel montage. First, an interview with Liu Picheng's daughter showed a fisherman's extremely healthy attitude towards life through her hobbies and views on marriage. In particular, her view on marriage is plain but unexpected. She doesn't take money as the criterion for choosing objects, and thinks that rich people are too crazy, but she is willing to find an ordinary family at sea, not to mention being rich but not too poor. Such a concept of mate selection is not only a girl's reserve, but also the magnanimity of the sea, but it is simple and natural to say it casually through the girl's mouth. Next is an interview with Liu Zeyuan's daughter. Because she asked Ai Sui such a sensitive topic, she seemed a little shy and avoided it with a smile. Under the repeated questioning of reporters, she bowed her head and answered, but when the reporter asked her if she wanted to leave this home, she fell silent, thus showing a girl's complicated feelings about home to the fullest.

Commentary guides the audience's emotions.

Although many comments in Sand and the Sea are objective descriptions, there are also many authors' own opinions. In fact, whether it is objective description or subjective position, it will guide the audience's emotions, so that the audience can produce a psychological sound with the creator in the narration. When talking about Liu Picheng's family business, there is such a comment: "The more money you earn, the better the road. You can't leave this road and ruin the family business you've got. Although all kinds of things are overwhelming, the more you can't stop, it's like being pushed by the sea. " Although the commentary is about Liu Picheng's own life feelings, it is in this commentary that the audience has an understanding of his life situation, thus realizing the hardships of Liu Picheng's life.

The commentary expanded the meaning of the film.

Some subjective comments of the creators not only guided the emotions of the audience, but also played a powerful role in expanding the meaning of the film. Because the creator's subjective comments are often concise and philosophical summaries. The most general subjective comments in feature films are usually put at the end of the film by the creator, so that the audience can have more thoughts and aftertaste on the ideological theme of the film at the level of the creator. The creator of "The Sand and the Sea" said: "However, both Liu Zeyuan in the desert and Liu Picheng in the ocean have experienced twists and turns in establishing family businesses. Whether they are rich or poor, they have made efforts. What they believe is that it is not easy to live a lifetime.

In Sand and the Sea, there are not too many sensational elements, but focus on a calm and objective record to show their daily life. In this calm record, the work has authenticity and touching power.

Analysis of Sand and the Sea

The Beach and the Sea is co-directed by Gao Guodong and Kang Jianning. It shows us the living conditions of herdsman Liu Zeyuan and fisherman Liu Cheng. The director vividly shows the hardships and persistence of their two families' life through plain male voices and realistic pictures, and skillfully reflects the living conditions of thousands of ordinary people in Qian Qian, Qian Qian through typical examples of these two families.

Natural and plain explanation is a major feature of the film, which makes the documentary Sand and the Sea have a complete narrative ability. The combination of gentle male voice and the environment of the two families not only increases the affinity of the film, but also makes it easier for the audience to understand. At the same time, when reporters ask questions. It can blend the silence of the picture and the answer in the film, so that time can be presented to the audience in a smoother way. Secondly, it helps the audience to understand the content in the film. Let the film catch the audience's eye more.

A lot of close-ups add a lot of color to the film. When filming Liu Zeyuan's home, there were two scenes of drawing water. Liu Zeyuan is a herdsman, who lives in golden sand. Every year, there is a long drought: the camera stops at the place where water is drawn for a few seconds, which makes the audience have a rich imagination of the environment here and understand the hardships of this environment. When interviewing Liu Zeyuan's daughter, she felt embarrassed when she was dressed in red. When asked if she was seeing someone. Who is the target? When are you getting married? She pursed her mouth, lowered her head and smiled shyly. The close-up is just right, which makes the film more appealing.

The film shows us the living conditions of fisherman Liu, who lives on an isolated island, and herders, who live in desert areas, with a double-line crossing structure and comparative method. It shows that their lifestyles and habits are different due to different environments, but the same thing is that they all live in harsh natural conditions, and they all have a kind of helplessness and hardship forced by life. They represent not only individuals or families, but also two different groups, fishermen or herders, and even ordinary people. This film has the effect of covering points on the surface.

The soundtrack of this film is very distinctive and used properly. Generally, the soundtrack is used to express the natural environment and people's work, and the original sound is used to interview or feature people. For example, when the Liu Zeyuan family watched camels feed water, and when Liu Zeyuan's little daughter was running and playing in the desert, they all used music to create a better atmosphere, enhance the psychological atmosphere of the picture and deepen the theme.

One east and one west, one sand and one sea, one poor and one rich, both families are struggling for survival, revealing the survival theme of * * *.