There is such an industry, which has long been declining and cannot afford to make a splash.
But there are still people who want to break in.
Of course, what Sir said is not to write the public number.
Rather, it's Cantonese word filling.
I still remember that in the eighties and nineties of the last century, when Cantonese songs were popular all over Southeast Asia, a large number of lyricists became famous all over the world, such as Huang Zhan, such as Pan Yuanliang, such as Lin Zhenqiang, such as Huang Weiwen......
Writing lyrics has become popular, and people will even ask them to make movies (Huang Zhan's "Paradise", Pan Yuanliang's "Love Season").
But nowadays.
Except in Cantonese-speaking areas, there are not many people who are willing to listen to Cantonese songs.
Not to mention whether the lyricist is popular or not.
But.
Some time ago, some people did not hesitate to spend all their net worth earned in the past few years, and together with the producer, they pooled 2.5 million Hong Kong dollars to make a movie about the lyricist that was destined not to be a hit.
Is it against the current? Or is it nostalgic for the past?
Neither.
It's actually about our common professional confusion.
"Jindu" director Huang Qilin's new work——
Fill in the word L
01
I don't know if you've ever had such an experience of "not admitting it"-
When you have worked hard in an industry for many years, but there is no improvement, and you will even make that kind of low-level mistake like a novice.
I met the heart-piercing question of my seniors:
Have you ever thought about the fact that you have worked hard for so many years
But it didn't work out
Could it be that you are not suitable?
How Would You Answer?
Justification?
Silent?
Luo Yingshi (played by Zhong Xueying) replied:
I didn't try
But is it really "no effort"?
You look at Luo Yingshi's movements, first avoiding the eyes of her predecessors, and then shrinking her body, ending this conversation with a defensive posture.
This is as if he has erected a barrier and refused to admit it.
So the truth is-
When our faith is broken, we would rather "admit" that we are lazy than confess our uselessness.
to protect the remnants of self-esteem.
Of course, Luo Yingshi is not "not working hard", compared to her peers, she even overworked hard.
She dreamed of being a lyricist when she was in school.
Regardless of whether she has time or not, she will "change the song" whenever she has the opportunity, just like at the school teacher ceremony, she also adapted "Infernal Affairs" to "Wu Tuo", ready to perform on stage.
But what?
Because the previous performance was overtimed, she didn't even have a chance to perform.
But it doesn't matter.
A small tribute to the teacher will not dampen her enthusiasm, at that time Hong Kong pop music was still in its golden age, and lyricists always had a place to display their talents.
So she posted the lyrics of "Wu Troll" on the forum, hoping to be recognized.
What you get is 0 replies.
No one reads my song
She was not discouraged, so she took her friends to participate in a creative competition and created "Home Cooking".
Unsurprisingly, it was defeated.
Still not dead?
Of course not.
She continued to sign up for the lyrics class, copied down all the record company email addresses on the website, and sent out the self-recommended emails one by one.
But the result?
Of the 128 mailboxes, 83 were invalid.
Occasionally, I received a reply, and it was just seven words:
Thanks, not needed for now
Did you find out? In fact, like most of us, Luo Yingshi's love for an industry is completely driven by instinctive interest.
We were obsessed with music, so we wanted to be singers.
We love literature, so we want to be writers.
Maybe in school, in that simple circle, we will stand out by virtue of the accumulation above our peers.
So he went on a rampage with confidence.
But in the real world, you will always find that you are nothing more than that.
What to do?
Sir thinks that most people have come here, and it is almost time to give up.
But Luo Yingshi paid more-
Because of the lyrics, she often left her boyfriend aside, and she didn't think of comforting until the library was about to close.
Because of the lyrics, she didn't look for a high-paying job, but took a low salary to work as a record executive assistant that no one wanted to do.
Because of the lyrics, she would fly to Taiwan, clumsily selling herself in a place where she was unfamiliar.
Even if you are hospitalized for a broken love, your first thought is to borrow a friend's notebook and write down your current feelings.
So.
When a person gives everything so hard, and struggles hard for six years than anyone else, but still achieves nothing, and is even questioned by his seniors, what is your reaction?
Maybe Sir will be like Luo Yingshi, pretending not to care and saying the sentence "I didn't work hard".
Laugh in front of people.
And the queen, only on the bus back, dare to let the tears be released.
02
So why did we fail?
In fact, for a large number of people (especially in the categories of lyrics, comments, and screenwriting), there may be only one reason-
We underestimate the industry, but we also look down on ourselves.
That's right, the barriers to entry for these text-related industries are so low that they have been criticized for their mixed results.
This makes many people think that as long as they can write, they can do it.
But is that really the case?
Of course not.
For example, a Cantonese lyricist also needs to master a range of professional knowledge.
For example, chirps.
What is a "chirp"?
"啱" is a suitable and just right meaning in Cantonese.
In the word-filling, the Mandarin interpretation is closer to the meaning of "consonant".
"Consonant" literally means that the lyrics and melody are in harmony with each other, and more technically, the pitch of the melody is basically the same as the pitch of the lyrics.
△ Source: B station up main @ Zhiqiu Yue Dan
In layman's terms, it is to make a lyric sound close to that when the sentence is read in Cantonese, to achieve a rhythmic beauty.
This effect will allow people to hear the meaning of each word even if they only listen to the song and not read the words.
But this depends on the habit of listening to Cantonese songs to distinguish the "sound or not".
Unlike Chinese, which has only four tones, Cantonese has six tones, and the value of each Cantonese tone determines its pitch.
But in fact, even those who can speak Cantonese can hardly tell what tone each word belongs to, and often have to use a Cantonese dictionary to find out.
Therefore, in order to make every lyric sound, beginners need to find the corresponding word close to the melody by looking up the Cantonese dictionary, which is very time-consuming and energy-consuming.
What to do?
There is a tool mentioned in the film -
Huang Zhihua's "0243" word filling.
Among them, 0, 2, 4 and 3 are the codes for the pitch of Cantonese characters, 0 is the bass area, 2 is the middle range, 4 is the middle and high register, and 3 is the high register.
Beginners can first use four numbers instead of lyrics to match the melody, and then find Cantonese words with the corresponding pitch to fill in with the tone.
After mastering the new method, Luo Yingshi looked at the signboards on the street, the menu, and even the words of her parents could turn it into Cantonese composed of 0243.
However, can you succeed if you master the professional method of word filling?
No, no, no.
In addition to skill, wordwriting also requires talent.
How so?
Of course, what Sir said was not the sensitivity of hearing.
It's the ability to think and express.
Writing a poem is first and foremost a process of self-dissection, which requires you to "confess and be lenient", and requires you to fully expose yourself.
For example, in the film, Luo Yingshi has two songs that have been taken seriously.
But you take a closer look.
Among them, one of them was written by dissecting her heart when she fell out of love, and the other was written when she gave up filling in the lyrics and was discouraged and disappointed.
Arguably.
If there is no real emotional touch, then what is written can only be a pile of waste paper.
At the same time, writing words also requires you to pay attention to reality.
A very simple truth.
If you don't even care about the people around you, how can you write lyrics that impress strangers?
Or Luo Yingshi's example.
Although she worked hard for her dreams and reached a state of selflessness, at the same time, she also forgot about the people around her.
How can you succeed in creating like this?
You don't have empathy at all, and your lyrics are not well written
In other words, if a person's ability to think and express is mediocre, then what he writes will inevitably be ordinary.
But this industry.
Even if you criticize those lyrics for being worthless, they are selected from one out of a thousand, one out of a thousand.
is like a book once written by director Huang Qilin -
"I would love to be an illiterate lyricist".
Even if it is "illiterate", it is the result of the survival of the fittest, and many people struggle for it but ultimately miss it.
So, ah.
Don't underestimate the profession, and don't think too highly of yourself.
Otherwise, what awaits us is only failure.
03
At this point, it is very clear that "Lyrics L" is the same as the title (L is actually a substitute for "Lyrics", a foul word, "Lyrics" is the self-deprecation of "Lyrics"), and what is filmed is actually a group of songs of losers.
For example, Lu Sir who taught her to fill in the words.
One detail is that there are clocks of different times behind the background of his lectures, which actually means that he spent a lot of time filling in the words, but still did not achieve anything.
So much so that it is often necessary to find one's own sense of existence by pointing out the faults of others.
Or Luo Yingshi's brother.
At first, I was also learning to write words, but later I became an engineer and gave up all my hobbies.
And when he moves, he will not hesitate to bring his favorite basketball and stubbornly prove that he has not really thrown in the towel.
These stories are about how to deal with myself if I'm destined to be a loser.
It's a rather poignant self-doubt.
Is there a need to be suspicious?
In the movie, it is said that there is no need.
Your failures in the past.
Sometimes, it's also a kind of accumulation.
For example:
In the movie, Luo Yingshi finally gave up the dream-chasing journey of the lyricist, and she found a car-sharing company, planning to start a mediocre life.
But during the interview, the company suddenly said that it wanted to make a promotional song.
So Luo Yingshi relied on her previous accumulation and finally picked up the burden, she wrote an advertising song, and she became the "chief lyricist" as she wished.
And the same is true in reality.
Director Huang Qilin, before becoming a director, she actually worked as a lyricist for six years.
was frustrated along the way, so he had to change careers.
Far from your dreams?
No.
When filming "Golden Capital", she wrote the theme song of the same name for Teresa Teng, and was nominated for the "Best Original Film Song" at the Academy Awards that year.
When filming "Lyrics L", Sir's most touching scene was when the subtitles came out at the end, in the column of original songs, the lyrics of ten songs were all Huang Qilin.
She also won the "Best Original Film Song" award at the Academy Awards.
So you see.
All your failed efforts will not be in vain, and it will unexpectedly wait for you at some midpoint in your life.
But the problem is.
Even if our efforts are not worth in the worldly sense, is it a waste?
Of course not.
Sir doesn't want to say the cliché of "existence is reasonable", but have you ever thought about whether when we look for the word "meaning" in any movie, novel, or event, do we also ignore the "process" itself?
It's like we're always living in the moment.
But the eyes are always looking into the distance, and they are blind to the road beneath them.
But you have to know.
Your former confusion, your former disgrace, and the glory and high spirits of the past have become your most memorable experience.
So why can't we live in the moment instead of looking for what value and meaning?
We can even continue to ask.
When we are striving for cost-effectiveness, will it not only those useless efforts disappear, but also the courage to gamble for our dreams?
And so the film ends.
When Luo Yingshi finally heard her song in the supermarket, her heart turned upside down, recalling all kinds of pictures of her hard work in the past, but there was no wave in her expression.
Because she knows that those dreams don't come back because of a song.
The past is gone forever.
But perhaps more importantly, she also realized -
It doesn't matter if it's a success or a failure.
Every piece of the past.
These are the most precious footnotes that we have become our own.