The new book "Spoilers: Secrets of the Chinese Opera Set" by TV drama researcher and critic Li Xingwen has been published by the China Workers Publishing House.
Two years ago, "Drama Essence: A Guide to Contemporary Drama Viewing" was published, introducing 30 classic works in the history of Chinese television drama. Now the sequel to "Drama Essence" has been published, "Spoilers", introducing 31 creators who have achieved remarkable results in the history of Chinese television dramas.
This book uses time as the meridian and the work as the weft line, painting the theatrical life of the artists.
The author is a director of the China Film Critics Association and the China Literary and Art Critics Association, and has rich experience in film and television criticism. He is also a senior media person who has tracked and observed the national drama industry for 20 years, and has an in-depth understanding of the macro contours and capillary cycles of the development of TV dramas.
See people and see things, have feelings and interesting gossip. This is the author's self-expectation in the process of writing the book. The following is a transcript of the author's answers to questions about the contents of this book.
What is a "spoiler"?
Q: Why do you want to reveal the secret from the four dimensions of acting, writing plays, making plays, and directing plays? How was the list of 31 TV series creators written in the book determined?
A: The so-called main creators of film and television works mainly refer to screenwriters, directors, actors and producers. The four major trades of "editing and directing" correspond to the labor of writing plays, directing plays, acting and making plays.
I have always had a long-cherished wish to write a history of Chinese TV dramas. I am different from academic researchers, who use theoretical tools to dominate research work. I'm also different from depth enthusiasts who obsessively play with and parse texts.
I am a media person, and what distinguishes me from the other two types of researchers is that I can talk to TV drama practitioners without obstacles, and I can often go directly to the creation site and industry exhibitions, grasp first-hand information, and understand their past, current situation and real mentality.
The history of Chinese TV drama development has exceeded 60 years. Chinese TV dramas have also developed vigorously for more than 40 years since the reform and opening up. Chinese TV dramas have a commonly called "Golden 20 Years (1990--2010)". What happens in this process is the number of sands in the Ganges.
However, with the passage of time and aesthetic changes, some works still shine brightly, while many more works sink into the dive and slowly disappear.
I feel that now that I have been exposed to these vivid memories and effective experiences, I have an obligation to preserve them. In 2018, I started doing the video program "60 Lectures on Chinese Opera", and later collected the manuscripts of the first two seasons into a book.
The 31 creators in this book are the pre-collection objects of the second season of "60 Lectures of National Drama". Our show is not a studio interview, but I'm going to tell everything as a storyteller. But face-to-face interviews are a link that can't be ignored.
Making a program and translating it into a series of books is a continuous work. My roadmap is: start with old works and gradually arrive at new ones. Starting from TV dramas, web dramas were gradually included.
The first season introduced the show, at least more than 10 years away from the current time difference. The creators introduced in the second season have generally been famous for more than 10 years. In the third season of the show, I began to comb through the works and stories of the past 10 years.
It's not a strict history of generations, nor is it a list of heroes for the whole bunch. The creators written in the book must be outstanding. But not every accomplished creator has entered my writing.
Q: Why did you write "people who make plays", and what are their hidden contributions to national drama?
A: The so-called "national drama" in the title of the book refers to a Chinese drama series composed of TV dramas and online dramas. Dramas are also the main force of long video, and are still the most widely radiating category among all literary and artistic forms.
The odds of the four lines of writing and directing become famous, and the actor is greater than the director than the screenwriter is greater than the producer. Star actors have the magic of turning all beings upside down. TV series directors are less likely to become public figures than film directors, but there are also many people who have public popularity. Screenwriters used to be obscure, but since entering the social media era, there have been many people who have broken through the circle.
Relatively speaking, the producers have been low-key. Ordinary viewers may not even be able to say the name of a producer, and fans of the show may know only Hou Hongliang's name. In fact, the producer is the only one who has always been with the project, from the stage of creative fetal movement, through planning, creation, filming, post-production, distribution, broadcast, and payment collection, must not leave.
According to the division of labor in the industry, the work of the screenwriter, director and actor is staged, and there is no need to take overall responsibility for the commercial recycling of the project. The producer is the person who is responsible for the overall responsibility, and he is also the person who is most afraid of the "yellow" of the project.
Producers theoretically control the power of people, money, and things, but in practice, they are often reduced to people who bear the burden of humiliation. Those practitioners who are not strong in ability may require producers. But in the face of the key figures in all aspects, the producer is in a state of "all seeking people".
Producers need to have artistic vision, even direct creative ability, but also have enough leadership, execution and cohesion. The producer is the standing engine of a project, the universal coupling of a crew. The level of the producer is high, the project is not necessarily successful, the level of the producer is low, and the project must fail.
Producers have both nominal and practical producers. The practitioners are often called producers, that is, people who make plays. The editor and director are invited by them, and whether they can do a good job depends on their vision and coordination ability. The crew is the most accident-prone temporary organization, and whether they can safely produce and complete it smoothly depends on their ability to predict dangers and solve problems.
The people who make the play are the driving force behind the scenes for the audience, but their role is not small at all. They are the rule-makers and tyrants at every step of the project. Producers are up, the industry is up. When a producer sinks, the industry sinks. Good producers deserve a big book.
Q: Why are the respondents all "old comrades"?
A: After all, it is a history of writing. The "old comrades" have made history, even entered history, and are, of course, the priority objects of writing. The new comrades are still practicing hard, or they are writing history, and there are still infinite possibilities, and there is no need to rush to set up a monument.
Q: How many hall-of-the-road male actors have run through the 40 years of the development of chinese opera?
A: First of all, they all have a dedicated and even devout heart. Teacher Li Xuejian and Teacher Chen Baoguo made a vision to be a thousand-faced person on the screen at a very young age, and they were indomitable and practiced all the way. There are also times when setbacks are at the top, and there are also times when they travel far at night, and they do not change their minds.
Teacher Chen Daoming is relatively indifferent, and he even feels that he has a lot of accidents in the performance industry. But once you get into the creation, you are also fully focused and meticulous. Focus is the premise of doing everything well.
Secondly, they all belong to the people who eat and drink. Both teachers Chen were handsome when they were young and had the first edge of the stage. At the same time, they did not take "handsome" itself seriously, and soon found an effective way to enter the role and shape the character.
Teacher Li Xuejian has been versatile since childhood, singing, dancing, cross-talk, sketches, and Shandong fast books, and has practiced his skills in factories and military propaganda teams. Then take off from the drama stage and become everyone in film and television performances. He is good at pondering people's hearts, simplifying complexity, and performing the personalized style of characters.
There is also the calmness and humility from the heart, and the understanding of reverence. Maybe they also floated through at some point in their lives, but they quickly chose a low-key, self-disciplined attitude towards life. At any time, arrogance and indulgence are dangerous things, and it is true wisdom to know its male and guard its female.
Q: Are the books "Spoilers" and "Drama" a series?
A: Yes. "Drama Essence" is based on the first season of "60 Lectures of National Drama", and "Spoilers" is based on the second season of the lecture. All published by the China Workers Publishing House, from the binding design to the layout style have continuity.
Q: What is a "spoiler"? Is the secret on set a "gossip"?
A: There is a lot of content in the book that the parties told for the first time, and because it has not been exposed, it can be called "spoilers". The secrets on the set written in the book certainly do not involve emotional gossip, but there will be changes in creative thinking, personnel changes, twists and turns, and cooperative entanglements, which can be regarded as gossip in a broad sense.
Value in the moment
Q: How does it help the current practitioners to explain the secrets of the old drama on the set?
A: The first is knowledge to solve puzzles. Any industry has a development context, the historical things are clear, when you can better find your own coordinates and the direction of the force, to avoid some ineffective labor.
The second is methodological inspiration. Any artistic evergreen is not a fluke. In the conversation with them, I could feel the spark of wisdom and the output of the skill of Ding Ding to solve the cattle.
Then there is the baptism of the spiritual world. Someone has a spear and a euphorbia, and sex is like a fiery fire. Some people are warm as jade, soft as kegang. Some people are fairy wind dao bone, floating out of the dust. Some people are surging with poetry, and the old Ji is ambushed. Some people judge the situation and change from time to time. In the face of this group of living artists, you can't get nothing.
Q: As mentioned in the book, director Kong Sheng directly called out "there are still such things in this world" when he learned that netizens gave Mei Changsu and Jing Wang a cp. This video was screenshotted and appeared on the hot search. How do you view the relationship between audiences and film and television creators? How has it changed from the past?
A: The original audience is a follower type, that is, what do you give me to eat, I will boast a few words when the taste is good, and I will taste it first, in case there is nutrition? In short, follow you for a while, until you can't be logical and self-consistent, and then you will make a critical voice.
Today's audience is interactive, interacting with the work all the time. It is common to scold after watching the last episode. You're originally a big book, I can join the chorus. You didn't have it buried, and I can make my own stalks.
The rise of social media has changed the audience's aesthetic psychology and the way they follow the drama. True to that sentence: once the work is broadcast, the right of interpretation is no longer vested in the creator. To Mei Changsu and Jing Wang group CP, although the director did not have this intention, he said it does not count, everything is subject to the will of the audience.
Q: Why are so few female filmmakers interviewed? Will there be a story of a new generation of film and television people in the future?
A: The director was my focus on interviewees, and nearly half of them were interviewed. The director's profession, because of the wind and the sun, the day and night upside down, and the complexity of Pepsi, is still dominated by men.
Both writers and producers are equally represented by men and women. However, I personally prefer the writing and production of historical dramas, legendary dramas, spy dramas, and military dramas, which are mainly male screenwriters and producers.
In the profession of actors, male and female stars are equally dazzling. The reason why there are no female stars in the book is to blame Teacher Tan Fei. As the editor-in-chief of "Four Tastes of Poison Uncle", when arranging the interview task, chatting with the actress is his own horse, and Wang Hailin and Song Fangjin and I rarely have the opportunity to kiss Fangze.
There will definitely be young people coming into my new book in the future. Because the drama we are talking about is getting closer and closer to the current time and space, the young creators cannot get around it. I have thought of the new title, which is called "Like: Ten Years of Good Drama Awards".
Q: Why is it so difficult for TV drama directors to succeed as film directors?
A: There are indeed a lot of well-known TV series directors who switched to movies and left Maicheng. In the early years, Gao Xixi's "Dew Red Face" and Zhao Baogang's "Untouchable" were not considered successful. In contrast, Liu Jiang's "Let's Get Married" and Zheng Xiaolong's "Gua Sha" are even retreating.
Gua Sha
There should be a way of thinking here. The TV series is originally long, it is a method of telling all clues, and the director is afraid that the audience's understanding will have blind spots.
And the film is the art of structure, the ruler of the water, the pursuit of increasing one point is fat, minus one point is thin. When TV drama directors make movies, it is difficult to find a crisp and clean rhythm, and it is difficult to control the desire to express breaking and kneading.
Q: Will zheng xiaolong, Gao Xixi, Zhang Li and other big directors go to make short episodes in the future?
A: I don't think so. On the one hand, they are at the top of the pyramid, and the platform must be entrusted with heavy responsibilities to find them to shoot dramas, and is it not a tyrannical thing not to shoot big dramas and important plays? On the other hand, short dramas are the careers of young people, which require more avant-garde video language, more fashionable expressions, and the leadership of younger creative teams.
See details
Q: Does Zheng Xiaolong's "The Biography of Zhen Huan in the Harem" also have elements of male court power plots? How is it different from the male official plot in "Daming Dynasty 1566"?
Zheng Xiaolong, Chen Jianbin and Sun Li on the set of "The Biography of Zhen Huan"
A: Not the same thing. The difference in the social division of labor and the way of thinking of men and women determines the obvious difference between the two types of dramas.
The target of the power plot drama is the family and the world, the national economy and the people's livelihood, and the imperial power, and the manpower used is the civilian force, the soldiers and horses, the theoretical tools are the teachings of the sages, the military books and tactics, and the ancestors' conventions, and the places of struggle are sometimes in the court, sometimes in the state capital, sometimes in the battlefield, sometimes in the folk.
The target of the palace fighting drama is the right to mate with the emperor, and the main forces participating in the war are concubines, palace women, eunuchs, and eunuchs, which at most affect a small number of external forces. The tools used are abortion pills such as musk and cinnabar, witchcraft to pierce villains, and strange framing schemes. A thousand theories in one sentence: I want to be favored, and I want to fall out of favor with my family. The place of battle is always within the Imperial City.
The highest realm of the power plot drama is to fight for the life of the world, and Hai Rui in "Daming Dynasty 1566" rebuked the Jiajing Emperor on behalf of the people. The highest realm of palace fighting drama is to give up the competition for favors and kill the emperor, which is what Niu Cobalt Lu Zhen Huan in "The Legend of The Harem Zhen Huan" did.
Daming Dynasty 1566
If we must say that the pattern of power plot drama is larger, the field of vision is broader, and it can become a zizhi tongjian, then the plot of the palace fight drama is more refreshing, the mind is more delicate, and it better meets the secret needs of the audience.
Q: Your book mentions Zhang Chenggong's breakthrough in police dramas, and the "Black Trilogy" created by him, "Black Ice", "Black Hole" and "Black Mist", is gripping. So, what are the similarities and differences between the police films at that time and the suspense dramas of the moment? Do they have a certain degree of ductility?
A: The wave of police dramas around 2000 was bolder in the display of the intensity of the case, and the pictures of killing and burying people in "Black Hole" were indeed frightening; they were also more bold in the display of human complexity, and Nie Mingyu (played by Chen Daoming) in "Black Hole" and Guo Xiaopeng (played by Wang Zhiwen) in "Black Ice" were the villains and the de facto male number one. Their vibrancy is quite demagogic, and distinguishing between black and white requires a higher level of understanding.
The current suspense drama or case-related drama cannot show too many details of the crime, and it is impossible to let the villain be the protagonist. But the theme is more subdivided: the three companies of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Law all have TV drama production units, and the higher-level Central Political and Legal Commission is also driving the creation. Under the traditional public security drama, it is divided into criminal investigation dramas, economic investigation dramas, anti-drug dramas, etc. according to the police type. And a "Trident" includes these three major police types.
Genres are also being forked and superimposed, "Detective Chinatown" has more intrinsic reasoning components, "The Hidden Corner" and "The Silent Truth" are more social reasoning, and "White Night Pursuit" is said to be tough guy reasoning. Sci-fi elements are added to Doom and Fatal Wishes.
From the perspective of filming methods, the audiovisual language of the older generation of police dramas is relatively simple, mainly based on plot and characters. The current network suspense drama draws on the shooting methods of more American dramas, and there are more designs and expressions in the image, which should be said to be better.
There is definitely a succession relationship between the two. In fact, after the police drama was not in the golden file in 2004, it was the anti-special and spy war drama that took over the banner of suspense and reasoning, creating a prosperous period of about 10 years. Since 2014, the rise of online suspense dramas, TV dramas have also broken the ice, and this genre has entered a new development cycle.
Q: Some of the creative secrets mentioned in the book have been moved to Weibo, which has caused some heated discussions. For example, the famous scene of Kangxi angrily rebuking the courtiers in "Kangxi Dynasty" turned out to be a flying page written by the screenwriter the night before, and Chen Daoming only prepared for ten minutes before filming. What do you think about the material you have painstakingly dug up and becomes someone else's material and converts it into other people's traffic?
A: Long videos are overtaken by short videos, and long videos have launched a battle to maintain copyright, but at present, the possibility of no problem is very large. In the same way, the information that we traditional media people have painstakingly collected seems to have become the norm when they are used by various marketing numbers that are waiting for opportunities.
To protect copyright, there must be a platform to participate. Now as long as the platform has traffic, it is meaningless to rely solely on the copyright owner to protect its rights.
My stuff is original and genuine, published on my front, to reach the audience I can gather, it is enough. If it is taken by others to spread to a wider range of people, it is considered an unexpected gift and merit. As for whether the porters' consciences ache or not, I don't care.
Spoilers: Secrets of the National Drama Set
Cast:
Li Xuejian: Not only good old people
Chen Daoming: Arrogance is not overbearing
Chen Baoguo: A thousand-faced person on the screen
Wang Jinsong: It is easy to move, but it is not easy to move
Yu Hewei: Pretending to be a dragon like a dragon, pretending to be a tiger is like a tiger
Screenwriting:
Gao Mantang: On the road
Zhou Mason: The first person in the anti-corruption drama
Chen Yuxin: Focus on public security dramas
Zhang Chenggong: The police drama broke the game
Wang Liping: Don't complain
Zhao Dongling: Screenwriter "Representative"
Liu Heng: Add some poetry to the play
Sheng Heyu: Cross-border sealing gods
Producer:
Liu Wenwu: Crazy producer
Ji Daoqing: The night watchman of the military drama
Zhang Qian: Producer Assault
Cai Yinong: The queen of ancient puppet dramas
Director:
Zhang Shaolin: Sleepless
Kong Sheng: The survival rate is the highest
Zheng Xiaolong: From director to director
Zhang Li: Three times in ten years
Liu Jiacheng: Spokesperson of Beijing opera
Mao Weining: Technical control
Yan Jiangang: The grass is the most fragrant
Zhang Xinjian: Lu opera sheng dynasty
Liu Jiang: Film and television all-rounder
Ghosh: The water is big fish for 20 years
Shang Jing: I love the "magic" state
Wang Jun: Don't steal drama with life
Ding Hei: You can't refuse the routine
Teng Huatao: The forerunner of topic dramas
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【Text/Five Finger Mountain】