The set of scenes of the organ is a tradition of Chinese opera, and it has been around for a long time.

The "Liu Huiji Female Opera" recorded in the fifth volume of "Dream of Tao'an" by Zhang Dai in the Ming Dynasty made a vivid and delicate description of the "mechanical set" at that time.

What makes the scene scenes of the organs start from the early years of the Republic of China.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Western dramas, operas, movies, magic, new styles of singing and dancing, speeding and wall walking were first introduced to Shanghai, affecting the way Peking Opera plays and stages.

The innovation of Shanghai Peking Opera in methods and techniques does not allow innovation in plays or scripts.

The sound, photoelectricity and mottled mechanism setting have become another feature of the Shanghai Peking Opera.

Unlike Beijing-style Peking Opera that focuses on tradition, the biggest feature of Shanghai-style Peking Opera is to use good-looking, nice-sounding and fun to satisfy audiences of all levels.

One of its magic weapons is the mechanism setting.

When the mechanism set dramas in traditional Chinese dramas collide with magic from the West, dazzling sparks emerge.

Shanghai Peking Opera draws on Western artistic performance methods and makes the institutional sets exquisite and beautiful.

For example, in 1920, the 32-year-old "The Cyclops for the Prince" performed in Shanghai.

The scenes of the mechanism and the photoelectric illusion are as advertised: "Kuixing appears on the wall, the movie peels the cat, the land is unearthed in the pond, the baby turns into a peach, the fire is flying on the fairy bridge, and the lotus flies in the sky."

How did they do it?

There is a plot in the play: Empress Li was forbidden in the cold palace and cold courtyard, and Empress Liu sent Guo Huai to burn the cold palace.

There is a fire scene when setting fire, the cold palace scene above and the fire scene below.

Empress Li's men stood at a high place some distance from the fire scene to avoid the fire. At this time of emergency, Guanyin Bodhisattva, who was suffering and suffering, came to save the suffering.

Empress Li flew out from a high place to be saved. This is the "flying man in the air", which is a common technique used in Shanghai Peking Opera.

First, let the actor carry a wire-like device that said "wia" in later generations, and there is a rope puller behind the back.

The rope has two branches, which are hung on the pillar. There is a ring at each end of the fall. When the person below pulls it, the person on the stage kicks up and cooperates with each other, he can fly.

In addition, those who fly around such as wronged souls can also use squid cars.

The whole stage was black, and all the lights were turned off. First, burn them with magnesium powder to make the appearance of ghost fire everywhere. The actor was wearing a skeleton suit and stood on the skeleton bus. The skeleton bus was like a see-through board.

In fact, it is the principle of leverage. Once the lower half of the rod is pressed, the other end will rise, and the ghost will rise into the air.

There is also the monster mandrill in the mythological drama "The Legend of Swordsman". The book describes a giant beast with at least six human bodies, fierce and powerful, and thunderous screams.

So on the stage, the mandrill grabbed the hero with his two claws and sent it into his mouth.

It looks very real. In fact, this mandrill only has half a body and is nestled in the setting. The mandrill's claws are controlled by wires and can be moved.

A hanging ring was installed on the palm of the right claw. When the left claw moved to the chest and the right claw went to grab the person, the hero grabbed the hanging ring and moved his right hand and hung it into the mouth of the mandrill, and ended when the person entered the mouth.

Its mouth can also be moved, with strings inside, which can be controlled when opening and closing. A loudspeaker is installed in the mouth.

The huge monster was originally terrifying, and then yelled desperately, opening his bloody mouth, catching people, and eating people. The entire stage atmosphere covered up all the fake and virtual things by the audience.

This is the same as the creation of dinosaur models in Hollywood later generations.

The mechanism setting was unsuccessful, but there was no trick, which was to use some basic knowledge such as chemistry and physics.

The main reason is the innovative spirit of opera practitioners who keep up with the trend and compiled these series of plays with countless complex and difficult mechanisms. This is a special effect technique with Chinese characteristics.

The show set of organs emerged in the early years of the Republic of China and achieved great development in the 1920s and 1940s. It was extremely prosperous in the 1950s and 1950s. It was banned from performing in the 1950s.

On the one hand, it is because the content of the performance is not good, and it is all martial arts gods and monsters. On the other hand, it is the abuse of the institutional sets, which weakens the performance art.

This is also the main reason why later generations could not see the set scenes of the organs on the Peking Opera stage.

In the 1930s and 1940s, "Journey to the West" was the most performed series.

Sun Wukong is flying in the clouds and fog, and it is the most suitable to use the mechanism props in magic to transform into living people.

In these mythological dramas, correct use of sets and lighting stunts can create various beautiful and magical scenes.

At this time, in Shanghai, the expert in the set show of the agency was the Shanghai new stage.

The boss of the new stage is Pan Yueqiao from Liyuanxing. This is Zheng Zhengqiu's old friend and is also familiar with Lin Zixuan. The last time Ouyang Yuqian arranged "Thunderstorm" was premiered on the new stage.

Lin Zixuan also introduced Hong Shen, who returned from studying in the United States, to the new stage, and collaborated with Ouyang Yuqian to rehearse "Sunrise".

The new stage has a mechanical turntable, lighting and set, which is the first new-style theater built by the Chinese people to imitate Europe and Japan.

He once performed a new fashion drama "New Camellia Girl", with a total of 20 major works, using optical mechanisms, and has been performing for a long time and has the most popular titles. He later rehearsed mythological dramas such as "Jigong Living Buddha", which caused a sensation and made a lot of profits.

Lin Zixuan wanted to borrow a group of technicians from the new stage who designed the sets.

We are all friends, so there is no question of poaching, just negotiate salary.

The new stage has not been very successful in recent years. Although it has become popular with "Thunderstorm", the entire drama market is in a downturn and can only barely survive.

The movie "The Great Trouble" is divided into many plots such as the birth of a stone monkey, the Water Curtain Cave, the apprenticeship of a master, the Dragon Palace, the Underworld, the Bima Wen, the Peach Banquet, the Battle of Erlang Shen, the Great Trouble of the Heavenly Palace, the Five Elements Mountain and other plots.

This is roughly similar to "Journey to the West" in Shanghai Peking Opera.

To attract audiences, you must work hard on martial arts scenes and mechanism sets, because the shooting venue is not limited to the stage, giving technicians greater room for play.

For example, Sun Wukong can become larger and smaller, and the small Sun Wukong can be replaced by paper cutting, which is an inspiration from shadow puppets.

Just take the paper-cutting out of a three-dimensional feeling, and the scene of Sun Wukong flying in the clouds can also be handled the same.

In later generations, the special effects in the 1986 version of "Journey to the West" were also not good. Once the characters flew up, the characters taken had the feeling of paper and were not three-dimensional enough.

There is also the problem with the rope on the actors. Without a computer, the traces of the rope cannot be manually erased. Then color the rope so that the rope and the background are the same color, which looks transparent and not easy to be discovered.

The most important thing in mythological dramas is smoke.
Chapter completed!