"I didn't expect that one day I would watch a country drama at Station B in the early morning." After being urged by netizens for half a day, at 0:00 on May 20, episodes 15 and 16 of the TV series "Flowers and Leaves" were launched on Station B. It is unimaginable that this TV series that makes the post-90s and post-00s "on top" and "really fragrant" is a rural poverty alleviation theme.
Since it was broadcast on CCTV, Station B and other platforms on May 11, the word-of-mouth ratings of "Flowers and Leaves" have gone all the way up, with a Douban score of 8.0, and the audience of Station B has also scored a high score of 9.3. As a key drama on the theme of poverty alleviation by the State Administration of Radio and Television in 2020, "Flowers and Leaves" is produced by CCTV, the Propaganda Department of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Shanghai Film Studio; through the rural changes in Fengxiang Town, represented by Huamao Village in Zunyi, Guizhou, it tells the story of cadres and masses in the new era working together to accurately alleviate poverty and run a well-off. Why are "poverty alleviation dramas" and "rural dramas" so popular among young people? What does the success of this Guizhou theme work have to do with the strength of Shanghai film and television production? Liu Xiaofeng, the producer, producer and national first-class actor of the Shanghai Film Actors Troupe, unveiled the story behind the creation.
Liu Xiaofeng
Field shooting is truth-seeking, shooting is "opening up the wasteland"
"Finally see the countryside in the south on TV." The seemingly bland bullet screen on the B station tells the unusualness of "Flowers and Leaves".
Liu Xiaofeng, a native of the north, found that most of the rural tv dramas are set in the north. On June 16, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection of Huamao Village in Guizhou, "No wonder everyone came here and found nostalgia here." This sentence made Liu Xiaofeng remember in his heart, and also made him full of desire and curiosity about the scenery of Huamao Village.
In 2016, Liu Xiaofeng read the reportage "Flowers Bloom and Listen to the Sound of Flowers" created by Ouyang Qiansen, chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Federation of Literature, on "People's Literature", and immediately had the idea of filming it into a film and television drama. "I hope to make a different rural theme that can represent the style of the entire southwest region." Previously, Liu Xiaofeng starred in "Twenty-Four Turns" written by Ouyang Qiansen, and the two worked together very happily, laying the foundation for the fate of this Shanghai filmmaker and the Theme of Guizhou. In the film and television adaptation of "Flowers and Leaves", the two hit it off.
When the "Flowers and Leaves" project was launched, the concept of "precision poverty alleviation" had not yet been clearly put forward, and they just wanted to make a "good-looking" drama with rural themes. The original script took Secretary Shi Xiaofeng as the leading character, and later found that Tang Wancai, who was full of ideas, was too vivid, and with him as the leader, would the story look better? Liu Xiaofeng and Ouyang Qiansen are both people who die in the script, in order to have a better presentation, the filming originally planned to start in 2018 was shelved, and it took a whole year to adjust and polish the script, until March 2019, the drama was officially launched.
The story of "Flowers and Leaves" is full of earthy atmosphere, which has been praised by many audiences as true and grounded, and behind it is Ouyang Qiansen's repeated visits to the countryside to experience life. Liu Xiaofeng accompanied him several times, and the winter in the southwest was very wet and cold, which made this northern man a little unbearable, "I saw him roasting the brazier, and every time it was a foot of mud and a body of soil." Later, when the crew was filming, they found that many scenes and characters had prototypes, which were the real materials obtained by Ouyang Qiansen in the countryside again and again.
Although most of the crew is now filming in the film and television base, "Flowers and Leaves" insists on shooting on the spot. The field shooting presents the beautiful scenery of green mountains and rivers that the audience admires, and also brings many unimaginable difficulties. "The radius of living and working environment in the film and television base is relatively small, and the cooperation and coordination of various departments are convenient." But in Guizhou, we are almost here to 'open up the wasteland'. ”
More than 93% of the local area is mountainous, and there is no accommodation environment that allows the crew to manage it uniformly, so they can only live in various farmhouses. There was a hotel in the next town that had just opened, and it was learned that it was to publicize the achievements of poverty alleviation here, and it was strongly supported that a team of two hundred people was stationed. "Living in a building, it is much easier to have a creative meeting every day, otherwise, you will have to go to the farm every night to find people."
However, living in another town, I had to rush to the mountains every day to shoot. Although the mountains are not far away, the car crosses the mountains, but the distance should be calculated in multiples, and safety is also a problem. At the beginning of "Flowers and Leaves", there is a show of the bumpy roads before the local poverty alleviation, driving like a boat. Liu Xiaofeng introduced that although the local road has been leveled, the mountain road is very narrow, allowing only two cars to pass, and the crew is a large convoy every time they travel. Moreover, when I went to shoot, because the local area had been lifted out of poverty, in order to find some environments that could reflect the poverty of that year, I borrowed some surrounding villages to shoot. In some mountainous areas, the car cannot drive in, the shooting equipment is carried by shoulders, and the work is late, and the downhill is worried.
The local vegetation is abundant, and the crew is also deeply troubled by mosquito bites. In the play, Ma Laosan was stung by the horse bee, and his face immediately swollen up, which is not a makeup special effect, but the actor was really stung. "We were worried, but he insisted on finishing the scene and was forcibly taken to the hospital by the crew. Doctors said it was dangerous, the wasps there are very poisonous, if you are not careful, you will leave sequelae, but it is good to suppress it. Not only the actors, but many of the staff were stung when filming the bee farm scene. ”
Artistic processing seeks beauty, and the earthy atmosphere can be seen in the clothing lines
In "Flowers and Leaves", Tang Wancai satirized some college students and village officials for "gilding" by going to the countryside, teaching primary school students to "fake smile" to welcome leaders to inspect, and other bridge sections made many viewers seem to see the shadow of life, and the display of the life and work of grass-roots cadres also resonated with many young people. However, there are also people who provoke, the scenes in the play, the earthy taste of the environment is not enough, "this countryside is clean like 'yearning for life'" "not like poor villages like tourist attractions."
"TV dramas as works of art still have to have some sense of modification, can not directly move the soil to the screen, but to have a certain visual aesthetics." Liu Xiaofeng introduced that with the premise of artistic treatment, the earthy atmosphere in "Flowers and Leaves" can be seen in the lines and costumes.
For example, when it comes to the township primary school, the careful audience can see that the soles of Shi Xiaofeng, Gao Zhenchang, and Tang Wancai are all mud, which is a specially added detail. At the beginning, the picture of Tang Wancai struggling to walk through the neighborhood committee among the chickens and ducks on the ground flashed by; before the "three reforms", the scene of going to the village and walking around the chicken pen and the duck pen along the way would be pointed out through the lines, which left the audience with room for imagination. "Too muddy and potholed ground displayed in the lens, will cause visual uncleanness, TV dramas as a comprehensive art display, or to give people a beautiful enjoyment." And the environment here is really beautiful, we hope to record more beautiful things and convey them to the public through artistic creation. As for the scene of poverty and backwardness in the village before the 'three reforms', it is more reflected through the actor's makeup and costumes, and the careful audience can see the mud on the actors. ”
Liu Xiaofeng graduated from the Shanghai Theater Academy, and has starred in film and television works such as "The Death of Wang Bo", "Feng QiuHuang", "The Legend of the White Snake", etc., which are deeply loved by the audience, and there are many video clips made for him by many netizens on the B station. "Flowers and Leaves" made many young people start to chase country dramas from station B, which surprised Liu Xiaofeng.
Previously, he served as a producer and starred in "National Child", which won the championship in CCTV ratings, which is also a main theme. Many people asked him if he would change careers, and Liu Xiaofeng laughed and said, "Actors are still the main business, and producers are only amateurs." In his view, the theme of the main theme is not important, and the audience does not need to divide the age group. Creating drama is a craft, and having been an actor for more than twenty years, he is glad to have mastered this craft. With a good story, presented with technical shooting methods and means, the work will have an audience. "'National Child' moved everyone to tears, and 'Flowers and Leaves' made everyone smile, indicating that I did it." I'm not old, and I can still be liked by young audiences. This also strengthens my direction, no matter what kind of drama, it must be nutritious, and the most important thing is to look good. ”
The success of "Flowers and Leaves" is also inseparable from the vigorous investment of the Shangying Group, from the early to the later stage, the Shanghai Film has a team to participate, and the group leaders have also given important reference suggestions.
On the bullet screen of "Flowers and Leaves", many young people said that this drama made them homesick, which made Liu Xiaofeng feel quite pleased. "In addition to letting more people know about these ordinary and great grassroots cadres, I also hope that through this drama, more young people will be called back to their hometowns, bring back the technologies learned in the city, and build new rural areas."