On the evening of July 13th, the science popularization movie "Lost Nature: Memories of the Earth" held its premiere in Beijing. On the 21st, another film in the series, "Lost Nature: The Invisible Force," will also be released. This is a movie that quietly entered the summer season. On that day, most of the audience only knew that the comedy movie "Catch the Doll" had a premiere and grossed over 100 million yuan at the box office in one day. In contrast, 'Searching for the Secret Nature: Earth's Past' is too 'niche'. It was completed over several years by a team led by popular science writer Wang Jie. The "investors" of the movie, besides Wang Jie himself, also have the "fans" he has gained from years of science popularization. During the communication segment at the premiere, Wang Jie couldn't hide his excitement. Science popularization movies have made it to the cinema and gained a place on movie platforms such as Taopiaopiao and Maoyan. It has not been easy along the way. On the first day of the movie's release on July 14th, there were only 445 screenings nationwide. But this is already a historic moment - after 24 years, science films have reappeared in cinemas. This is the breakthrough of Wang Jie and his team, as well as the breakthrough of Chinese science popularization films. Cross border Dreaming: Telling Chinese Science Stories through Movies. From a science popularization writer to a director and screenwriter of science popularization films, this role transition is also another cross-border in Wang Jie's life. Wang Jie has been a science popularization fan since childhood. In 2011, he worked on the Internet and published his first popular science book, The Shape of Time, which soon became a hot seller. In 2017, Wang Jie started working full-time in science popularization writing. On the path of becoming a science popularization writer, Wang Jie is undoubtedly successful. He has won the Wenjin Book Award and the Baihua Literature Award, and has now published more than 20 popular science and science fiction works. But as he grew older, he had even more "tinkering" ideas - to make science documentaries, and even science films. Wang Jie's journey towards science popularization was also influenced by science documentaries. However, whenever Wang Jie wants to find some science documentaries to show his children, he will find that almost all the works he can find are produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Discovery Channel, and National Geographic, and most of the ones mentioned in the films are foreign scientists and scientific achievements. This will make me feel anxious, and the next generation may have an impression that science has little to do with China Wang Jie has expressed his original intention on many occasions: to create high-quality science documentaries that showcase China's scientific achievements. Since no one is currently doing it, let me do it He thought very simply, 'I have a lot of science stories in my stomach, and now I just need to learn film and television shooting techniques. There's nothing I can't learn.' Wang Jie set a goal for himself - to produce science films and television works comparable to those in Europe and America within 6 to 8 years. You can first imitate, then innovate, and then form your own characteristics. Of course, this cow is a bit inflated Wang Jie smiled. After years of trial and error, he knows that there is still a big gap between China's science popularization film and television works and those of Europe and America, and his estimated time is too short. The gap comes from funding, aesthetics, and the professional abilities of the team. To catch up, it's not a one-day effort, but at least we need to set out first. To this end, the team first filmed "Lost Nature 1", interpreting the unsolved mysteries in nature. The film was released on a streaming platform for free and received a good response, with over 12 million views across the entire network. This is feasible! Subsequently, Wang Jie raised 3.1 million yuan through self financing and fan crowdfunding to start creating the second season of the "Exploring the Secret Nature" series. This time, Wang Jie has even greater ambitions - to shoot using the techniques of a feature film and bring it to the cinema line. The combination of science popularization and movies can have a greater impact, "he said. The last domestically produced science popularization film to make it to the cinema was "The Universe and Humans" in 2000. The film will be completed by the end of 2022. This is a science popularization gift that my team and I have given to every Chinese child, "said Wang Jie. The film received assistance from three academicians and 15 researchers, covering four themes: "Exploring the Cambrian", "The Mystery of Turbulence", "Magnetic Reversals", and "Fast Radio Bursts". These four themes were also selected by the team after deep exploration and repeated consideration in various fields. Under each theme, there are interconnected stories. Wang Jie hopes that audiences who have watched the movie can appreciate the rational beauty of science itself. The knowledge mentioned in the movie may be forgotten over time, but the spirit of seeking truth, practicality, and not being satisfied with standard answers conveyed in the film can plant a seed for the audience. Jiang Shiliang, Vice Director of the Shanghai Science Popularization Writers Association, commented that Wang Jie's film emphasizes the indispensable and infinite charm of scientific thinking in a more vivid and concrete way, and is a milestone in China's scientific film and television industry. Movie shooting: "Saving" and "Not Saving" under limited funds. In the process of shooting and producing the "Exploring the Secret Nature" series of films, Wang Jie learned from scratch how to be a director and screenwriter, and understood the technical details, formats, and playback systems in movies from scratch... Making good movies is a grand goal. In the process of achieving the goal, there are many specific difficulties that need to be overcome. To make a movie, Wang Jie needs to shift from text-based thinking to visual thinking. Wang Jie has written many books and produced many science story programs. But as a director and screenwriter, he has no experience. The biggest difference between the two is that when writing a book, there is no need to consider the visuals; To make a documentary, every sentence needs to be accompanied by appropriate visuals, which made him rack his brain for a while. Later, Wang Jie figured out the trick and changed his mindset - he couldn't have words first and then look for images, but had images in his mind first and then provided explanations for them. To do science popularization, it is necessary to explain the ins and outs of something, and it is easy to encounter situations where there is insufficient historical and visual data. For example, when introducing Swiss glaciologist Merkanton, it is difficult to find relevant images. Wang Jie decided to hire an artist to create an oil painting, and then use a camera to slowly capture the scene, with the camera shuttling back and forth on the painting to create a dynamic video. In the movie, six such oil paintings appeared. The photographer Sun Pengcheng of "Searching for the Secret Nature" believes that Wang Jie is an idealist. Upon hearing Wang Jie say he wanted to make a movie, Sun Pengcheng asked directly, "How much money do you have?" "Although Mr. Wang is famous in the science popularization circle, he is definitely not wealthy. Now, with such a big dream, it is difficult to make a movie," Sun Pengcheng sighed. Despite feeling difficult, Sun Pengcheng and Wang Jie managed to overcome the situation together. In the production team, the photography department is a spending department that requires equipment, personnel, and space. But the reality is that funds are limited, and one penny can't wait to be split in half. Many times, it is necessary to compromise and come up with new methods. If there is no more advanced stabilizer, then the photographer's "human flesh" stability, taking more shots, there will always be something useful; Without an orbital photography system, the photographer would have to sit in a wheelchair and push to take photos; Some filming locations are far away and business travel expenses are not enough, so Sun Pengcheng goes alone with a box of equipment to shoot. However, Wang Jie emphasized that no matter how limited the funding is, it is necessary to go to the scene where the scientific story takes place. Only by going to the scene can we have more flexible materials to choose from and details to showcase to the audience. This is the bottom line of quality, "he said. Bite your teeth, save a little here, save a little there But what cannot be compromised is rigor. In the next film of the "Mystery Seeking Nature" series, the team wanted to shoot pea tofu pudding flowers, but only four seasons of beancurd flowers were found. Tofu pudding flowers are very similar, and the local farmers also think it is similar. But Wang Jie decided that we must shoot tofu pudding. If we can't shoot it now, we will shoot it again when the bean flower is in bloom. In this way, it will cost an extra one to twenty thousand yuan. In order to surprise the audience, the team also tried to find the scientists themselves who were conducting relevant research during the filming. But Wang Jie only leads a civilian team. Some emails that were sent out went unanswered, and some contacted researchers politely declined interviews, "getting a slap in the face". However, there are still some scientists who gladly cooperate with the filming. Shu Degan, an academician of the CAS Member, who found "the best fish in the world" in Chengjiang, Yunnan, is one of them. He even took out his own pocket to invite the team to dinner after the filming ended, humbly thanking the Wang Jie team for their efforts in popularizing science. Without any airs, being responsive to every request is the perfect image of a scientist in my heart, "Wang Jie added." And, we didn't know each other before. "Some researchers have also opened their own laboratories, giving Wang Jie the opportunity to conduct fluid mechanics experiments with his own hands. He conducts classic experiments and also designs experiments himself. Wang Jie hopes that through hands-on experience, he can gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental concepts of fluid mechanics; Only by fully understanding can it be expressed in a more accessible way in the film. Exploring distribution: 'Private booking' attracts potential customer base. The movie shooting has been completed, and the next step is to enter the cinema. In fact, it was not until he was searching for distribution channels that Wang Jie realized that they had forgotten to consider the key factor of "film duration". At the beginning, the duration of "Searching for the Secret Nature" was 2 hours and 20 minutes, which was considered "too long" and not easy to obtain movie screenings in cinemas. So, with the help of multiple parties, the movie was split into two parts, namely today's "Searching for the Secret Nature: Earth's Past" and "Searching for the Secret Nature: The Invisible Force". The difficulties in film distribution completely exceeded the expectations of Wang Jie, a newcomer to the film industry. He thought that as long as he obtained the film release permit, also known as the legendary "dragon emblem", everything would be fine. However, when the team visited companies with film distribution qualifications one by one, the response they received was almost the same - such films would not be shown in cinemas. Because it is difficult to sell. I can't sell movie tickets, and the cinema can't even collect electricity bills. Some distribution companies have also stated that if they can pay millions of distribution fees, they can guarantee a "one-day tour" of the film's release. The lowest number heard by Wang Jie's team is 2 million. The cost of the film is only over 3 million yuan. When they were at the end of their rope, the team came up with a solution - they booked their own venue and sold their own tickets. They made many attempts just to prove that they could sell the tickets. Last June, the team did a crazy thing, relying on the enthusiastic help of more than 200 ticket checking volunteers, and completed nearly 300 preview screenings in 25 cities across the country, attracting more than 20000 viewers. Although the two month private screening almost exhausted our team to the point of spitting blood, the high praise and enthusiastic feedback from the audience made us extremely happy, "Wang Jie recalled. Later on, the professional distribution team - Elephant Point Film team decided to fight alongside Wang Jie. Wu Feiyue, the publicity director of "Searching for the Secret Nature" and CEO of Elephant Point Cinema, said that science popularization films are still a "sub genre" that has not been fully recognized by audiences in the domestic film market. This means that a lot of energy for film publicity needs to be focused on "cultivating" audiences, which is difficult and thankless. Therefore, most publicity companies are not willing to take over science popularization films. Moreover, even if someone is willing to take risks and make science popularization movies with emotions, it is difficult to find enough publicity funds. This is also the distribution dilemma of science popularization films. However, the film projects previously promoted by Elephant Point Cinema are usually non-commercial films without IP support or celebrity involvement, and have accumulated experience in mass distribution. According to Wu Feiyue's analysis, "Searching for the Secret Nature: Earth's Past" and "Searching for the Secret Nature: Invisible Power" are the first science popularization films to enter the cinema in 24 years. Therefore, from the beginning, they