20 things about The Untamed - Part 6
part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, source
The shooting locations of “Chen Qing Ling” are in Hengdian and Guizhou, and there are a lot of real scenes. For example, the bamboo forest in Yunshen was a scene opened up by cutting off some bamboo in a hill near Hengdian. The Great Lake outside the Lotus Dock in Yunmeng is an hour and a half away from Hengdian Film and Television City.
“The real scene has advantages and disadvantages. The road in Guizhou is very difficult to travel on but the destination is very beautiful. But we had a very hard time shooting. First, we went on Panshan asphalt road for more than two hours, then the Panshan dirt road, and there was no fence beside it. It was very dangerous. After reaching the top of the mountain, you have to walk for at least 40 minutes. The top of the mountain has no road at all. It’s all grass about knee height. We still walk over, but the staff have to carry all the machine.”
The scene of the two people (Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian) who appeared on the top of the hill is indeed the finale of the whole drama. As for happy ending or sad ending, Mr. Yang said he would not disclose it for the time being, but would certainly make everyone “cry and laugh”.
Wei Wuxian in the bamboo forest
The most difficult scenes to make are Yunmeng’s lotus docks and Burial Mounds. The construction of the Lotus Dock takes three months.
The Lotus House took three months to build. “The whole Lotus House was built in a shed, and it was very difficult to make it. Because the setting of Yunmeng is on a Pinghu River, we hope that there is water in the lotus dock, so in the shed, a deep pond was dug for water, and the art teacher specially installed a lot of gauze on the partition, purple green blue, and created a gradient pane, so that the water waves will be reflected on the wood, giving it a dreamy feeling.
Wei Wuxian and sister in lotus dock
As art director, Yang Xia defines the content of “Chen Qing ling”’s style and aesthetics as elegance. Because of where the five great families in the novel is set, the aesthetic style is close to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties as a whole.
The style of wide-sleeved gown is also chosen to show the ease and elegance of the characters. Only Yunmeng Jiang chose the narrow sleeve tailoring design, reflecting the chivalrous family temperament.
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng’s narrow sleeves
The theme song "Unrestrained 《无羁》” of “Chen Qingling” was composed by Lin Hai, a famous musician. Lin Hai is also responsible for the production of several important OSTs, such as “洗华”. At that time, the film provided Lin Hai with a demand list, which indicated the style and melody requirements of several important tunes, as well as the position of the tunes in the original works and scripts. For “Unrestrained 《无羁》”, Yang Xia’s request at that time was a sense of righteousness. “We don’t want this song to fall into something too emotional. As a theme song, we try our best to reflect the feeling of the whole drama. It’s a little bit relaxed and unrestrained.”
Xinmei Media has finished two “Chen Qing Ling” films this year, and then plans to make a cinema movie, and will also launch a mobile game during the winter vacation. The actor and the behind-the-scenes team used by NetEase are basically the original actors of the TV series.
"In fact, there are many characters in the drama, some sideline characters have wonderful stories, but they may not be mentioned too much in the original book, or have been mentioned in a stroke, or appear in some sympathetic fragments. If we add them, the whole script will be too long, and may also deviate from the main line. So when we make a script, it’s possible that about 10% of such a scenario can’t be added. We actually feel it’s a pity. I think each of them has their own inner struggle, and we hope to give the actors more opportunities to show their own roles,“ says Yang.