On the evening of November 20, the second episode of the third issue of "Director Please Advise" was launched. In this issue, Channing Wong's "Oscar Best Short Film" takes on Tsai Kangyong's "Romeo Is Alive". In the end, Cai Kangyong's works had a higher overall attendance rate and won the victory. The two short films, both are typical dramas within a play, put together for comparison, but there is the intention of the program team in it. And the two short films, where is the good, where is the bad, who is better? Let's talk about it separately.
Let's start with Channing Wong's "Oscar for Best Short Film." This short film tells such a story, a young director participated in the "Director Please Advise" variety show, at the beginning, the variety show said not to interfere in the creation, and then let the director adapt "Small Times", the director had no way, to find Huang Minghao. Actor Huang Minghao suggested filming a sci-fi version of "Little Times". Later, on the set, because the actor asked to pour gasoline, it caused a fire and the set was destroyed. In the end, the director expressed helplessness and could only take some live materials to piece together a short film like this.
This is a more typical number of play-within-a-play routes. A story content, set out a lot of layers of drama. The biggest premise for this short film to look good is to seek truth, so that the audience knows that it is fake and thinks that it is true. Because the last layer of this short film is completed by the work and the audience, only by establishing this sense of reality can this layer of drama be established. And the most important point that this short film requires is that director Channing Huang must star himself, and change other actors to play the role of director, this short film, immediately fake, the last layer of the play, it is not established.
When "Oscar Best Short Film" was filmed, because Channing Huang's line level was not up to par, he could only find an actor to replace this role. This is the biggest failure. Channing Huang's earliest expectation was that it would be in the form of a pseudo-documentary. Pseudo-documentaries are basically the principle of play-in-play, and the final layer of drama needs to be jointly established by the work and the audience, and "pseudo" and "documentary truth" can form an interesting interest. Channing Huang looked for an actor to play himself, and the last layer of drama immediately disappeared. Therefore, talking about art based on the film is not much interesting.
Let's talk about "Romeo Is Alive" directed by Cai Kangyong. This kind of work under the banner of Peking Opera (opera) has been watched by no less than dozens of works in the past few years. Under this road, I think the best thing to do should be Bi Feiyu's novella "Qingyi". Later, that "Qingyi" was also filmed into a film and television drama, which was much worse, not as concise and powerful as the original novel. Of course, this kind of creative road of "Qingyi" is not new, and novelists a hundred years ago have also used it. Because of this kind of road, I have watched no less than dozens of films, so when I watch Cai Kangyong's "Romeo is still alive", I will feel too outdated and too low-end.
Cai Kangyong's short film, the number of ways to play in the play, is very simple. In the play, excerpts from Peking Opera are sung. Outside the play, there is the emotional story of the three actors. What is the basis of this short film? It is the marriage of the teacher and the female disciple, and even the love. After Cai Kangyong's works were finished, he had to ask people what Li Chengru thought. Li Chengru was actually not polite, and directly pointed out the biggest crux of this short film: this kind of chaotic state of love and marriage between the teacher and the female apprentice is not to promote Peking Opera. The group of people who blew Cai Kangyong on the stage were actually creating a big bubble of Cai Kangyong, Li Chengru was "bad", in a word, like a fine needle, poof, the foam was broken, and it was rotten.
All play-within-a-play is ultimately meant to serve the core emotions. Whether the play is advanced or not ultimately depends on whether the core emotion is advanced. Secondly, it is necessary to look at the various levels of the play within a play, whether the connection with the core emotions is close, and whether it is effective. The core emotion of Cai Kangyong's short film is the marriage and love between the teacher father and the young female disciple, which is not only not advanced, but also violates the morality and ethics of traditional Peking Opera. Which master have you seen marrying his female disciple? Not only in the Peking Opera circle, but also in which professional circle, it is necessary to accept moral accountability. Therefore, Cai Kangyong's play is technically old and the core emotions are not clear.
Re-watching the short film directed by Channing Huang, the core emotion is desirable, about the conflict between the director's heart and market demand, and this conflict eventually leads to a postmodern absurd drama. However, the various links of the short film's play-in-play are not close enough to the core emotions, nor are they effective enough. The reason, I have already talked about it earlier. Such a short film must be played by Channing Huang himself in order to achieve the basic effect. To play yourself is to establish this closeness and effectiveness with the core emotions. If the tightness and effectiveness are less, or if there is no, it will become a slogan, and the meaning is not great.
Based on these cognitions, I think That Channing Huang's short film is much stronger than the old-fashioned Cai Kangyong short film. Perhaps, Lao Cai can win based on his audience popularity of doing variety shows for so many years. (Text/Ma Qingyun)