In the past few years, screenwriter Wang Xiaogun has flourished.
His national security drama "Opponent" focused the camera on the "lurker" for the first time, and "County Party Committee Compound" won him the Magnolia Best Screenplay (Original) Award.
Check Douban, there are as many as five of his dramas to be broadcast. In these dramas, I have been looking forward to "Yellow Sparrow".
"Yellow Sparrow" follows the "Iron Triangle" combination of "Little Doctor" and "Opponent", screenwriter Wang Xiaogun, director Lu Lunchang, and chief producer Zhang Haidong.
"Yellow Sparrow" is another work that is not quite the same as the past of the "Iron Triangle". is not the same as the script written by Wang Xiaogun in the past, and it is also different from the dramas that Lu Lunchang has filmed in the past.
"Yellow Sparrow" is an anti-pickpocketing drama. The story unfolds from the perspective of an anti-pickpocket police officer and tells the story of a group of police officers and three gangs of thieves.
The script of "Yellow Sparrow", Wang Xiaogun wrote it very arbitrarily. Zhang Haidong said, "I was lucky to be able to get the script of Xiaogun to film, which is already luckier than many people." ”
Zhang Haidong on the set
The story of "Yellow Sparrow" is told from 1994 to 2004, the main context is in 2004, and the opening of each episode will flash back to the 90s of the last century.
The 2004 timeline is Guo Pengfei's (played by Guo Jingfei) self-redemption in middle age, and in the 1994 timeline, Guo Pengfei's newborn calf is generally full of guts. Different eras, with different faces.
At present, "Yellow Sparrow" is in post-production, and not long ago, "Film and Television Monologue" watched part of the content in advance.
It is a work that is difficult to define in words. It is slightly different from the existing criminal investigation dramas on the market, and it is also different from the traditional perception of public security officers. It's stealing spectacle, it's treacherous, it's funny. Everyone has their own obsessions, and the bitterness of life is seen everywhere.
With doubts, I chatted with Zhang Haidong. The following is the narration of Zhang Haidong, the chief producer of "Yellow Sparrow".
The biggest "thief" is time
The story of "The Yellow Sparrow" was decided in 2021.
In today's market, everyone wants to make scarcity and is trying to find a more unique theme to show. After cooperating with screenwriter Wang Xiaogun and director Lu Lunchang in "Opponent", we thought about what kind of project to develop next, which can not only continue the unique theme display of the previous one, but also make the audience feel fresh.
Chatting and chatting, "Yellow Sparrow" came out.
"Yellow Sparrow" is a criminal investigation drama, but it is different from the traditional criminal investigation theme. It's about a battle between a group of anti-pickpocket police and a gang of thieves.
The theme of anti-pickpocketing has not been filmed much in recent years, and even many young viewers are not clear about the role of anti-pickpocketing police. Nowadays, thieves are rare, but telecom fraud is rampant.
Cops & Thieves
The anti-pickpocketing story has an innate conflict, Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao acted in a sketch "Police and Thieves", which is still a classic more than 30 years later.
"Yellow Sparrow" is fresh in terms of subject matter and will not make the audience have aesthetic fatigue. At its core, it is universal, we not only want to shoot the spectacle of the police and the thieves fighting wits and courage, but also want to show a kind of thief sentient beings, show the past and present lives of this group of thieves, and show the social changes, human choices and fate behind the theft.
The kernel is more intriguing than the shell. We wanted to dig into something deeply human.
The biggest "thief" is time. Time has unwittingly stolen a lot of precious things in your life, and you may not feel it at the moment, but you are clinging to what you think is the most precious at that time.
When you look back, you realize that the things you hold on to are far less important than the inconspicuous things that were lost in the past.
What does "Yellow Sparrow" mean? Many people may blurt out, "The praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch follows."
I think it's easy to call this name out loud and give people infinite reverie. No matter how cunning the praying mantis is, the yellow finch can always strike a fatal blow in the back.
It also highlights the wisdom and bravery of our public security officers, no matter how ingenious the thieves' methods are, there will always be wiser people to arrest and judge you.
In the ancient sense, the yellow finch also has the meaning of accessibility.
24 episodes, filmed for 150 days
"Yellow Sparrow" has a total of 24 episodes, and Group AB plus one piece was filmed for 150 days. There are two main reasons why it took so long.
First of all, it was difficult to shoot. "Yellow Sparrow" has two story nodes, the main context is in 2004, 20 years ago. If you want to show the customs and appearance of the city 20 years ago, you have to put a lot of effort into fine art photography.
In addition, we are shooting in real time, and the story mainly takes place in the square in front of the railway station and in the station, and there are very few railway stations with the temperament of that era, which are in normal operation and meet the shooting conditions.
The art team worked hard and finally found it in Changsha. It retains the style of twenty years ago, with a sense of age visible to the naked eye. It's in operation again, and it has its own vitality and activity. Our director was very satisfied.
In addition to the train station, it is necessary to restore the clothing and objects of that era, and even pay attention to the way of greeting.
But you can't really stop a train and let passengers change to other modes of transportation. We bought the same train as we did twenty years ago. Along this train, the art team made four more carriages.
Some people also advised me to take a carriage, and the rest of the special effects are more cost-effective. But the texture of the scene is really different from the real train, and the special effects of the depth of the real shot can't be conveyed.
Maybe it's not that big of a difference through the screen, but we did our best to make sure that the actors could immerse themselves wholeheartedly.
Second, the main creative team has a strong artistic pursuit.
Every script of Mr. Little Gun is improving, and on his track, he has no competitors. Others just wanted to imitate, and he switched to other genres, but he always challenged his own ceiling.
If you read the script, you know that the scenes of the story are very flying. One will be in the northeast, one will be in the south, and the other will be in Taiyuan's compound.
Mr. Xiaogun's script has been written very chicly, and the director has given more artistic value when he created it for the second time.
Director Lo Lun Chang graduated from the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong, but I think she has a strong scientific mindset. She also said that each work hopes to improve a little bit better than the last.
The director is very similar to the new generation of online drama directors, full of interest in all technology and fashion products, but she has more practical skills than the new generation of directors.
The first episode had a speeding scene, and we filmed it all day. The director stayed in front of the camera and filmed that scene all day.
To be honest, did that scene play any decisive role in the whole play? Probably not. But as long as she is willing to innovate, I am willing to give the director this time, even if it is at the expense of some progress.
"Yellow Sparrow" is another collaboration between old acquaintances. Not only the director and screenwriter, but also the director of photography and the art director, they are also old friends, saving a lot of run-in time.
But on another level, the screenwriters, directors, and other creative teams will have their own insistence on creation, and as the chief producer, the matters that need to be coordinated and selected continue unabated. My mission is to provide an environment for creators to innovate and meet the needs of the creators.
Guo Pengfei wrote according to Guo Jingfei
Except for Teacher Qin Lan, it is not the first time that the other actors have cooperated.
The characteristic of our company's projects is that we insist on selecting actors with a high degree of fit. Even in the process of script creation, the actors were selected.
For example, Guo Pengfei is based on Guo Jingfei's character sketch.
Teacher Xiaogun and Guo Jingfei have a good personal relationship, so this time the character is not called Li Tang, and he is directly named Guo Pengfei. We call him "Dapeng".
The finalization of the cast of "Yellow Sparrow" went smoothly. First, the characters are very attractive to the actors, and secondly, they are also willing to use their years of skills to interpret the characters as much as possible. Including Jingfei has also made a big breakthrough this time.
Jingfei is playing another "wreck" this time. The career is not successful, and the relationship is not smooth. But he had an upright heart.
He is not a smooth and traditional person, he has his own unsatisfactory side, and he also faces life positively. Jingfei injects a lot of humor into the character.
Because of the familiarity, the atmosphere was very cheerful. A lot of interesting designs are colliding on the spot.
Sometimes you just make a move here, and the other side directly follows with a look, and the character suddenly comes to life.
Jingfei is a pistachio, and he always tells jokes on the spot. Teacher Qin Lan is also very lively, and everyone cooperates very well.
Mr. Zu Feng played a role that was different from the past this time, and he gave the audience a great surprise when he came up;
The character of Li Tang (played by Chen Jingke) is a bit similar to Guo Pengfei when he was young, fledgling and courageous;
Sister Hua (played by Guo Keyu) sounds like a big sister, but she is actually a heroic policewoman;
and Wang Haoxin, who played a villain throughout the main line this time, and some of his behaviors are estimated to be gritted by many people.
In our drama, there are still many old drama bones joining, and they agreed without saying a word after reading the script.
The creation of "Yellow Sparrow" is inseparable from the strong support of iQiyi. iQIYI really understands drama creation, and the platform's observation of the market and ordinary audiences is more acute than ours, and it will put forward some opinions in a targeted manner, so that the script is more market-oriented and approaching ordinary audiences.
"Yellow Sparrow" is ready to shoot for five seasons, and the second season will return to Taiyuan. Teacher Xiaogun is a native of Shanxi and is very familiar with Taiyuan.
The original plan was that Guangzhou would start, Taiyuan would be the second season, the third season would be Harbin, and then Sichuan, and finally the ending would return to the Central Plains.
The story of "Yellow Sparrow" is along the train, and the customs and customs of each place are completely different, and changing regions is equivalent to changing another set of stories, and it can even be combined with local cultural tourism.
[Text/Ma Er]