Li Fan's Virgo "Peacock" is known as the transformation of China's fifth-generation filmmaker Gu Changwei from famous cinematography to real director;
After writing "Auntie's Postmodern Life", director Xu Anhua wanted to ask Zhou Runfa to play the male lead, but the other party only put forward one condition and could not modify the script;
"Li Chun", written by Li Fan, is also known as an excellent endorsement for the dreamless...
Why is this screenwriter favored by famous directors, and what qualities should a good literary and art film screenwriter have? Li Fan's personal experience and the many masterpieces that have come from it are the best answers.
Learn to tell stories from a female perspective
So far, Li Fan's most representative works are his first three works "Peacock", "Auntie's Postmodern Life" and "Li Chun". The commonality of all three works is that they all tell the story of themselves and those around them from the perspective of a woman.
In this regard, Li Fan's writing experience is:
Women are the most sensual animals, and they have strong emotional fluctuations. After all, men are still introverted, and society's implicit requirements for them are also hidden; but in contrast, women's surnames pursue external release. They are accustomed to showing their inner ups and downs in life, study, and work, so a movie featuring a woman as the protagonist must be the most thought-provoking and resonant.
Good literary and art screenwriters will always touch the bottom line of human nature and society in their writing
The biggest characteristic of literary and art films is to move with affection, followed by understanding reason. And in the whole world, the joy and sorrow of every sentient being is the best entry point.
Therefore, the top literary and art screenwriters must write about the darkness or light of human nature; they must do their best to make the individual weak or strong in the social flood.
And this realization for Li Fan is both a gift of life and a trick of fate.
The play "Li Chun", Li Fan wrote for 5 months before and after, the reason why he was reluctant to say goodbye to the characters in the play was because Wang Cailing in "Li Chun" was once his own.
Now readers can fully imagine how talented Li Fan, who was previously assigned to create Yu opera at the Anyang Municipal Bureau of Culture, was.
He is a master of portraying female characters, but he has to constantly consume the residual enthusiasm in local opera, and the helplessness and struggle hidden behind it are beyond doubt. But at the same time, this also laid the foundation for Li Fan's creation & mdash; — "Chilling".
In "Aunt", the heroine returned to the city from a qinggao to the city, and after being deceived by the old lover to save her life savings and suffering from even bad luck, she lost her foot and fell on the stairs of the overpass, and finally returned to her hometown helplessly. She cherished her feathers the most in her life, but in the face of survival, she put down everything to pay attention, in the cold wind of the northeast, a mouthful of white bread, a mouthful of pickles, only to live, but do not want to live for what.
There is also the "sister" in "Peacock", when all thoughts are gray, and see the first love of the original table of talents actually leaning on the back seat of the bicycle to nibble on pasta without trimming, and the other party has no memory of her...
This kind of "relentlessness" restores the state of life, and also pushes Li Fan's creation to the peak.
The difference between people and people is not about class status, but about people's temperament, and the same is true in the screenwriting world
Many fans may not know: a "Peacock", Li Fan wrote for 7 years.
If you want to become a good screenwriter, there are only two ways to choose: either like the Mai family, 11 years and 17 drafts, and finally let "Decryption" see the light of day; or like Xinyiwu, with "To the Youth We Will Eventually Pass Away" to get unprecedented attention, continue her own calm days, but let the public always believe that at another node, she will eventually usher in another spring of her own.
Li Fan belongs to the former.
He was once in a dilemma, wanting to abandon all the backwaters, but he looked ahead and did not dare to take the first substantive step.
Until a friend of his mother came to visit and handed Li Li a thick manuscript handwritten with a brush, hoping that Li Fan, who was still hesitating to watch at that time, could recommend it to a director, the old man firmly believed that his biography of a literati would be able to pass on for a hundred years.
In the persistence and ignorance of the old man in front of him, Li Fan saw the tragic fate of the long-term past and nowhere to escape in the future.
The next day, he resigned decisively, and then threw himself into the creation of "Peacock".
For seven years, he wandered away from home, knocking on the door of the screenwriter, forcing himself to devote himself to even in the face of disliked subjects, and even once penniless and sloppily returned home.
So that at the celebration banquet where "Peacock" won the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award, Li Fan did not hesitate to quit the scene, because the seven-year experience was too painful, and when the great joy suddenly came, he was not ready to meet it.
To this end, he also said with trepidation: before completing himself, you must find a balance between ideal and reality, writing requires time and money, and find a way to find a dream journey that costs the least. Remember to be "self-entangled" like I was then, it is really incalculable for the middle creation of life.
Find a creative rhythm that suits you
Bidding farewell to the dusty youth, Li Fan finally bathed in the spring light again.
From 2008 to 2011, he deliberately slowed down and only took on the work "Golden Age", choosing to return to his family and take care of his elderly parents.
A creator must not think that creation is to write a book, which is indeed an indispensable part, but in fact, the highest state of a screenwriter is to have a tender feeling that is indisputable from the world.
At that time, my father was already suffering from Alzheimer's disease, but he was still so quiet and calm. With the company of family, the originally empty house suddenly became Noah's Ark, and the living place in the impression became the warmest haven in the world.
In this paradise far away from the hustle and bustle, Li Fan experienced for the first time in his life what is desireless and rigid.
As a result, although his Xiao Hong suffered from hunger and cold and betrayal and separation, she still did not reduce her enthusiasm for literature. In her short life, she expressed her inner love and hatred with words, and selflessly poured love and light into every passerby.
Xiao Hong in "Golden Age"
To this day, Li Fan still remembers that on the train from Beijing to Anyang, he was surrounded by migrant workers, and before leaving, he went to a friend to borrow money, and the other party asked him to wait downstairs, and after 3 hours, he did not see any trace.
These dark pasts have made Li Fan more and more compassionate, and he wants to use this to fight against personal humility and helplessness, and better maintain the clarity of a screenwriter's heart.
And after each award, he has a sense of desolation after the wheat harvest. Leveling the land, sowing seeds, watering, fertilizing, another cycle is about to begin, writing that the sea is endless, and moving forward to find the shore.