Ordinary citizens celebrate film carnival in Beijing

Visitors experience the virtual stage at the film carnival in Beijing on April 14, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

A film-featured carnival is now being held in suburban Beijing, attracting large crowds of people to experience new tricks of filmmaking and entertain themselves in multiple ways.

This year's film carnival carries the theme "Dream of Star Coming True". It invites ordinary citizens to participate in the film shooting and production in person, and make themselves the protagonist of their own films.

All these could be realized in a virtual stage adorned with green screen.

Although there are many similar projects elsewhere in other international film festivals, Ma Ping, Deputy General Manager of the China Film Studio Company, thinks their virtual stage provides visitors a unique experience.

"Their carnivals, or other theme parks; they are pre-designed for tourists. It's not a real studio. But what we are opening to the public now is a real production studio, like this stage—we shot a lot of famous projects here, like Wolf Totem, like Monster Hunt 2. It's a real production stage. Normally, this kind of stage would never open to the public," said Ma.

Along with ordinary visitors, the virtual production stage has also become a favorite site for teams of journalists to do live streaming.

From their personal experience, these reporters are willing to uncover the mysteries of how this magic stage combines interactive film elements with entertainment.

However, according to Ma Ping, the stage, equipped with world-class virtual production capabilities, may also offer visitors other pleasant surprises.

"If you use the traditional green-screen stage, after you finish shooting, then you need a very long period for post production. That might need months, or even years. But in this virtual production stage, even shooting in a similar green-screen environment, but you can see the outcome in real time."

Outside the studio of the virtual stage, there are several interesting destinations in the film-featured town.

An open-air theatre brings back memories of the past. Xu Hui and his girl friend from Kaifeng, a prefecture-level city in central China's Henan Province, were among the visitors sitting down on a bench at the theatre.

"Today, moviegoers usually opt for the well-equipped cinemas. Few would go to watch films in an open air theatre. My girlfriend and I travel to Beijing hoping that we could get a better understanding about advanced filming technologies as well as the movie culture. We've surprisingly found such a special, reminiscent location, where we are willing to sit down and feel like in the old days," Xu said.

The Film Carnival of the 8th Beijing International Film Festival will run until May 1st.