On August 20, Game Science Corporation released a 6-minute real-time plot clip and an 8-minute real-time demo clip of the game "Black Myth: Wukong" under development. In addition to the movie-like picture quality, many netizens also paid attention to the scenes and items in it. In this mythological story derived from "Journey to the West", from architectural sculptures to bowls and plates, almost all of them can find corresponding Chinese cultural relics in reality.
In recent years, the film and television and game industries have become increasingly popular for "copying" cultural relics. In the eyes of some audiences, this approach helps young people get close to cultural relics and understand history, which is a "win-win" move. Some industry insiders believe that it is a great progress from looking for inspiration in the West and Japan to looking for cultural relics "copying", but there is still a lot of basic work to be improved.
See real artifacts in the game
A few days ago, the game science company released a 6-minute real-world plot clip and an 8-minute real-world trial clip of the game "Black Myth: Wukong", and also included an episode MV, which instantly "swiped the screen" among young people. On Bilibili, the two videos rushed into the first and second places on the whole site at the same time, and the single playback volume has nearly 10 million, and triggered the secondary creation of many UP masters, from game technology to plot to analyze from all angles.
Among them, what attracted the attention of many netizens was the appearance of many genuine "cultural relics" in the picture. As soon as the plot began, a stone wall was set against the candlelight, with a group of headless Buddha statues and Thousand-Handed Guanyin on it. Some netizens immediately found that this scene was very similar to a group of cave statues in Qianfo Village in Anyue Grottoes, Ziyang City, Sichuan Province. This group of badly damaged statues was used here and was very integrated with the game scene. Many people speculated that it was also related to the story background of the entire game.
The lights in the game (first and second from the left) and cultural relics are "the same" from shape to detail.
Stepping into the courtyard building, several lamps are flickering, and these bronze lamps can be found in the "same style" of bronze lamps in the Han Dynasty. It is reported that such lamps are generally called "branch lamps", and multiple lamps are layered on the lamp post, and the whole lamp looks like a big tree. The decorations on the "tree" include flowers and plants, cloud patterns, auspicious beasts or human shapes. The Gansu Provincial Museum has 13 bronze branch lamps of the Han Dynasty, topped by the shape of immortals riding deer. The lamp was unearthed in the Han Tomb of Leitai in Wuwei City, Gansu Province, and the famous cultural relic "Ma Ta Feiyan" also came from here.
The characteristics of the wine ware on the table are the same as those of Wu Wangfu on the left and Chunchenghou on the right.
The objects on the six tables in the courtyard for preparing the banquet also have their archetypes. For example, a bronze wine vessel with a round belly, a cover at the top, and a lifting beam, linked by multiple rings, has a mouth like a bird, and three legs like a beast. This image is very similar to the late Warring States period Chuncheng Hou on display at the Shanghai Museum. Is a container for wine or water during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and the Shanghai Museum also has another Wu Wangfu Cha, which is also round, three animal feet, with a lifting beam and a ring button, but with more complicated patterns.
In the MV of the episode "The Ring", there is also a humanoid pot placed on the table, which is shaped like an immortal holding a musical instrument. The body of the immortal is a container, and the musical instrument in his hand is a water outlet. This pot is almost identical to the immortal Chuisheng of the Liao Dynasty who is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Who owns the copyright of cultural relics?
There is also a Boshan stove on the case of the game. The lower half of the body of such an incense burner is round, and the upper half is hollowed out with a high and pointed lid, which is like a mountain. When burning incense, it surrounds the spit like a cloud, like the legendary sea fairy mountain "Boshan". The image of the Boshan stove not only appears on the table, but also is designed into the character shape. In the real game demo clip, the red-bearded dragon, one of the nine sons of the Jinghe Dragon King in "Journey to the West", has multiple objects shaped like Boshan stoves on his back, and these objects also emit lightning in the fighting scene.
"Black Myth: Wukong" has attracted wide attention, precisely because of the use of cultural relics. The 13-minute real-time demonstration video released by the game on August 20, 2020 has been played nearly 45 million times in Bilibili, and is listed as one of the "85 videos that must be brushed inbound". A large number of domestic cultural relics are used as scenes, including the 28th Star Sculpture of the Yuhuang Temple in Jincheng, Shanxi, the Three Pagodas of Chongqing Dazu Temple, and the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Yunnan.
The pot in the game is consistent with the details of the pattern in the museum collection
However, this move also triggered some netizens to discuss whether the use of the images of these cultural relics requires the authorization of the museum or scenic spot where they are located. In addition to museums, do others have the right to use cultural relics for creation and profit?
The reporter learned from legal experts thatAlthough museums preserve the original cultural relics, they cannot monopolize the copyright of cultural relics.The third section of the Copyright Law specifies the period of protection of rights. Generally speaking, the copyright protection of a work isThe 50-year divideHowever, ancient cultural relics have long exceeded this protection period.
The "Guidelines for the Operation of Copyright, Trademark and Brand Authorization of Museum Collection Resources (Trial) " formulated by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage also makes it clear that the copyright of museum collection resources includes two aspects: first, the copyright of the collection is still in the copyright protection period, and the copyright obtained by the museum for preserving the original works, and second, the copyright of the works obtained by the secondary creation of the collection resources in the form of photography, video, digital scanning, etc. This also means that for ancient cultural relics,The museum only owns the copyright to the works formed by its own secondary creation, not the "copyright" of the cultural relics themselves…
In recent years, more and more film, television and game products have been created and developed with the help of cultural relics. The film "New God List · Yang Jian" currently being released has a dance clip from Dunhuang, and a group of posters have been created in conjunction with the Dunhuang Museum merchandise brand.
"Although legally speaking, the use of cultural relics does not require the authorization of the venue where the cultural relics are located, we are very happy to link with the museum." Some industry insiders revealed that when developing film and television and game products with traditional culture as the theme, they often seek cooperation with cultural institutions at the first time."On the one hand, these cultural and exhibition venues have the most detailed information on cultural relics, which can provide us with professional support; on the other hand, brand linkage helps to achieve a win-win situation."
Dunhuang dependency?
After the first video of "Black Myth Wukong" was released on August 20, 2020, Huang Qing, a citizen, planned to travel to Shanxi: "If not for the decryption of the images in the game, I would have never known that there was such a’treasure ‘place, and I would not have noticed the charm of ancient painted sculptures." However, she also found that these cultural relics were distributed in Changzhi, Jincheng and other places in Shanxi Province, and the transportation was not very convenient, and some local friends also complained to her.All kinds of "guides" on the Internet rarely sort out these cultural relics resources, but instead promote some so-called "Internet celebrity clocks in place", "Obviously picking up sesame seeds and throwing watermelons."
As cultural confidence increases, more and more young people are turning to films and games that are inspired by Chinese history and cultural relics.I am very disgusted with the practice of copying Japanese images and even using European images to tell traditional Chinese stories in the pastThe movie "The Legend of the Gods" made a lot of audiences dissatisfied with the use of European-style armor, castles and other images. Some even commented that it was "close to the Space Opera House". In the end, the star-studded movie only scored 2.9 points on Douban, and the 400 million yuan investment only received 280 million yuan at the box office.
The netizens criticized "The Legend of the Sealed God" for being too science fiction
The film "New God List · Yang Jian" currently being released has attracted many audiences with its beautiful "national style" pictures. Director Zhao Ji revealed that the production team had gone to Dunhuang and other places to collect styles. The imagination of ancient artists inspired them, so they added a "flying dance" that was not originally available in the film. This beautiful clip was even edited into a video and widely disseminated. The costumes, postures and even shapes of the fairies made many viewers shout "I think of Dunhuang at a glance."
The character image of "Shushan: New Shushan Swordsman" is reminiscent of Dunhuang Feitian
However, Dunhuang seems to have become the wool that has been repeatedly picked up by such film and game works over the years. As early as 1983, in the Hong Kong film "Shushan: The New Shushan Swordsman", a large number of scene shapes were inspired by Dunhuang, and this image was "re-engraved" in the 2001 film "Shushan". In recent years, fairy and hero dramas such as "Eternity" have also claimed to have looked to Dunhuang for inspiration. Some industry insiders admitted:"What does the story itself have to do with Dunhuang?"
Mr. Liu, who is engaged in the film and television production industry, remembers that Yang Jie, the director of CCTV’s "Journey to the West", once wrote in his memoirs, "Journey to the West, ‘Tour’ is a running line." So before filming, she and the staffI visited more than 70 attractions in two monthsAt that time, the filming location of "Three Dozen White Bone Essence" in Zhangjiajie Huangshi Village had not yet been developed, and the crew encountered danger on the way "Through" Journey to the West ", many scenic spots, including Jiuzhaigou, became famous across the country. How many practitioners still have such a spirit?"
"Products with the theme of traditional culture rely too much on a few cultural symbols or IPs, which shows that our basic work is not enough." Mr. Wang, who is engaged in game image design and development, revealed to reporters that the "Black Myth Wukong" team has made great efforts to visit the scene this time. "In Japan and other countries with mature animation industries, there are a large number of ready-made resources for basic materials such as scene backgrounds and character shapes to choose from. But there are too few of these basic resources in ChinaIf you want to ensure the quality, you can only find the literature and check it on the spot, and start from scratch. "He hopes that these treasures scattered all over the motherland can be integrated in a more effective way and further developed and used," so that more young people and the world can see the rich and magnificent Chinese culture. "
