The Manifesto of the Drama Movement Movement
Cao who
Prologue Drama novels in the era of drama
According to the course of literary development, the agricultural society is the era of lyrical literature dominated by poetry, the industrial society is the era of narrative literature dominated by novels, and the information society is the era of dramatic literature dominated by film and television literature. The development of literature is closely related to technology, the development of lyrical literature is closely related to the development of written letters, the development of narrative literature is closely related to the invention of papermaking and printing, and the development of film and television literature is closely related to the development of camera communication. Therefore, the golden age of lyrical literature and narrative literature has passed, and now it is the golden age of film and television literature, but any art form is just to transform the original literary spirit into it. The initial development of the long novel drew a lot of nourishment from lyric poetry, and the development of film and television literature must also absorb nourishment from narrative literature. Film and television only have a history of hundreds of years, literature from Mesopotamia's "Gilgamesh", has a history of four thousand years, this is like the formation of coal, the human spirit used to be compressed in literature, now the film to be on fire, it is best to ignite the coal of literature, in order to have a continuous and high-quality power. Therefore, film and television literature can continue to tap the driving force from literary classics, I think it is still only in the initial development stage, and there are still many literary resources in classical literary works around the world that can be tapped.
Now is in the stage of alternation of narrative literature and film and television literature, I think this is an opportunity, I hope that more excellent writers can be foresighted, devote themselves to the creation of film and television literature, in order to achieve the direct conversion of literature and film and television, the screenwriter of the TV series "Langya List" is the novel author Hai Yan, and one of the screenwriters of the TV series "Game of Thrones" is also the novel author George Martin. So I myself as a crossover writer and screenwriter, I have also experienced this transformation, starting with "Snow Leopard Prince" and releasing books and dramas simultaneously.
Now the film and television industry is facing a script shortage, but the writers' circle is facing no way out for their works. The circulation of traditional literary works has been declining year by year, and the remuneration has also decreased year by year, but traditional writers are full of prejudice against film and television literature, and even think that film and television literature is low and unwilling to engage in it, of course, there are also situations where they cannot do it. So the best way to solve this dilemma is to connect directly, for which I propose the concept of "drama novel".
The differentiation of genres is originally a last resort, because literature should be one, and the convergence of styles will produce new genres, poetry and prose converge to produce prose poetry, poetry and fiction converge to produce narrative poetry, poetry and drama converge to produce poetry drama, why can't the convergence of novel and drama produce "drama novel"? I think the times are calling for the emergence of this new genre. My idea is that based on the structure of film and television dramas, that is, the classic four-act drama model of "beginning, development, climax, and end", many structures can be derived, which can basically be directly adapted, which can be like American commercial films, European art films, and Japanese and Korean oriental dramas. The novel elements and the script elements themselves have a correspondence, the characters correspond to the characters, the story corresponds to the plot, and the environment corresponds to the scene, which not only ensures the literary nature, but also increases the drama, so that narrative literature and film and television literature can achieve natural docking. Literature will provide a steady stream of impetus for film and television culture.
In this article, I explore the transformation mode of literature and film, so that the human civilization condensed in literature can be better transformed into film. In fact, from literature to film, is from text to picture, if the creator is both a writer and a playwright, cross-border literature and film, then only care about the transformation of the way of thinking, can be described as a thought.
The arts are all connected, the ancient talent Qinqi is proficient in painting and painting, Su Shi's poetry, calligraphy and painting are a must, playwright Tang Xianzu's poetry and ancient literary attainment are also very deep, Leonardo da Vinci is proficient in almost all arts, and Shakespeare's sonnets are also very good. Modern Chinese-speaking writers abound in cross-border literature and film and television, such as Mo Yan, Zou Jingzhi, Liu Cixin, Zhu Sujin, Liu Zhenyun, Yan Geling, Liu Heng, Mai Jia, Shi Kang, Hai Yan, Qiong Yao, etc., most of them have achieved good achievements in literature and film and television. The same is true of modern Western writers, such as Francis Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, Stephen King, author of The Shawshank Redemption, George Martin, author of Game of Thrones, Thomas Harris, author of The Silence of the Lambs, William Goldman, screenwriter of The Heart of Atlantis, Ruth Jabwala, screenwriter of The Room with a View, Alan Power, screenwriter of American Beauty, Nora Epron, screenwriter of "Home with a Fairy Wife", and "Gladiator" screenwriter John Logan, Charlie Kaufman, screenwriter of "Adapted Screenplay", etc., most of them are also writers and Hollywood gold medal screenwriters.
When creating a film, the director must also have the thinking of a writer. There is a type of film director called "author director", European art film directors, mostly influenced by the "author film theory" of Truffaut, the founder of the French New Wave movement, they use the lens as a writer's pen to create. The famous critic Bazin is also an active advocate, arguing that "authorship is nothing more than the application of a theory that is widely recognized in other arts to film". Bazin's point of view is exactly what I want to express as a spiritual transformation from writer to playwright. China's sixth generation of directors is heavily influenced by the films of European authors, and Jia Zhangke's films can be said to be literature written through the lens, and Jia Zhangke himself is also an excellent essayist. For these directors, it's just a pen replaced with a lens.
A key issue in the transformation from literature to film: the correspondence of two sets of codes
From literature to film, from text to picture, it is the correspondence of two sets of different codes. All literary and artistic works can be divided into levels, and both Eastern and Western literary theories have a hierarchical theory of literary and artistic works, and the Cao Wei metaphysicist Wang Bi's view of the "three levels of speech and imagery" echoes the Polish aesthete Roman Ingarden's view of the "five levels of text" [ Tong Qingbing Literary Theory Course[M]. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 1998].
Wang Bi said in "Zhou Yi Liuzhi Ming Xiang": "Those who are husband and elephant are also unexpected." The one who speaks, the one who sees it. Do everything you want, just like Mo Ruoyan. Words are born of images, so words can be found to visualize; Images are born of intention, so they can be found to visualize meaning. Images are exhausted, images are written in words. Therefore, the one who speaks is clear, but he forgets to speak; The elephant is so intentional, proud and forgetful. So the hoof is in the rabbit, and the rabbit forgets the hoof; Therefore, the fish is in the fish, and the fish is forgotten. [ Wang Bi. Wang Biji School Interpretation[M].Building Lie, School Interpretation. Beijing:Zhonghua Book Co., 1980. The text is divided into three levels: "image", "image" and "speech".
Inggarden is a phenomenologist, phenomenology is to "restore" the "object of reality", for this reason Ingarden divided the basic structure of the text into four layers: (1) the sound of words and the higher phonetic construction based on the sound of words; (2) different levels of meaning units; (3) a hierarchy consisting of a variety of schematic physiognomies, physiognomy continuums and physiognomy series; (4) The hierarchy consisting of the object of representation and its various variations. On these four levels, he also proposed "metaphysical qualities", which are "such as the sublime, tragic, terrible, horrifying, inexplicable, diabolical, sacred, guilty, sad, unspeakable light flashing in luck, and grotesque, coquettish, light, and egalitarian" [Polish] Roman Ingarden. Dissertation works[M].Zhang Zhenhui, trans. Kaifeng: Henan University Press, 2008.], which can be considered as the fifth level of text. To sum up, the text can be divided into these five levels: speech construction layer, meaning unit layer, schematic view layer, reproduction object layer, and metaphysical upper layer.
In the layering of texts, we find that there is a correspondence between Wang Bi's theory and Ingadeng's theory [ ZHOU Jin. Theoretical differences between "different paths" or "colorful appearances" ?—— "verbal imagery" and Ingaden's literary works[J]. Journal of Leshan Normal University, 2013], Wang Bi's "meaning" corresponds to Ingarden's "metaphysical upper layer" and "reproduction object layer", Wang Bi's "image" corresponds to Ingadeng's "schematic view layer" and "meaning unit layer", and Wang Bi's "speech" corresponds to Ingarden's most basic "phonological construction layer".
Wang Bi's layered theory has the integrity of the East, while Ingarden's has the modernity of Western theory, and when constructing the adaptation mode of literature and film, it can be conceptually summarized by Wang Bi's theory, and Ingarden's theory is more operable when analyzing works specifically. Therefore, combining these two theories, the text can be divided into three levels and five aspects, namely "theme-main control idea" corresponding to "meaning", "story-structure", "person-role", "environment-scene", "language-lens" corresponding to "speech", and I will discuss it in detail in five aspects.
Two meanings: theme - the main control idea
"Meaning" refers to the theme, and the theme of literary works and the theme of film works are common at this level, both refer to the meaning expressed in the work. According to Ingarden's layered theory, the theme is divided into two levels, "reproduction object layer" and "metaphysical upper layer", in fact, there are indeed two levels, the reproduction object layer is the main theme of the story level expressed in the work, and the metaphysical upper layer expresses the unspoken meaning of the story, or as Ingarden said, "ineffable light", excellent works have metaphysical meaning. The diversity and richness of the themes of excellent works will also be directly reflected in the number of adaptations.
Cao Xueqin's "Dream of Red Mansions", "reproducing the object layer" is the process of the four major families of Jia Shi Wang Xue from prosperity to decline, and the meaning of "metaphysical upper" should be deepened, as Lu Xun's evaluation, "Scholars see Yi, Taoists see adultery, Caizi sees lingering, revolutionaries see Pai Man, and gossip sees Gong Xun" [ Lu Xun. Supplement to the collection of extra-collection collections[M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1995.], which shows the complexity of the "metaphysical" meaning of this book. We can explain it as the process of disintegration of feudal society, we can also explain it as the triple tragedy of Jia Baoyu, and it can also be seen as a philosophical void, which is why there is a discipline of "red studies". Since "Dream of Red Mansions" is the peak of Chinese literature, there are many adapted versions, including the 1927 film directed by Peng Nian, the 1929 Cheng Shuren director's version of the film, the 1944 Bu Wancang director's version of the film, the 1949 Zhou Shilu directed the film, the 1962 Yuan Qiufeng director's version of the movie, the 1962 Cen Fan director's version of the movie, the 1989 Xie Tieli director's version of the movie, the 2018 Hu Mei director's version of the movie, and the 2018 Wu Xingxiang director's version of the movie; At least 46 versions of at least 46 versions of the 1975 Hong Kong TVB TV series, 1977 Hong Kong Jiatv TV series, 2017 Gao Zhanquan director's version of the movie, 1978 Taiwan China TV version of the TV series, 1983 Taiwan China TV version of the TV series, 1987 CCTV version of the TV series, 1996 Taiwan China TV version of the TV series, 2010 Li Shaohong version of the TV series, 2017 Hunan Satellite TV version of the TV series, etc. The themes of these adapted film and television works naturally have their own emphasis, respectively expressing the adaptor's personal interpretation of the original theme.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the "object layer of reproduction" is the story of Prince Hamlet's revenge, and the theme of "metaphysical" is richer, the so-called "a thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets". There are also many adaptations of Hamlet. Italian 1917 film directed by Elateri Rodolfi, German 1921 film directed by Sven Gade, India 1935 directed by Sorab Modi, British 1948 film directed by Lawrence Oliver, India 1954 Kishore Sahu directed film, American 1964 film directed by Joseph Piper, Soviet Union 1964 film directed by Grigory Shapiro, American 1964 film directed by John Gilgood, Argentina 1964 film directed by David S. Stiwell directed the TV movie, Sweden 1955 Alf Sjoburg directed the film, the UK 1964 Philip Saveler and other directed films, the UK 1969 Tony Richardson directed the film, the United States 1970 David Giles directed the TV movie, Italy 1978 Camilo Beni directed the film, France 1979 Renault Saint-Pierre directed the TV movie, the United States, Britain and France 1990 Franco Zeferelli directed the film, the United States 1990 Kevin J. Klein directed the TV movie, the British and American 1996 Kenneth Brenner directed the film, the Polish 2004 Lukaš Bazik directed the TV movie, the American 2000 Mike Almerred directed the film, the United States 2000 Campbell Scott directed the TV movie, the French 2000 Brian Ragner directed the TV movie, the Canadian 2005 Justin Crow directed the film, the British 2007 Lakesander Fodo directed the film, the British 2009 Gregory Tiger Dowlan directed films, Canadian 2011 Bruce Ramsey directed films, etc., at least 40 adaptations. Each adaptation is a unique interpretation of the theme of Hamlet.
The theme of excellent literary works will become a motif, and there will be many filmmakers who creatively adapt it, and these literary works have become the "big IP" mentioned above, deriving a large number of adapted film and television works, and these film and television works will form an intertextual relationship and jointly interpret this theme.
Many novels in Qing Dynasty writer Pu Songling's "Liaozhai Zhi Yi" have been adapted, among which "Nie Xiaoqian" tells the love story of Nie Xiaoqian, a female ghost of Liaozhai, who breaks through the boundaries between man and ghost, and has been adapted into the movie "Qiannu Ghost" many times, and has also become a motif of oriental ghost love. 1960 film directed by Li Hanxiang and starring Lottie, 1987 film directed by Cheng Xiaodong and starring Wang Zuxian, 1987 film directed by Pig Geliang and starring Xu Xiunian, 2003 TV series directed by Li Huizhu and starring Xu Xiyuan, 2011 film directed by Wilson Yip and starring Liu Yifei, and TV series directed by Zhong Shujia and starring Zheng Shuang in 2019, there are nearly 20 adaptations. In these films, the audience is most concerned about the image of Nie Xiaoqian, and each adaptation creates a unique ghost Nie Xiaoqian.
The fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" by French 18th-century writer Madame Jean-Marie Beaumont shows the unique love between a melancholy and noble lady and an indifferent and paranoid gentleman, which is a favorite motif of Western movies. France 1946 film directed by Jean Cocteau, American 1991 Disney cartoon, Australian 2009 David Liszt directed film, American 2012 TV series directed by Eves Simonho, American 2012 animated film directed by Gary Trothall, American 2012 film directed by Stewart Grande, French 2014 film directed by Christopher Gans, American 2015 musical directed by Robert Ross, American 2017 Bill A. Condon directed films, etc., with at least twenty adaptations. Each adaptation is a rendition of the theme of Beauty and the Beast.
The theme is called "master idea" in film studies, and Robert Mackee defined the master idea in his famous book "The Story" as follows: "The master idea can be expressed in a sentence, describing how and why life changes from one state of existence at the beginning of the story to another state at the end of the story." The dominant idea has two components: value plus reason. "[ [US] Robert McKee. Story: Material, structure, style and principle of screen play[M]. Beijing:China Film Press,2001. P138] He analyzes The Dangerous Relationship directed by British director Stephen Freis, based on the novel of the same name by French novelist Pierre Laclos, whose main idea is that "hatred destroys us because we have fear of the opposite sex". We concocted and analyzed the main control idea of "Qiannu Ghost" directed by Cheng Xiaodong, whose main control idea is "justice defeats evil, because people and ghosts break boundaries and love each other". This is also the theme of the story in Pu Songling's novel "Nie Xiaoqian", Nie Xiaoqian married into Ning Caichen's family, not only eliminated Ning Caichen's suspicion, but also eliminated the gap with his mother and other relatives, and finally broke through the boundary between humans and ghosts.
When a playwright begins to adapt a literary work, he must first fully understand the theme of the original work, and then determine the theme idea that the film wants to express, and all the stories, characters, scenes, and details must be selected around the main control idea. Film is a dramatic art, which requires concentrated contradictions and conflicts, all additions and deletions must be carried out around the main control idea, and then there will be the best choice for each link.
For script writing, the standard of plot trade-offs, my mentor, the famous playwright and poet Mr. Zou Jingzhi, called it "the commanding height of meaning"[ Zou Jingzhi. Zou Jingzhi's drama collection[M]. Beijing:Writers Press,2016. P6], he wrote in "Inkstone Words": "The reason why writing a play in the choice of plot is so, and not like that, is by no means determined by truth or unreality, but by the commanding heights of the meaning you expect to reach." This is the principle of adaptation trade-offs, all around the "dominant idea" or "the commanding heights of meaning".
Three Elephants: Story-Structure: The Heart of Literary and Film Transformation Models
"Image" refers to the specific story level, that is, what Ingarden called the "schematic view layer" and "meaning unit layer", in fact, these two levels are at different levels of image, and the schematic view is composed of a series of meaning units, which is especially evident in the film structure level. The three elements of the novel are the storyline, character image, and typical environment, which correspond to the three elements of structure, character, and scene in the film work, and there is a corresponding transformation relationship between them. From the three aspects of "image", we analyze the transformation mode of literature and film, "story-structure", "character-role", and "environment-scene". Among them, "story-structure" is the core of the transformation mode, which can be analyzed at three levels, including the meaning unit layer: paragraph or plot - beat or event, schematic view layer: large paragraph - chapter - part - scene - sequence - scene, and story - structure: the correspondence of two sets of coded sequences. The story layering of literature "paragraph-large paragraph-chapter-part" until the complete text, and the structural layering of the film "event-scene-sequence-scene" until the complete film, there is a corresponding transformation relationship between these two coding sequences. In the argument of this model, in order to facilitate comparison, the following mainly analyzes the film "Qiannu Ghost" directed by Cheng Xiaodong based on Pu Songling's short story "Nie Xiaoqian" and the film of the same name directed by Francis Coppola, adapted from Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather", to explain the core of the literary and film transformation mode.
1 Meaning unit layer: paragraph or plot - beat or event
The basic unit of meaning of literature is the paragraph or plot, and the basic unit of meaning of film is the beat or event. The schematic view layer of literature is composed of large sections, chapters, and parts, while movies are composed of scenes, series, and screens. The story of literary works can be divided into: occurrence, development, climax, ending, and the structure of film works can be divided into: motivational events, construction, confrontation, ending, and they also have a correspondence, which is the theoretical basis for adapting from literary stories to film structures.
The most basic unit of meaning in a literary work is "paragraph", and only a paragraph can state a complete "plot", "paragraph" is the form, and "plot" is the meaning. The most basic unit in the film is the "beat", that is, the "event", "the beat" is the form, and the "event" is the meaning. Movies have a unique rhythm, and the most basic unit of meaning corresponding to rhythm is "beat", and "beat" is defined in "Story": "Beat is a kind of behavioral communication in action/reaction." These changing behaviors construct the change of scene through one beat after another." We can analyze how "paragraphs" or "plots" in literary works are translated into "beats" or "events" in films. Let's take "Qiannu Ghost" directed by Cheng Xiaodong and "The Godfather" directed by Francis Coppola as examples to analyze.
In Pu Songling's "Nie Xiaoqian", Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian meet like this: if you rush to interrogate, the woman of the North Court is also. Asked. The woman smiled: "The moonlit night is sleepless, may Xiu Yan be good." Ning Zhengrong said: "Qing defense material discussion, I am afraid of people's words; A slight mistake, shame and shame. "Female cloud: "The ignorant of the night." "Ning is aggressive. Female patrol has words. Ning Ling: "Go quickly!" Otherwise, when Hu Nanshe knows. "Women are afraid, but retreat. Go outdoors and put a gold ingot. Ning Yi threw the court and said: "Unrighteous things, filthy things!" The woman was ashamed, out, and collected gold and said to herself: "This Han should be an iron stone." [ [Qing] Pu Songling. Liaozhai Zhiyi[M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1989.
In this passage, there are the following two plots, Nie Xiaoqian seduces Ning Caichen / Ning Caichen refuses to lure, Nie Xiaoqian seduces Ning Caichen / Ning Caichen refuses with wealth, if it is adapted truthfully, then it is necessary to set two beats, but "Qiannu Ghost" only uses the first plot "Nie Xiaoqian seduces Ning Caichen / Ning Caichen refuses", but the beat here has become a "big beat" or a "scene" composed of beats, Nie Xiaoqian seduces Ning Caichen / Ning Caichen refuses, In the movie, this scene is broken down into eight small beats: (1) Nie Xiaoqian plays the piano/Ning Caichen is attracted to; (2) Nie Xiaoqian saw Ning Caichen's back talisman / Ning Caichen was introduced into the water by Nie Xiaoqian's scarf; (3) Ning Caichen's talisman was washed off by water / Nie Xiaoqian La Ning Caichen came up; (4) Nie Xiaoqian wanted to kiss Ning Caichen/Ning Caichen sneezed and refused; (5) Nie Xiaoqian continued to lure Ning Caichen/Ning Caichen pushed Nie Xiaoqian away; (7) Nie Xiaoqian asked Ning Caichen to take her back/Ning Caichen threw Nie Xiaoqian down; (8) Ning Caichen cared about Nie Xiaoqian/Nie Xiaoqian spit poisonous gas and smoked Ning Caichen. Nie Xiaoqian seduced Ning Caichen/Ning Caichen refused, and this "big beat" or "scene" was broken down by the director into eight small beats. In the film, the director may feel that the plot of Nie Xiaoqian seducing Ning Caichen with wealth is a bit repetitive, and there is no concentration of seduction dramas, so he gave up, but divided the plot of Nie Xiaoqian seducing Ning Caichen with color into eight small plots to express, which is to highlight the "main controlling idea" or "meaning commanding height" of love between people and ghosts.
In Mario Puzo's "The Godfather 1", Chapter 1 tells four plots: (1) The daughter of the coffin shop owner Bonasera was beaten by a rich son but released on the spot/Bonasera thought of finding the godfather Corleone; (2) Hollywood singer Fang Tan did not give the starring role because he fell in love with the producer's actress / Fang Tan thought of finding Godfather Corleone; (3) The boyfriend of baker Nazolin's daughter is to be deported by USCIS / Nazolyn thinks of finding his godfather Corleone; (4) Corleone's daughter Connie and Carlo marry / Many people come to Corleone to run errands. [ America] Mario Puzo. The Godfather[M]. Beijing: Yilin Press, 1997.
In Francis Coppola's The Godfather, he adapted a scene "Connie's Wedding", which consists of many "plot" adaptations of "beats", of which the first three episodes are also transferred to this scene, without setting up a separate scene. So the four plots of Chapter 1 of "The Godfather" became ten beats in the "Connie's Wedding" scene after being adapted into a movie: (1) The daughter of the coffin shop owner Bonasera was beaten by a rich son but released on the spot / The godfather Corleone told his subordinates to do things; (2) Godfather Corleone found Mike absent / Godfather Corleone refused to take a group photo; (3) Connie's wedding / Godfather Corleone's family, subordinates, enemies, etc. appear in turn; (4) FBI filming wedding scenes/Sonny smashed their cameras; (5) The boyfriend of baker Nazolin's daughter is to be deported by USCIS / Godfather Corleone orders a lawyer; (7) Connie's wedding continues/Mike appears with girlfriend Kay; (8) Hollywood singer Fang Tan did not promise to do things for the starring role/godfather Corleone because he was in love with the producer's actress; (9) Sonny cheats with mistress Sandra / Military Master Tom goes to call Sonny; (10) Corleone family photo/Godfather Corleone dances with his daughter to bless the wedding. The director concentrated the four plots in the scene of "Connie's Wedding", the plot is more compact, the contradictions are more concentrated, and the image of the godfather Corleone is better shaped.
2 schematic view layer: large section - chapter - part - scene - sequence - screen
Literary works consist of a series of "paragraphs" to form a more complete "large paragraph", a series of "large paragraphs" to form "chapters", a series of "chapters" to form "parts", until the completion of the entire work, layer by layer, and can even develop into multiple works, such as Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" trilogy, Hai Yan's "Langya List" trilogy, Yao Xueyin's "Li Zicheng" five-volume, George Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones" seven-part series. In movies, composed of a series of "events" or "beats" composed of "scenes", composed of a series of "scenes" composed of "sequences", composed of a series of "sequences" composed of "curtains", etc., classic Hollywood movies are composed of three acts: construction, confrontation, and ending. Movies can also form series, such as the "Godfather" trilogy directed by Francis Coppola, four "Ip Man" directed by Wilson Yip, seven films "Harry Potter" adapted from Rowling's novel, and eight seasons of the TV series "Game of Thrones" adapted from George Martin's novel.
As analyzed above, in "Qiannu Ghost", eight beats form a scene "Nie Xiaoqian's seduction fails to seduce Ning Caichen". Ning Caichen stayed at Lanruo Temple overnight because he had no money, Yan Chixia competed with Xiahou swordsman, Nie Xiaoqian seduced Xiahou swordsman to be sucked blood, Nie Xiaoqian failed to seduce Ning Caichen, Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen fell in love, Yan Chixia captured Nie Xiaoqian's failure six scenes, and formed the series "Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen in love". The curtain is made up of one or more series, which are exactly equal to the first act "construction".
As analyzed above, in the movie "The Godfather", the scene "Connie's wedding" consists of ten events or beats. Connie's wedding is a big "scene", if you subdivide this scene, including Corleone doing errands in the office, everyone attending the wedding on the spot, Sonny cheating in the house, Sonny going outside the door to drive away the FBI, the big scene of "Connie's wedding" can also be understood as a "sequence" composed of four scenes. The sequence of Connie's wedding, coupled with Corleone forcing Hollywood tycoons to submit, drug dealer Sorozo being refused to cooperate with Corleone, and the godfather being assassinated and seriously injured, these four sequences constitute the first act, completing the construction of the film.
3 Story-Structure: The correspondence of two sets of coding sequences
The story of a literary work can be divided into: occurrence, development, climax, ending [ [American] Prince. Narratology: The Form and Function of Narrative[M] Beijing: Chinese Minmin University Press, 2013], the structure of film works can be divided into: motivational events, construction, confrontation, and ending, and they have corresponding relationships in structure, just like two corresponding coding series. This structure of the film is my fusion of Sid Field's "Fundamentals of Film Screenwriting" [ Sid Field. Fundamentals of Film Script Writing[M]. Beijing:Beijing United Publishing Company,2016. p40] and Robert McKee's The Story [[US] Robert McKee. Story: Material, Structure, Style and Principles of Screen Play[M]. Beijing: China Film Press, 2001.p255] "Fundamentals of Film Script Writing" and "Story" can be said to be the "Bible" of film screenwriters, and each screenwriter has one copy. In Sid Field's theory, the classic film structure is divided into three acts: setup, confrontation, and resolution, marked by two turning plot points between the three acts, in addition to the preceding prologue and the following epilogue. In Robert McKee's "Story", it is divided into five acts: motivating events, progress entanglements, crises, climax, and results. Integrating the theories of the two, the structure of the film can be divided into motivating events plus three acts: motivating events, construction, confrontation, and ending, which correspond to the beginning, development, climax, and ending of literary works. Motivating events are like the "engine" of the entire movie, as defined in "Story": "Motivating events must completely upset the balance of forces in the life of the protagonist." Robert McKee. Story: Material, Structure, Style and Principles of Screen Play[M]. Beijing:China Film Press,2001. p222]"
The structure of Pu Songling's Nie Xiaoqian can probably be divided into five parts. From the beginning to the second paragraph, "both relative words are exhausted, so the arch does not go to sleep" is an incentive event, and Ning Caichen rushed to the exam to stay at Lanruo Temple overnight; In the third to sixth paragraphs, "Seeking Beauty to People, Not Enjoying Pleasure" is the first part, Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian fall in love; In the seventh to tenth paragraphs, "Collect clothes and return with a boat" is the second part, Yan Chixia kills the tree demon grandmother to save Nie Xiaoqian; In paragraphs 11 to 14, "The winner hides the attack, he is proud" is the third part, Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen probate their mother to get married; Paragraphs 15 to 16 end in the fourth part, where Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen kill Yasha. [ [Qing] Pu Songling. Liaozhai Zhiyi[M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1989.
Here, the classic Hollywood structure is used to analyze the movie "Qiannu Ghost". The first ten minutes tell that Ning Caichen failed to collect the bill and had no money to live in the store, which is a motivating event, equivalent to the prologue, which directly leads to all the stories that follow. The first plot point appears at about 30 minutes of the movie, Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian fall in love, which completes the construction of the first act. From this plot point into the second act confrontation stage, Ning Caichen began to save Nie Xiaoqian. The second plot point occurs in about 75 minutes, that is, Ning Caichen and Yan Chixia defeat the tree spirit grandmother, and from here it begins to enter the ending or climax of the third act, Ning Caichen and Yan Chixia go to the prefecture to rescue Nie Xiaoqian from the stone demon.
We compare the novel and the movie, and in the movie, the novel Lining Caichen went to Beijing to rush for the exam was changed to a failed collection of accounts, such adaptations can be said to have their own merits, there is style in the novel, and there is drama in the movie; In the film adaptation, the part where Nie Xiaoqian moved Ning's mother to marry Ning Caichen was deleted, which was conducive to speeding up the rhythm of the climax; In the movie, changing the killing of Yasha in the climax part to killing the Jifu Stone Demon is conducive to increasing the intensity of the climax. We see that this adaptation, on the whole, is still faithful to the original.
Mario Puzo's "The Godfather 1" is a novel, the first part is roughly divided into the following parts: (1) Connie's wedding The godfather does errands; (2) The gangster Sorozo wanted to cooperate with the Corleone family in the drug business and was rejected; (3) The godfather Corleone was assassinated and rescued; (4) Mike assassinates Sorozo and the police; (5) Mike avoids Sicily; (6) killed because Paul betrayed Sonny; (7) Corleone called for reconciliation among the five major families; (8) Mike succeeds Corleone as the new godfather; (9) The death of Corleone, the godfather; (10) Mike eradicates all enemies. [ America] Mario Puzo. The Godfather[M]. Beijing: Yilin Press, 1997.
"The Godfather", directed by Francis Coppola, is basically based on the story of the novel. In about 45 minutes of the film, Corleone is assassinated and seriously injured, this plot point marks the end of the first act, completing the construction of the film, and the Corleone family and drug dealer Solozzo become enemies. The second act is the confrontation, the struggle between the Corleone family and the drug dealer Sorozo, consisting of 6 sequences: (1) Mike assassinates Sorozo and the police; (2) Mike avoids Sicily; (3) killed because Paul betrayed Sonny; (4) Corleone called for reconciliation among the five major families (5) Mike succeeded Corleone as the new godfather; (6) Corleone died. At about 150 minutes of the film, Corleone dies, a plot point that marks the end of the second act, completing the cinematic confrontation. The third act is the ending or climax, where Mike eradicates several of New York's gangsters and at the same time gets rid of his brother-in-law Paul, becoming a veritable new generation godfather.
Francis Coppola brought Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" trilogy to the screen, basically based on the original book, each film is three hours long, which is equivalent to the length of two ordinary movies, the "Godfather" trilogy has been recognized at the box office and art, which has become one of the most successful adaptations in film history. The "Godfather" trilogy can be called an epic film, and its structure is also complete and sublime, in which the two-line narrative of "The Godfather 2" is very classic, one line tells Mike Corleone to deal with a new enemy, the other line tells Vito Corleone grows up to be a godfather, and finally meets in Sicily, the hometown of the Corleone family, like a magnificent arch, connecting the fate of the old and new godfathers.
The comparison shows that the structure of literary works is roughly divided into beginning, development, climax, and ending, while the structure of film and television works is divided into incentive events, construction, confrontation, and ending, which is the core of the transformation mode of literature and film. The story layering of literature "paragraph-large paragraph-chapter-part" until the complete text, and the structural layering of the film "event-scene-sequence-scene" until the complete film, there is a transformation relationship between these two sets of coding sequences.
However, because there may be differences in the volume of literature and film, when transforming these two sets of coding sequences, some works have more levels and some works have fewer levels, and the two are not necessarily a strict correspondence, which requires us to adapt according to the actual situation and compress or enlarge the hierarchy. For example, "Nie Xiaoqian" is only a short story of several thousand words, and the work level is less, and the movie "Qiannu Ghost" needs to amplify the plot of literature; And "The Godfather" is a novel of hundreds of thousands of words, there are many levels of works, and the film needs to compress the plot of literature.
Four Elephants: Characters - Characters and Lines
If the text is compared to a "net", then the story or structure is a "line", the character or character is a "point", the movement of the point can complete the line, and the promotion of the line can form a net. Which is the most important about a work, character or story has always been a public case of debate in the literary and art circles. Robert McKee's "Story" and Sid Field's "Guide to Film Screenwriting" focus on the construction of story structure, Cao Yu's "On Drama" [ Cao Yu. On Drama[M]. Chengdu: Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, 1985] and Reed's "The Secret of Film Screenwriting" [ Reed. The secret of film screenwriting[C]. Shanghai:Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press,2013. It is believed that the relationship between characters promotes the development of drama, which also reflects the difference between Eastern and Western concepts of theater. In fact, from the perspective of adaptation practice, the story and the characters are equally important, and the first thing to write before writing the script is the "story outline" and "character biography". When we think of Cao Xueqin's "Dream of Red Mansions", we will think of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, when we think of Ostrovsky's "How Steel is Tempered" we will think of Paul and Tonya, when we watch the movie "Beauty and the Beast" we will want to see which actress plays the beautiful Bell, is Emma Watson or Leia Seydoux, watch the movie "Qiannu Ghost" and want to see which actress plays Nie Xiaoqian, Is it Wang Zuxian or Liu Yifei.
If the contribution of the story is mainly in the screenwriter, then the key to the contribution of the characters lies in the actors, the literary characters are written by the writer, the film roles are acted, and the acting skills of the actors are related to the success or failure of a movie, which is the basis for the establishment of the commercial film star system, and it is also the reason why people criticize the high salary of actors. When people talk about a commercial movie, they are often marked by actors, such as Audrey Hepburn's "Roman Holiday", Marlon Brando's "Street Car Desire", Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West", Lin Qingxia's "The East is Undefeated". The actor is the director's text, let the actor and the character fuse, which requires mutual running-in, only by combining the two, can we complete an excellent movie.
The techniques of shaping characters in literary works include portrait, behavior, language, psychology, and details, and the film will be realized through actors, makeup, hairstyles, costumes, visual effects, lines, monologues, close-ups and other techniques.
The portrait description of literature should be realized through the actor in the film, the image of the actor is the foundation, and makeup, hairstyle, and clothing must be carried out around the literary image. Pu Songling's "Nie Xiaoqian" describes Nie Xiaoqian as follows: "The muscles reflect the flow, the feet are upturned and thin, and the daytime is particularly delicate." [ [Qing] Pu Songling. Liaozhai Zhiyi[M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1989. Nie Xiaoqian is a beautiful image in literature, but director Cheng Xiaodong in "Qiannu Ghost" is a pitiful image, Cheng Xiaodong has always wanted Japanese actress Akira Nakamori to play, the portrait in the film is also drawn according to Akira Nakamori, just in line with the director's shaping of Nie Xiaoqian, but Akira Nakamori is in an emotional crisis and cannot star, and finally played by Wang Zuxian, did not expect to become a classic image, in fact, Nie Xiaoqian played by Wang Zuxian is beautiful with melancholy, which is more in line with the description of the original work. In Mario Puzo's "The Godfather 1", the core character is the old godfather Vito Corleone, how the literary domineering godfather is transformed into a film and television image, relying on actor Marlon Brando's expressive acting skills. The film was originally to be played by British star Lawrence Oliver, but Oliver could not act because of health problems, and finally the director won the role for Marlon Brando in the trough, Marlon Brando in order to play the godfather, he made a lot of efforts, how he played the godfather in his sixties in his forties, he stuffed cotton at the corner of his mouth during the audition, so as to show the majestic and mysterious godfather, which conquered those producers, and then the crew customized special braces for him, Now this braces exhibition is in the American Museum of the Moving Image, and the classic image of the godfather in film history was born.
The description of literary behavior actually belongs to the story structure, and all the actions of the characters have a dual nature, "character element" and "action element", on the one hand, shape the character, on the other hand promote the story. In Mario Puzo's The Godfather, it is written that the godfather Vito Corleone refused the cooperation of drug dealer Soros. In the film adaptation of Francis Coppola, Marlon Brando's performance of this act shows superb acting skills, which on the one hand creates the image of the godfather who keeps the principle and drugs can never be touched, and on the other hand, makes the Corleone family and Soros fall out, leading to a brutal struggle between the two sides. The most important thing in the description of behavior is action, there are special action movie genres in movies, in the Chinese-speaking world often refers to martial arts films, action movies are specifically filmed action, the audience is to watch fighting martial arts, there are real martial arts like "Shaolin Temple" starring Jet Li, there are also imagery martial arts like Jin Yong's "Smiling Rivers and Lakes" adaptation of movies, and Western sanda like "First Blood" starring Stallone and Angelina Jolie's main "Tomb Raider".
The language description of literature corresponds to the lines in the movie. In the adaptation of literature, words are transformed into pictures at all levels, and only dialogue adapted into lines can be completely intact, of course, depending on the needs of the plot. In a movie script, the screenwriter will only write three aspects when writing the script: scene, dialogue, action, the lines are undoubtedly the most important, many movies have become classics, relying on classic lines. Of course, there are avant-garde experimental films like Kim Ki-duk's "Empty Room", which have almost no lines in the whole film, not to mention that the first thirty years of the film were silent film era. In "Journey to the West" directed by Liu Zhenwei, it can be said that the film is full of classic lines, such as Stephen Chow's sentence: "There was a sincere love placed in front of me, I didn't cherish it, and when I lost it, I regretted it, and the most painful thing in the world is this." If God could give me a chance to do it again, I would say three words to that girl: I love you. If I had to add a deadline to this love, I hope it would be... 10,000 years. This line creates the image of the supreme treasure under the nonsensical exterior, "Journey to the West" is a subversive adaptation of Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West", of course, this line is also based on the character. In the TV series "Game of Thrones" directed by David Benioff and other directors, the characters are very distinct, and everyone's dialogue is distinct, Kit Harold plays Snow calm and heroic, Emilia Clark plays the Mother of Dragons noble and elegant, Peter Dinklage plays the dwarf humorous, Lena Heidi plays Cersei ruthless, among which Aidan Gillen's conspirator "Littlefinger" Berryxi is cunning and vicious, and he has a famous line "Chaos is a ladder to climb", which also comes from George J. Martin's original book A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones. The extent to which dialogue in literary works is translated into movie lines depends on the classicity of the dialogue and the needs of the plot.
The psychological description of literature can be adapted in two ways in the film, one is the inner monologue and the other is the image. The inner monologue is actually a kind of dialogue, so it can be presented directly. In Shakespeare's Hamlet's famous "Survive or Destroy" monologue, almost all film adaptations will remain. In "Heroes" directed by Zhang Yimou, for the assassin Nameless to kill the Three Musketeers, Jet Li's nameless description is his own imaginary scene, Zhang Yimou filmed this scene imagined in Nameless heart, and Chen Daoming's King Qin said the real version.
The detailed description of literature can be expressed through close-ups in the film. In Mario Puzo's "The Godfather", it is written that Sonny cheated on his mistress Sandra, and the two of them can be said to be a match made in heaven, Sandra's private parts are generous and strong, and Sonny's private parts are large and long, all are different from ordinary people, and those who have read this detail are difficult to forget. In Francis Coppola's film, at Connie's wedding, there is a special scene where Sandra gestures the length of Sonny's private parts with her hand in a casual chat with her girlfriend, although it is not clear what they are talking about, but the audience can guess from their humorous laughter. Film is the art of images, so there are often details supplemented according to the plot, and some are even unintentional. In "The Godfather", Marlon Brando strokes a kitten in a chair, a detail that creates a complex image of the godfather, gloomy and compassionate, not in literature, nor planned by the director, purely a sudden situation at the time, but it became a classic shot.
Five Elephants: Environment - Scenes and Props
The description of the environment in literature is the description of the characters and the place where the story takes place, and it is a scene description in the film script, although the scene is not as critical as the story and characters, but it is indispensable, because there will be no time and space without a scene in the movie, of course, the scene is also arranged around the characters and the story. In reality, the scene needs to be selected according to the actual situation of shooting, which may be the actual place where the story takes place, such as "The Last Emperor" directed by Bernardo Bertolucci was filmed directly in the Forbidden City, and "Midnight in Paris" directed by Woody Allen was directly filmed at the Palace of Versailles, but because many of the scenes described in literature are fictional, this requires finding similar scenes in reality, such as Liu Zhenwei's "Journey to the West" scene in the desert of Ningxia, and some scenes even have to be built, such as director Zhang Yimou in " Jinling 13 spent a lot of money to build the ruins of Nanjing, but more films were actually completed in film and television cities, Hollywood film factories and Hengdian film and television cities, both the largest filming locations in the United States and China, respectively. Literature is an imagination described in words, and movies need to be interpreted with realistic scenes, so literature should be adapted into films, to a large extent, according to realistic scenes.
In Pu Songling's "Nie Xiaoqian", Lanruo Temple is described as follows: (Ning Caichen) is suitable to go to Jinhua, to Beiguo, and unpack Lanruo. The temple nave tower is magnificent; However, there is no one in the basil, and it seems to be desperate. East and West monks' houses, double concealment; Only a small house in the south, the key is like new. and Gu the east corner of the hall, repairing the bamboo arch; There is a huge pond under the steps, and the wild lotus has flowered. [ [Qing] Pu Songling. Liaozhai Zhiyi[M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1989. In reality, there is no temple called Lanruo Temple in Jinhua at all, although after this movie became popular, many temples claimed to be the prototype of Lanruo Temple, but where the real Lanruo Temple is, there are many opinions, and it is very likely that Pu Songling is fictional. Cheng Xiaodong's "Qiannu Ghost" needs to find a Lanruo Temple in Hong Kong that fits the description, and in the end can only be presented through the scenery, in the film Wang Zuxian's Nie Xiaoqian and Leslie Cheung's Ning Caichen when they meet, it is indeed in front of a temple in a "giant pool", which is generally in line with the scene described in literature.
In George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones, the capital city of King's Landing is at the heart of the power struggle, and many big things happen there. Alan Taylor and other directors of the TV series "Game of Thrones", if you build a castle will cost a lot of money, the best way is to find a suitable location, the director searched for ancient castles around the world, and finally chose the ancient city of Ragusa in Croatia, which is today's Dubrovnik city-state, the historical Ragusa city-state is also one of the five major Italian city-states, the castle here is completely preserved, similar to the King's Landing described in literature, and the King's Landing we see in the film is the ancient city of Ragusa.
The scene of the scene is arranged by the art director, which is called fine art in China, and there is a special line called props, which is responsible for the arrangement of props. Many movies have key props, and this prop is even the clue of the whole show. In Pu Songling's "Nie Xiaoqian", it is written that Yan Chixia's leather sac, which can capture Yasha, also appears in Cheng Xiaodong's "Qiannu Ghost", but with greater mana. The Qinghai Sword is written in Wang Dulu's novel "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which is still an important prop in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Ang Lee, and runs through the whole play. In John Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Lord of the Rings is at the heart of the scramble in the novel, and this prop also appears truthfully in Peter Jackson's film of the same name. In Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, the last secret is revealed by Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting The Last Supper, which also appears in the film of the same name directed by Ron Howard. Props have their own unique meaning in literature and film, and even the core of the story, in the humble novel "The Secret History of Kunlun" trilogy, the protagonist Long Hao is looking for the time axis "Jade" in "The Secret History of Kunlun 1: Time and Earth", in "The Secret History of Kunlun 2: The Jade Seal and the Roman Crown" is looking for the "Jade Seal of the Kingdom" and "Roman Crown", and the key prop in "The Secret History of Kunlun 3: Tower of Babel" is "a pyramid-shaped jade pendant painted with a Metatron cube" [ Cao who. The Secret History of Kunlun 1: The Axis of Time [ M]. Guiyang: Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2011; Cao who. The Secret History of Kunlun 2: The Jade Seal and the Roman Crown[M]. Guiyang: Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2011; Cao who. Kunlun Secret Prehistory: The Spire of Babel[M]. Guiyang: Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2012.], if the novel is adapted into a movie, these props will play the role of dominating the whole play.
Here I would like to talk a little about the crisis of literature facing the image. Of all the elements of literature, the environment or character description is the most impacted, because you can't describe a few pages more realistically than a photo or a video, so the description of the environment and the description of the character are becoming more and more brief in the work of modern writers. Hugo, at the beginning of "Notre Dame de Paris", devotes a lot of space to Notre Dame [[fr] Hugo. Notre Dame de Paris[M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 1982.], but Michael Tuckner's "Notre Dame de Paris" is clearly described in a few shots. Cao Xueqin described in detail the costumes worn by Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu when they met in "Dream of Red Mansions": "(Lin Daiyu) thought in her heart, suddenly saw that before the maid finished speaking, a young prince had entered: wearing a purple gold crown with hair inlaid with hair on his head, and holding the second dragon to grab pearls and gold with his eyebrows; wear a two-color golden butterfly wearing a flower big red arrow sleeve, tied with multicolored silk knots and long spike palace tape, covered with stone blue flowers and eight clusters of satin tassels; Wearing satin foundation dynasty boots. The face is like the moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the color is like the flower of spring dawn, the sideburns are like a knife cut, the eyebrows are like ink paintings, the face is like peach petals, and the eyes are like autumn waves. Although anger sometimes laughs, that is, blind and affectionate. On the necklace, there is a five-color silk silk, tied with a piece of beautiful jade. When Daiyu saw it, she was taken aback, and thought to herself: 'It's strange, it's like I've seen it there, how familiar it is!' Such a long costume description, in the director's film, only needs one shot to achieve. Therefore, in the new era of literature and art, the development from narrative literature to film and television literature is also an unstoppable trend.
Six words: from language to lens
"Speech" is specific to the most basic level of the text, which is the "phonological construction layer" discussed by Ingarden. In the sense , the smallest units of fiction and film can be divided into events. In terms of form, the most basic level of literature is language, and the most basic level of film is the lens.
Here it is necessary to distinguish between "shot", "field", and "event". "Field" is the most basic unit of the script, and the "shot" does not correspond to the "field" in the script, but corresponds to the "sub-shot" under the "field". "Event" is the most basic unit of structure or story, "event" is from the point of view of meaning, and "shot" is said from the point of view of shooting. "Events" can be several "shots" or exactly one "shot", and some "shots" can include several "events", which varies depending on the director's style.
According to Bazin's long-shot theory, a movie may only have a few long shots, and a shot may include many scenes, even such as Hitchcock's shot in "Reaper of Souls"; According to Eisenstein's montage theory, an event is filmed by many broken shots. For example, the event "Ning Caichen was seduced to the main hall by Nie Xiaoqian" in "Qiannu Ghost" was completed by 24 shots: (1) Ning Caichen heard the piano humming in the house; (2) Ning Caichen walking in the yard; (3) Close-up of Buddhist statues in the temple; (4) Close-up of Nie Xiaoqian playing the piano; (5) Nie Xiaoqian's red lips humming close-up; (6) Close-up of Nie Xiaoqian's eyes; (7) Ning Caichen walked in the field and listened; (8) Nie Xiaoqian plays the piano with both hands; (9) Ning Caichen approached the main hall; (10) Ning Caichen stepped into the mud pit; (11) Ning Caichen looking at the temple; (12) Vista view of the temple hall; (13) Nie Xiaoqian playing the piano panorama; (14) Ning Caichen walked towards the main hall at the wooden bridge; (15) Yan Chixia heard the sound of the piano; (16) Ning Caichen and Nie Xiaoqian met; (17) Close-up of Ning Caichen; (18) Nie Xiaoqian's strings are broken; (19) Close-up of Nie Xiaoqian; (20) Ning Caichen holding a dagger; (21) Nie Xiaoqian was afraid; (22) Ning Caichen threw away the dagger; (23) The dagger was pierced on the wooden wall; (24) Nie Xiaoqian continued the string. These 24 shots were finally spliced into the event of "Ning Caichen was seduced by Nie Xiaoqian to the main hall", showing the encounter between the hero and heroine as beautiful and dramatic.
The language of literature is to use words and sentences, and the language of film is lens language, and there are four main lens languages, divided by scene: long-range, panorama, medium scene, close-up, close-up; According to the angle: front, side, back, flat, up, top; According to the form of movement: push, pull, shake, shift, rise, lower and integrated lens; The length varies from lens to shot, with "montage" often made up of short shots spliced together, and "long shots" as the name suggests.
Literary language pays attention to rhetoric, and rhetoric is divided into negative rhetoric and positive rhetoric. Negative rhetoric is fundamental rhetoric, and any linguistic form can become rhetoric, such as the choice of words, the length of sentences, and the composition of paragraphs, which can be compared with the length of the lens. Personal perspective, narrative sound, text length can be used as a means to apply, perspective is very important in the film, Frank De La Bonte's "The Shawshank Redemption" is narrated from a third perspective, Robert Zemeckis' "Forrest Gump" is narrated from a first perspective, and Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" and Zhang Yimou's "Heroes" use a multi-perspective narrative.
Positive rhetoric in literature is rhetorical case, which I once summarized in the article "Great Poetics" as: symbolism or metaphor, synaesthesia or suggestion; Ambiguous or polysemantic, ironic or allegorical [Cao who. Great Poetics[J]. Zhonghuashan Poetry Journal, 2019, (4)]. This is in the most fundamental performance montage of the film, such as: psychological montage, lyrical montage, parallel montage, cross montage, repeat montage, contrast montage, metaphorical montage, etc.
There are five major methods of expression in literature: narrative, explanation, discussion, lyricism, and description. The most important expression methods in movies are long shots and montages, of which long shots are divided into three categories: fixed long lenses, depth of field long lenses, sports long lenses, montages are divided into three categories: performance montages, narrative montages, rational montages.
The style of literature is formed by the unique language of the writer, while the style of the film is expressed by the director's lens language. We trace the etymology of style, which came from the human object review in ancient China, so the style of the work also refers to the character of the character; In Greek, "style" means "carving knife", which originally refers to sculptural techniques, but it is too appropriate to use it in film, because the film is "carved" by the camera from different angles. There are many classifications of literary styles, and the Tang Dynasty poet Sikong Tu listed twenty-four styles in the "Twenty-Four Poems", including: majestic, watered, delicate, composed, ancient, elegant, refined, vigorous, beautiful, natural, subtle, extravagant, spiritual, meticulous, wild, clear, meticulous, sophisticated, realistic, sad, descriptive, transcendent, ethereal, expansive, flowing [[Tang] Sikong Tu. Twenty-four poems[M]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 2013. This requires careful evaluation of the text. In the film style, which may correspond to the genre pattern of the film, French dramatist Georges Prodi divided thirty-six modes in "Thirty-Six Narrative Modes", including: Supplication, Deliverance, Vengeance of a crime, Vengeance taken for kindred upon kindred, Pursuit, Disaster, Falling prey to cruelty or misfortune, Revolt, Daring enterprise, Abduction, Enigma, Obtaining, Enmity of kinsmen, Rivalry of kinsmen, Murderous adultery, Madness, Fatal imprudence, Involuntary crimes of love, Slaying of a kinsman unrecognised, Self-sacrificing for an ideal, Self-sacrifice for kindred, All sacrificed for a passion, Necessity of sacrificing loved ones, Rivalry of superior and inferior, Adultery, Crimes of love, Discovery of the dishonour of a loved one), Obstacles to love, An enemy loved, Ambition, Conflict with a god, Mistaken jealousy, Erroneous judgement, Remorse, Recovery of a lost one, Loss of loved ones. Each model gives corresponding examples, and although he classified drama, it is used in film by many film theorists today, because the core of cinema is drama.
The writer manipulates the language with the pen, and the director manipulates the actors with the camera. From text to video, there are many methods that are connected, and as long as the way of expression is transformed, then many methods of expression will also be connected. This is especially easy to understand for creators of cross-border literature and film, when Mo Yan was writing the novel "Red Sorghum Family" and writing the film script "Red Sorghum", when Thomas Harris was writing the novel "The Silence of the Lambs" and writing the film script "The Silence of the Lambs", when Hai Yan was writing the novel "Langya List" and writing the TV series "Langya List", George Martin was writing the novel "A Song of Ice and Fire: Game of Thrones" and writing the TV script "Game of Thrones", for them, it was just a change of expression.
Seven major literatures: the intertextuality of poetry, fiction, and drama
From my creative experience, it is generally also a shortened version of literary development, for my earliest literary creation is a diary, so far there are more than fifty books, about five million words, the first diary was when literary creation was carried out, there are a variety of genres, including poetry, novels, plays, etc., and all of them have titles. Since 2003, I have written a large number of poems, and the main body of the "Eurasian Epic Poem" was completed at that time, putting forward the idea of great poetism; In 2008, he went on a long trip to work, returned from traveling in Tibet and Xinjiang, and began to write for a living, creating and completing the "Kunlun Secret History" trilogy; In 2012, he began to get involved in the creation of film and television dramas, and is now creating a large-scale mythological drama "Peacock King" and so on. In this process, there is my understanding of literary development, which is generally the process of literary development, and I think that it is probably the golden age of film and television dramas, of course, all three genres are now being created.
In my writing, I feel that poetry, novels, and screenplays are just different states of creation, intertextual. When I write a subject, it may start out as an idea, usually written first as poetry, then as a novel, and eventually into a screenplay. This can be understood with the concept of "IP", so that creation becomes an engine, from which related derivatives are generated, at least books and movies can be synchronized. My work is roughly divided into four series, all of which are a chain of transformation from poetry to novels to film and television scripts.
The first series is the Kunlun series - the poetry collection "Epic Poems of Eurasia" - the travelogue "Kunlun Travel" - the novel "The Secret History of Kunlun" trilogy - the movie "Kunlun Decision" - "Kunlun Mythology" (cooperation). "The Secret History of Kunlun" trilogy story synopsis: Kunlun means "heaven" in both the Tocharian language of the Indo-European language family and the ancient Qiang language of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and Kunlun should be the sacred mountain of the world at that time. The Secret History of Kunlun reconstructed a Kunlun world shared by all mankind. The "Secret History of Kunlun" trilogy tells the flow of Kunlun culture through the protagonist Long Hao's exploration of time channels. "The Secret History of Kunlun 1: The Axis of Time" allows Long Hao to explore the axis of time, centered on Tibet and Xinjiang, the yin and yang centers in the center of the Eurasian continent, and integrating various cultures in the center of Greater Kunlun. "The Secret History of Kunlun 2: The Jade Seal and the Roman Crown" allows Long Hao to explore the power symbol of the East and the Roman Crown, the power symbol of the West, centered on the seven civilizations of Eurasia, from Babylon west to Judea, Egypt, Greece, east to Persia, India, and China. "The Secret History of Kunlun 3: Maya Babel" allows Long Hao to find the last time passage, starting from the east through the legendary Mu continent, starting from the west through the legendary Great Western Continent, and finally embracing each other in Maya, corresponding to the meeting of Easterners from the Bering Strait to America and Westerners arriving in America from the New Route.
The second series is the Tower of Babel series - the poetry collection "The Song of Babel" - the novel "The Spire of Babel" - the movie "Shambhala" - the TV series "Golden Empire". Synopsis of the story of "The Spire of Babel": In the biblical record, human beings jointly built the Tower of Babel (Kunlun Heavenly Pillar) in order to ascend to heaven, and when God knew it, he changed people's language, and human beings stopped building because they could not communicate, and they were scattered to various places to become various peoples. The author tries to rebuild the Tower of Babel to build a common home for mankind. In the book, the author fictionalizes the country of Babel, a country in the center of the Eurasian continent, which reflects the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. The protagonist Regulus Set originally fled from Babel in order to find a spiritual home shared by mankind in the country of Babel, but he ran into obstacles everywhere, so he fled from Babel after experiencing countless loves and hatreds and successes and failures.
The third series is the Cocoxili series - the poetry collection "The Firmament of Cocoxili" - the non-fiction "Cocoxili Animal Kingdom" - the novel "The Snow Leopard Prince" - the fairy tale "Cocoxili Animal Kingdom" series - the fairy tale "Sanjiangyuan National Park" series - the drama "The Snow Leopard Prince" - the cartoon "The Snow Leopard Prince". "Snow Leopard Prince" tells the story of Snow Leopard Prince Qiangba defending the animal kingdom of Cocoxili. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, there is a beautiful Snow Leopard Gorge, a paradise for all kinds of wildlife, guarded by the snow leopard family for generations. The Snow Leopard King has a piece of blood jade in his hand, which can open the Kunlun Holy Realm "Zengcheng", and Zengcheng controls the ecology of the entire Cocoxili. The poacher Jiang Ji heard that there were endless treasures in Zengcheng, so he led the poachers and jackals to invade the Snow Leopard Gorge and kill the Snow Leopard King, who gave a piece of blood jade to the Snow Leopard Prince Qiangba before he died. On the run, Qiangba was rescued by the little girl Dolma and the old aunt Eji, and grew up under their care. The humans of Cocoxili were punished by the mountain gods for frantically slaughtering wild animals, and Qiang Ba traveled thousands of miles to the sacred mountain in the snowy land to pick sacred lotuses, saving all living beings. However, Jiang Ji kidnapped Dolma and threatened him with the blood jade. The Snow Leopard Prince, inspired by the Cordyceps Fairy, unites all the animal families of Cocoxili to drive out Jiang Ji and the jackals, and restores the beautiful home of Cocoxili. They opened Zengcheng with blood jade and saw the wonderland where strange flowers and beasts grew, which was the beautiful world that people longed for.
The fourth series is the Sixteen Kingdoms History Series - the poetry collection "Cold Lyricism - Epic Poems of the Eurasian Continent" - the Sixteen Kingdoms historical novel trilogy "Lone Star in Troubled Times: The Legend of Prince Hutai", "Northern Wei Fengyun: The Legend of Yuanhe", "The Legend of the Slave Emperor Shiler" - the TV series "Prince of Hutai", "The Legend of Genga", "The Slave Emperor". "Lone Star in Troubled Times: The Legend of the Prince of Hutai" Synopsis: During the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Southern Liang State established by bald and humble was the only dynasty in history to build a capital in Xining, and the three generations of Liang Kings once crisscrossed the northwest region, and finally died because of the use of force, and the Hutai Prince Kingdom was taken away after it was broken, and finally killed by the Western Qin King Blaze. The author went through the history of bald and cold, and was deeply moved by Hutai in the troubled times. The author intends to focus on the Hutai prince, the only sober person, to describe the era of poor males chasing deer, starting from the chaotic era after the collapse of Former Qin, from the rise of Southern Liang to the death of hegemony with the surrounding countries, and finally by the younger brother of Hutai's dream, Bald Qiang (Yuanhe), in Northern Wei to help Tuoba Tao unify the kingdoms and end the Sixteen Kingdoms. From court struggles to foreign conquests, from personal gains and losses to the rise and fall of nations, from love and hatred to success or failure, examine our entire civilization in this microcosm of human history.
The fifth series is the Peacock King series that is being created - the poetry collection "Flowers of the Empire" - the novel "The Peacock King" - the movie script "The Peacock King's Demon Warriors" - the TV series "The Peacock King". "Peacock King" story synopsis: Originally, the three worlds of heaven, the human world, and the demon world lived peacefully, but the demon king Ba suddenly broke into the Taiji world that controls the balance of the three realms, and the fire phoenix was also injured in the process of blocking him, and she passed the Fuzang Yuan Seal to the peacock king before she died, and asked the peacock king to go to the world to find the incarnation of the fire phoenix in order to restore peace in the three realms, the characteristics of the fire phoenix avatar are that she can speak the language of birds and beasts, and has a phoenix tattoo on her back, and the third point she died when she didn't say it. The Peacock King began to look for the incarnation of the Fire Phoenix, and in the Kingdom of Virtuousness, he met the princess Qingque, who asked him to participate in a contest to recruit relatives on the grounds that he knew that the Fire Phoenix incarnated as the White Demon Queen Aika, and as a result, the Peacock King defeated the general Sima Xiu and became a fake couple with Qingque. On the night of the wedding, the Peacock King was abducted by the four demon heads of the Demon King Batu faction, and the golden-winged Dapeng, Doxi, Miaoyin, and Miaoshu of the Celestial Realm came to the rescue, and his fiancée Miaoyin in the Celestial Realm was killed by the Demon King Batu, and the Peacock King was also beaten into the gates of hell by the Demon King Batu. The demon king Batu sent demon soldiers to suck the blood of the human world and make people into demon figurines to attack the city of virtuousness. The Peacock King was saved by the White Demon Queen Aika at the gates of hell, and although Aika matched the characteristics of the Fire Phoenix incarnation, the two did not practice the Divine Spell. When the demon king Batu was about to attack the city of virtuousness, the peacock king appeared, defeated the demon soldiers together with the golden-winged Dapeng, Dosie, and Qingque, and rescued the demon warriors by going to the heavenly realm to obtain rootless treasure water. The attack of the demon king Batu on the virtuous country was thwarted, and the Peacock King, together with the golden-winged Dapeng, Dosie, and Qingque, began the process of descending demons and eliminating demons.
I have been thinking about the relationship between poetry, novels, and scripts, poetry is drawn out because of rhyme, novels are drawn out because of fiction, and scripts are marked out because of performances, but I think their spirits are all connected, they all take "elements" from our world to build a world, this element should be in line with the inner spirit internally, and externally in line with the essence of the world, this element is an "image" element for poetry, a "story" element for fiction, and an "action" element for the script. Because I have been writing poetry, I feel that the picture of poetry jumping is a montage of images. As for the novel and the screenplay are originally a kind of narrative, they basically have a relationship of transformation.
Rhythm is probably the basis for the interconnectedness of literary genres. From Mr. Zhang Ning's "Dusk of the Land", I know that the agricultural society gives rhythm to poetry, the East is even beats, the West is odd beats, the East has rhythmic poetry, and the West has commercial body. In narratology, the basic unit of the novel is also rhythm, and the difference between story time and narrative time creates a wonderful musical structure. From McGee's The Story, I know that the most basic unit of cinema is the rhythm of the action.
Now is in the stage of alternation of narrative literature and film and television literature, I think this is an opportunity, I hope that more excellent writers can foresee and devote themselves to the creation of film and television literature, which can realize the direct flow of literary spirit from fiction to film and television, so recently I am practicing the concept of "drama novel" and "poetry film".
Conclusion The idea of the drama-novel movement
My master's thesis at Beijing Normal University, "Building the Transformation Model of Literature and Film and Television," proposed the idea of the drama and novel movement. The combination of poetry and prose produces "prose poetry", the combination of poetry and fiction produces "narrative poetry", and the combination of poetry and drama produces "poetry drama". In reality, there are many scripts that cannot be filmed for various reasons after being written, and except for a few that can be published, most of them are forever dusted; Many novels are written, affected by film and television and the readership is decreasing, and only a small part can be adapted into movies; Through drama novels, it can be published in the form of literary works and at the same time can be easily adapted, which is not killing two birds with one stone.
Theory should be put into practice, I explore the "adaptation mode of literature and film", and adapt literary works from the five levels of "meaning: theme - main control idea", "image: story - structure", "image: character - role", "image: environment - scene", "speech: language - lens", the structure of literary works is roughly divided into head, development, climax, ending, the structure of film and television works is divided into incentive events, construction, confrontation, ending, literary stories are layered "paragraph-large paragraph-chapter-part" until the complete text. The structural layering of the film "event-scene-sequence-scene" until the complete film, these two sets of coding sequences have a corresponding transformation relationship, then when we create a novel, we can completely create according to the structure, characters, and scenes of the film.
In fact, many contemporary cross-border film and television writers are already doing this, but they have not formed a systematic theory and a trend. For example, Stephen King, whose novels can be turned into movies almost completely, in fact most of his novels have also been adapted into films; For example, Mai Jia, he believes that now is an era of "film and television literature", and his novels are also created using the thinking of film and television dramas.
Some writers will worry about being limited in the creation of drama novels, just as movies are free, the creation of drama novels should also be free in theory. Just like the film is divided into avant-garde films, art films, and commercial films, writers can also create avant-garde novels, serious novels, and popular literature according to their own interests. I hope that a large number of aspiring creators will jointly promote the "drama and novel movement", so that narrative literature and film and television literature can achieve a natural connection, promote each other, and make this art of the new era mature.
2018.1.1, 2023.5.20 changed to Beijing Asian, European and African House