Domestic dramas have only one advantage, that is, Chinese.
This is a joke made by a friend in the circle of friends the other day. Some people I know, these years really do not watch domestic dramas, but they know British dramas and American dramas very well.
I feel that chasing dramas is too wasteful of time, and I have hardly watched dramas in recent years, whether it is domestic dramas or foreign dramas. But I don't have much prejudice against domestic dramas, and I think a big part of the reason is that I came from the era of producing good domestic dramas, and I got a lot of pleasure from those TV dramas that spoke Chinese. And when British dramas and American dramas became popular, I saw that the foundation of domestic dramas had been laid, and new habits could not be established.
A critic I know knows a lot about domestic dramas, as early as more than a decade ago, when he often flipped through the "Beijing Youth Daily", he knew that he often wrote drama reviews for domestic dramas, and they were the kind that really listened to and really saw the real feelings. He is Teacher Li Xingwen.
| One
Teacher Xingwen first wrote reviews in newspapers, and then switched to new media to talk about reviews, saying more valuable content, and then gathered into a book. First there is the last book "Drama Essence: A Guide to Contemporary Drama Viewing", and then there is the latest "Spoilers: Secrets of the Chinese Drama Set".
That "Drama Essence" focuses on works, from historical dramas to war dramas, from sitcoms to spy dramas, most of which can be called classics of domestic dramas. And this "Spoiler" focuses on the creators of those classic national dramas, including writers, directors, actors and producers. Many of these people are friends of the author, and the content of the book is written through face-to-face interviews.
Nowadays, in various public accounts, there are many articles written about film and television works, and some of them have not received low clicks. But many times we will find that it is more about reprocessing the materials on the Internet and old books, plus some specious entertainment gossip, so that netizens look cool.
Teacher Xingwen does not write articles in this way, he is concerned about the doorway behind the classic drama, recording the creation and industry, and most of the content is first-hand materials, not arbitrary splicing of existing materials.
| Two
In the part about actors in "Spoilers", the author writes that five people are all powerful actors, including Li Xuejian, Chen Daoming, Chen Baoguo, Wang Jinsong, and Yu Hewei. Compared with young people, these people belong to middle-aged and elderly actors and have many years of acting experience. The earliest contact of these actors is basically the Steiney performance system, focusing on experiencing life and turning themselves into characters.
For example, Chen Baoguo, in order to play the glass flower in the movie "Divine Whip", went to Tianjin in advance to find the prototype character, and he was stunned that he and an old man who had been a jerk at that time spent more than two months together, just to find the realism of the character from him. Later it turned out that he took the right path, and the glass flower-shaped god he played was both popular.
The Whip
Also acting, Chen Daoming began to have reservations about the Performance of the Stanley System that has been followed for many years. He believes that in the current performance, the actor must not only show the charm of the character, but also exude the charm of the actor himself to a certain extent, which is different from the past.
"The First Half of My Life"
So on the set of "The First Half of My Life", without Chen Daoming's scene, he would also observe it on the spot to see how young people act now. For an old actor who is almost equivalent to an acting authority, this is difficult to do.
| Three
Actors need to experience, and screenwriters can't do it behind closed doors. In the book, Gao Mantang, the screenwriter of "Breaking into the Kanto", went to the northeast and Shandong to collect wind before writing this script, and met various people.
"Breaking into Kanto"
From these people, Gao Mantang heard many stories that could not be imagined at all. With these accumulations, Gao Mantang has always felt a strong desire for expression in the process of writing, those stories must be written, and those virtual characters are all resurrected in his pen. Without these stories, the plot of "Breaking into Kanto" could not be so legendary and real.
I like "The Happy Life of Poor Mouth Zhang Damin", from novels, movies to TV series. The book also interviewed liu heng, the author of the original novel, and some ink answered my previous doubts.
The novel "The Happy Life of Poor Mouth Zhang Damin" seems to have a somewhat hasty ending, and by the time Liu Heng directly participated in the TV series of the same name, the plot was greatly enriched. Turns out there are some hidden things here.
Towards the end of the novel, Liu Heng was going to Shanxi with a writers' group. He originally had some ideas about the story behind the Damin family, but when he saw that the departure time was approaching, he simply forced the end and went to Shanxi with Wang Anyi and other writers. After the novel was published, Liu Heng felt regret.
When it came time to shoot the TV series of the same name, Liu Heng personally served as a screenwriter, and the length of 20 episodes was just enough to add the original content that was not written, and the regret was made up.
The resulting script is carefully written and of high quality. Liang Guanhua, who plays Zhang Damin, felt that this character was too poor to talk about when he read the script, and it was useless to talk about it, he thought about deleting the lines, but he thought about changing which sentences were not right in half a day, and finally he could only act according to the script.
"The Happy Life of Poor Mouth Zhang Damin"
That's right. In the end, this pyrotechnic civilian drama was a great success.
| Four
The book also wrote about my beloved Soldier Assault. The script of this play was generally not optimistic at the beginning, talking about ordinary soldiers, lacking important people and major events, and not inviting famous actors, and the script could not be made for five years.
Soldier Assault
Producer Zhang Qian finally found the right director Kang Honglei, and resisted the pressure of the capital and leaders to ensure the fit of those unknown actors and roles, including Wang Baoqiang, Zhang Yi, Duan Yihong, Zhang Guoqiang and others. These unknown actors have made this play and paved their own future.
The author also interviewed sitcom director Shang Jing, who told a lot of shooting stories of "The Story of the Cooking Class" and "The Tale of Wulin".
Before filming "The Story of the Cooking Class", Shang Jing once rehearsed a military-themed sketch about the radar station, and the actors included Hong Jiantao, Zhou Xiaobin, Mao Bao, Gao Yalin, Hu Yajie and others. He organized a screenwriting and wrote "The Story of the Cooking Class", because the Cooking Class is the easiest to write a play.
The Story of the Cooking Class
Why is the role played by Sha Yi called Shuai Hu? That role was written according to Hu Yajie, but Hu Yajie did not act out because of scheduling problems. Why is the role played by Fan Ming called Lao Gao? It was written according to Gao Yalin, but later Shang Jing found that other actors were fat, and it was best to be thinner in order to look good, so he finally replaced Gao Yalin with Fan Ming.
Later, the "Tale of Wulin" of the fire was also filmed by Shang Jing. According to his vision, the play must have both the essence of traditional reality and the postmodern banter, with both nonsensical embellishment and black humor. In short, it is necessary to inherit the classics and deviate from the scriptures, both to pursue joy and to inject warmth.
However, it is also because of the negotiations with CCTV in advance that it will be premiered on the TV drama channel, so Shang Jing requires the screenwriters to point out the topic at the end of each episode, reflecting the obvious value orientation. Reflected in the play, it is the lyricism we see tong Xiangyu, the treasurer at the end of each episode, accompanied by soothing music.
Tales of The Martial Arts
For the actors' performances, Shang Jing also asked them to let go as much as possible and achieve the state of "magic shyness". But this kind of magic is not crazy from the beginning, but a solid understanding of the role, and the establishment of the character's information and breath. Once the devil is formed, then the wrong and false are all right.
It should also be because the actors' performances are in place, and after the broadcast of "The Tale of Wulin", Yao Chen, Yan Ni and others have achieved rapid fame.
| Five
In Teacher Li Xingwen's "Spoilers: Secrets of the Chinese Opera Set", there are many such stories and details.
In our impression, whether a film and television drama can eventually succeed or not will often become a metaphysics, and it seems that there are always some uncontrollable factors at play. The start-up ceremony always has to sacrifice heaven and earth, which is probably related to this. But what is certain is that the screenwriter creates with his heart, the director carefully arranges, and the actors put into the performance, there is never wrong.
There is no shortcut to the revitalization of domestic dramas, and we can only take such a road. There is a gap between domestic dramas and some high-quality British and American dramas, which is the current reality. I don't know if there is a day when all-round quality domestic dramas can be seen at any time. That way we don't have to be distracted by the subtitles, and listen to our familiar native language while immersing ourselves in the plot.
After all, it's the joys and sorrows that are closer to us.