March 17, 2023 | Total Issue 3178
"Echo" is not suitable for changing movies, and there are too many things to lose if you change it; It is also not suitable for changing a long-form TV series, it is not enough for that capacity, let the screenwriter fill it with water? I don't think it's good.
Complexity is a characteristic of this play, not how complicated the plot is, but the complexity of human psychology and human nature.
The key is to grasp two principles, one is to transform the language of fiction into film and television language; Second, the case line affects the emotional line, and the emotional line in turn affects the case line, and the two lines echo each other to form an "echo".
The last time Feng Xiaogang appeared in people's sights stemmed from a rumor.
In October last year, the news of Feng Xiaogang and Xu Fan emigrating overseas was spread on the Internet, and there were so-called photos as evidence, which caused heated discussions among netizens for a while.
Although we are in an era of "there is no truth", the "three people become tigers" incident is still happening. Feng Xiaogang, who stood at the center of public opinion, posted in the circle of friends: "Buddies can't eat Western food, they have a career in China, the movies are all about family and country feelings, and the country is also kind to me, which people do I move?" "End this farce.
But for him, such a thing is not the first time, and I am afraid it will not be the last. The Internet is like a huge rumor mixer, straddling between celebrities and audiences, people always hold the mentality of "no wind and no waves, no nothing" to eat melons to watch the excitement, and the parties have bitter words.
Coincidentally, the drama "Echo" that Feng Xiaogang was producing at that time was about a story about lies. This is the second online drama he directed after "North and South".
"Echo" started at the end of 2021, was completed on February 17, 2022, and was launched on iQiyi last night (March 16). Feng Xiaogang has frequently changed themes in recent years, and "Echo" and "North and South" are two completely different styles.
Feng Xiaogang likes to do it himself, and since he hangs the director's name, he does his job from beginning to end. He said to us at the time of "The North and the South", "When I was young, I went with the flow, now I go with the flow." ”
On the eve of the start of "Echo", the film and television monologue once again dialed his phone and listened to him talk about the birth of "Echo".
The following is Feng Xiaogang's self-statement.
Thirteen episodes, just right
In 2021, an editor of People's Literature recommended a novel to me. When I looked, it was quite thick, and the name was "Echo".
At first, I didn't pay attention to it, but by the Spring Festival they began to urge me, I said that it was reading, but I didn't expect to read it in one breath. After reading it, I thought to myself, I have to film this story.
One is because of its "winding narrative", which is written on the surface as a suspense case, but in fact has a lot of emotional communication, which appeals to me. Second, when filming "North and South", my cooperation with iQiyi has always been very pleasant, since I have such an opportunity, I have to come again.
In addition, filming "North and South" made me know one thing, that is, I can't make a particularly long drama now. At this age, the real enthusiasm for work in the front line is probably only two months, and beyond this number, attention is easy to lose attention.
"Echo" is not suitable for changing movies, and there are too many things to lose if you change it; It is also not suitable for changing a long-form TV series, it is not enough for that capacity, let the screenwriter fill it with water? I don't think it's good.
Isn't it a popular suspense skit now? I'll shoot thirteen episodes, just right.
After settling down, I went to mobilize the original author of the novel to write the script, and in the process I found that the people who wrote the novel seemed to be particularly resistant to writing the script. The author of "Echo" called something, and he had the experience of changing the novel into a script before, he said that the process was very painful, and after writing it, it was shown to people, and as a result, the producer, director, and actors all came out to give their opinions. Some people don't agree with what he says, but they don't bother to debate.
I said this is not okay, the original author knows best what the dry goods of the novel are, which are the things he cares about, and he still has experience as a screenwriter, the foundation and skills are still there, and it is not necessary to have that taste when changing people.
Seeing that I insisted, he agreed, but still made a request: I will write a draft, don't torture me repeatedly.
But in fact, he was quite responsible, and eventually wrote two or three drafts, and the final product was very close to the shooting book. During filming, the scene sometimes makes some temporary adjustments according to the scene and the state of the actors, and I can't still trouble people by then, so I hired a young screenwriter named Zhang Yaozhi, who had previously worked with me in "North and South".
When filming "North and South", many actors came over to make cameos, many scenes were written temporarily, and this "Echo" also had many good friends to help, such as Huang Xuan, Zhang Jiayi, Guan Hu, etc., but their plays were all in the original script.
From novels to plays, I put logic first
The narrative structure of the original book of "Echoes" is very characteristic, with odd-numbered chapters talking about cases, even-numbered chapters talking about emotions, and finally the case line and emotional line converge in one chapter.
It took about three months to write the script for ten episodes, and it was later filmed as thirteen episodes. He initially preserved the structure of the double lines and parallels. I don't think it's appropriate to handle it this way, the audience should still be more interested in the case, and the emotional line has a threshold. I told him that novels can be written like this, but plays can't be filmed like this, so don't trip yourself up with this structure.
He respected my opinion very much, so he revised another draft, so that the case line and the emotional line were fused together like twisted flowers.
Of course, there are many twists and turns in the adaptation process. Novels are written very freely, such as writing about the protagonist on the way to dinner encountering an event, which he can write for you 10,000 words, and mixed with a lot of personal memories. Can you shoot dramas like this?
Sometimes there are logical problems. In some details, the novel is easy for the audience to understand through words, but once it is visualized, the problem arises.
For example, in the novel, it is written that Zhang San came to find Li Si, came early in the morning, left at night, and then came again the next day, lasting for a week. The audience reads it very clearly, but how do I shoot? Can't you shoot seven shots of him knocking on the door in a row, right?
Let's talk about the dialogue, in the novel, the two people are lying in bed and talking, you can say ten pages of paper one sentence and one sentence, but if you shoot ten pages of paper in a play, the audience can't stand it, so there must be a lot of compression.
In fact, I encountered these problems when filming "I Am Not Pan Jinlian", so I used to do the work ahead.
The key is to grasp two principles, one is to transform the language of fiction into film and television language; Second, the case line affects the emotional line, and the emotional line in turn affects the case line, and the two lines echo each other to form an "echo".
I hope the audience can see the city's pulp
The first choice for the role of Ran Dongdong is Song Jia.
After I read the novel, I sent it to Song Jia, saying that if you look at this novel, I feel that you are quite suitable for playing Ran Dongdong. In about ten days, she wrote to her, saying that there was no problem, I was willing to act.
I have an experience in choosing actors, when the director gives the script to the actor, if he hasn't replied to you for 15 days, then you basically don't need to ask him again. If he thinks the script is good, he will usually talk to you on the phone as soon as he finishes reading it. But if not, then he may not like this character very much, but because of his feelings, he doesn't know how to tactfully refuse, so he will drag it out.
Wang Yang is an old acquaintance and has collaborated in "North and South". After the show was broadcast, the audience's favorability towards him was quite high, it just so happened that Mu Dafu in "Echo" is a professor who writes literary criticism, I think there are not many actors who have this image temperament, Wang Yang is one of them. Talking to him, he promised quite happily.
In fact, from the casting of this drama, you can see a habit of mine, who I just worked with in the last play, and it is easy to think of this person immediately when I prepare for the next play. Wang Yang is like this, and so is Zhu Yuchen and Si Ni. Zhu Yuchen plays Xu Shanchuan, a key character in the murder case, and Ni Ni plays Xu Shanchuan's wife.
Wu You and Bao Bell have not worked together before, but they also left a deep impression on me, especially Bao Bell, I remember the first day he came and told him, can we not shake any baggage in this drama.
He has acted in a lot of comedies before, and I hope he doesn't bring his habits to "Echo", which is still a serious suspense drama after all. Bao Bell's understanding was very high, and he really put it away.
I always thought that a lot of an actor's performance depended on the director's requirements, and the director had to make it clear to them which direction he wanted him to go. Because if you don't ask for anything, he may act in the most accustomed way, but when you ask, he also has understanding, and the presentation is definitely different.
So some people say that there are no bad actors, only bad directors.
After the actors were decided, we reported to iQiyi and got their approval, and on the other side, the crew also moved quickly.
It should be said that the budget of "Echo" is relatively sufficient, I think since there are this conditions, let's set up the scene, so that on the one hand, there is no need to grab the scene, the crew is more calm and relaxed, on the other hand, the texture is good.
When it came time for the official shooting, I felt that this decision was really the right one. For example, there are a lot of rivalry scenes between Ran Dongdong and Mu Dafu, there are more language exchanges, and the two actors act very well and very vigorously, so I like to use long shots to make their confrontations very coherent. If you say two sentences and change the camera, it is easy to destroy the sense of wholeness.
Ran Dongdong and Mudaf lived in a large two-bedroom of 120 square meters, and we built it according to this real size. If it is a real scene, then it can't be filmed, the machine can't be set up, but if you set up the scene, there are living scenes around, which can be disassembled at any time, which brings great convenience to shooting, especially for our sports long shots have more room to play.
So I shoot very well, sometimes a page of lines may be shot in one shot. The advantage of long lenses is coherence, and the disadvantage is that it is easy to lose sight of one or the other, that is, lose focus in the process of camera movement, and do not know who to focus on. A good long shot should be both coherent and have the details of each actor, if you want to do this, you have to use your brain, how the photographer should move on the scene, what is the rhythm of the actor, must be reasonable, can not blindly go into battle.
I have collaborated with Zhao Xiaoding on "Only Yun Knows" and "North and South", and we have a tacit understanding, and this time I invited him to be the director of photography. He is very experienced and efficient, often rehearsing after the actors arrive at the scene, and in the process of positioning, a shooting plan is formed, and the light on Xiaoding's side and the position of the camera are also in place.
Of course, compared with "North and South", this "Echo" is still a little different in image style, more realistic. In the past, I thought that the audience might like to watch some more idealized things, but then I found that this is not necessarily the case, the more realistic things, may be the most attractive to the audience.
So why a 120-square-meter house must be built strictly according to the size is to avoid the sense of suspension as much as possible.
The exteriors are also very rich, this time we went to Hainan Island, which I have always liked, shooting here in winter, the climate is pleasant, and the scene is also very suitable. For example, the mountains of Wuzhi Mountain, as well as the junction of old and new towns, have primeval forests and the sea. Its most characteristic coconut tree is what we avoid, and the tropical scenery is not obvious.
This is a concept I have when photographing the city, I don't like to shoot a completely new area, although the road is wide, clean, and the green belt is well done, but it is very boring to shoot, but some small alleys in the old town, the shooting is very textured and interesting. I hope that the audience can see the pulp of some cities through the drama "Echo".
Human emotions
In life, you always have to learn to deal with all kinds of emotional relationships, parent-child, couple, friends, colleagues, and even love rivals. At a certain moment, it may be just a slight emotion, but if it is placed in the dimension of life, it affects the fate of the characters all the time. This is also an "echo".
Complexity is a characteristic of this play, not how complicated the plot is, but the complexity of human psychology and human nature. I've always thought that a lot of masterpieces become masterpieces because of this complexity, and I hope to try something in that regard.
For example, the relationship between Xu Shanchuan and Xia Bingqing, the audience may think that this is the case at first, but it was later discovered that it turned out to be like that.
Ran Dongdong is an idealist, an emotional perfectionist, and has a very strong belief in love, so she scrutinizes her husband every moment. So how did this paranoid personality come about? When were other people's choices planted? This is what "Echo" has been asking.
I think this is a character that resonates with the audience, that is, how can a woman break through the fog of the case, overcome the mystery of emotions, and overcome her own mild depression?
But she also did it, and this process should make many people who have experienced it feel a sense of substitution.
Mudaf is a mystery, Ran Dongdong doubts his fidelity to marriage, he has been explaining, explaining more, he himself is confused. This is a character lost in the narrative.
We also made a little design on this character, through him to give the audience a psychological test question, that is, do you think he cheated or not? People with different experiences may have different answers.
And their native families, I have heard a saying before that some people have to spend their whole lives healing childhood. So what happened to Xia Bingqing and Ran Dongdong in their original families? Others think that these things have passed, how many years have passed. But in fact, no matter how small the trauma, it will be projected one by one when they face the dilemma later.
I hope that in addition to the suspense of the strong plot, this drama can also bring the audience more thinking emotionally. In the past two years, I have not had other chores, and I have devoted myself to the creation of such a drama, and the two-month filming period has turned a deaf ear to the outside of the window. Now it's steaming on the table, the quality is geometric, please look at it.
[Dialogue/Li Xingwen Written by/Xu Xinqiang, Tin Snare Drum]