The screenwriter's job is to gaze at thousands of people in the world of flowers. Qin Wen loves to see people and also loves to write about people, and the story naturally begins here. From "My First Half of Life", "Golden Years" to "Blossoms", she uses pen and ink to outline the faces of living beings, and the faces and private secrets of living beings pour out along the trend. After "Blossoms", Qin Wen will continue to cooperate with Sunli Media to return to contemporary urban theme creation, and will also unveil a new chapter for herself, "I will try to make the characters sharper, and then turn from sharp to soft." ”
Gray trench coat Hai Studio
White knitted sweater Loro Piana
White wide-leg pants Proceed
When she first received the invitation to Wong Kar-wai's "Blossoms", Qin Wen was unbelievable. At that time, "My First Half of Life" was on the air. That day, Qin Wen accidentally received a phone call at the Shanghai Library subway station, and her friend Li Tian said on the phone: "Director Wong Kar-wai wants to do "Blossoms" and wants to see you. Qin Wen was stunned, thinking that she had misheard. The subway entered the station and quickly drove out, and she stood alone in place, watching the crowd of people coming out, and answered into the phone: "You say it again." ”
The Shanghainese novel "Blossoms" was written by writer Jin Yucheng, and the original book won the 9th Mao Dun Literature Award, and was once regarded by the outside world as one of the best Shanghai novels in history. Wong Kar-wai favored "Blossoms" and decided to put it on the screen, and he has been rubbing his hands for many years. In what way will this original work, which is quite influenced by the novel, be displayed in front of the TV series audience? How will Qin Wen's screenwriting language fit into the familiar and beloved Wong Kar-wai style? These curiosities will be answered in "Blossoms".
Gray trench coat Hai Studio
White knitted sweater Loro Piana
White wide-leg pants Proceed
In previous years, two successful adaptations of Yishu's works made Qin Wen famous and awarded. Speaking about the principles of adaptations, she says: "I respect my instincts, the first time I read a novel I like, find a way to keep what I like, especially the characters. If many places don't look like film, then I'll find a way to change it. If you read the novel and don't feel the characters, don't change it. ”
Qin Wen received strict writing training in the drama department of the Central Academy of Drama in her early years, and after many years in the industry, she still maintains the traditional concept of drama creation: characters and stories come first, and topics and plots can only be placed second. She just wants to start with living characters and write stories that are warm, humorous, or sighing. She often observes those people she meets in countless gaps in life, real people, and if they find it funny, they will ignite curiosity to explore each other's past and present lives. "If [after exploring] it was funny, I wanted to write about him. Will you think what does he have to do with us now? Why do I find it fun? And so it started slowly. ”
Qin Wen's characters probably start with "fun". She is always attracted to people with rich layers, which seems like a natural choice made by a screenwriter's natural curiosity and writing instinct. However, from the perspective of "fun", it is closer to Qin Wen's way of looking at the world, and she is used to letting herself be like peeling an onion, layer by layer, approaching the truth of life with the next bigger question, to describe the grayscale of human nature. Even more so when writing lines. She said that writing lines is like playing a mahjong alone, and what the screenwriter has to do is to design the style of each person who plays mahjong, and then follow different styles to do cards and cards, and cannot play until the end becomes the same person's style.
Asked about the criteria for a good story in Qin Wen's mind, she said: "Long TV series and long novels are particular about characters. When it comes to "Dream of Red Mansions" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", you first think of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang, and then you will remember those plots. The same is true of TV series, if the character itself walks out of the screen, that is to say, the audience will call Ye Jinyan when they see Teacher Chen Daoming, and the first reaction when they see Teacher Xu Di is Xue Zhenzhu, it is a success. ”
When it came to the play, Qin Wen looked very interested. From a professional point of view, she admires Cao Yu, Shakespeare, Chekov, Eugene A. O'Neill's favorite novel is Wuthering Heights. Speaking of film directors, "My favorite is of course director Wong Kar-wai, otherwise I wouldn't have been so excited when I got that call!" ...... The cooperation over several years brought me the deepest feeling... It reminds me of what Ang Lee said: 'Wong Kar-wai is a genius, I'm just a talent.' '[If] Ang Lee is a talent, I'm just a student. When doing the script, Wong Kar-wai can seamlessly switch between God's perspective, first perspective, and third perspective at any time, and I can't do it. And that's just in the screenwriting industry, not to mention directing, art, photography, music, posters and so on. ”
Gray blazer and sequined skirt are by Brunello Cucinelli
During the filming of "Blossoms", Qin Wen would often wait on the set. Talking about the moment she was touched outside the play, she said that she remembered that one day, in order to catch up with the progress of the scene, when everyone was tired, the staff raised their voices a little when talking to one or two elderly group performances, and Wong Kar-wai, who was in front of the monitor, heard it and muttered: "You can't do this to the elderly." Then he ran over and taught the two aunts and uncles how to react almost hand-in-hand.
Regarding "Blossoms", because Wong Kar-wai has not yet put down the guide tube, Qin Wen can only tell us at this moment. Even if it is just a few words, the words are enough to glimpse the cherishing of this cooperation hidden in her heart.
Qin Wen is very good at writing about women, "Golden Years" and "My First Half of Life" let the audience see the fate story of women's growth that seems to be very different, but in fact they have the same path, Qin Wen writes her and her story, to some extent, it is also a story of you and me, she said, hoping to bring a little care to the sad life in front of the TV. In the upcoming episode "They Are Today", she and screenwriter Xu Sijiao wrote about the self-awakening of girls, and once again turned their attention to the issue of women's growth.
"Self-awakening is layered, like peeling an onion, and there is a saying in yoga called 'layer sheath'. For a kindergarten girl, starting to love beauty may be her self-awakening; For a female student who loves beauty, not only to be beautiful on the outside, but also rich on the inside is her awakening; For a woman in her twenties, the world is so big, I want to see that it is her self-awareness; For a pregnant mother, choosing to break up with an unsuitable man and be a single mother is her awakening... You and I don't know how many layers to peel, some people peel and stop, because of the spicy tears, some people can always bravely peel down. But where is the core? I don't know. Or maybe there is no core at all, then will you regret peeling only one onion in your life? Qin Wen said, thinking of the women she wrote again. Luo Zijun and Tang Jing, Jiang Nansun and Zhu Suosuo are actually two sides of the same person, and when they are combined into one, they are perfect women, but once the characters are perfect, they can't write plays, so I separated them. If I had to choose between flamboyance and gentleness, I myself would appreciate the gentle (woman) because I couldn't do it. ”
Qin Wen's Weibo ID is called "not Qin Wen", she recalled watching a Hong Kong movie many years ago, the screen flashed for a moment, and a screenwriter signed "not a woman", she thought it was funny, and simply used a fake and real name to look at it. Later, I heard that it was Hong Kong director Wang Jing who walked the rivers and lakes under the pseudonym "not a woman", and I don't know whether it is true or not. The way she names her characters is also funny to us, she says it is a Chinese opera tradition, and she often uses the names of her friends. When you hear a nice name, you think: Well, you can use it! Qin Wen smiled and said the origin of the name of the male protagonist He Han in "My First Half of Life": "That's the name of the yoga teacher in the past, I used this name when I saw it on the class schedule, I don't know if it affected the teacher's life after that?!" ”
Qin Wen has the tone of a Shanghai woman, acts competently, lives a stable life, and has her own delicacy and elegance. She spends most of her time writing at home, and in her early years she used to write late at night, but now prefers to get up early. She writes every day and works out, and spends four or five days a week going to the gym for an hour and a half. At first, it was to relieve the physical discomfort caused by long-term sitting, and later he became more and more fond of controlling, stabilizing and feeling the sensations of the body. She loves to visit furniture stores, decorate houses, and even imagine herself as an architect. She said that she has a desire to build a perfect home, not necessarily gorgeous, but making people want to stay for a long time without feeling outward. "Chinese call that home." The words 'homely' are important to me. ”
Gray blazer, sequined skirt all by Brunello Cucinelli
Qin Wen has just passed her fortieth birthday, and she is still confused, and the increase in age makes her understand what is the attitude to maintain in the face of life's confusion. She still has an initial passion for screenwriting, which is gradually regarded as a lifelong career, "Every time the story is different, every time the people I work with are different, and every time is a new beginning." In the past, it was not clear what kind of results each time I started, and I was fascinated by this unknown and the effort to do better. At certain moments, she is also particularly wary of certain emotions, "Now there are expectations for some projects, you know what it will be like at the beginning, and you know what will happen if there are no surprises in the end." Now I try to avoid expectation, to expect the unknown and challenges. ”
Going back in time, eighteen-nine-year-old Qin Wen changed the direction of her life for the first time. From childhood to adulthood, Qin Wen, who is quite talented in writing, has won many awards in essay competitions large and small in Shanghai. In Qin Wen's high school years, "Budding" magazine and new concept essay competition swept the country, she participated in the third national new concept essay competition in her third year of high school and won the first prize, and was eligible for admission to Fudan University Chinese. However, an unexpected lecture in Chinese opera made Qin Wen understand for the first time that "there are originally majors who learn to write scripts", and she wanted to try it. When filling out the volunteers, she made a minority choice, "At that time, most teachers thought I should choose Fudan. However, my Chinese teacher, Ms. Gao Yudi, and my history teacher, Ms. Shen Xiao, supported my selection of the play. (They said) Cao Yang No. 2 Middle School mostly went to Fudan and Jiaotong University, but you are the first to go to the Chinese opera, people should not blindly pursue stability, but pursue some interesting things. I remember that Teacher Shen Xiao gave me an envelope with eight hundred yuan inside, and he said that I would give you a ticket to Beijing. ”
Looking back at the road along the way, Qin Wen said that she was the lucky one in the screenwriter. After reading the Chinese opera, she naturally became a screenwriter, and her first work as a signed screenwriter was "Our Youth with Nowhere to Place", she met director Shen Yan, Mr. Chen Daoming and Mr. Cao Huayi of Xinli, and the subsequent works of cooperation made Qin Wen receive praise. Like all screenwriters, Qin Wen has experienced a period of creative glue, "For me, it is quite a difficult process from "Our Youth with Nowhere to Place" to "Hot Mother", like a headless fly, I don't know how to write characters. During that time, I wrote a lot of things that I didn't particularly remember. But at that time, I was young, I kept writing, more than 10,000 words a day, and then suddenly one day I understood. She also admits that the screenwriting industry requires a certain amount of talent, and bluntly said that what is more important is hard work and patience. Screenwriting is a craft work, we often say that a screenwriter for ten years, not that you mix for ten years, but thousands or tens of thousands of words every day to follow the master for ten years. Most of the time, screenwriters are facing themselves with no one to support, which can be painful for people who need to find energy from social activities. No matter how cheerful the screenwriter is, if he is still writing the play word by word, he is always a little withdrawn to varying degrees. ”
Black sleeveless coat, cape-style skirt are /Dior
Tory Burch, a black paneled skirt
Mesh flats Proceed
Immersed in the screenwriting industry for nearly two decades, now as one of the popular screenwriters, Qin Wen lamented that the status of screenwriters has gradually been valued, "Now it is much better than before." I've met producers before who said directly to me, 'The screenwriter is the most expensive in my eyes, which is 10,000 yuan a episode, which is not worth it.'" Now people know the value of a good script and respect the screenwriter more. Even if the IP is adapted, from the past good IP does not need to find a good screenwriter, to the better the IP now, the more it is necessary to find a good screenwriter. ”
Earlier, Qin Wen made an analogy in an interview, "In the industry, some people can see everything clearly like a map, while others walk in it and feel the scenery in front of them." She claimed to be the latter, a person who walked in the environment, and everything had to be carefully understood from every word, flower and grass. Facing the new chapter that is about to be revealed in the New Year, she said: "What about the New Year, I hope everything goes well with "Blossom", in the later urban dramas, I will try to make the characters sharper, and in the future projects, I hope to switch from sharp to soft again." ”
M.C.: The film and television industry has been deeply affected by the epidemic, theaters have been closed and opened repeatedly, and many people will think that this is not a good time to make films. Do you think there is a good time to create content?
Qin Wen: In the past three years of the epidemic, I have been fighting side by side with "Blossoms" most of the time (covering my face and laughing). The movie has been under great pressure in recent years because of the closure of theaters, and the TV series are relatively better, but they are also affected by the general situation. For screenwriters, "small year" is buried in writing the script, "big year" has something to shoot, I am not so anxious.
M.C.: You mentioned in the interview that "urban feeling" is an important part of adapting "The Golden Years" and "My First Half of Life". When you adapted "The Golden Years", you moved the place where the story takes place from Hong Kong to Shanghai, and "Blossoms" is also a story that grew up in Shanghai. As a Shanghainese, what are the things rooted in Shanghai that you bring to your script?
Qin Wen: I didn't really want to distinguish Shanghai from other places, just because I am as familiar with Shanghai as I speak Shanghainese, and if you ask me to write about Beijing and Guangdong, I can't write it. Someone showed me before that a Hong Kong writer wrote stories before and after Hong Kong's handover, and he wrote it very well, but it was not my familiar life, and I knew that I could not write it, or if I wanted to write it, I would need to do a lot of preparation. There are too many small places about Shanghainese to list them all, or I am afraid that I think I have summarized a few, but in fact, it is far from covering everything, just like "I don't know the true face of Lushan Mountain, just because I am in this mountain". I can only ask you to watch the play, just like taking you up a mountain, walking all the way, saying all the way, (from) a flower and a grass to tell you.
Red velvet top Dries Van Noten
Striped trousers AMI
M.C.: In recent years, some works related to Shanghai's regional culture have emerged, such as Jin Yucheng's "Blossoms" and Shao Yihui's "Love Myth". Writing and performing in dialects, what new spaces and possibilities of expression do you think will bring to your creation?
Qin Wen: I think dialects should be preserved and promoted, and "difference" is the value of culture. There are ads before watching IMAX, the advertising slogan says to make you immersive, we don't have that big screen when we watch TV, but the language can, it's surrounding, make you immersive. In addition to hearing, the sense of smell is the same.
Editor: ChicoChan
Photography / Ghost Horse Yi
Written by/Xu Lu
Styling by Simon Qian
Makeup/Yao Li