Editor's Note: Hey, Old Man! The ratings of "" stood firmly above 1 point, and screenwriters Liu Dongyue and Yu Lu breathed a sigh of relief. They are classmates, husband and wife, and screenwriter partners who fight in the storm of the market. Unlike the script that was planned, edited, or even added by the director in the early stage of the project, this book is "carried" by the two people themselves. The advantage is that it is sincere, pure, and full of energy, and the disadvantage is that it has already taken shape, and the secondary creation of the director and actor is more laborious. But this is a competitive creative team, director Yang Yaya and actors Li Xuejian, Huang Lei, Song Jia have added their own sparks and elements. The process of turning the script into an image is a process of carrying forward the advantages and correcting the mistakes and omissions, and the final presentation is the "Hey, Old Man!" that is being broadcast on Beijing and Oriental Satellite TV. 》。 The two screenwriters were very modest, and when they wrote their creative experiences at the request of the film and television monologue, they wrote down the following title: We have come to make mistakes. A laugh.
"Hey, old man! What kind of script is it?
"Life always makes you unable to retreat and there is no way to retreat, I was thrown to the top of the mountain alone, I have to hold this position, there is no reinforcement, never, there is only a green plum bamboo horse Yi Shuang on the top of the mountain, and always worry about being a deserter, except that the red flag does not fall, I have no choice." 」
——This is a narration of the protagonist Liu Haipi written in the script.
When the TV was full of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law's grandchildren, we decided to live with Liu Haipi, which was a distant year in 2010. Five years ago, the two of us, one was almost thirty, one had climbed over thirty years old, so he sharpened his knife and planned to write a story for young people, not so vain, just write a "life drama". Come to think of it, the first to come up with the protagonist Liu Haipi, to come up with the father and son, to come up with the love that can not be sought, and then to pay attention to Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's disease), and then a stomp, he threw the sea skin into such a dilemma - a young man in his early thirties, nothing to do, fell into the wilderness and fled back to his hometown that was no longer his hometown, turned his head, and his father, who had been the enemy of himself, suddenly got Alzheimer's disease and did not know himself... This time, the pair could only hold hands with the living treasure. When the son becomes the father, when the father becomes the son, together face the vicissitudes of life, face the girl who can't ask for it, face everything that can't be sought, in the last days of the old man's life, everything starts again.
This was the beginning of our idea. Truth be told, several mistakes have already been made here.
First, father and son, getting sick, living and dying, shouldn't this be a bitter love drama? No, we made it into a comedy. Like a left-handed right-handed person, without hesitation, the first shot is a comedy. How happy is it? Producer and lead actor Huang Lei (Liu Haipi) said that after watching the first five episodes of the script, laughing while watching, it was simply happy-no-can-branch. But comedy doesn't mean you won't shed tears, and our play is actually quite tear-jerking. But tears do not only represent sadness, the heart feels clear, touched, people will laugh out loud, but also tears.
The reason we love comedy is essentially related to our view of the world — we think that most things can be classified as comedy in the end. Comedy is not a person slipping and falling, not putting his socks on his head, but a sense of humor born of a detached attitude to life. Comedy is a peculiar web that captures almost all of the more complex feelings: doubt, banter, satire... Even tears. "Comedy is the most serious, comedy is the richest", but when the label of "comedy" is abused, domestic film and television dramas actually lack high-quality comedy works.
Second, shouldn't the so-called "grounded gas" be the short mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the parents? No, we didn't do that. In our opinion, young audiences have too many difficulties in their lives and too few realist works written for them.
Yes, every life has its own chai rice oil and salt. Our original intention in writing this play was to pick up the "ground atmosphere" of young Chinese audiences. Just write their real life, real mentality, there is really a bang, not pretentious, not exaggerated, just talk, just face the high and low of life. Everyone has a sea skin in their hearts, and we want to make everyone feel that no matter what night or night, when you face difficulties, even when it looks bad and can't be worse, the sea skin in your heart, accompanies you and laughs - you are not lonely.
Since it is wrong to do so, how did it come about?
The story begins, the old man was first the enemy of Haipi, then became his friend, then they became comrades-in-arms, comrades-in-arms who faced life together, and then father became sons, and sons became men. Liu Haipi said, let's two grandfathers, just like acting, the first twenty years, he staged on the stage, I watched below, while watching and scolding, and then he withdrew, I went up to act, he was the audience at the bottom, but the play was half, turn your head to see it, he left, did not look, put me on the stage, a person, or chased the light. ”
Some seniors said that they can basically twist into a rope, and if they get things done, they will win. We agree with that. In fact, the reason why this drama took almost five years from the beginning of its conception to the premiere fully illustrates the long road of an original drama.
The formation of anything has inevitable factors and a lot of fluke components, and without a link, a person can't do it. "Hey, old man! The birth process of "" is also thrilling to go back in the past, but it is enough to be afraid. It's a story in itself, and there are too many people to thank in the story. Director Yang Yaya, teacher Huang Lei, teacher Li Xuejian, teacher Song Jia, really powerful CAST... They had ten thousand reasons not to pick up, but for one reason, they did. Almost everyone gave support and encouragement after reading the script. Their greatest support and encouragement is not between words, but to jump in and create together. It was also because of them, and more staff, that the script that came to make a mistake was erected—our book was a wick, and they were the fire that lit the wick.
As an original, the book is written by ourselves with a lot of energy, no one asks, and it doesn't matter if we can shoot it. Of course, there are good and bad ways to create this way. The advantage is that you are sincere enough, enough space and time to flash around, to design, to be full of style, and even to enjoy the process of patting each other on the table and arguing with each other - when you feel that it is not a big deal to do it, it is often done. The disadvantage is that it has taken shape, the style characteristics are particularly remarkable, and as the biological son of Yuan, we love him very much. When the director took over the second degree of creation, some moved, some did not move, how to add points, there was a dialogue problem with the original script.
It is truth that people who are not confidants will never sit together through a script. As for the collaboration between the first creation and the second creation, this time there is a big lesson: the actor is actually a key factor in communicating the integration between the script and the director. Haipi is the soul of our play, and his positioning is actually the core of this play. Director Yang Yaya was fully committed to this play, and communicated with us over and over again for a long time on the character issues. To tell you the truth, on the first day of shooting, Liu Dongyue was on the scene, and as soon as the pairing scene of teacher Huang Lei and teacher Li Xuejian came out, the house deed was torn up, and suddenly, the hearts of the director, screenwriter and starring actor were really imprinted.
Without good actors, everything that has been explained before may be completely different. We believe that the most important factor in communicating between creators is to move from paper to living roles. If you only say a rough sentence about the perception of the first and second degree of creation, it is all the scripts with vivid characters, and the following rules apply: the screenwriter stares at the characters, the director stares at the actors, and when it is clear, the heart is clear.
This play, our haipi, and the old man, and Yi Shuang, once they are right in character shaping, Qiankun is set.
This drama can be filmed and can stand up, and we must not only thank Haipi, the old man, and Yi Shuang, but also our directors and actors. This is not a kind word. The sincerity of this sincere work comes from the genes of the script, but it is completely burned by them - not only because they like these characters, but also from their pursuit itself. We feel that coming together for a play is like walking into marriage for a life goal, marriage is bitter and self-aware, naturally there is everything, but as long as it is a soul mate, it cannot be separated. Many of our main creators this time are our predecessors, but no matter what age, they have a momentum, idealistic colors, and are our examples.
The background of the mistakes of the duo of Liu Dongyue and Yu Lu?
This is actually a mistake – living with colleagues 24 hours a day and working with your significant other half 24 hours a day. But producers should like this buy-one-get-one-free approach, and the two can talk about work when they eat and sleep.
Sometimes, people will ask, are you a screenwriter? What is a screenwriter? What do screenwriters do? We will tell the following story according to our own understanding -
There is a vole named Afo, in autumn, when other voles are picking fruits and doing storage, he lies on the field every day to bask in the sun, watching the blue sky and white clouds rising and setting... Until, of course, winter came. When the voles hoarded the winter grain into the cave and did not know how to survive the long cold winter, Afo cleared his throat and began to tell stories, telling stories he had accumulated in the autumn, those stories from the blue sky and white clouds above the field, the rising and setting of the sun.
Romantically, we are this vole Afo.
The two of us are classmates, one north, one south, one fat, one thin, one earthy, one ocean, one dare to think, one dare to do - it is a very suitable cross-talk partner, and it is also Bonnie and Clyde who can make mistakes together. As two pieces of the puzzle, what puts us together is the sparks in our heads. Boasting and boasting, we have strong hematopoietic ability, a more serious attitude, a fiercer force, a fatter guts, a more optimistic mood, and a more lively thinking.
Liu Dongyue and Yu Lu's mistakes?
The creative process of this play has two feelings: First, the so-called "story of small people". Everyone seems to be talking about small people, but in fact, there are not many big people in the world, they are all small people. So "little people" shouldn't just be a concept of identity, but the key is, how and how to write? Second, the creative division of labor that grinds out while playing is roughly as follows: Liu Dongyue's comedic talent is the greatest in this drama, and Yu Lu is the needle of the sea god. Liu Dongyue is responsible for muddying the water and stirring up the possibility of a heavenly girl scattering flowers, and Yu Lu is a scavenger, and the muddy water can also keep the fish tank clean.
As for technology, as a typical academic school of both origins, Comrade Yu Lu even stayed in the Department of Chinese Opera Literature for ten years and taught for several years. But on this issue, it has something to do with our concept: we feel that technology has a foundation, something that has a hand, just like painting. But some works are irreplaceable, and what they want is not necessarily technology, but the soul behind them. So we prefer to go back to the source of creativity, back to the identity of the author, to do the work.
In fact, creation is a process from scratch, if original, it is even more from scratch. Bringing Haipi, old man, Yi Shuang and other characters into this world is a very interesting thing for us. If we have to recall the creative process, we will certainly not remember the bittersweet. Why? One is because the sweetness is still far away; the second is that we are doing what we like, everyone is suffering, many young people have a confused life of poverty and hunger, that is normal, and we are doing what we really like.
Therefore, we put some sincere words that we want to talk to young audiences on Haipi's body: young people must have an attitude towards life, regardless of three or seven twenty-one, to move forward -
The road is getting more and more difficult, but Haipi finds that life is not only chasing the light, but also Journey to the West and Sun Monkey, as well as old men and a new life. Like us, Liu Haipi, who is a little timid and a bit of a chicken thief, takes the old man on the road, and goes farther and farther on the road of his grandfather, although in the eyes of many people, they are like us, always making mistakes, always clinging to the wrong way, but Haipi knows where the direction of this road is, we know that Haipi does not like sadness, does not like to sell misery, we will work with Haipi, with his cynical, with his playful attitude, to light a lamp for the old man and more people, Haipi also lights a lamp for himself, as well as Yi Shuang, dogs, old thieves , Yi Yong... There are more people, we walk the road at night, there are street lights. As long as you know where the direction of the road is, the rest of the matter is very simple, persistence is it. ”
As said at the beginning, life is a journey to the west, it is difficult to walk, and it is easy to make mistakes. No matter what night or night, whether you or I, we will encounter difficulties, it does not matter, the most comforting thing is "you are like me." With Haipi and the old man as a companion, we can still go on without hesitation. In tears, but laughing and walking.
As for the dry goods, the drama is still broadcasting, which is not a spoiler. We want to say that from the beginning of creation, we have pursued moving characters, good stories, keep smiling, keep tears, and also hope to light a lamp, so that when we walk, we can have a street lamp - I hope to give everyone a little strength to go on, and I hope that everyone can always have a curiosity about the future.
Through Hey, Old Man! How will we face originality in the future?
There is a price for being unique, and there is also a unique sweetness. We insist: let the creative industry return to the idea itself. Although this has an idealistic component, from the perspective of the big picture, the absolute and the rules of the market game complement each other. With the times and the country calling for the development of the cultural and creative industry, we believe that the value of creativity itself is always in a general trend of gaining more and more respect and obtaining the ability to absorb gold. Don't follow the trend, don't follow the trend, just learn and don't copy, of course, this also means that mistakes will be made. But without making mistakes, we can't come up with new things, we can't make interesting things, we can't make trends, we can't make fashions, we can't make controversies, we can't get out industries, we can't get out of the economy.
In the future, we will continue to develop the energy of the idea itself, according to our characteristic positioning, do more branding, boutique attempts - so, we say, we are here to make mistakes, and we will continue to make mistakes.
"Wang Xiaobo wrote 'A Maverick Pig', which is also a pig that always does something wrong, and after Teacher Xiaobo left, he left us with the silhouette of the pig standing on the pigsty facing the sunset, so we were also full of pigs."
【Text/Liu Dongyue, Yu Lu】
Introduction of Liu Dongyue and Yu Lu
Liu Dongyue, male, born in 1978, from Shandong. Grade 00 undergraduate in the Department of Literature, Central Academy of Drama.
Yu Lu, female, born in 1981, from Hangzhou. From 00-level bachelor's degree in the Department of Literature of the China Academy of Drama to 11 years, he had a doctorate in screenwriting, studied under his mentor Mr. Huang Weiruo, and then worked as a university lecturer for several years.
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