My Imperial Advisor is ChatGPT

Chapter 115 Light and Shadow in the Night: The Magic Mirror and the Prototype of Cinema

The nights in Xianyang are now so bright they're unsettling.

Since alternating current (AC) defeated direct current (DC), high-voltage power grids delivered cheap electricity to every household, and the capital of the Qin Empire completely bid farewell to the life of resting at sunset.

However, a new social problem followed – spiritual emptiness.

In the past, everyone went to sleep as soon as it got dark to save money on oil lamps and, incidentally, to respond to the national call to have more children. Now, the lights are on all night, and all that's done is play mahjong (invented by Liu Bang), drink Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor), or gather to brag.

The pressure on public security has increased sharply. The magistrate of Xianyang has to deal with dozens of street fights every day caused by "What are you looking at?"

"Your Majesty, this won't do."

Li Si, sporting dark circles under his eyes (his neighbor had been playing mahjong all night), complained in court: "The people have excess energy with nowhere to vent it. Besides having children, they're always causing trouble. We need to find some entertainment for them, to keep their minds occupied."

"Entertainment?" Ying Zheng sat on the dragon throne, toying with a piece of transparent film in his hand. "Traditional shadow puppetry, wrestling, and Qinqiang opera—aren't they enough?"

"Not exciting enough," Liu Bang interjected from the side. He was now an advisor to the "Great Qin Culture and Entertainment Corporation." "Your Majesty, think about it. The common people's horizons have broadened. They've seen trains running and heard cannons roaring. Now, seeing a few paper figures swaying behind a screen, who still finds that exciting?"

"We need something more stunning, more realistic, something that will make people unable to look away."

Ying Zheng looked at Wang Jianguo.

Wang Jianguo pushed up his glasses and pointed to the film in Ying Zheng's hand.

"Your Majesty, do you remember the photography we invented in Chapter 102? It's about freezing a moment on paper."

"What if we connected countless moments and made them come alive?"

Wang Jianguo walked to the blackboard, drew an eye, and then drew a spinning wheel.

"The human eye has a weakness called 'persistence of vision.' When the speed of image switching exceeds 24 frames per second, the brain is tricked into thinking that the images are continuous."

"We want to build a machine that can 'reen' what happened in the past on the wall. Not just reenact, but vividly recreate it."

I call it a movie (Motion Picture).

Ying Zheng's eyes narrowed. A replay of the past? That would mean…

"Granted." Ying Zheng waved his hand. "But what should we film for our first project? Should we film me reviewing memorials?"

"No." Liu Bang's business acumen kicked in instantly. He rubbed his hands excitedly. "If we're going to make a film, let's make the most exciting, thrilling, and representative film of the Qin Dynasty's tough guys! We'll make—'The King of Qin's Battle Song'! I've already decided on the lead actor—Xiang Yu! That physique, that murderous aura, just him standing there is a box office guarantee!"

Thus, the first "makeshift" film crew in the history of the Qin Dynasty was born.

Zhao Gao has been wanting to die lately.

As a "brick" of Daqin (moved wherever needed), he was appointed as the chief director of Daqin's first film immediately after stepping down as "electricity safety lecturer".

The filming location was a military camp at the foot of Mount Li.

"Click! Click! Click!"

Zhao Gao, carrying a megaphone made of rolled-up sheet metal, stormed into the arena in a fit of rage.

"General Xiang! My dear Uncle Xiang! You're filming a movie, not killing people!"

In the center of the arena, Xiang Yu, dressed in a bright silver armor (polished for better reflective effect), held his hundred-pound Overlord Spear and looked at Zhao Gao with an innocent expression.

At his feet, three extras playing "enemy soldiers" (also Qin soldiers) were lying on the ground groaning. One was clutching his chest, one was hugging his leg, and the other was already dizzy from the wind stirred up by the gun barrel.

"I've already used ninety percent of my strength!" Xiang Yu grumbled in dissatisfaction. "They're too fragile! They fall over at the slightest touch. How can this be acted? It's not realistic at all!"

"It has to be fake! Fake!" Zhao Gao shouted, jumping up and down. "This is called 'fake positioning'! Don't you understand? The tip of your spear has to be three inches away from his throat, and then he has to fall down in time! If you really stab him, our crew's compensation money won't even be enough to cover it!"

Xiang Yu slammed his spear on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust: "Boring. What war doesn't involve bloodshed? I'm not filming anymore!"

"Don't be like that!" Liu Bang quickly ran over to smooth things over, handing Xiang Yu a bottle of ice-cold soda. "Brother Xiang, this is art. Just imagine, once your heroic figure is photographed and displayed in Xianyang Square, all the girls in the city will scream. You'll be the number one idol of Qin, far superior to that Sima Xiangru who only knows how to write poetry!"

Upon hearing "all the girls in the city screamed," Xiang Yu's expression softened slightly.

"Alright. Shall I try that... slow motion one?"

Filming continues.

Besides the difficulty in finding actors, equipment is an even bigger problem.

The first camera in the Qin Dynasty was a huge hand-cranked wooden box. The film inside was not the celluloid of later generations (although nitrocellulose existed, its flexibility was not perfect), but a transparent gelatin sheet that Zhao Gao improved, which was extremely fragile.

"Shake gently! Shake gently!" Wang Jianguo, sweating profusely, stared intently at the cameraman (a disciple of the Mohist school) beside the camera. "16 revolutions per second! It must be a constant speed! Too fast and it'll look like a seizure, too slow and it'll look like constipation!"

"Film! The film is stuck!"

"Exposure! Reduce the aperture! The sun is too strong today!"

After countless incidents of film breaking, actors getting injured, and even the camera spontaneously combusting (nitrocellulose film is too flammable), Da Qin's first documentary... or rather, "action-staged film" has finally wrapped up filming.

Three rolls of film in total, total duration: 15 minutes.

Content: Xiang Yu, leading a hundred strong soldiers, charges, brandishes his sword, and strikes poses in front of the camera, ending with a close-up of Xiang Yu lifting a cauldron (a prop cauldron made of foam plastic for safety) with one hand.

Looking at the several boxes of film, Zhao Gao shed bitter tears: "I never want to be a director again in my life."

The premiere will be held at the Epang Palace Square.

For this grand event, Liu Bang demonstrated his genius-level marketing skills.

He wrote "GG" in the Daqin Daily for three consecutive days:

"Shocking! General Xiang Yu is trapped inside a box!"

"Witness a miracle! The dead rise from the dead, time reverses!"

"Tonight at 7 PM, at the Epang Palace Square, please bring a stool. People with heart conditions should not enter."

In the evening, the square was packed with people. Vendors selling melon seeds, benches, and soft drinks were everywhere, making it impossible to move.

In the center of the square, a huge white curtain was erected (it was a sail borrowed from the navy).

"What are you doing? Looking at the cloth?" an old farmer asked the person next to him while squatting on the ground and cracking sunflower seeds.

"I heard it's some kind of 'magic mirror,' where you can see ghosts and spirits," the person next to me muttered mysteriously. "In a little while, a figure will appear on that cloth; it'll be terrifying."

"Tch, what a load of nonsense."

Just then, all the streetlights in the square went out.

A commotion broke out in the crowd.

"Quiet!"

Zhao Gao's voice came from twelve huge loudspeakers (leftovers from the last exposition).

"Next, please open your eyes wide. Remember, no matter what you see, don't run or scream, it's fake! It's a painting!"

"The screening has begun!"

On a high platform behind the square, a huge projector began to operate.

That was a hand-cranked projector made by Wang Jianguo using a carbon arc lamp as a light source and combining it with a Maltese cross mechanism (intermittent motion mechanism).

A beam of light pierced the darkness and shone on the huge white canvas.

"Buzz buzz buzz..." The sound of the film reel spinning echoed throughout the venue through the loudspeaker.

The screen lit up.

First came a burst of black and white flickering noise, then a huge line of Qin script appeared on the screen:

Proudly presented by Daqin Heavy Industry

Starring: Xiang Yu

A gasp rippled through the crowd: "Words are appearing! Words are appearing on the cloth!"

Then, the scene changes.

It's a close-up.

A huge, stark black-and-white face filled the entire screen. It was Xiang Yu's face.

He stared at the camera, eyes wide with rage, mouth agape, as if he wanted to leap out of the screen and devour the audience.

"ah--!!!"

The audience in the front row were instantly terrified, scrambling backward: "Monster! What a huge head! It's eating people!"

"Don't run! That's fake!" The Black Ice Guards maintaining order held down the restless crowd. "That's General Xiang's portrait! An animated portrait!"

The camera zooms out.

On the screen, Xiang Yu, riding his black horse (actually a wooden horse, used for close-up shots), brandished his Overlord Spear and charged towards the camera.

Because it was a silent film, a folk music ensemble of several dozen people was set up on set.

"Boom boom boom!" The war drums sounded, and the suona blew out the charge.

Coupled with the scene of thousands of horses galloping (actually just a dozen or so horses running in a loop), the visual impact was like a nuclear bomb for the people of the Qin Dynasty who had never seen a movie before.

When Xiang Yu in the scene pointed his spear at the camera and thrust it fiercely...

"Get down!"

Tens of thousands of people in the square all made the same move in unison—crouching down with their heads in their hands for defense.

Even Li Si, who was sitting on the viewing platform, subconsciously shrank back, spilling his teacup all over the floor.

Only Ying Zheng remained seated on the dragon throne, completely still.

Wearing sunglasses, he looked at the screen at the image that, though colorless and with slightly stiff movements, possessed a powerful and imposing presence, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Is this... a movie?"

A small incident occurred halfway through the movie.

Although it is a silent film, Wang Jianguo felt that music alone was not enough; it needed to have "foley sound".

So, behind the curtain, there were several special "actors".

As the image of galloping warhorses appeared on screen, two burly men frantically banged coconut shells against a wooden board, chanting "Clang clang clang clang..."

When the scene showed swords clashing, a blacksmith was seen hacking at two kitchen knives with a clang: "Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The most brilliant part was when Xiang Yu shouted loudly on screen.

Because there was no recording equipment, someone had to do the voiceover on site.

This glorious task fell to Fan Kuai, who had the loudest voice.

Fan Kuai held a metal megaphone and stared at the screen.

In the image, Xiang Yu's mouth is open.

Fan Kuai took a deep breath, focused his energy, and roared into the microphone:

"Waaaaahh ...

The sound blasted through the amplification system, making the eardrums of the audience in the front row ache.

"good!"

Thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the audience.

"That voice! It's incredible!"

"General Xiang is mighty!"

However, the next second, the screen malfunctioned.

The image suddenly froze and then skipped frames because the film overheated.

On the screen, Xiang Yu was performing a cool spear-sheathing motion, but due to frame skipping, it turned into a bizarre twitching motion.

"Wah...wah...wah...wah..."

Fan Kuai's voiceover continued, but Xiang Yu on screen seemed to be electrocuted, shaking wildly.

The whole place burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! What's wrong with General Xiang?"

"Is it a muscle cramp? Or is it possession?"

Backstage, Wang Jianguo was sweating profusely with anxiety: "Quick! Keep shaking! Don't stop! The film's going to burn!"

The projectionist (Zhao Gao) gritted his teeth, cranked the hand crank until sparks flew, and finally got the choppy section through.

The scene returns to normal, showing Xiang Yu lifting the cauldron with one hand, frozen in time.

The subtitle appears: "Long Live the Qin Dynasty"

The lights came on.

After a brief silence, the square erupted in thunderous cheers.

People slapped their thighs excitedly, discussing the "miracle" they had just witnessed.

"It's so realistic! I felt like the horse's hooves were stepping on my face!"

"That huge cauldron must weigh at least a thousand catties. General Xiang is truly a man of divine strength!"

"Is it going to be performed again tomorrow? I want to bring my mom to see it!"

On the viewing platform, Ying Zheng took off his sunglasses.

He looked down at the crowd, who were caught up in a frenzy, and his eyes became deep and complex.

"Little G".

[Hey Zheng, how was the viewing experience? Although the picture quality was a bit poor (around 240p) and it was black and white, for a film set in pre-Christian era, it was definitely an IMAX-level experience.]

"What I see is not the quality of the image," Ying Zheng said slowly. "What I see is—the human heart."

He pointed to the people below who were still unwilling to leave.

"In the past, if I wanted to tell them how strong Qin was, I could only rely on proclamations and officials to shout them out. They didn't understand, nor did they believe. All they knew was to pay taxes and perform military service."

"But today, I showed them this."

Ying Zheng pointed to the white curtain.

"On this cloth, I can let them see Xiang Yu's bravery, the majesty of the Great Wall, the speed of the train, and even... a better future."

"This is not merely entertainment." Ying Zheng's voice deepened. "This is a carving knife. It can carve into their minds, into their memories, what I want them to know."

"If I were to make a film about the brutality of the nobles of the six kingdoms, would the people be outraged?"

"If I were to make a film about the fairness of the Qin Dynasty's laws, would the people be convinced?"

"Brother Zheng, you..." Little G was shocked. "You've already grasped the essence of 'propaganda warfare' and 'ideological export'? Hollywood would call you the founding father!"

"Hollywood? What's that?"

That's a future cinematic mecca. But with your level of understanding, Xianyang will inevitably become the film center of the East sooner or later.

Ying Zheng stood up and looked at Li Si behind him.

"Prime Minister."

"Your Majesty, I am here. I just... lost my composure." Li Si was still ashamed of himself for shrinking back in fear.

"It's alright. My heart was racing the first time I saw it too." Ying Zheng waved his hand. "Issue the decree."

"First, establish the 'Great Qin Film Studio,' under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu (Imperial Household Department). Zhao Gao will serve as the studio director (Zhao Gao: Why me again?). Wang Jianguo will be in charge of technology."

"Secondly, make more films for me. Don't just film fighting and killing. Film how farmers grow potatoes and have a good harvest, how workers smelt steel and build carts, and how doctors in the Qin Dynasty treat and save lives."

"Third," Ying Zheng pointed to the curtain, "raise such a white cloth for me in the square of every prefecture and every county. I want the voice and images of the Great Qin to spread to every corner of the world."

"I want everyone in the world to dream of the goodness of the Great Qin Dynasty."

The day after the movie premiered, a new profession emerged in Xianyang.

In teahouses, storytellers' business plummeted. In their place came a simple device called "pulling the shadow puppet."

It's a wooden box with several holes. You can peek through it by paying two copper coins.

Although the box contained only a few picture cards that were being rotated, a long queue still formed.

And in a corner of the Epang Palace Square.

A shrewd merchant is selling a new toy.

It was a small paper tube with a picture of a bird and a cage inside. If you spun the tube quickly, the bird would appear to fly into the cage.

"Come and see! Come and check out the latest invention from the Qin Royal Academy of Sciences! A visual persistence device!"

"Just five coins! Bring the animation home!"

The children passing by kept pestering the adults to buy it.

Ying Zheng, traveling incognito, passed by this place. He looked at the spinning paper tube, at the bird "trapped" in the cage, and smiled.

"Little G, look."

"This was the prototype of the film."

"This bird is like the will of the people of the world."

"As long as it spins fast enough, it will stay in the cage forever and never fly away."

[Brother Zheng, your analogy... is a bit dark.]

"This is called the art of emperors." Ying Zheng tossed a piece of silver to the vendor, picked up a paper tube, and turned to blend into the bustling crowd. "However, as long as the cage is big enough, bright enough, and fun enough, the birds themselves will be willing to stay inside."

"After all, it's pitch black outside, how can it compare to watching a movie?"