"More than End": How Bai Ke and Zhang Songwen reshaped the golden age of journalists

"I want to write about the growth of a person, I want to write about the process of people longing to dream and get close to their dreams."

Since its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020, the movie "More Than Endless" has been highly anticipated, with Jia Zhangke as a producer escort, acting Zhang Songwen and Bai Ke starring, a rare journalist theme in domestic films... All make the expectations of this movie full. After more than two years, the film was finally officially released in China.

"Endless" is quite sharp and sharp in terms of subject matter and presentation, restoring the golden age of print media in 2003, paying tribute to the era of idealism, and also caring for the changes in the fate of hepatitis B virus carriers through the perspective of journalists.

Wang Hongwei, who has produced and planned many blockbusters, commented that some movies in recent years are warm realism, but he believes that movies do not need to be a warm baby, if the film is serious rather than entertainment commercial film, then what reality is, what the film should be made, this is the real realism. "More Than Endless" does just that, which is rare.

"More Than Endless" is a rare film in China with a reporter as the protagonist.

Director Wang Jing revealed that this work is actually a proposition creation for him, the main producer of the film, Momo Pictures, which had just been established at that time, and the company was almost from top to bottom was a media practitioner who transformed into a film, and they hoped to use the film to tell a story with a reporter as the protagonist.

Although it is a propositional composition, it also coincides with Wang Jing's own value orientation. After graduating from college, he has been looking for the story of his feature film debut, and he found that when many young directors participate in venture capital, they write stories of people around them, which is a very personal narrative, "But for the more general social level, whether this thing is universal, I'm not sure, so I will reflect on this matter, until one day I heard director Jia Zhangke recommend to me that there is a newly established film company, and I want to make a film with reporters as the main line, I suddenly opened, I think journalists have the same perspective as I have always wanted, journalists are the same as we make films, observing, discovering, recording, and then adding my own understanding or imagination of the world to the process, so I think this entry point is what I can do. ”

"More than Endless", Baike

After determining the perspective of the reporter, Wang Jing sorted out the development process of traditional Chinese media, and he found that the time node at the beginning of the millennium was the most special.

With the opening of market-oriented newspapers in the mid-to-late 90s and the rapid expansion of the media industry, Wang Jing chatted with those who experienced that era and found that it was an era full of possibilities. As shown in the movie, when the Internet was just emerging, a person's views could be appreciated as a journalist if they were seen by the editor-in-chief of a newspaper on the online platform.

"A person told me that he originally studied law, saw the newspaper recruiting people and went to take the exam, the result passed, at that time he thought he was going to be a legal counsel, but he was directly led to the social special affairs department, so he became a reporter, he never learned what a journalist does, but you think, all kinds of people exist in this industry, so it makes this industry very interesting and vivid, so we want to write about the vivid era, the possible era, about 2003, 2004."

"More than Endless", Zhang Songwen, Bai Ke

After determining the year of the story, Wang Jing went to find the most influential topics and news events of that year. After watching a lot of thrilling topics, Wang Jing believes that the topic of hepatitis B is very unique, because it is about the problem of people's hearts, "Doing this theme is not what everyone says 'medicine god', one person helps many sick and weak people, we clearly want to write about a person's growth, want to write about the process of people's longing for dreams and approaching dreams." ”

Cutting into a year and the major events in it from the perspective of a journalist, "More Than Endless" finally presents a real, even documentary-like texture of the times.

There are two parts of the film that Wang Jing herself cherishes.

First, a real hepatitis B virus carrier was invited to appear on the camera and reveal his heart in the form of a film-within-a-film. "For me, it's probably more important than how many awards a movie wins, how much box office a movie gets, I think they're seen and remembered."

Second, the reporters sitting at the desk in the newspaper empire at the beginning of the film are all real practitioners in the golden age of print media.

"More than Endless", Zhang Songwen

In the scene of the theme selection meeting in the film, Wang Jing finally decided to find twelve old reporters to star, which means the twelve knights of King Arthur, and the reporter is very similar to the knight, or holds a pen or a knife to guard what he identifies. Before the filming of that scene, Wang Jing has always been a little anxious about how this topic should be opened and what should be discussed, he hopes to restore the atmosphere of equal discussion and professionalism of the newspaper office through this scene, and the crew even preset some topics for a while, but they felt that they were not good enough, and finally decided to let the "Twelve Horsemen" play freely.

"I told them, today I just want to have a topic selection meeting, please preset some topics or recall the more impressive topic selection meeting of the year, you go to discuss, and then I really take a step back, like a recorder, just shoot their quarrel, those lines are not written by me, they are all said by themselves." Because they used to be like that, I shot that shot for maybe ten or twenty minutes, just like a documentary, filming their quarrel all the time, arguing about one topic and then talking about the next, and then another person throwing out a new topic.

In fact, when I shot for ten minutes, I already knew that everything I wanted was already available, but I couldn't bear to shout to stop, I wanted to hear more of that scene, in fact, I kept shedding tears when I looked at the monitor that day, I think there was such a group of people who really discussed these issues, they discussed the dignity of a person, discussed the boundaries of journalism, discussed what is professional, discussed what is the responsibility and care of the media to society. I've been listening to them talk about these things, and I feel like I'd want to listen to them a little longer. ”

"More than Endless", Zhang Songwen

"More Than Endless" is an elegy dedicated to the golden age of print media, in the film we recall and relive that era, and the real old journalists recorded by the camera are also the image treasures left by this film.

Restore the real texture of an era, not only by the story and events, but also by the actors' performances.

Writer Zheng Yuanjie described Zhang Songwen as a writer and journalist delayed by the performance, and this performance in "More than Endless" can be said to be a silent appearance. The advantage of Baike is that ordinary and ordinary face, which gives him the ability to shape the role of "one person with a thousand faces".

For Han Dong, the protagonist of the intern reporter, Wang Jing positions the actor as a mortal who can act. Baike's classic character Wang Sledgehammer is like this, which can make everyone believe that I am the same as him, but Baike has a cultured face and a stubborn energy, which is in line with the temperament of the fledgling intern reporter.

"More than Endless", Baike

After settling on the role of Han Dong, Wang Jing began to think about what his master Huang Jiang was like. Old journalists are supposed to be mature and sophisticated, but beyond these traditional traits, Wang Jing hopes to have some unique personal characteristics.

"Everyone had the impression that the reporter was a literati and a pen, and we wanted to find some more interesting symbols, so we discussed that he could be a hunter, he didn't sit at the desk, so when we arranged his desk, it was very messy, because he wasn't sitting there, he had to run out, he had to keep finding the prey, and then bring the prey back." Coupled with the background color of intellectuals, some old ways and smooth, his level is very much, Teacher Songwen is very suitable, he has an intellectual face, and has also experienced a lot of human feelings and warmth, sorrow and joy, as a journalist is very reasonable. ”

When Wang Jing and Zhang Songwen met for the first time, the two did not talk about the script, and Zhang Songwen told him three or four stories like an old friend. One of them said that he was very confused when he just graduated from film school, and he didn't know whether to stick or give up, and he was embarrassed to go home during the New Year, so he thought of going to talk to the teacher to get some advice. When he went out, he held a bottle of wine in one hand, a good wine that he had saved for many years, and in the other hand he carried a bag of garbage, which he had saved during the New Year, ready to throw it away by the way. On the way to the teacher's house, he was thinking all the way about how to open his mouth to give the wine out, he didn't know what the teacher would think of his behavior, and when the teacher opened the door, he was very embarrassed to hand over the gift, only to find that it was a bag of garbage.

Zhang Songwen and Wang Jing shared several similar stories, "I think I understand what he is doing very well", Wang Jing said, "He first fully understood the script, and then shared some of his imagination of the characters in this script from his personal experience, and told a few short stories in this very four-way way, I think this is not Huangjiang?" ”

"More than Endless", Zhang Songwen, Bai Ke

There is a highlight in "More than Endless", which is a dispute between the master and apprentice of Huang Jiang and Han Dong over whether to publish. Huang Jiang angrily ripped off Han Dong's work card, and Han Dong gave up his low-hanging fruit and chose not to publish.

Many viewers are discussing this scene, and some people think that they already know that other newspapers are doing the same topic, and if they don't post it, someone else will post it, why can't they first post the manuscript and then add a new one?

Wang Jing revealed that this scene is also a scene that he and the actor have discussed in depth.

"I talked with Teacher Songwen and Bai Ke for a long time, and there were many things mixed in that scene, the emotions of the elders and juniors, the recognition of values, the following and recognition and self-discovery, the ethics of journalism, the difference in the characteristics of the two people as human beings, are all mixed in that scene, so it is not so simple to judge in a calm utilitarian way, saying that I send one first and then send one, I don't think so."

Bai Ke said that when he was confused, he would feel that whether he could publish or not was actually the same, but after sober thinking, he felt that the essence was completely different, because it involved whether Han Dong was behind the whole thing. "Of course, if you don't post others, but if you participate in such a report, your heart will be uneasy, and since you have the opportunity to directly do a more comprehensive report, you don't want to say that I will first post a completion of myself, and then do more things to make up for this matter, or let this matter have new development." Perhaps what was considered at that time was not journalistic ethics, nor the result of this incident, but respect for inner feelings. ” 

"More than Endless", Baike

This highlight scene was filmed several times, and the action of pulling the work card was designed by Zhang Songwen. After filming that day, Wang Jing casually put the work card into his pocket, and when everyone ate a late-night snack in the early morning, he inadvertently felt out the work card with "Beijing Times Intern Reporter Han Dong" written on it from his pocket, and suddenly felt full of emotion, at that moment he felt that the scene was particularly good, and the two actors were already the characters themselves.

The master-apprentice line between Huang Jiang and Han Dong in "More Than Ending" is very vivid, and to some extent, this may also be the projection of Wang Jing and his Bole Jia Zhangke outside the play.

After Wang Jing joined Jia Zhangke's directing team, he was the executive director in "Destiny", when he used a relatively simple way to deal with a small problem in clothing, Jia Zhangke lost his temper with him after discovering it, telling him that this was wrong and unacceptable, and that this flaw would be seen by everyone on the big screen and would remain in the movie forever.

"More than Endless", Jia Zhangke

The exchanges and conflicts in these collaborations allowed Wang Jing to slowly learn how to be a director. "More than Endless" once posted a tidbits of the master-apprentice relationship, Jia Zhangke forwarded on Weibo when he said that "the master leads the door to practice in the individual", Wang Jing felt at the moment, is this ordering me? So he replied that "it's worth making this movie."

In Wang Jing's view, Huangjiang is to Han Dong, just like Jia Zhangke is to him, this relationship is based on the recognition of an elder to the younger generation, which is a kind of learning and following, but in the process there will be differences, contradictions, detours, and young people must also find themselves in these twists and turns.

"The scene where Han Dong quarreled with Huang Jiang was actually the moment when he was really reborn: I adore you very much, I want to be you. Until one day, I found that I could seem to be myself. ”

"More than Endless", director Wang Jing

With the reporter as the main character line, the content of hepatitis B virus carriers was added in the second half, which made the topics discussed in "More than Endless" more complicated. But in the eyes of some viewers, the first half discusses the ideals of journalism, and the second half speaks for hepatitis B virus carriers, and some are separated back and forth.

Regarding the controversy that the film received, Entertainment Studio also directly raised questions with director Wang Jing.

He said that when he first chose the topic of hepatitis B virus carriers, he decided to eliminate the kind of story that is very much in line with everyone's imagination of investigative journalists, "The kind of story that does not enter the tiger's den and finally obtains the true scripture through nine nine eighty-one difficulties may be very beautiful and dramatic, but it is not the same as what our film wants to explore from the surface story to the deep, human level." ”

When in-depth study of the group of hepatitis B virus carriers, Wang Jing found a concept called "stigma", which means that this group of people were originally patients, but because they had infectious diseases, under the lack of overall social cognition and moral pressure, this group of patients seemed to become a group of perpetrators, feeling that they would hurt others and feel ashamed, so they closed themselves off, no longer talked about the disease and did not dare to fight for their own rights and interests.

"More than Endless", Song Yang

"In the process of my contact with hepatitis B virus carriers, I strongly felt that many people have this stigma, which made me think for a long time, what made these people choose to be silent and choose not to speak up for their own little possibility of getting better? What are the consequences of silence? In fact, what we have been trying to talk about in the movie is this thing, and this thing may be directly related to journalists and the media.

In the process of contacting reporters, I learned from them to look at a thing, the person Huang Jiang in the movie, there are some similar character prototypes to him, this kind of person is actually always looking at all problems with a skeptical eye. This movie actually talks about this thing a lot of times, that is, is what we see true? Is it true that it is written? Is it necessarily true that what is established is true? Shall we think about it, explore what the possibilities are? ”

"More than Endless", Hu Tianyu

Wang Jing believes that objectively speaking, the line of hepatitis B virus carriers and journalists is actually essentially a story, and the story of hepatitis B virus carriers in the second half is closely related to the framework built in the first half.

"There is a sentence in it, I don't know how much the audience will receive, when Han Dong interviewed the mother of the mine disaster, the mother told a very sad story softly, she said that her son got back a sum of money when he came home for the New Year two years ago, and he was quite happy at the time, because he brought a little more money home for the New Year, and his mother asked him where the money came from, he said that it was because there was an accident in the mine two days ago, and the mine manager paid everyone a hush money, and everyone stopped discussing this issue after taking the money.

What are the consequences of hush money? What are the consequences of silence? It is this thing that will repeat itself at some point, and the result of repeating itself is that you will pay for the silence at that time. The same is true of the hepatitis B virus carriers behind, the silence they choose in shame, we can't blame it, that's an individual choice, but silence must not be the best result and way, in fact, this movie is about such a thing. ”

"More than Endless", Baike

As a debut film of a new director, "More Than Endless" has a bold theme, a new perspective, and a valuable social issue to explore, and this spirit of daring to shoot is worthy of recognition, and such a realistic realistic work should also be seen by more audiences.

Jia Zhangke once told Wang Jing that people cannot self-censor, especially young people, and they must face it first.

I hope that there will be more sincere and powerful works like "More Endless" on the big screen.

"More than Endless", Zhang Songwen