Reporter | Liu Yanqiu Edit |
"In the case of a weakening market, FIRST, which has accompanied the author for more than a decade, will indeed worry about whether the survival path of young directors will become narrower and narrower, so it wants to help young directors find new tracks and new living space." At the first FIRST Chengdu Surprise Film Festival, Liang Jing, producer of films such as "Revolutionary" and "King Kong Chuan", said so.
During this year's FIRST Chengdu Surprise Film Festival, the fifth and sixth feature film labs and the first producer lab explored the essence of creation from different dimensions. For seven days, under the one-on-one guidance of the playwright mentor, the Drama Studio strives to help students calibrate their creative intentions and enhance market access; at the same time, the short films of the Producers' Lab also held industry premieres and workshop discussions during the film festival, in order to help young producers build a clear understanding of the various processes of the industry and find the future career development direction and possibilities.
In addition to being an actor and host, in recent years, Liang Jing has gone deep behind the scenes and become a producer of films such as "Revolutionary", "King Kong Chuan", "Street Baby", "Reunion", "No Problem" and so on. At the first FIRST Chengdu Surprise Film Festival, Liang Jing served as the sole mentor of the Producers Lab, and also participated in various project reviews and forums related to genre films.
In Liang Jing's view, there is a big difference between the domestic production system and foreign films, and the film industrialization and production system of foreign countries have been very perfect, while The domestic film has just sprouted. "What kind of character is the producer?" A lot of people don't really understand. In Liang Jing's understanding, a truly qualified producer needs to participate in the project from the stage of script development, from project financing and preparation to production, marketing, and publicity and distribution, etc. Producers should be involved in every link and play a leading role. But there are still relatively few producers in China who can dominate the whole process in this way.
Previously, most of the creation of Chinese films was centered on directors, and producers mainly dealt with "money", that is, the director managed the creation, and the producer only managed the money. In Liang Jing's view, although such a method can protect the director's artistic creation space to some extent, it may not be able to maximize the output of the content of the work. To this day, everyone is still learning and groping, thinking about how to make Chinese films enter the real industrialization as soon as possible, in this development process, producers and directors cooperate with each other in creation, and a number of high-grossing and high-reputation works have emerged, which further demonstrates the importance of producers.
Liang Jing took "King Kong Chuan" as a special case and shared her special experience as a filmmaker.
Due to the short time and heavy tasks, the operation mode of "King Kong Chuan" violates the law of film art creation, and it is an "extreme creation" that uses the tactics of the sea of people to seize time.
The film began to prepare at the end of June, and was officially released on October 23, less than 100 days; at the beginning of the creation, director Guan Hu wrote a 400-word story synopsis in half a day, gathered personnel in the afternoon, and the art team flew to Dandong the next day; Guan Hu, Guo Fan, Lu Yang and the three directors led the three production teams to work together, gathering a total of 1174 actors, 2479 crew members, 2600 special effects personnel, 1302 post-production personnel, and more than 5000 end subtitles of the film.
In the production management of "King Kong Chuan", the biggest difficulty is the large number of people. The large number of people directly brings about the continuous superposition of the budget and the superposition of the difficulty of safety management... After all, this is not a purely commercial film, so the cost must be controlled to the greatest extent possible. When working as a producer of the "My Motherland and Me" unit, Liang Jing learned from the chief producer Huang Jianxin that it is necessary to set a ceiling for each group. "When filming "My Motherland and Me", Director Huang set an upper limit for each group, although the operational difficulty of each story is not the same, but such a requirement can still allow the director to shoot within the effective funding control, reducing the possibility of overruns."
In addition to serving as a producer for director Guan Hu's films, Liang Jing has also begun to consciously help some young directors as producers and producers in recent years. Liang Jing believes that investing in projects is actually investing in directors, and producers need to form their own judgments about this director in their minds, such as whether his character is trustworthy, whether his creative ideas are clear, and whether his talent has room for growth.
Sometimes this judgment is questioned. For example, when doing the project "Revolutionary", Liang Jing strongly recommended director Xu Zhanxiong to direct. At first, there was some controversy about this candidate, but Liang Jing, who has seen the first cut of "Buckwheat Madness", believes that Xu Zhanxiong's literary skills and high awareness of film aesthetics are very consistent with the revolutionary romantic temperament of the "Revolutionary" script, "I believe that with our help, he can do better." So during the filming process, producer Guan Hu and producer Liang Jing opened the mode of escort, and finally, the talent and ability of director Xu Zhanxiong were fully displayed.
Regarding the experience of being a first producer lab instructor and thinking about the domestic production system, the interface reporter and Liang Jing chatted, the following is part of the content, the interface entertainment slightly edited.
Interface Entertainment: What was your overall feeling about attending the Surprise Film Festival? From the theme of the event to the guests to the young filmmakers, is there anything different from Xining?
Liang Jing: What is different from the past is the re-recognition of the word "surprise". Most of the mentors invited this time are directors who have successful cases in the field of genre films, and they can really see the determination of FIRST, and everyone wants to explore a new way to help young directors. When Ziwei came to me to do this, I also said that I wanted to know more clearly what I could do and how to do it, but Ziwei was also relatively open to saying that we could collide with young directors, and the ultimate goal was to help them smoothly find the direction of their own genre films. After this event, we also set up a committee, director Cao Baoping is the chairman, I was appointed as the president, Li Zi is the secretary general, we will explore the future path of young directors for many years.
Interface Entertainment: When the FIRST Producer Lab first approached you, what kind of thing did you want to make?
Liang Jing: FIRST allocated funds to the shortlisted producers, and under the same budget, cooperated with a self-selected director to make a short film to see what these producers could do. In the end, everyone also saw that the theme was different, and the level of the director was also different. To be honest, this judgment is not fair enough, because there is no standard, so we also propose some new possibilities, such as asking teams to shoot with the same theme and the same funds, so that it is possible to see the role of the producer.
In fact, working with inexperienced young directors, the experience of the producer is very valuable, and he can help young directors quickly enter the creative state without distraction. In terms of the learning and training of producers, I also discussed with Ziwei. The production work is divided into front-end, back-end, terminal and other online and offline links, it should be a complete course. As things stand, it's hard to get inexperienced young people to learn from First. I'll suggest to my son that I'll find a producer who has done at least one or two plays, otherwise he won't be able to translate our experience into his effective experience because he hasn't practiced it, so he may still need some thresholds.
Interface Entertainment: How are the shortlisted projects screened this time?
Liang Jing: The FIRST Primary Selection Committee selected 6 of them from a number of short films, and I finally selected 3. We will also refer to the resume of this producer, see what films he has done, and judge whether he has room to grow. Therefore, our standard is that there is a certain amount of experience, and at the same time there is a certain level, and there is room for growth. Even if the film he is competing in now is not so good, but he has done a good job, it may give him a chance.
Interface Entertainment: You talked about the difference between domestic and foreign production systems in the producer workshop, the domestic production system is in a stage of just infancy, and it is not perfect enough in many links, can you give an example of what aspects are particularly imperfect now?
I think some phenomena in the Chinese film industry are quite sad, I think some phenomena in the film industry are not optimistic, many people are not willing to drill their own duties, they are relatively impetuous, but this is a problem of the times. Now we are about to enter the stage of industrialization, although the output and production capacity have increased. Although the output and production capacity have increased, the practitioners are not professional enough, they are relatively impetuous, and the quality is not going up, this problem is worth exploring. This is a question of the times and is worth pondering.
Interface Entertainment: Now after the launch of this series of main theme blockbusters, do you think it will have a leading role in the industry?
Liang Jing: The main theme blockbuster is a product of the times that came into being, it belongs to a branch of Chinese cinema, and the audience certainly wants to see more diverse films, and can only rely on the creators to work together.
Interface Entertainment: Putting aside this producer lab, what kind of criteria do we use in the industry to measure the work achievements of producers?
Liang Jing: The achievement of a producer that I personally recognize is to be able to help directors discover social themes that deserve attention and creation together, and they need to be closer to the present and reflect reality, not just for the sake of making money for the film. Producers need to have a certain social responsibility, to consider what the film can leave for society in addition to the box office.
Interface Entertainment: This producer lab also has genre requirements, do you think that for this kind of young filmmaker, should he be more faithful to his own expression, or should he consider the needs of the market more?
Liang Jing: FIRST's Xining Youth Film Festival should pay more attention to the expression of the author, and the Surprise Film Festival is to make genre films. The creation of genre films must pay attention to the market, but in fact, sometimes literary and art films are also a kind of genre films, and it is also possible to get good results in the market, but they cannot be generalized so they cannot be generalized.
If you start from the perspective of a young director and look at how to find a way for yourself in the future, genre films will be a better direction.
I remember a sentence said by teacher Xie Fei to the effect that "filmmakers must not compete with the times, they must learn to create in a limited space and learn to create infinitely in a limited space." In the face of the market, you can only tell young directors that the market is very cruel, and if you don't want to understand what you want to do, it is difficult to get the right to speak. For young directors, if they want to use the first two works to gain a foothold in the market, genre films are the best way out Genre films are better ways out, because it is relatively easy to obtain topic and social attention, and it is easier to resonate with the audience.
Interface Entertainment: So would you encourage the young directors you help to try more genre films?
Liang Jing: I will. But although it is recommended that they try more genre films, if there are those who insist on taking the artistic route, then I will also help him. I make movies and often "generate electricity with love". Some people are very stubborn, knowing that the road is not going to work, but they still have to insist on walking, then it is possible that he has really become a great artist. It's just that I personally feel that this kind of person often ends up making a difference. Talented people are not afraid of being late, but they should cherish the opportunity, if they are not fully prepared, too anxious to take the first step, it is easy to fail. There are always waves of people in this market, and the first step falls, and the people behind them are pressed over.
Interface Entertainment: Is it difficult for young directors to control whether this rhythm is correct or not?
Liang Jing: At present, many of the new directors we see do not think that they are inexperienced, they are full of confidence and ambition, but in fact, in the eyes of our experienced people, their projects are still 18,000 miles away from starting. Many directors don't even understand the basic operation process of the scene, how can they let him control a crew of dozens or even hundreds of people? But everyone's perception of self-ability is different, and we can only do it in a hurry as we watch from the sidelines.
Interface Entertainment: Just talked about having experienced producers to help young directors, so how do you think young producers can make good projects?
Liang Jing: You can grow up by following a mature producer and doing a few projects as executive producers. The traditional industry model of the past is no longer there, and almost no one is willing to spend time learning from the master, but the industry experience and professional knowledge are slowly accumulated through time. My personal advice is to study with an open mind and not to pick the beams.
Interface Entertainment: Is the impetuous mentality of young directors related to various support programs for young filmmakers?
Liang Jing: There is a certain relationship, and there are too many such plans at present. The venture capital we participate in will conduct project evaluation and coaching, but many of them have already participated in other venture capital. Now some young people are going around with their own same projects, and they may not be able to shoot them in the end. Therefore, it is suggested that each venture capital should set up a uniqueness for itself, so that it can be targeted and more meaningful, otherwise all kinds of venture capital will become the internal friction of the entire industry.