The Paper's reporter Qian Chengxi
As the golden sign in the domestic food documentary, the "Flavor of the World" series has produced the latest third season, "Sea Fresh". Compared with the previous two seasons, the biggest freshness is that this season is the first time to start with the Chinese ocean and seafood, showing the unique culture of eating the sea on our long coastline, creating a Chinese seafood flavor guide to satisfy the curiosity of food lovers about seafood ingredients.
Poster of "Flavor of the World"
Of course, consistent with the tone of "Flavor of the World", it is to show the unique scenery and warm feelings of the local area in addition to the food. This time, the crew also overcame various difficulties to outline the magnificent beauty of the Chinese ocean and show the daily life and vivid story of a group of working people living by the sea.
Fishermen view the lobster they caught
In the three episodes that have just been broadcast, the camera goes from Liaoning in the northeast to Hainan, the southernmost part of China, as well as Zhoushan and Guangdong... The vast ocean, different environments, and different cultures nourish expensive and rare seafood such as abalone and bergamot snail, as well as specialties such as peeled fish, which can travel thousands of miles and fly into the table in the interior.
Interestingly, although seafood is often regarded as a high-end ingredient, in the documentary, you can see both the chef's delicious dishes made in complex ways and expensive ingredients, and the fresh harvest of the fishermen's family after a hard day's work, and the family sitting at a table full of human fireworks.
Seafood can also make home-cooked rice
And it was these lovely fishermen who left the deepest impression on us. They often dive into the cold waters, climb and collect on the cliffs of the sea where the tide is about to rise, or spend their daily lives on fishing rows, often unable to reunite with their families. The camera crew focused on their hard life in the wind and waves, and felt the rolling and turbulence of the waves together.
Sometimes, this food documentary has almost become a "food action movie". For example, fishermen Ah Chang and Ah Lun of Dong'ao Island in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, catch spicy snails in the turbulent area, and the photographer follows the protagonist through the water surface and the seabed. In order to ensure the perfect presentation in the lens, the photographer often has to stand in the most dangerous angle of "the tide rises, the waves hit". According to Guo An, the director of this episode, "Borrowed a few hemp ropes from the fisherman, and firmly tied the photographer in a angled way, and then pulled by the other four staff members, using the strength of four people to control the rope... Usually such a complex underwater shooting will be repeatedly tried for several hours." The final picture also amazed the audience in front of the screen: "The huge waves seem to hit my face directly."
Go to sea in the midst of hardships
The hardships of going to sea also make the taste of capture sweeter. There is hard work in the camera, but also the kindness, optimism and open-mindedness of the fishermen. Although there are ups and downs in life, the ups and downs of life, their love and patience for their families, and their enthusiasm for life, all move the viewer.
The toil of the day disappeared in the family reunion
The Paper-Private Geography interviewed Li Yong, the general director of "Flavor of the World 3: Small Fresh sea", to listen to the story behind the shooting.
The Paper: After experiencing the world perspective of the first two seasons, why should we focus on photographing China's ocean this time?
Li Yong: The first two seasons of "Flavor in the World" have also involved many seafood-themed stories. The story of the first season of Taiwanese boy darting sailfish has been praised since it was broadcast, and even reminded many viewers of "The Old Man and the Sea".
The generosity and generosity of the sea nourish all things, remain unchanged, rise and fall day after day, and satisfy the food and clothing of mankind. To the land, to the sea, we are all equally deeply in love. So, the idea of photographing ocean and seafood themes has been an idea for years. During the production of the second season of "Flavor of the World", this idea gradually took shape.
Fishermen ride the waves out to sea
The Paper: In addition to the change of theme, what innovations did the third season of "Flavor of the World" have in terms of form of expression?
Li Yong: First of all, I hope to be easier and lighter. At the beginning of this season, I hope to present the life and heart of the protagonist in a more relaxed shooting state, so I will use a slightly different shooting method than before. For example, in the past, we would hide the presence of the camera, but this season we consciously highlighted the presence of the camera and the film crew, so that the film crew could talk to the characters in the story and put the voices of the film crew into it. We are no longer bystanders, and we are willing to show the protagonist's personal characteristics and inner thoughts.
The daughter of Xu Huanming, a fisherman in Wanning, Hainan, said her father was a hero
Second, we made the people we photographed speak more bravely and confidently in front of the camera. Language is very attractive, China has such a long history, the span of north and south and east is so far, language is not only related to regional geography, related to historical traditions, but also an important means for characters to express their hearts, dispositions and emotions. Therefore, this season, we pay more attention to the language of the characters, hoping to express the region and the temperament of the characters more vividly through language.
Third, do not deliberately pursue perfection, intentionally expose the rough edges and small flaws of life, and make life more textured.
Fourth, deliberately increase the content of children. Because each generation's treatment of the ocean will be a future for children. We should hand over a beautiful and healthy ocean to our children like the most precious legacy. The ancestors of mankind used to treat the ocean with reverence and gratitude, which is the wealth left to us by our ancestors, and perhaps we should adopt the same attitude.
Fisherman's child With an interest in geography
Fifth, this time we have added a small paragraph of a flavor city or flavor area to each episode, hoping to express the style of the city or region and the temperament of the locals in a short period of time.
Chongqing dock at night
In the end, we spent a lot of effort looking for traditional, disappearing fishing methods. For example, we found that Panjin actually has sailing fishing, Huludao has mule carts going to the sea, Shandong has stilt nets to catch shrimp, Zhejiang has a life hanging line, freehand climbing collection, Hainan has a simple hand-towing net, these are ancient traditions and still exist in life of the way of work, giving us a lot of surprises.
This season also uses considerable ink to express the current life and psychology. The impact and stress that modern life brings to people, no one can escape. We can even feel the same parenting anxiety as parents in first-tier cities in a pair of young parents on an isolated island. The imprint of the times will also be expressed in the show.
Rolling rough waves
The Paper: China's coastline is so long, with 18,000 kilometers of mainland coastline and 14,000 kilometers of island coastline, and there are countless types and ways of eating seafood.
Li Yong: The essence is that we always adhere to the local nature of food, and attach importance to traditional lifestyles and fishing methods. In fact, the "Flavor of the World" program team has always expressed its respect for tradition, and this time it is also a look back full of emotions.
Modern societies are looking for efficiency and speed, which happens to be something that many traditional fishing methods don't have. The latter is disappearing rapidly, books, newspapers and some traditional means on the Internet, we went to the field to investigate, found that many have ceased to exist, still alive in life, very few. We want to leave a video history so that people can see what kind of life our ancestors once had.
In addition to finding traditional, visual food stories from the perspective of working styles, we also tried the food itself. Unlike the previous two seasons, this season's genre is very narrow, using only Chinese materials and only seafood. In terms of choice, the degree of freedom is greatly limited. In terms of material selection, we will have some criteria.
The first thing is to be rooted in the region and life. On the one hand, the water and soil and the other, relying on water to draft water, the local nature must be adhered to. At the same time, it cannot be separated from people's lives, this kind of ingredient should be related to the life of the characters, is the survival needs of the characters, the foundation of their lives, and is the source of food in their clothes.
Lobster is a beloved ingredient
Secondly, there is a wide variety of food, both popular food and regional food. In terms of food richness, this time the shooting is both widely distributed and particularly niche: for example, there are fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, snails and other widely distributed and well-known seafood, as well as sea intestines, sandworms, Mingtai fish, bergamot snails, which are particularly regional ingredients.
Hard-won bergamot snail
Third, based on civilian food, it shows fireworks in the human world. Seafood in the Chinese tradition, in the cognition, is a relatively high-end ingredient, so there will be raw seafood. But if you look deeper, you will find that many seafood ingredients are cheap and close to the people, and they are inseparable from the daily food of the seaside people. We stand on the performance of these pyrotechnic foods.
Fourth, in addition to focusing on the homely practices that fishermen like, they will also spend some time expressing traditional cooking with Chinese characteristics. For example, abalone, in the Chinese food tradition, dried abalone has the title of supreme seafood, its processing is very cumbersome, the cooking process also needs careful care, and it is difficult for chefs to be competent without superb means and skills. Another example is the sea cucumber, which has a thin taste and needs to borrow other ingredients to give it a flavor, and it is also a great test of the chef's skill.
Tender fresh abalone
Seafood ingredients inspire the wisdom and inspiration of chefs, such as jellyfish, which are blanched by chefs, added with green onion and coriander, and then wrapped in dough cakes, which is a vivid and interesting way to eat. For example, the bergamot snail, which fishermen like to cook simply, comes out of the pot in a few minutes; the chef may use whimsy and a variety of means to give it a taste inside and out. These differences may not be high or low, but I hope to show the beauty and diversity of more food.
The Paper: During the filming of this season, which cuisine or which protagonist were you impressed with?
Li Yong: A lot. Golden sturgeon, striped fish, cannonball fish, cockles, lobsters, dried abalone, sea cucumbers, shrimp paste, fish sauce, fish dumplings, jellyfish and so on.
There are also many impressive characters: such as the crew of fishing belt fish who drift in the far sea for more than 300 days a year, several aunts who climb up the cliffs to pick bergamot snails on the east coast of Zhejiang, the cockle diggers who have the romance of the rivers and lakes in Liaoning Huludao, Uncle Li who fishes for shrimp with an ancient sailing boat in Panjin, the playful and cute sea man Wang Laohan in Yantai, Shandong, the loving husband and wife who fish for jellyfish in Laoshan Mountain, Tian Jie, a crab catcher in Lushun who has been in the wind and rain for more than 20 years, ah fat, the chef of Fuzhou Restaurant, and so on.
The coast at sunset
The Paper: There are many shots in the documentary with fishermen in the wind and waves, have you encountered dangers or challenges during filming?
Li Yong: Shooting at sea is full of potential dangers. The sea is a place of turmoil, not only on the ship can be dangerous, slippery reefs, typhoons, rainy days, can bring danger. Any negligence and accident is a matter of great importance, even the safety of life.
Dot the harbor with fishing boats
Shooting at sea also often brings seasickness. Almost all of our directors, cinematographers, sound recordists, and assistants have experienced varying degrees of seasickness. Sometimes the photographer can only vomit for a while, and then insist on shooting for a while, and then throw up again. The most painful one was to shoot distant-water fishing, from the dock to the sea area of the shooting, the distance is more than 500 kilometers, the boat has to drive for more than 40 hours, and the round trip alone takes 4 days and 4 nights. We are transport boats for fishermen, heavy with diesel, narrow space, and almost everyone vomits every day. From departure to return to the dock, the photography assistant at that time had the most serious seasickness, 9 days and 9 nights, almost did not eat anything, and could not get up every day lying in the cabin. The unbearable pain we find is the daily routine of the crew of distant-water fishing for more than 300 days a year. For the sake of their families, for the sake of their livelihood, they drift at sea all year round, repeating the same work day after day. I was also deeply moved by their stoic, kind and determined eyes.
Fishermen are struggling to pull their nets
In addition, shooting marine subjects is subject to great restrictions on tides and seasons. Whether you can go to sea depends on the size of the wind and waves and the time of the rising and falling tides. In the face of nature, none of this is negotiable. Shooting time, light, angle, will be affected.
The emergence of marine life is also uncertain. Every year, the situation is not very consistent, and the time of occurrence and how long it can exist are uncertain. In addition, the clarity of the sea water and the size of the wind and waves directly affect the presentation of the picture. For example, the story of shandong rizhao shrimp skin, the film crew waited for a long time, there is no shrimp when the water is clear, when there is shrimp, the sea water is very turbid, and the underwater shooting in the wind and waves is extremely low. The shooting of the Qingdao jellyfish encountered similar problems. Some of the shoots can only be visited multiple times, and even the whole story is forced to cancel. Although everyone has suffered and tried their best, they still have some regrets. These are all difficulties that arise more frequently than shooting on land.
Editor-in-Charge: Ying Xu
Proofreader: Liu Wei