Author | Yu Tianzi, Han Ling
Edit | Hu Zhanjia
Caption | "Director Please Advise" official micro
Produced by | Zero-state LT(ID:LingTai_LT)
Director Bi Zhifei's eyes were red.
"Although my first work was a particular failure, I would like to say that I am the same as everyone else, and I want to be a good director." Standing on the stage of the variety show "Director Please Advise", Bi Zhifei spoke earnestly and with a sincere attitude. After the screening of the film "Spring in a New Town", the speeches of the two professional film identification groups obviously touched him.
One of them said that Director Bi Zhifei's previous works were famous for their errands, but today Bi Zhifei impressed him. Another chen was passionate, "I have not seen your previous films, I will not watch them from now on, I use this film as the you I know." ”
At the moment when Bi Zhifei's tears spilled on the stage, the host Ke Lan also had a glow in the corner of his eyes, as if he was lamenting Bi Zhifei's previous encounter, and patiently concerned, "Why didn't any actors come to cheer for you today?" "Do you feel lonely?" Bi Zhifei's choked voice replied, "Sometimes it will, but not today, it will feel very warm." ”
▲ "Director Please Advise" official micro
In the previous large section of laying out and rendering, "Hello, Li Huanying" producer Chen Zhixi also said that he saw Bi Zhifei, who was different from the past public opinion environment, in this short comment, he mentioned Bi Zhifei's film view and the Golden Broom Award, and then she turned sharply, thinking that she needed to tell the truth, about "Dream Showbiz", "I think it is very bad." "2.2 points you deserve." Then she asked Bi Zhifei a soul question: What kind of interpretation do you think makes "Spring in a Small Town" the first film in a hundred years of Chinese films?
Bi Zhifei answered, but he did not expect that his interpretation was about to trigger a storm of public opinion.
A member of a professional film team named Meng Zhong said, your interpretation just now makes me think that you really haven't studied Chinese film history well. He interrupted Bi Zhifei's further explanation and refuted the sentence "Western films are realistic, Eastern films are freehand". Before the words were finished, Wang Xudong, a member of the professional film group, could not sit still.
He asked Bi Zhifei if he had seen Fei Mu's other works, "The Blood of Wolf Mountain" and "Confucius", and like a teacher letting students answer questions, let Bi Zhifei cite several shots that reflect oriental aesthetics in the movie. Seeing that Bi Zhifei was silent, he took advantage of the victory to pursue, pointing out that Bi Zhifei's adapted short film was the work of "Meiya". Then bring out the difference between illustrative close-ups and insertive close-ups, the difference between Hollywood-style framing and Oriental framing, even the "Hollywood three-shot" method, he thinks it is wrong and bad.
When producer Fang Li inquired about where the new was compared to Zhifei's "Spring in a New Small Town" and Fei Mu's "Spring in a Small Town", Li Chengru in the commenting table seemed to have been enlightened, and he couldn't sit still at all, "If I paint a red mold basically like it, is this work yours?" He angrily rebuked Bi Zhifei for opportunism, and repeatedly interrupted Bi Zhifei, saying that he knew what he was doing, but he didn't know why, so when the column asked questions, he couldn't answer them. Finally he made his attitude clear, "I don't admit that this is his work. ”
At this stall, Wang Xudong held up Qi Baishi and his student Xu Linlu and Bi Zhifei to encourage, "Those who learn from me are born, and those who are like me die." ”
In the end, this war of words ended in the complete failure of Bi Zhifei.
01
Just when the acting variety show was in a bottleneck, "Director Please Advise" aimed at the director behind the monitor. They were invited to the stage, funded and questioned by the program team, and they were required to choose a classic IP to adapt and complete a short film of about 15 minutes in two days.
Of course, the four producers invited by the program team, Wang Jing, Fang Li, Chen Zhixi and Hao Lei, have the power to "flop", and the directors who win in the 1V1 competition can cooperate with these well-known producers. Among the directors invited by the program group, in addition to Guan Jinpeng, a famous director like "Rouge Buckle", there are also "outlier" directors Who have not been recognized by the film circle.
When he wanted to adapt the century-old film history classic "Spring in a Small Town" with the lowest score of Douban of 2.2 points, "Dream Showbiz", doubts abounded, and everyone was waiting to see how he would end. Soon, the news of "Bi Zhifei crying" began to rush to the hot search, and countless people attracted by the hot search went to open the video platform, clicked "Director Please Advise", pulled to Bi Zhifei's clip, and wanted to see what was going on.
▲ Stills from the movie "Spring in a Small Town"
"Spring in a Small Town" has such a high status in film history, depending on the director Fei Mu at that time "dare to be the first in the world", so more than 70 years after the huge development of women's rights, when we watch this movie again, we will naturally wonder why it has such a high status in film history. Director Fei Mu's weight at that time, even if it was very small, was a down-to-earth contribution to the freedom of women today, and this is one of the reasons why the film is respected.
However, as soon as Bi Zhifei's remarks came out, the professional jury was angry, so there was a condescending "trial" from all directions at the beginning.
But then the crowd tacitly introduced the topic to the movie "Spring in a Small Town" itself, making the farce end lukewarmly. The story ends and the curtain falls. The number of clicks and attention that should be earned has also been earned, and Bi Zhifei's debut on the stage has also given everyone an emotional outlet - here, you finally see everyone's wonderful performance. Behind this, hidden is the cunning of the program team.
02
In an interview with the Beijing News, Bi Zhifei said that he knew that he would have a certain degree of attention and discussion regardless of what he shot with the title of "King of Bad Films", and he also knew that adapting a classic like "Spring in a Small Town" would definitely be scolded. "But since it is an IP adaptation, I will choose the most classic rather than the hottest IP, which is the topic." If we can use this to let more people know Mr. Fei Mu's original work, it will make sense. We have a salute attitude and are not afraid of being scolded. ”
For Bi Zhifei, the pressure brought by "Dreaming of Showbiz" has never disappeared, but he has always been unconvinced by the title of "King of Bad Films". "Responsibly, I love movies. At that time, I just wanted to make a movie to stand on my feet, and if I had the opportunity to make another one, how did I become the 'king of bad films'? The audience may not know me well enough, but in fact, I like literary films and comedies. Now he wants to seize every opportunity to make a film and continue to chase his dream of being a film director. But the sophisticated reviewers, even the actors in the short films, don't seem to have given him those opportunities.
First, take a look at Bi Zhifei's creative process presented in the show.
When Bi Zhifei wanted to remake "Spring in a Small Town", no actor in the show was willing to cooperate with him. Bi Zhifei had no choice but to find three new generation actors outside the show, Liang Tingwei, Lu Xin and Lu Xingchen, to cooperate with him to complete the filming of the work.
Lu Xingchen graduated from the Musical Theatre Department of Beijing Dance Academy, and in 2010, she won the Golden Jue Award for Best Actress at the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival for her film "Lang Singing Mountain Songs at the Opposite Door". Hearing this, most people think that this should be a very good actor. But when everyone read the script together, Bi Zhifei proposed his own character setting, Lu Xingchen directly interrupted her, and finally the work was released, and the three actors who participated in the show found various reasons to refuse to appear.
Therefore, Bi Zhifei could only stand up to the past public opinion field, come to the public, and look forward to a new name, which undoubtedly failed.
Bi Zhifei's two adaptation directions of "Spring in a New Small Town", one is to change the time to modern times, and the other is to change the invariably visitors to be invited to come, which has become the fuse of not being recognized. In the view of the ranking experts, the full score answer sheet of the adaptation should be like the director who was given a gift, on the one hand, it grasped the lifeblood of "Journey to the West" - the regret of love, and the other side integrated its own understanding into another story - the realization of love, or like Bao Bell, although it is considered to be technically unable to fit the spiritual core of Nezha, but in the adaptation, it has integrated its own understanding of family affection and life, and can also be recognized by the judges and the audience.
In this training field, Bi Zhifei seemed to smash again.
03
"Director Please Advise" calls itself "a director's reality show" in the promotion, and it is more like a game that has already set the rules of the game. What the game, and every sharer, depends on is the excitement of the play, or rather, the flow. Although the program advertises "competitiveness", its purpose is not to select winners, but to "shine", because the traffic will feed back to every participant in the game or success or failure.
Therefore, in the invitation list of 16 directors, there must be a "winner team" like Zeng Gift, which can be extremely compatible with the rules and try his best to adapt to the rules like Bao Bell, and there must also be a "loser team" like academic teacher Xiang Guoqiang and liberal musician Liang Long.
But this alone is obviously not rich enough, the game still stays in the richness of "players struggling in the rules", it needs a little accident, it needs some players who are out of the rules, so there is a one-on-one. On the top, the big director Guan Jinpeng, just a video connection, not on the scene, and do not use the program group to prepare a number of actors in advance; the next, Bi Zhifei, highly educated endorsement, but made the lowest score of Douban movie "Dream Showbiz", he can not even choose the actor when he appears, from casting to director, everywhere reveals pain and bitterness.
Guan Jinpeng, a famous director who has already made a famous work like "Rouge Buckle", is used to be praised, but Bi Zhifei is used to be stepped on: compared with the other directors present, he is the one who cannot retreat. With him on the floor, other directors, producers, judges, and even audiences can build a sense of self-superiority.
After the first episode of the program was broadcast, it was not surprising that it was on many hot searches, and the program was instantly pushed to the peak. Some people say that this variety show can only let people see the stubbornness of the creators, the mutual flattery of investors, the viciousness of capital and the absurdity of the program. Some people also say that this is a comprehensive art program and is completely a "palace fight drama." The five teams simply started a big scuffle, arguing with each other.
But overall, Bi Zhifei's remake is not as bad as the producers say, and the short films of Bao Bell and others are not as perfect as the producers exaggerate. However, the program team did show the absurdity of the film circle to the fullest.
Look at the Douban score, capitalized 4.1, "Director Please Advise", you deserve it.