The 24 Solar Terms
From autumn colors over lakes and mountains to smiling faces in the rice fields, the harvest and home-cooked meals welcome the turn of the season.
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01 / Background
“Start of Autumn” is about the beginning of autumn, ripening crops and seasonal customs. Beyond the lakes and mountains, the film needed to show the work begun in spring turning into the joy of harvest, and let viewers feel how autumn connects to family life.
Lakes, reeds and golden fields establish the season first, farmers' smiling faces add emotion to the harvest, and fruit, hot dishes and a family meal then tell the customs of daily life. The grand landscapes and the small details close at hand work together to explain the Start of Autumn.
As one episode in the solar terms series, the film also had to follow the existing subtitle, credit and graphics templates. Each episode stands apart through its own seasonal scenery, while the shared layout and branding let viewers recognize the series at a glance.
02 / Creative Highlights
Leaves, clear lake water and golden fields keep up the bright natural light while gradually bringing in autumn colors. The change of season is shown through the colors on screen and the produce, so the opening quickly tells viewers it's autumn.
After the wide farmland come the smiles and movements of the workers, bringing the harvest in the distance down to real people. Cutting from wide shots to close-ups turns the vast fields into human joy.
Fruit, hot dishes and the family table correspond to seasonal eating, with food and people in the same frame. What viewers see is everyday life, and that is how they remember the Start of Autumn.
The Start of Autumn falls in early August, when the summer heat hasn't yet gone. The colors of the opening lakes, mountains and wetlands stay in late summer: the leaves are mostly yellow-green, the wetlands green tinged with pink, not jumping ahead to the full reds of late autumn. Viewers recognize from the plants, produce and light that this is the end of summer, just as it starts to cool.
03 / Scene Breakdown
The first three shots give the date and the name of the solar term: first a lake among the mountains, then reeds, and finally two red-crowned cranes flying over the wetlands, matching “‘Li’ means beginning.”
Snow-capped mountains are reflected in emerald lake water, the waterweeds and pebbles on the bottom clearly visible. The leaves in the foreground are mostly yellow-green with only a few turning orange, as the narration says, “Good morning, today is August 7, 2026.”
Fluffy reed plumes sway against the blue sky as the camera slowly tilts up and white clouds spread across the sky. The line “25th day of the 6th lunar month, Start of Autumn” is set to this shot.
Two red-crowned cranes skim low over the water; the wetland is a patchwork of green and pale pink, with the cranes reflected in the water.
As the narration speaks of ripening, cool weather and harvest, the images move steadily closer from farmland seen from high above: first the fields, then the breeze over a lake, then the rice ears, finally landing on a farmer's smiling face.
Seen from high above, golden rice paddies and lush green fields form a grid, divided by shelterbelts, with wind turbines turning in the distance. The narration: “The meaning of ‘autumn’ is ripeness and harvest.”
Parasol tree branches hang down from the top of the frame, light mist drifts through the valley, and a yellow-roofed painted boat glides slowly across the lake, set to “Now the weather is gradually turning cool.”
Looking up from inside the rice field, golden ears of rice bend under their own weight against a blue sky with white clouds, the leaves swaying in the wind.
A farmer in a straw hat with a white towel over his shoulder stands in the rice field at sunset, smiling as he reaches out to touch the plump ears, matching “Hard work is turning into the joy of harvest.”
The lines “putting on autumn weight and biting into autumn” and “eating more fresh lotus root” each get a table of food: first a plate of braised ribs and peaches, then a family of four eating lotus root in a small courtyard.
On a wooden table, a plate of glossy braised ribs steams, with a plate of sliced peaches and a blue-and-white teacup behind it. The camera circles the table slowly.
At a wooden table in a small courtyard, the parents and two children eat with their heads bowed, the table set with stir-fried lotus root slices and a big bowl of lotus root soup, sunlight falling through the leaves onto the table.
For the closing line “Summer has not gone far, the sounds of autumn are near, and heaven and earth gently draw in, awaiting abundance,” the first half goes to a single fallen leaf on the grass and the second half to white walls and black tiles in morning mist, followed by the NDRC end card.
A golden maple leaf lies on green grass as sunlight slants through the woods, and the camera pushes forward close to the ground. The grass is still green; autumn has arrived as just a single leaf.
A Hui-style village of white walls and black tiles is scattered across a hillside, milky morning mist drifting through the middle, with a few red trees showing above the fog.
04 / Storyboards & Final Frames
The Start of Autumn episode was broken into eleven shots following five lines of narration, each referencing real photos of a corresponding place. They are listed below in the order of the finished film, with the poster and banner in the last group.
Shot 1.1
Based on Long Lake in Jiuzhaigou: snow-capped mountains, emerald water and waterweeds below the surface, with foreground leaves mostly yellow-green and only a few turning orange.
Shot 1.2
A low-angle shot looking up at fluffy reed plumes against a blue sky with white clouds.
Shot 1.3
Based on the Red Beach in Panjin: the seepweed shows its early-August green tinged with pink, with red-crowned cranes standing in the wetland.
Shot 2.1
Based on the Northeast China Plain: golden and green plots interlace, divided by shelterbelts and wind turbines.
Shot 2.2
Parasol tree branches in the foreground, light mist in the valley, a painted boat on the lake, and the woods on the far shore still yellow-green.
Shot 2.3
Looking up at ripe, drooping rice ears against a blue sky.
Shot 2.4
A rice field at sunset, where a farmer in a straw hat smiles and reaches out to touch the rice.
Shot 3.1
Matching “putting on autumn weight and biting into autumn”: a plate of braised ribs with sliced peaches, meat and fruit together, not too fatty and fresh-looking.
Shot 3.2
A modern Chinese-style courtyard with stir-fried lotus root slices, a big bowl of lotus root soup and a teapot on the table; the boy wears a light blue sweater that stands apart from his family's off-white and pale pink.
Shot 4.1
A backlit golden maple leaf lies on green grass, with slanting light in the woods.
Shot 4.2
Based on Wuyuan: a village of white walls and black tiles, morning mist drifting across the hillside, a few red trees showing above it.
Shot 5.1
The wetland and red-crowned crane shot, repainted in gongbi style, paired with a calligraphy wordmark and the cover line “The cool wind keeps its word as evening cicadas sing; one parasol leaf falls, and early autumn arrives.”
Shot 5.2
The same wetland and cranes spread into a wide format, with the date 2026 | 08.07 in the lower right corner.
05 / Script Excerpts
06 / Results
We completed a roughly 44-second vertical short for Start of Autumn, plus the official poster and banner. The film moves from lakes, mountains and wetlands to rice fields, farmers and the family table, then back to fallen leaves and a village in the mist. The short uses realistic imagery while the poster and banner use a gongbi style, each telling the same Start of Autumn in its own way.
Case Study
The Start of Autumn falls on August 7. Its name contains the word “autumn,” but the summer heat hasn't yet gone.
The hardest thing in this episode was getting the balance right: showing that the season is turning without jumping straight to hills full of red leaves.
We made the Start of Autumn episode for the 24 Solar Terms series: about 44 seconds, vertical, 11 shots, moving from lake water and wetlands to rice fields, the dinner table and a village in morning mist, plus a gongbi-style poster and banner.
01
For the first few shots of the first version, we looked for scenery that said “autumn”: lakesides covered in red and orange leaves, and the Red Beach a blaze of red. But the Start of Autumn is still in early August, before the summer heat has gone, so this was far too autumnal.
We didn't start over. We kept the composition, lake water and snowy mountains and simply moved the season back. The lakeside leaves went from red and orange to yellow-green, with only a few turning orange.
For the Red Beach shot, we did some extra checking. Sources disagree on its color in August: some say it's already red by mid-August, others say it's still green tinged with pink. We went with green tinged with pink, preferring a little less autumn. The mountain lake shot followed the same idea, with an orange-red stretch of woods on the far shore adjusted back to yellow-green.
02
The narration says “autumn” means ripeness and harvest, as the rice in the fields fills out. Shot only as vast rice fields, these lines could easily turn into a scenery film.
We moved the images closer layer by layer: first a high view of yellow-and-green farmland and wind turbines, then a low shot of a single rice ear bent under its weight, and finally a person: a farmer in a straw hat with a white towel over his shoulder, smiling at sunset as he reaches out to touch the rice.
“Hard work is turning into the joy of harvest,” landing on a smiling face.
The wide shots before it show “where the harvest is”; this shot shows “who is happy.”
03
“At this time, people put on autumn weight and bite into autumn.” The most direct way to show this is a table of food. The first version was a big slab of braised pork with a plate of watermelon.
We changed two things on the table: the watermelon became sliced peaches, and the braised pork became braised ribs. It's still meat for putting on autumn weight, but less fatty and fresher-looking.
The ribs steam as the camera slowly circles the wooden table.
04
For the line “people eat more fresh lotus root to moisten the lungs and stay healthy,” we wanted to show a family eating in a small courtyard. Several people in one frame is where AI images most often go wrong: faces, hands, bowls and chopsticks, and any mistake stands out.
We rewrote the description for this shot: a modern Chinese-style courtyard, with a plate of stir-fried lotus root slices and a big bowl of lotus root soup on the table. The clothes needed to be a bit more modern and the colors distinct, so the final version put the boy in a light blue sweater to set him apart from his family's off-white and pale pink. The table originally had two teapots; the final version kept only one.
For the motion, we slowed everything down and had each family member eat on their own, with no big coordinated actions like serving food or passing bowls. The scene stays quiet and feels more like an ordinary meal.
Everyone moves gently, each eating on their own.
05
The Start of Autumn episode follows the series' shared wordmark, credits and end card, while each episode stands apart through its own scenery and customs.
This episode took extra care over “timing”: the Start of Autumn is the few days when summer turns toward autumn, not late autumn. The lakeside leaves, the color of the wetland and the fruit on the table were all chosen for early August. What viewers see is the first hint of autumn emerging at the end of summer.
The short uses realistic imagery, while the poster and banner switch to a different style: the wetland and red-crowned crane shot was repainted in gongbi style with a calligraphy wordmark and cover line, so the same Start of Autumn has its own look in video and in print.
FAQ
We go by what the place really looks like on the day of the solar term. The Start of Autumn is August 7, and the first version was far too autumnal, so we kept the composition, changed the leaves from red and orange to yellow-green, and turned the Red Beach from a blaze of red to green tinged with pink, keeping the images at the end of summer and the start of autumn.
No, all the imagery was AI-generated. For each shot we first found real photos of the corresponding place, such as Long Lake in Jiuzhaigou, the Red Beach in Panjin and the ancient villages of Wuyuan, then wrote the image descriptions and generated from them, so the landforms and season match the real places.
For the Start of Autumn episode: rewrite the image description and give each person modern clothing in a different color; slow the motion down and have everyone eat on their own, without complex interactions; and check details like bowls, chopsticks and teapots once more before finalizing.
Production on the Start of Autumn episode began in late July and was delivered on August 6, a day ahead of the solar term. The deliverables were a roughly 44-second vertical short (2160×3840), the narration script, a vertical poster (image and motion versions) and a banner.
Approach
We first arranged the scenery, farm work and food customs according to the script, then checked that the seasonal atmosphere was right. The colors of the opening and the wetland stay in late summer; the food shots use peaches and braised ribs, with close-up details like tableware and dishes refined one by one.
In the family shots, we adjusted each person's eyes, clothing and movements: the eyes were fine-tuned to natural proportions and gentle expressions, and the clothes used everyday fabrics in different colors. At the motion stage we slowed the movements down and had the family eat on their own, cutting back on complex interactions between them to keep a calm, intimate sense of everyday life.
Once the images were revised, we updated the corresponding shots and poster. During production we also checked the subtitles, gaps in the audio and the details of objects; the poster gave the wetland image a gongbi texture, and the banner used the same main image and series wordmark, so the style stays consistent wherever it's published.
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