On July 28, 2010, before the TV series "Cliff" started, screenwriter Quan Yong first wrote a long letter of more than 6,000 words to the crew. After the TV series "Cliff" was broadcast, it achieved a good reputation, with a Douban score of 8.4 points, and the audience called it a high-level spy drama.
Before the release of the movie "On the Cliff", there were three rounds of on-demand screenings, and the audience had a good reputation. At the film premiere event, asked why he made this spy film, director Zhang Yimou admitted, "This is not my choice, it is the script that touched me." He said that he immediately saw the opening line - "Go to the child alive", which deeply touched him.
The screenwriter of "On the Cliff" is Quan Yongxian, in addition to "Cliff", he also served as the screenwriter of the hit drama "Snow Wolf" and "Years", and when "On the Cliff" was released, Quan Yongxian accepted an exclusive interview with a Red Star News reporter to reveal the behind-the-scenes story of the creation of this film.
Zhang Yimou and Quan Yongxian
About Origins :
"On the Cliff" is a prequel to the TV series "Cliff"
The story of the TV series "Cliff" takes place in northeast China in 1938, and in the last episode, After Zhang Jiayi's CCP spy officer Zhou Yi and his daughter Sasha said goodbye, they were shot by the enemy in the snow and wind, and heroically fell before dawn, which made many viewers regret. In the movie "On the Cliff", Quan Yong first let Zhou Yi "resurrect", and the CCP spy Zhou Yi changed from Zhang Jiayi to Yu Hewei.
Official stills from the TV series "Cliff"
Set in Harbin in 1931, the movie "On the Cliff" tells the story of ccp spies who went to Harbin on a secret mission, fearlessly sacrificed when they were in a desperate situation, fought wits and courage with the enemy, and finally completed the mission.
Quan Yongxian said that "On the Cliff" is a prequel to the TV series "Cliff", which retains the relationship between the characters in the TV series and creates a new story with real events as the background, "This story is very difficult from the perspective of creation, because it is a group portrait, not that the plot is completely around male number one or female number one." Many of these characters are particularly important, and in a short period of time, it is a challenge to bring each character's image to life. ”
Quan Yongxian revealed that in the movie, he did not focus on the actions and tasks of spy personnel, but wrote about the inner choices of people when facing a desperate situation, as well as the emotions of spy personnel, "so in the end it was very touching, I did not write them as heroes with knives and guns, but wrote them as characters with ordinary people's emotions, I and Director Zhang Yimou's focus is to portray people's emotions, I think a lot of spy movies will focus on how to carry out tasks, the difficulties and obstacles encountered in the execution of tasks, I am a story of escape, It is about the life and death choices of people in the face of desperate situations. These people come up and fall into a trap, and they have to live. ”
Some viewers said that after watching the movie, they were not disappointed, as wonderful as the drama version of "Cliff", the pace was faster and more compact, Zhang Yi, Yu Hewei, Qin Hailu and several "old drama bones" acted online. Talking about the contrast between "On the Cliff" and "Cliff", Quan Yongxian replied: "The TV series is like a thunderstorm, endless, continuous, the movie is like a thunderbolt, a lightning bolt, it needs to solve all the problems in 120 minutes. The two art forms are expressed in different ways, each with its own advantages, long and long benefits, short and short subtlety. ”
The official stills of the movie "On the Cliff"
Compared with the tense plot of the first half, at the end of "On the Cliff", director Zhang Yimou deliberately slowed down the rhythm and arranged a warm ending, which made many viewers cry. But some viewers said that the ending was too idealistic. In this regard, Quan Yongxian said, "What I want to write is not exactly how to complete the task thrillingly, but to intercept a piece of their desperate encounter." They have paid such a heavy price in this battle, they have to choose life and death in an instant, this is the most powerful thing. I want to write about the suffering that Chinese went through in that era. I read a lot of historical materials, the fate of those people at that time touched me, at that time life and death was a matter of an instant, I watched some documentary historical materials, when those young people became cold names, they were all living lives, so when I wrote it, I didn't want to write how they cleverly completed an action, but how to escape in danger, and the victims left the opportunity to live to others, which is a very shocking story. What touched me was the warmth of human nature, and there was something warm in such a cruel event, which was the most precious. That's why I wrote the script. ”
About the Director :
The world's top sound painting masters are very humble and dedicated
The movie "On the Cliff" is the first time that 71-year-old director Zhang Yimou has challenged the spy war, and he said when interpreting the shooting concept: "This kind of subject matter is still a short board for Chinese films, the more this is the case, the more I save a lot of energy, I must shoot well." ”
Quan Yongxian said that the cooperation with director Zhang Yimou was very smooth, "Director Zhang Yimou read the script very much, when he was shooting other movies, we should meet in the autumn, the cooperation was very smooth, not too tossed, I gave him a complete script, and later made some adjustments, yimou director in order to make the audiovisual effect more impactful, added gunfights, fights, car chases and other action elements that are very suitable for visual performance in it, but also merged some plots, condensed time and space, so that the pace of the film is faster. ”
"On the Cliff" was launched in December 2019 in Heilongjiang Snow Township, Quan Yongxian went to the crew to visit the class, in which the shooting of the snow-filled empty shot impressed him, "the wind blew, the snowflakes fell, when the filming was the crew waiting for the wind, the wind came someone standing under the tree to knock on the branches, giving people the feeling of snowflakes, this shot was filmed for about an hour or two, the art director personally directed, and also climbed to an iron shelf, he was quite fighting, there was no director who could compare with him in the dedication area. ”
Official promotional photo for the movie "On the Cliff"
The story of "On the Cliff" is set in Harbin in the 1930s. It is reported that in order to restore the real situation to the greatest extent, the crew chose to go to the Linhai SnowField at minus 30 degrees in the northeast for full live shooting, and also built a harbin central street in that era with fake realities. Quan Yongxian revealed that he had seen the video data, and the Harbin restored by the crew was very similar to what he imagined, "The director of the art strategy especially cares about some details, and is a person who cuts the details more precisely." "He's very humble and affinity, all the actors respect him, he's very protective of every actor, and they have a good relationship; the whole crew is like a harmonious big family." Teacher Yimou is very dedicated; he has extraordinary energy, unremitting persistence and hard work, and his love for movies is beyond our imagination. ”
Asked how to view the director's revision of the script, Quan Yongxian bluntly said that the film is the director's art, everywhere reflects the director's will, which is different from the TV series, "I made two changes to the script, most of which are deleted and deleted. Teacher Yimou attaches great importance to audiovisual language and adds a lot of visual elements to it. He puts a lot of emphasis on action scenes. Gunfights, car chases, fights, he shot very hard. The director has a very distinct personal style, he personally wrote this work, the tone, rhythm, and temperament of the film all carry his strong personality. In that sense, the director is the tailor, and we are the ones who provide the fabric. ”
Regarding the choice of actors, Quan Yongxian said, "Each actor has his own characteristics and unique charm, can rationalize the role, can justify himself, can make himself in it, is a good actor, acting smoothly and appropriately, can combine his own charm and the charm of the role, harmonious, fit, not conflict with the role, can be integrated with the plot, is a successful good actor." ”
About Authoring :
The number of works is really small, and they don't want to become writing machines
"Cliff" has been rated as a high-level spy drama by the audience together with "Latent" and "Kite", and when asked how to create a high-level spy drama, Quan Yongxian said, "First of all, spy drama needs to be interlocked, strong logic, not just a simple story level, but to reach the psychological level." My pursuit as a screenwriter is to hope that this thing is real, humane, and can make the audience feel empathy, rather than contrived, conceptual things, I especially hate facialization, each image must have its own distinct personality, not just a concept, a symbol. People are rich, people also have various complexities, to show the psychological level, to make the character come alive. Human emotions are sometimes complex and cannot be presented with just one concept. ”
Quan Yong was first a Native of Heilongjiang, a Korean ethnic group, and some commentators have said that in the creative community of Heilongjiang Province, ethnic minority writer Quan Yongxian did not win by the number of works, and his works were rarely influenced by popular ideas. In response, he said: "I only write what really moves me, and strive to write one is one, I will not mass-produce works, I am relatively devoted when I write, the number of works over the years is indeed not much, I actually want to maintain my original intention, I don't want to turn myself into a writing machine." ”
The Night of Counting the Stars
Talking about the writing plan, Quan Yongxian revealed that he was writing a novella about a mixed-race child of Chinese and Jews in Harbin who was involved in the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union. Not long ago, Quan Yongxian and his sister Quan Minglan translated Yin Dongzhu's poetry collection "Night of Counting Stars: Yin Dongzhu's Poems" published by Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House, talking about this book, Quan Yongxian said in the preface: "I translated his poems because my mother also read his poems. In the old house in that cold place, his poems and his mother's voice made me unforgettable. ”
At the end of the interview, Quan Yong first suggested to the young creators, "Whether it is to make a movie or write a novel, it is inseparable from the portrayal of people, write people's emotions, write deep sympathy for people's fate, and look at people and things from a relatively high perspective, including history." Respect for art, respect for the audience, respect for the reader. I don't like rigid, routine writing, I think the real touch of people or people, the character shaped well, the most essential and sincere emotions to show will definitely impress the audience, if even they do not believe in things, the starting point is false, can not withstand scrutiny of things, I personally do not recognize, I think literature, film and television are worthy of respect, and the heart of the noble industry, need to take out the heart to treat, if even they do not impress, how to impress others? ”
Quan Yongxian introduction
Jeon Yong-hyun, Korean. Writer, poet, screenwriter, the main works are the novel "Showa Eighteen Years", "Snow Wolf", "Single Man"; TV series "Cliff", "Snow Wolf", "Mother", "Years", etc.; the movie "On the Cliff" (directed by the famous director Zhang Yimou, is being screened). Since its launch in 2012, the representative long-form spy drama "Cliff" has created good ratings in major domestic television stations and enjoyed a high reputation, and Quan Yongxian won the Best Screenwriter Award of the 18th Shanghai International Television Festival Magnolia and the Best Screenwriter Award of the 16th Beijing Film and Television Chunyan Award with this drama. On the same day as the premiere of the film "On the Cliff", he and his sister Quan Minglan translated Yin Dongzhu's poetry collection "Night of Counting Stars" was officially published and distributed.
Red Star News reporter | Zhang Shihao
Edited | Duan Xueying
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