"The First Time in Life" is a 12-episode series of humanistic documentaries produced by CCTV and co-produced by the Documentary Center of Shanghai Radio and Television Station. The film adopts the method of squatting and shooting, focusing on 12 life sections such as birth, study, work, and farewell, and outlines the vivid life picture of Chinese.
"The First time in life" captures 12 life sections of great significance to Chinese, which run through different stages of life such as birth, schooling, starting a family, establishing a career, and providing for the elderly, and are spatially distributed in different life scenes such as hospitals, schools, armies, real estate agents, villages, factories, and universities for the elderly. At the beginning of each episode, a "storyteller" who echoes the core of the story is invited to lead the film, dubbing and emotionally interpreting the narration of the story.
Episode 1 Birth
The birth of a new life is accompanied by joy, as well as with the choices and risks of parenthood. In this issue, by squatting in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital affiliated to Fudan University in Shanghai, we record the true stories of the obstetric wards one by one, and record the first challenges and exclusive waiting for new life to come to this world.
Episode 2 Going to School
In the new semester, the school has ushered in a new batch of children entering the school, which is the first time in the children's lives. In a big city like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, "going to school" has become a major choice for parents and children. At an early age, is the idea of "don't let your child lose at the starting line" a guide or misleading for parents? How do children and parents adapt to their choices? The tearful story is the trajectory of children's growth.
Episode 3 Growing Up
Yunnan Baoshan is deep in the mountains. Kang Yu, a college student who used to teach here, decided to stay here and become a teacher who teaches children to write poetry. The children here have to climb mountains every day to go to school, but that doesn't stop them from writing poetry. They write their thoughts about their parents and their feelings for nature into their poems, which is the most primitive and pure art created by children.
"The First Time in Life" is like a long picture, bringing together the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, gathering and dispersing, unrestrained and depressing, depicting the most moving picture of contemporary Chinese life, and interpreting the spirit of the times in China with the ordinary life of group characters - "The most powerful weapon of mankind is not nuclear weapons, but the courage to open up everything." In addition, "The First time in life" breaks the conventional operation method of humanistic documentaries, and does not fix the perspective and entry point on a theme and a character, but a different theme in each issue, each theme has one or more subjects, expanding the dimension of perspective, vertically cutting life stories, traveling through time, and depicting emotions. At the same time, the appearance of a star narrator in each issue is also easier for the audience to substitute. Each storyteller watches the film in advance before dubbing and briefly describes his own viewing experience, they are both the audience and the narrator, and a bridge is built between the documentary filming team and the audience, achieving an indirect communication and interaction. With the precision and sharpness of its cross-sectional cut of life, "The First time in life" truly shows the reality of life and people's courage in the face of cruelty; soothes the cold and warmth of the world with an emotional and not sensational temperature; and witnesses the ordinary beauty of life from a broad and magnanimous perspective. (CCTV Review)