The TV series "Liangsheng, Can We Not Be Sad" adapted from the novel of the same name is being broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV. Upon hearing this name, the audience can almost immediately make up a big drama of youth pain literature, but in the hands of director Liu Junjie, he has made a proper theme of youth idol drama into a gentle story about family affection and growth.
Liu Junjie entered the film and television circle as a teenager, became a director in his twenties, and experienced the most golden age of Taiwanese idol dramas, and classic works such as "Lavender" and "The Prince Becomes a Frog" are all from his hands. Filming on the mainland, he also made popular dramas such as "Shanshan Is Coming" and "Why Sheng Zhenmo". By this year's "Old Boy", it can be clearly seen that his style has begun to shift from the romantic love of idol dramas to a more lifelike warm expression.
When it came to "Liangsheng, Can We Not Be Sad", Liu Junjie tried to use soothing daily techniques to tell a painful youth story. The sense of everydayness is something he pursues in his shooting. In Liu Junjie's view, at the beginning of this work, he was moved by this work, which was the growth experience of Liang Sheng and Jiang Sheng's brothers and sisters in the play, for this reason, he took a lot of pains in the selection of scenery. The duo's hometown, Weijiaping, is a village located on a mountain more than 1,000 meters above sea level, and in addition to the original scenery of the objects in the village, no props were used in the shooting. In his view, recording the real life status of the two children is a necessity in the passage of the two people's growth. Beauty is also a must, but "you have to distill that beauty from real life, not from the artificial art setting to find the fireworks of life." Even a flower field that appears in the play is a natural meadow on the edge of the cliff that Liu Junjie accidentally discovered on the way to work one day, "Suddenly one day, I found that the flowers there were blooming, so beautiful, I thought it was here." Originally, I was going back to Shanghai to find a lavender flower field, but it must have been very fake. ”
In the selection of actors, Liu Junjie also believes in his own feelings. The first time I met Sun Yi, who played Jiang Sheng, the two threw down the script and talked about the experience of raising dogs, and Sun Yi's bluntness made Liu Junjie feel "more like Jiang Sheng". Ma Tianyu, who plays Liangsheng, talks about loneliness as soon as they meet, "I prefer to chat with people to understand this person and his mentality. More mentality, less posture. I hope they are this role, don't play hard, it will be easy to spill dog blood. ”
"I'm talking to the actors a lot, we're not talking about how to say this line, how to act in this scene, I'm sharing what I'm thinking." I'm not afraid to meet a new actor, as long as he is willing to talk to me and open his heart, I know how to shape him. ”
Ma Tianyu plays Liang Sheng, and Sun Yi plays Jiang Sheng
Believing in feelings, Liu Junjie pays great attention to the natural flow of emotions and emotions in his creation, avoiding too much spilling dog blood, but also reducing many dramatic conflicts. Even in the overall tone, there is a sense of coolness. But in the edited version of the TV station, the narrative rhythm and tone have been adjusted, and in Liu Junjie's view, there is no way to do it. "Business considerations in Tairi." But he still stressed that his original intention was to make a work like a book and a glass of water, which could be read slowly and calmly.
This kind of creative thinking is a new change for Liu Junjie in recent years. When he first went to the mainland in 2012 to shoot a play, Liu Junjie thought that he was "out of place", and immediately returned to Taipei after filming, and when there was a new play, he came back and forth several times, and when he filmed "Shanshan is Coming", "I think it can't work, I found that I should live here", so I rented a house in Shanghai, raised a dog, and met a lot of neighbors. "A year later, I feel like the line between me and this place is gone."
To make a play, you have to choose a city, you have to be familiar with it, you have to fall in love with it, you can deconstruct it, to shoot the things in its life. "I know where the side dishes and noodles are delicious, I know where to buy something, then when I shoot the scene, it's completely different." 」 Liu Junjie smiled and said: "I used to like to take pictures of the Bund the most when I first came, so beautiful, so beautiful." Now I don't want to kill me, I just want to shoot those alleys of life. Coincidentally, in the past few years of filming in the mainland, Liu Junjie "only one film was not filmed in Shanghai."
Zhong Hanliang plays Cheng Tianyou in the play
Talking about Shanghai, Liu Junjie said that his first time in Shanghai was more than 20 years ago, and he was deeply amazed by the rapid changes in Shanghai: "At that time, Pudong was empty, only the Nanpu Bridge. They said you'd be in five more years, and the house would be built across from you, and I said yes? Until I came here in 2012, Pudong has developed very well, and I now live in Pudong. ”
The rapid changes in the city have some inspiration for Liu Junjie's creation. "Times are changing all the time, and I have to keep changing, to have something new. A movie is two hours long, and it can set a style, but the TV series is so long that if it has always been a style, the audience may be tired. I now feel that every scene should be filmed, and it should be filmed. No style is the best style. ”
For his own works, Liu Junjie often has a feeling: if I were to shoot again now, it might be different. "Every time I attend the press conference, I want to say if I can reshoot it, and I always think it can be better." He said, "But after shouting the card, you can't start again." So cherish the moment of creation, because you really can't do it again. ”
In the interview, Liu Junjie, who is over 60 years old, is enthusiastic and "talkative", and will share with people with great interest: "Do you know that the Nanpu Bridge looks like a butterfly from above!" In his view, good drama is in life, and what the director does is to completely open himself up, share with others, and "share the things in life that move you."
Directed by Liu Junjie
【Dialogue】
Those who can't act "plays", those who can act must play "people"
The Paper: When you first received the work "Liangsheng, Can We Not Be Sad", what impressed you?
Liu Junjie: What impressed me the most was when I was a child, two children, one four years old, one six years old, who grew up together for their lives, that kind of feelings, that state of being naked, touched my feelings for my homeland. In my original idea, this section was very long, seven to ten episodes. Later, from a commercial point of view, it really can't be like this, broadcast two episodes a day, you can't let the audience watch children for five consecutive days. So put two episodes in front of you, and put the content in the back into the flashback, and the total amount is still guaranteed.
The Paper: Did this paragraph touch your growth experience?
Liu Junjie: In fact, it may be because I have been filming all my life, the so-called strong plot, idol drama, I have filmed. I want to make a drama about "people" now. Many people also say that the profession of an actor is to act without acting, and to act is to act. This story is that "people" touched me, people's emotions, people's state of growth. Originally, its story was also very strong, but I played down this kind of thick stuff, and the focus was still on people.
The Paper: At present, it seems that this drama has a strong sense of life, not the kind of pure youth idol drama that everyone predicts? What is your positioning for this work?
Liu Junjie: I don't know how to define it, I just want to make a good drama, just like you let me shoot a costume drama now, I may also shoot like this, I want to shoot people, I don't want to say that because it is a costume drama, there must be a tone and posture.
I hope this work can impress everyone, this drama is not to say that it was made for a certain age group, and certainly not that everyone will like it. I think that the audience that can calm down may look into it. Now the audience's viewing habits are very fragmented, and they like strong plots. But I thought, do you want to slow down? Just like you drink a lot of wine, a lot of coffee, do you want to drink some water, clean, simple water. I think that creators have an obligation to provide such things to the audience, not all strong plots, all cater to the fragmented era, which is also to provide another perspective. Of course, I can also make this drama into a so-called strong plot. But in the end, I still wanted to make it like that in my heart, probably a little wayward, spent a lot of money, and made a bottle of mineral water (laughs). I want the audience to drink it, that color, that taste is in your heart, not that I'm going to tell you who's a good person, who's a bad person, who's a beast, it's not like that, they're people, all kinds of people.
I want to restore the pyrotechnic smell of life, don't make idol dramas
The Surging News: Scenes from Jiang Sheng's childhood such as Wei Jiaping are highly restored. It is said that there are quite twists and turns in terms of framing, can you tell us about it?
Liu Junjie: At that time, I had been watching the scene for a week, and I had seen everything, and some of them were good, but it was still a little bit different from what I had in mind (expected). Finally, some people said that there is still a place on the mountain that has not been seen, that is, it is a little far, and it takes more than an hour to go up. I said go check it out. More than a thousand meters above sea level, the car went round the winding road, and there was no wi-fi. Then I found out that the village was exactly what I wanted. Later, when we filmed, everything we shot was in real life, without any props, and there was no embellishment at all. In fact, I can also take a beautiful picture of it, but I don't want it, I just want to record the state of that simple life. I feel that I am not filming, I am trying to restore their childhood life, the most real state. Of course, there must also be beauty, but you have to refine that beauty from real life, rather than from the artificial art setting, to find the fireworks smell of life, dirty and old, it is very fake. This is a change in my two or three years, when I did "Old Boys" before, I wanted to restore the texture of life, I am not going to make idol dramas.
Liu Junjie and the actors
The Paper: Many film and television dramas adapted from youth literature are relatively youthful, sunny and comedic in terms of style, tone and rhythm, but "Liangsheng" as a whole is quite different?
Liu Junjie: Yes, in fact, many of the (this kind of drama) are bright, and now this drama is also bright on the stage. Many of my dramas are broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV, and when the TV station is grading in the later stage, it will be more inclined to bright tones and will brighten the light, which is their consistent feature. The light I originally had in this play is very clearly layered, and the style I shot is very close to natural light. The shadow color of my play, if described by season, should be late autumn and early winter, but when you get to the stage, it may be the tail of spring, and summer is coming soon. But there is no right or wrong in this, each has its own style.
As a director, I'll just hand over my version, and the commercial considerations [of the TV station] are understandable. But as a director, don't think too much about commercial things at the beginning, it's too impure. It's like you make a cup of black tea, add nothing, and keep it in its original form, but after you hand it over to people, people think they need to add some decorations and put a plate, there is nothing wrong with that. I make every scene different. Each story should have its own way of telling it. It's all the same way to make a work, it doesn't make sense.
The Paper: This drama is actually combined with its entire expression and your personal feelings?
Liu Junjie: Right. Yes, I think it should have been like this, your work should reflect you, if this play has nothing to do with you, you are not invested, just work. I felt like my life and work were a mix, so they asked me if I was tired of work? I said no, because it's my life, and it's been fused together because I've been filming all my life. So in fact, drama should be each director's own things in it, your joys and sorrows, your preferences, it will be presented.
I'm a person who is very willing to share with others. Then you may worry that it is easy to get hurt, and people use this to hurt you or something, but I think you have to be fearless, and if you want to create, you should take out your heart.
The Paper: For you, your life is creation itself?
Liu Junjie: I've been doing this since I was 18 years old, I'm 62 years old, I've been doing this all my life, I haven't done anything else. So I said it was already my life, and I couldn't tell it apart. I still feel like I'm still quite enthusiastic about keeping a child. You must be enthusiastic about creating, without this enthusiasm and attitude, you may be nothing. Do this industry, as long as you don't have enthusiasm, you're finished.
You have to create, you have to ritualize your life first, don't let it interfere with you, a lot of phone calls every day, and then go to dinner and drink every day, that's not okay. My life is very regular, I only drink water, I eat without seasoning, just to make myself in good shape, you can go to work, every day lying over there how do you work. And you're on the scene, you need to be very enthusiastic, very energetic, and your energy will also drive other people.