"The plot is straight to the heart, and the fiery construction site life looks at it for a while and laughs for a while, and tears in its eyes for a while. The poetic romance and hard struggle of that era left a deep imprint on my heart. This is the evaluation of a netizen on Douban on the TV series "Fiery Red Years" (formerly known as "The Third Line") that is being broadcast on CCTV.
Recently, the large-scale industrial epic TV series "Fiery Red Years" was broadcast on CCTV in a set of prime time, which was based on the national "three-line construction" as the background, and took the famous "three-line" industrial enterprises in Sichuan such as Nineteen Ye, Pangang and Panmei as the story prototype, showing the story of a large number of spirited builders who built a barren land into a new industrial city.
The Red Star News reporter learned that "The Red Years" almost gathered the most senior film and television enterprises and film and television people in Sichuan and Chengdu, in addition to Sichuan Radio and Television Station, Eying Group, Chengdu Tianyin Qilin Film and Television, Sichuan Starry Film and Television, Chengdu Media Group's Bo Rui Communication also participated in the investment, Chen Yongning, Zhao Ming, Xu Jie, Wang Long and other well-known film and television people in Sichuan served as producers, chief producers and producers respectively. Chen Yongning, chairman of Chengdu Tianyin Qilin, said that "The Year of Fire" is a rare work jointly shot by Sichuan film and television people in recent years, and hopes that through this TV series, the clarion call for the revitalization of Sichuan film and television will be blown and more film and television dramas with Sichuan characteristics will be created.
This spirit should be remembered, "As a Sichuan film and television person, you should shoot such a story"
In 2018, Chen Yongning and Zhao Ming saw the script "The Great Third Line" created by the famous writer and screenwriter Ge Fei, which told the story of a group of young people who came to Panzhihua in the barren land and participated in the construction of the "Third Line". After reading the script, Chen Yongning and Zhao Ming could not calm down for a long time, and the two were touched by the spirit of the builders at that time, and the spirit of dedication without fear of hardship in the difficult years. Although decades have passed, this spirit should be remembered, this history can not be forgotten, "as a Sichuan film and television person, we should shoot such stories so that more young people know."
Chen Yongning recalled that when he sent the script to the young people of the company, what surprised him was that these young people in their 20s were tearful and moved by the fate of the characters in the play, "Now the audience of the TV series is young people, if this drama is filmed, young people should also like it."
However, it was not easy to shoot such a main theme work in the film and television environment at that time, and capital chased big IP and traffic stars, and heavy realism obviously could not bear high investment. The harsher reality is that even if it is filmed, most platforms may not pay the bill, and at that time, the investment of tens of millions of dollars is likely to be lost.
Zhao Ming, a producer who has created many main theme dramas such as "The World's Grain Field", "Assault and Assault", "Snowy Eagle", "Plainclothes Detachment" and so on, said that he has an indissoluble relationship with the "third line" construction, and his family was once a worker in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu, and he also worked as an executive in the "third line" construction factory in Deyang. In his view, this drama is very suitable for broadcasting on CCTV, which is a memory of the republic, and film and television people cannot only shoot some entertainment and fantasy things, "as long as we are well-made, I believe that CCTV will definitely buy it."
Still
After many communications with screenwriter Ge Fei, at the end of October 2018, Chen Yongning and Ge Fei signed a film and television copyright, and then set up a project in Chengdu. According to Chen Yongning, the cost of purchasing copyright was only a few million, far lower than the soaring price of ancient costumes and fantasy copyrights at that time. In fact, Ge Fei finished writing the work in 2014, but did not buy it by the film and television company for a long time, "mainly because the realistic theme was snubbed at that time." During this period, there were also some film and television companies that wanted to buy, but Ge Fei had high requirements for collaborators and asked them to ensure the quality of their works."
After the TV series was established, Ge Fei and Zhao Ming and Chen Yongning acted separately, and Ge Fei went to Panzhihua again to interview and improve the script; Zhao Ming and Chen Yongning began to find more investment, and Successively Sichuan Radio and Television Station, Eying Group, and BoRui Communication under Chengdu Media Group participated. "This drama brings together all the leading film and television enterprises and professional talents in Sichuan, which is almost unprecedented." Chen Yongning still remembers that Han Mei, chairman of Eying Group, said excitedly at that time that this drama is a collective voice of Sichuan film and television people, hoping that after broadcasting, it will drive Sichuan Film and Television to revitalize again.
We collected "three-line" construction objects in Panzhihua, which almost led to the local collection fever, and Pangang stopped work to support our shooting
"An important model for this drama is the tripartite cooperation between the government, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, which will also become a model for our investment in the future." Chen Yongning introduced that among the investors of this drama, the investment of the Panzhihua Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government accounted for the majority, and it also gave strong support in many aspects such as manpower and material resources during filming. Zhao Ming also thanked the production team for their dedication and the full support of panzhihua units at all levels, the main scene is located in Gaojiaping, Panzhihua West District, when the local was about to be demolished, for the crew shooting, especially stopped the demolition, "after the end of filming, our scenes have been retained, and now it has become a popular local punch card." When Pangang was filming, the company temporarily stopped work, "For a large enterprise like Pangang, the loss of work stoppage is very large, which shows the support for our shooting."
Because it is a period drama, most of the industrial equipment and equipment in the play are difficult to find. If it is to be remade, the cost is bound to be high. To this end, the crew searched for film and television bases across the country, and also mobilized the crew to collect in Panzhihua, "We collected the objects of the 'three-line' construction in Panzhihua, which almost drove the local collection fever." Zhao Ming said that he finally found more than 200 old objects from local residents. More fortunately, I also found some of the equipment of that year in the old warehouse of a rural supply and marketing cooperative in Xichang, such as old-fashioned rattan hats, crawler tractors, lifting equipment, etc., which solved a big problem.
Filming location
According to Zhao Ming, another important filming location for this drama is Qingbaijiang, and the hospital, kindergarten, and mailbox no. 1 in the play are the scenes built in Qingbaijiang. In order to save money, some scenes are used repeatedly, one scene is used multiple times, and the shooting time is extended as much as possible, such as the lead actor Sun Ning taking the initiative to lengthen the shooting time, and Zhu Hongjia, who plays Chen Guomin in the play, is stationed in the crew for a long time. With the concerted efforts of the whole crew, the green game was advanced by more than 10 days, saving at least a few million.
Chen Guomin's prototype sent me messages every day, saying that he was watching with tears
After "The Red Years" was broadcast on CCTV, Chen Yongning and Zhao Ming received text messages from the "third-line" builders almost every day. "In the play, Chen Guomin's wife came to visit him with her child holding a chicken, and the prototype of this character sent me messages every day, saying that she was watching with tears." Chen Yongning recalled that after the CCTV jury watched this drama, the evaluation was very high, and some judges said that they cried several times and felt that the characters in the play always had a high-spirited aura.
Zhao Ming said that during this time, he has been hearing everyone talking about the "three-line spirit", what is the "three-line spirit"? In fact, it is the spirit of self-reliance and relying on their own strength to achieve their dreams. Such a spirit has a special meaning for the present, everyone wants a happy life, in addition to having a wish, but also to pay sweat, want to live happily, then you must work hard, in the waves of the times fluttering.
Red Star News reporter | Qiu Junfeng
Editor| Li Xueli
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