Recently, a video went viral on the Internet, and many Rolling Stone stars once again gathered to sing the 1990s golden song "Happy Paradise". Pan Yueyun, Huang Yunling, Qi Yu, Zhang Aijia, Xin Xiaoqi, Wan Fang, Wang Xinlian, Liu Ruoying... These familiar names are written together, which has involved many people's youth years.
In fact, this video is from a variety show "Nian Nian Youth" made by Zhang Aijia.
Not long ago, the show ended, shooting a total of eight episodes, from teenager Ding Zhen to ninety-something Huang Yongyu, chatting about the youth they are experiencing and experiencing in the past.
In just eight episodes, Zhang Aijia ran to Haifeng to find "Five People", followed Zhou Huajian in Taipei to find the guest house where he first arrived, and talked to Tan Weiwei about his first love in the Beijing courtyard... Zhang Aijia said that she did not want "Nian Nian Youth" to only be trapped in talking about "what is youth", but let everyone feel that this is youth after watching it, it is a small naughty, brave, naïve, happy, silly impulse.
Zhang Aijia wrote in his interview notes:
Huang Yongyu's editing took a long time and encountered many difficulties, at least 3 versions were cut. We were allowed to go to Huang Laojia to shoot four times, in order not to let the lives of the elderly be affected by our visit, each time we did not design the shooting content in advance, we felt it in each shooting, and then thought about it after each shooting. Many people can only visit Huang Lao once, but we can actually go four times. At the beginning, we wanted to edit according to the chronological order of shooting, but every time we visited Huang Lao and listened to him vividly tell his story, I suddenly felt that cutting according to conventional thinking would miss many of the shining points in his body, and these stories were fragments of his youth, so how to string these interesting stories together, so that everyone knows such an "old man that young people can't miss" is the point that I have been reminding myself in my creation. A few times together, I observed his family play a very important role in his life, and I also filmed a lot of interactions between him and his daughter Heni, which were very moving and not appeared in other shows.
...... We selected some of Huang Lao's literary works and invited Tian Zhuangzhuang, Wang Yaoqing, and Li Wandai to come to the scene to recite and interpret. Among them, there is a dialogue in "The Wandering Man on the River without Worry", and I thought that it could be presented in a dramatic way, so I invited Wang Yaoqing and Li Wanda to perform, and I came to read the narration. In addition, we also did some street mining, and when we found that many young people did not know Huang Lao, I felt sorry that we had so many great literati and artists in China, and what they left behind seemed to be ignored in this era, so I hoped that everyone would be able to recognize this 98-year-old man who continues to create every day.
...... Knowing Huang Lao, let me meet youth again, he said "don't waste your hands under the long sky", I really like this sentence too much.
You can see Zhang Aijia's intentions in every episode. Traveling to many cities, gathering a group of stars and friends, you can feel the energy transmitted by the program from the carefully arranged shots, the carefully polished words, and from the lineup of each recitation. A successful middle-aged film and television worker, from the perspective of an observer, goes to look at stars and artists, talks about some ideas in his heart, and also talks about the youth years that everyone has experienced.
Sometimes with the narration of this show, you will think about some questions, such as the cultural forest built by Huang Yongyu's generation is gradually disappearing with the passing of that generation, how do we continue to learn and create at present, in order to create a big forest of our generation and even the next generation; for example, Li Zongsheng said that he no longer wants to play the role of "Li Zongsheng" now, so who will he be next?
The show carefully arranges everything in each episode, embracing romantic ideals and conveying the heart of a child like gold. Despite being so beautiful, sincerity and quality do not seem to have paid attention, this show is drowned in many more entertaining and visually more "explosive" variety shows, "applauding is not popular".
Is Zhang Aijia doing it wrong? Rather than calm down and walk along the camera, modern people prefer to spend time watching dance, singing, and talent shows full of sensory stimulation.
It may be difficult for us to accurately guess what the market needs, but in the impetuous "entertainment to death" environment, there is such a slightly glowing freshwater pearl waiting for you to pick it up.
Author: Zhou Minxian
Editor: Chen Xihan