Facing doubts, responding to controversies, frankly confessing that he is not a "comedian" and most looking forward to going to the theater to watch "Yu Bai"
Xu Zheng: As a creator, my original intention is to benefit the audience
The comedy film "My Hometown and Me" co-directed by five groups of directors is scheduled to be released on National Day in 2020. As one of the directors, Xu Zheng has been preparing his own part and also handling the company's various production projects.
This interview is the first dialogue between a reporter from the Beijing News and Xu Zheng after the release of "囧Mom". From the lively Spring Festival stalls to the resumption of work in theaters with a 30% attendance limit, the film market has undergone tremendous changes, which have also brought different effects on Xu Zheng's creation and mentality. The themes of the dialogue range from Xu Zheng's new film, the upcoming public welfare live broadcast, selling movie tickets, and comedy creation, to the inevitable, facing the past doubts. Xu Zheng was very calm. He felt that although he was prepared to face different opinions, there was still too little communication with each other.
From "Crazy Stone" to "囧 Series", it seems that when Xu Zheng appears in front of the audience, he must make the audience laugh. It was not until the release of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" that the audience saw a serious and professional actor again.
New film plan
Use a simple way to record small people
Xu Zheng said that he was the last to "hand in homework" for "My Homeland and Me" released last year. At that time, "囧 Ma" was being filmed at the same time. The progress was relatively slow. Therefore, when I arrived at "My Hometown and Me", he hoped to be able to Start early. The original plan was that rapeseed flowers could be photographed in March and April, but in time of the outbreak, the filming plan has been delayed. When it was time to start shooting, Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang Province encountered flood again, and Xu Zheng had to finish shooting the other parts first, and waited for the weather to improve before re-shooting. "So I became the last one."
This creation is described by Xu Zheng as a combination of the mission of a literary and artistic worker and the output of national culture. He feels that he is honored to be able to contribute his efforts in such a subject, but the difficulty is how to organically recognize the professionalism and the theme. Good combination.
After making films for many years, Xu Zheng said that the biggest experience is that creators should try their best to meet the psychological needs of the audience. This satisfaction is to make the audience feel warm and warm. "The audience smiles and leaves the theater is satisfaction, tears leave the theater is also satisfaction. It shows that the audience also hopes to obtain psychological satisfaction while entertaining, that is, to feel love, warmth and feelings. The premise of all this is not Violating the rules of artistic creation."
At the same time, Xu Zheng also plans to make a short film collection with the epidemic as the background. During the epidemic, whenever news of someone being trapped in a car or being trapped in a hospital appeared, there would always be netizens on Weibo @徐峥, saying that he should go to take photos of these people's stories. When more stories of little people and their true and simple emotions appeared, Xu Zheng felt that he should start producing.
Although there is no complete idea yet, Xu Zheng first sorted out which stories can be copyrighted, and has already planned to appear in the form of a short film collection, which is a panoramic description. Xu Zheng feels that a long-form movie, two hours of time focusing on a character, will carry more complex and heavy content, but these ordinary people in the news can clearly see the core points, "Many people want to discover how heroes are I think, there are actually not so many ideas. Kindness itself is very simple, so I also want to present it in a relatively simple way."
Live movie ticket sales
Help the theater, let the peers see the original intention
The epidemic changed the original life. For a period of time, celebrities bringing goods suddenly became very hot. When we were having dinner together, a friend asked Xu Zheng, why don’t you bring the goods and sell something? Xu Zheng replied, “Forget it,” There is no traffic, and I am not familiar with live broadcasting." But after returning home, Xu Zheng began to think about it. During this period of time, the theaters were too difficult, and the movie theaters would resume work sooner or later, so there was always something to help them. Xu Zheng thought it would be better to sell movie tickets and plan a charity live broadcast.
Xu Zheng was very excited when he had an idea, but as he continued to advance, he found that it was necessary to unite various platforms to coordinate the theaters, producers, and competent departments. It was very complicated to integrate all of them. The technical team needed to develop more than one for new functions. The test will continue until the day of the live broadcast. Inevitably, the topic of this activity to help the theater resume work fell on Xu Zheng's relationship with the theater. "Are you worried that there will be some unintelligible voices from the theater?"
Xu Zheng said frankly that a friend sent him some articles and negative statements during the epidemic. He felt that he was definitely not doing this for these voices, but hoped that he could bear it silently and repay his understanding during difficult times. What people do. "Under Internet public opinion, there is no perfect comment. I hope that my colleagues will see my original intention."
"囧Mom" transfer network
This is just a special way in a special period
Under Xu Zheng's Weibo news about the resumption of work in theaters, the first message from netizens was "Continue to make a good movie, next time we want to watch your directed movie in the theater". The Chinese New Year film "囧 Ma" chose to "transfer to the network" was a lot of controversy at the time. Some theaters even stated that they would boycott Xu Zheng's other movies in the future. Xu Zheng did not give much explanation at the time.
When mentioning this, Xu Zheng was very calm. He felt that everyone had their own positions at the time, and he could understand what kind of feedback others gave, but it seemed that there was no room for communication, which intensified the conflict.
"First of all, the launch of "囧Mom" is only the decision of this movie. It is impossible to change the film industry, and it is impossible to destroy the theater chain. This is a special method that emerged during a special period. From a larger perspective, You can’t make such a deviant and reversal thing. I can’t make such a big decision by myself. I’m just a creator. Secondly, even if this is our original decision, the ultimate core is to let the audience see To the movie, let the audience benefit."
After choosing to release it on the Internet, Xu Zheng felt that there was only one thing that was a little regrettable for the movie "囧Mom".
At that time, the movies that were known as the strongest Spring Festival files in recent years have been withdrawn. Free screenings on online platforms have also allowed more people to see "囧Mom" in the shortest time. The current number of viewings is converted into the corresponding box office. Xu Zheng feels that this number is abnormal for such a movie. "The movie itself has a threshold. You will recommend it to everyone if you like it, and it will eventually attract its own audience. But after the online screening, everyone was talking about it. It happened to be during the Chinese New Year. Screening on mobile phones and watching while cooking, can’t focus on the feelings the movie wants to express."
Behind the comedy
After "The God of Medicine", I gained respect that I had never had before
At the same time as the questioning voice appeared, part of the discussion about the "End of the Road" series of 囧. In the previous interview, Xu Zheng also said that he did not want to name the new film "囧Mom" at first, but rather called "Mom to Moscow" or "Mom is going to Moscow".
Xu Zheng felt that it was not that he was tired of this series or encountered difficulties in creation, but that as a creator, his perception of this series and the inherent expectations of most audiences had changed. Most viewers are influenced by "Tai囧" and "Hong Kong囧" and regard the "囧 series" as a traditional road comedy with full comedy genes. When discussing the "囧 series", what they actually want to see is the protagonist. Different countries make different jokes. But the "囧 series" in Xu Zheng's eyes has long been more than that, "I have implanted a lot of my own understanding and thinking about life in the theme. In the words of my colleagues, I have implanted private goods in the public IP. The result is a part of the audience. I can understand it and think it’s good, and the other part doesn’t make me feel unsightly or not what I imagined."
Although the "囧 series" brought Xu Zheng great success, he did not want to use the place name to consume the brand. "After not doing the "囧 series", I can not even do road comedy; if I do road comedy, I can also not. Called'囧'."
From the original "Crazy Stone" to the "囧 series", "Master of Comedy" has become Xu Zheng's label. It seems that when he appears in front of the audience, he must make the audience laugh. It wasn't until "I'm Not the God of Medicine" that the audience saw the serious and professional actor Xu Zheng again. What this movie gained was the sense of respect given by the audience and colleagues.
People who have worked with Xu Zheng say that he is not a funny person in life, he is even a little serious and often anxious. As for how to make comedies and make more different comedies, Xu Zheng paid more research and experimentation than other creators. He also doesn't think he is a comedian, but defines himself as an actor who can act in a comedy, hoping to open up and relax the audience in a comedy way, and then start the discussion.
In Xu Zheng's view, comedy is not about dissolving expression or power, but providing a third-party perspective. The way of comedy can be slightly relaxed, ridiculed, and withdrawn, and everyone will be more acceptable.
Fresh Q&A
Internet comedy wants to succeed, find the right way
Beijing News: What movie do you want to watch the most after the theater resumes work?
Xu Zheng: I want to see "Eight Hundred". After the official announcement of the release time that day, all filmmakers reposted on the screen in the circle of friends. This kind of film condensed the filmmakers' tremendous creative power and hard work, and so many people care about it. Even if the final box office is not judged, the preparation and shooting work alone deserves the respect of the industry and the audience. China has a group of particularly enthusiastic filmmakers and audiences, but we need to go through some difficult times. I hope everyone can return to normal soon and the depressed energy can be released.
Beijing News: After "囧Mom", how will you cooperate with online platforms?
Xu Zheng: The medium will still be selected based on the content characteristics. After the epidemic, people may need comedies more, and the entertainment level also needs some laughter in the theater. Movies that have more social hot spots and pay more attention to reality like "I am not a medicine god", I believe that they will be more popular in the future. There are also some content that you will be more cautious in choosing and will be converted to the Internet. At present, I am not good at judgment. The development of domestic streaming media is relatively traditional, and the discussion of choosing streaming media or entering theaters is also prone to extremes. In fact, the characteristics of many media cannot be replaced, and each has its own space. When the movie was first invented, some people worried that no one would watch the stage play. When the television was invented, they worried that the movie was going to die, and the Internet came and worried that the TV would be gone... Don’t all of them still exist now? I often go to watch dramas. ,stage show.
Beijing News: In recent years, there have been many high-cost comedians starring in comedies, and there are also many low-cost comedies. How do you think the comedy film market will develop in the future? How to treat the lack of comedy genres in online movies?
Xu Zheng: I think someone will make a Chinese comedy. Because China has its own form of comedy. Chinese creators have a strong ability to produce content quickly, so it will continue to update the form of comedy along with the trend. Coupled with the more comprehensive art form of film, it will definitely absorb the essence to make Chinese comedy. Moreover, the Chinese population is large enough that creators don't even need to think about how to take care of foreign audiences. As long as the Chinese audience loves to watch, it is basically enough to produce and digest. This is an advantage for new directors. As for comedies in online movies, because there are more people who are willing to watch comedies, and everyone is more picky, cross talk and sketches are free for everyone to see, and the production of paid theater comedy movies is relatively mature. Therefore, online comedy movies have to find their way out.
The Beijing News: Your career success seems to be getting farther and farther away from the middle-aged characters in your works. How do you approach these characters?
Xu Zheng: The audience always cares about the part they can empathize with. Even if you shoot a celebrity biography, you can dig out the part of him empathizing with ordinary people, otherwise the audience will stay away from you. There is a very vulgar word called digging into human nature, and it is about this part, because the audience always wants to see themselves when watching other people’s stories. This story has to be related to him. Even if it is a fantasy movie, the core is looking for these points. .
Beijing News: Corresponding to this kind of precision, many viewers will think that you are very shrewd and smart. There is a kind of businessman-like precision in filming. You are a "product manager-type director". Do you accept this statement?
Xu Zheng: Product managers or serving the audience has always been an artistic standard in creation. The difficulty of art is that it must have its own skills and a method to complete the communication. Many artists are very temperamental and insist that their expressions do not go along with them. In my opinion, this is a different choice. The other is that I hope you can interpret that how to solve this channel is actually very difficult. This is a different choice. To make a commercial film well requires a high level of skill.
Writing/Beijing News reporter Li Yan