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"Walking with the Phoenix", which is about to end, is a well-deserved king of popularity in the recent drama market.
According to incomplete statistics, the show has set a new high in the premiere ratings of all provincial satellite TVs of CSM in the past 27 months and broke the record of Tencent Video's fastest hit club drama, and has continued to rank TOP1 in the list of Mango TV, and it is also the hot champion of the Guduo drama list this year.
This is the second costume comedy directed by Deng Ke after "Son-in-law", and it also helped him achieve the achievement of "two consecutive explosions".
Referring to the origin of "Walking with the Phoenix", he recalled that it was the producer Zheng Zhongli who sent an invitation at that time, and the heroine Zhao Liying was also a good actor he especially wanted to work with, and more importantly, he liked this story very much, "After working women accidentally return to rural life, they don't forget to enjoy life after working hard." ”
"Walking with the Phoenix" mainly tells the story of Shen Li, the king of the spiritual world who was injured and fell into the world due to an escape from marriage, and was rescued by Xingyun (the ancient god Xingzhi) who went down to experience life, and the two began to pursue the story of love and responsibility.
Obviously it is a fictional Xianxia theme, but Deng Ke sees the modern core of the transcendent world view, and the other main creators position this drama as a "realistic Xianxia light comedy", and at the same time, in the production, "try to meet the standards of realistic themes, hoping that the characters' behavioral motivations, the logical transformation of the story, and the performance processing of the actors can stand up to scrutiny." ”
In fact, the integration of realism into costume dramas is Deng Ke's preferred and good creative style, and light expression is also a prominent hallmark in his works.
"Son-in-law", adapted from the male frequency Shuangwen, is full of appeals for equality between men and women and recognition of women's value in the reversal jokes, while the fantasy detective comedy "Da Feng Beat the Guard" to be broadcast is an early propaganda slogan "The watchman is also a worker, and if you are enthusiastic, you will be done".
The reason for the formation of such a creative style, Deng Ke said that it is not only because of personal preferences, but also because of life perceptions.
"I like comedy very much, it doesn't have to explain the truth that everyone may understand, and there can be some little jokes in the laughter. In the past two years, I have filmed a lot of costume comedies with realistic colors, and it is also because I feel that many young people are more involuted, tired and uneasy in life, so I want to create a longing life in the world of ancient costumes or fairyalas, where there are friends and careers, you can live a hearty life, and you can also express realistic demands. ”
Now "Walking with the Phoenix" has set off a new round of drama craze, on the one hand, it continues Deng Ke's unique style, and the magnificent fantasy world has more human fireworks. On the other hand, the Xianxia gene of this drama put forward new requirements for him who participated in the creation of the Xianxia genre for the first time. In the end, the emotional drama he created in the background of Xianxia was delicate and the martial arts scene was high, which also allowed the industry and outside the industry to further see the young director's good aesthetics and profound skills.
A good director and a good work achieve each other, isn't this a pleasure?
500页PPT的导演阐述,
is like the "shooting manual" of "Walking with the Phoenix"
Behind the trendy creative style, Deng Ke's way of working has a kind of "old-school" rigor.
In the days of film studios, directors would prepare a detailed director's description in advance, covering almost everything needed for filming. Over the years, Dunko has adhered to this way of working.
"Walking with the Phoenix" is of course no exception, and he spent a lot of time and effort on it.
A year before the start of filming, Deng Ke began to meet with producer and heroine Zhao Liying, "Liying is also very serious about this project, and we have been discussing each other's thoughts for a long time. After that, the project team will discuss again every once in a while, and everyone will concretize what they think and understand during each period.
When it came to the official shooting, Deng Ke alone made a 500-page PPT director's exposition in a solid manner, which not only involved the macro shooting context, but also visualized how to shoot the subtle famous scenes.
is like a clear and comprehensive "shooting manual", "when we contact the actors, photography, lighting, action, special effects and other teams, the other party will know at a glance what we want to shoot "Walking with the Phoenix". In the follow-up shooting scene, post-production and other links, it has always played the role of the backbone.
Deng Ke and other behind-the-scenes creators have long "knew" what kind of actors are needed for each role in "Walking with the Phoenix", so they can achieve high-adaptability casting and gain the reputation of "all on the table" after the broadcast of the play.
For example, the fairy world is full of affection, Deng Ke feels that this role is easy to appear exaggerated, so he positions him as a cute younger brother who is just starting to fall in love, and the actor He is in line with the innocent, enthusiastic and juvenile sense of middle school; Wang Yiyao, the actor of the Golden Snake Demon Golden Lady, is humorous and cheerful, but she can perform just the right amount of charm as soon as she enters the play; the lotus demon Xiao Lotus is smart and ignorant, but the trial scene is actually a crying scene, Deng Ke attaches more importance to the heart-wrenching feeling that the actor Huang Yi can perform.
In addition to casting, there are a large number of famous scenes praised by the audience in "Walking with the Phoenix", which can be roughly divided into two categories: feelings and martial arts. These scenes were basically conceived by Deng Ke in advance in the director's elaboration. While matching the characters, it is either full of atmosphere or shocking visual effects.
In terms of emotional dramas, for example, at the end of the first episode, Shen Li and Xingyun can be called looking at each other by the river for thousands of years, and the bonus brought by the environment cannot be ignored. Deng Ke recalled that everyone had long hoped that Xingyun Courtyard could capture the feeling of "smoke, rain and fog in the south of the Yangtze River", so they chose Jinyun County, where the natural scenery is like an ink painting. And for the effect of this visual scene, the crew also specially filmed on a rainy day when the fog between the mountains and rivers was full.
Another example is the middle and late broadcast period, the natural erotic scene between Shen Li and Xingzhi, which is full of tension and exciting. Deng Ke actually thought about it for a long time, and he proposed that the interaction between the two sides should be layered, "At the beginning, Shen Li took the initiative, and first tried to restrain himself, and then he could respond." This was also recognized by the two leading actors, plus the scene perfected the pose movements, local details, etc., and the seemingly difficult famous scene was not NG in the whole process, but was shot twice with different cameras.
In terms of martial arts scenes, each character in "Walking with the Phoenix" has a different fighting style, and there are also differences in different fighting scenes of the same character.
At the same time, in order to increase the sense of participation, Zhao Liying used a hula hoop-style WIA equipment when shooting, making the audience feel as if she was following her through the camera and shuttling through the clouds.
After Shen Li returned to the spirit world and fought against the scorpion-tailed fox, Deng Ke did not want to focus on showing the cruelty of the battlefield battle, but wanted to use her suppression of the charm after her appearance to reflect the image of King Bicang guarding the spirit world and carrying the spiritual sustenance of the people. In the scene of the battle between the celestial realm and the white lion, Shen Li uses the lantern as a hydrangea to guide this fierce and mischievous pet, inspired by the traditional lion dance culture.
The second is the ancient god Xingzhi, who is at the top of the combat power list, he doesn't need fancy actions, whether it is the Heavenly Realm West Garden smashing the fireball, or the frozen East China Sea hard anti-lightning, waving his sleeves is the power to destroy the world and destroy the earth, and the sense of coercion is strong. The Golden Lady is also powerful, the golden fan can take people's lives when it is flipped over, and she also sets up the screen as a killing array in a secluded corner, which can trap the intruder and strangle them.
The above-mentioned casting concepts and famous scene conceptions are only a very small part of Director Deng Ke's elaboration and the team's preliminary preparation. Including them, these meticulous ideas that condense the long-term hard work of the main creative team have only become the new benchmark of Xianxia dramas we see today after being tempered by production.
Follow the "feel" and make the shoot exhaustive
Since the broadcast of "Walking with the Phoenix", audience interpretation has become an important component of the co-creation of the series. Deng Ke said frankly that some of them were indeed something he had not specifically envisioned, such as interpretations such as Shen Li's gaze and the sound of "female A male O". But he also doesn't think it's a completely undesigned result. Because you have done your homework in advance and confirmed the direction of shooting, under the guidance of large and small ideas, each plot and picture will naturally become a part that fits the whole.
The presentation concepts of scenes such as Xingyun Courtyard, Spirit World, and Fairy World in the play are different, and the subtleties of the pen are also different.
"When filming Xingyun Courtyard, we put forward the concept of 'the years are quiet and the sun is dappled', the lens will naturally be relatively soothing, and there are more panoramic compositions of 'people swimming in the painting'; the spiritual world should have a living atmosphere, referring to the bustle of Hongya Cave in Chongqing, where people eat hot pot and chat everywhere, so the shots at this stage are richer, the rhythm is faster, and the music is more intense; the heavenly realm follows the Taoist sense of tranquility, the building structure is square, symmetrical and rigorous, and more fixed panoramas and larger scenes will be used when shooting. ”
And when the actors perform, because the character ideas are already hidden in the heart and deep in the bone marrow, their casual movements or eyes may be the ideal state.
"It's like someone would say that a writer's character will live on his own, and when he lives, he will run with the story. The characters in film and television dramas also have souls and feelings, and they themselves are part of the comprehensive design of the story structure. Maybe a moment that was praised by the audience captured just the actor's subconscious muscle memory. ”
In his opinion, "some of the techniques of shooting are actually a feeling. ”
The music team of "Walking with the Phoenix" entered very early, and the main BGM was done before the start of filming, such as "Bicang Battle Song", "Frolicking in the World", "Lethe River" and so on. During filming, they play these soundtracks in the corresponding scenes to help the actors find the right feeling.
This "feeling" can also give birth to a lot of new inspiration on the set. "I stay in each scene for at least 10 days or more, and sometimes a movement or figure passing by me can irritate me," Deng Ke said. ”
There is a scene in Xingyun Courtyard where Shen Li is lying on the side of the tank playing in the water, and the camera is slightly overshadowed through the trees in the courtyard. At that time, Zhao Liying was playing in the water there, and Deng Ke happened to see the sunlight shining on her from the gap in the monitor, which was very beautiful. He hurriedly proposed, "Why don't you lie here, I'll take a shot of you playing in the water, and then look at the shot after counting 321", and later this part of the picture that could be used as a wallpaper was cut into the trailer.
He said, "I especially like this kind of live growing thing, and it will only be a lot when the atmosphere is really good and everyone trusts each other." ”
In addition, when you put your ideas into practice, you will inevitably encounter unexpected situations.
Deng Ke shared an interesting fact, "Before the start of filming, in order to increase the fireworks in Xingyun Courtyard, Liying mentioned that she wanted a persimmon tree full of fruits, which could be decorated with orange and red to decorate the house located among the green mountains and green waters. However, the official shooting season was not the ripening period for persimmons, and the props department was unable to transplant the trees that fit our vision. So I thought about shrinking it and trying to replace it with a cherry tomato tree. Watching the imaginary towering tree turn into a potted plant, Liying and I both laughed out loud. In the end, he only rejected this plan and replaced it with the current phoenix tree. ”
Sometimes the reality is that it can't achieve the desired effect, and accepting regrets is probably a compulsory course for all film and television creators.
Creation is passionate, and choices are made from the heart
Looking back on Deng Ke's creative process, since filming, he has directed a series of urban fantasy romance dramas such as "My Wonderful Boyfriend" and "Seven Me", and then "Gentleman Detective" and "Cheongsam Beauty Detective" are detective dramas of the Republic of China, starting from "Son-in-law" and plunging into the field of costume comedy.
Asked if the transition was intentional, Mr. Dunko said it was just a coincidence. He didn't make any special plans for the time being, but he prefers to shoot things that are real and emotional.
He has made achievements in both the male and female frequency tracks, but he will not use this as a standard to select, shoot and review projects. "As an audience or film critic, I can divide the frequency of men and women, but maybe for the creator, the script moves me, the characters are interesting, and I can be emotionally invested when filming, these are the most important things. ”
The production of Fat Bear initiated by Deng Ke has been joined by many young directors one after another, and the current works include "Cheongsam Beauty Detective", "Leaving People's Hearts", "Alien Girl Chai Xiaoqi", "Gentleman Detective" and so on. According to him, "Everyone didn't plan a business direction in particular, but they all wanted to shoot good works and good texts." ”
However, Deng Ke's concept is that "the director should also shoot whatever stage he wants".
"Eight years ago, when I filmed "People Are Not Tough Boys", I still have a lot of memories of campus life. But now that I'm shooting, it may not be easy to feel it. I'm 37 years old now, I'm in a relatively good state, I'm full of enthusiasm for life, and I'm at my best when I have the best physical strength and the most experience in making things. At this stage, I still choose to shoot more costume dramas, because it has a wider space for expression and production. In a few years, when I am a little more mature, I will definitely shoot realistic themes. ”
Next, in addition to the to-be-broadcast "Jin Yong's Martial Arts World - Southern Emperor and Northern Beggar", "Da Feng Beat the Guard" and "Bending the Waist", Deng Ke will also challenge a modern drama with a particularly different style. According to him, "This drama can be said to have broken my comfort zone, and (to try) is also to give myself more fresh excitement." ”
From modern times, the Republic of China to ancient times, and being able to output high-quality products in both male and female frequencies, Deng Ke's experience cheats on the one hand are to choose projects with creative enthusiasm.
In his opinion, "different types of dramas will have some differences in perspective and technique, but I think this is not the most important point in creation, the key is to see if you have feelings for it." The director also needs a sense of conviction, and this work gives me the creative enthusiasm to reveal my heart and style in the details. ”
On the other hand, in the production process, the decisions made by the director must also be made from the heart.
"A film and television project usually takes two to three years, and the director may have to make thousands of decisions. If you think too much about outside voices when making decisions, you will be tired and lose yourself over time. But if these decisions are made by your own heart, you have a constant basis. ”
As for how to make decisions from the heart always gain the approval of the audience, Deng Ke believes that this requires continuous accumulation and experimentation, and establish a positive interaction with the audience through his works.
"Just like the words are like the person, your personality often determines the style of your film. At this stage, I feel that the audience likes me as a person and my work. With this premise in mind, I believe that new works will be liked by the audience. ”
At the prime stage of his directorial career, Dunko is undoubtedly full of confidence and energy. Maintain this comfortable creative state, and look forward to him bringing more excellent film and television works.