The film is ice hockey, it is about education; it is not only the children on the ice rink, but also the parents who are watching under the field. The ongoing documentary film "Moments on Ice" features three hockey teenagers as the protagonists, showing the family education and parent-child relationship around ice hockey. Liu Hanxiang, the director of the film, said that although ice hockey is still a niche sport at present, the universality of family education reflected in the film allows all viewers to find their own shadow.
The original intention of the shooting was from the father's love
Liu Hanxiang has been fond of shooting documentaries on children's themes over the years, and "Ma Lan's Song", "Summer Mobile Cinema" and "Teenager, Teenager" are his "juvenile trilogy". The filming of "Ice Moment" is on the one hand a continuation of the creation of children's themes, on the other hand, it also comes from the love and anxiety of a father.
"I wanted to make a documentary to see how parents in the context of higher education in the city are educating their children. In addition to thinking, I also have my own pressure. My daughter was born in 2017, as a new dad, I don't know how to accompany her, how to educate her? The problems in front of me meant that she would experience a very different childhood from me, and I felt intense pressure and panic inside. Liu Hanxiang said that it happened that the mother of a child invited him to watch his son play hockey. When he saw six or seven-year-olds fighting on ice, he saw the charm of ice hockey when he knew nothing about ice hockey before. More importantly, he found the story he wanted to record. "I want to use ice hockey as a breakthrough to tell their story."
The protagonists of "Ice Moments" are three boys born in 2009, they are all the forwards of a junior ice hockey team in Beijing, and the story revolves around their hockey life. Among them, Yu Lifan's father took on the role of "family coach", supervising training every day and demanding; Qu Ruichen's mother transferred to an international school with an independent ice rink in order to let her children receive better training; Zhai Zinan's parents also worked hard to win more time on the ice and better training for him... Under the ice, children's parents, two times, different tastes. Just as a hobby or as a career? Do you want to stay at home or study abroad? Everyone has their own concerns about the future.
The filming team consisted of only four people at most
Although "Ice Boy" is filmed in this sport that children are practicing, the perspective mainly focuses on family education and parent-child relationship. Liu Hanxiang admitted that although ice hockey was indeed a major factor that attracted him at the beginning, after watching the children's many trainings and games, he had an increasingly strong feeling, that is, the family education behind these children shown through playing ice hockey has a strong narrative tension and the significance of being recorded. "These parents choose to let their children play hockey, not because they want them to be professional athletes, but because of educational considerations, they use ice hockey as an educational method and means." I want to see how these parents with good educational backgrounds educate their children. ”
Liu Hanxiang began shooting in 2017, and after a long period of research, he did not officially start shooting until the second half of 2018, and it was filmed until 2021. Because of the limited funds, even at the most, the shooting team was only four people: a director, a photographer, a photography assistant, and a producer. Training and competition scenes are filmed on two cameras, while daily life is filmed with only one machine.
"Usually we watch football games, and it is normal to have more than a dozen cameras on live broadcast, but we only have two machines, and we can only shoot a panorama first, and then take a close-up or tracking shot. There is also a machine to capture parental reactions, coach reactions, and some temporary unexpected situations, etc., all of which must be captured. "Liu Hanxiang laughed and said that because there were not enough people, he also had to change into a photographer when shooting." We would divide the work, one would be a camera footage of the game on the field, and one would catch parents, coach reactions or emergencies. If I don't hold the machine, I will stare at the sudden, see some unexpected situations, and tell the photographer to come and shoot it. ”
During the whole filming process, almost every weekend Liu Hanxiang will go to shoot the children's training and competition. During the winter and summer vacations, the children went abroad for training, and the team would also go to follow up the shooting. In order not to disturb the normal life of the subject, when entering the children's home shooting, there are only two people at most.
An episodic version of "I Love Hockey" is in production
All three children have become hockey teenagers out of love, but in the process of chasing their dreams, trade-offs, choices, and growth are also quietly happening. Zhai Zinan took advantage of the time and place, went to Canada for further study, and was one step closer to his goal of professional football; Yu Lifan chose to develop in China and participated in the selection of the Beijing Junior Team, and his relationship with his father was no longer as tense as at the beginning of the film; Qu Ruichen has been struggling with the choice of whether to go abroad to play, and chasing dreams in a foreign country means giving up family affection... In the face of choice, they are walking on thin ice and have their first taste of growth.
At the end of the film, all three children have a gratifying growth, and the relationship with their parents is also warm. "Although the perspective of parents seems to be a little more in this film, we can see the context of children's growth, and parents are also growing at the same time, which is what I emphasize very much." Liu Hanxiang said. "In the process of growing up, if the parents do not accompany, they may become the one who is left behind by the child." If homeschooling has an answer, I think this may be the only final solution. ”
Liu Hanxiang revealed that in addition to the movie version, they will also edit the story of the three children into a documentary series, specifically telling stories from the perspective of children. "The episodic version is called 'I Love Playing Hockey', which is particularly fun and funny." The episodic version has been produced and is expected to meet the audience within this year.