After "Classmate Zhang" became popular
After "Classmate Zhang" became popular on the Douyin short video platform, his home in the video has also become a scenic spot.
In the early morning of December 4, many cars were parked in front of Zhang's house, and fans came to the courtyard to check in. Zhang was busy taking photos with fans, worrying that he didn't have time to shoot.
The visiting fans can ask any villager they meet on the road to find out the exact location of Zhang's house.
Two fans from Yingkou deliberately drove the car for two hours and brought a "love" breakfast to Zhang: a hot and sour noodle, a local delicious scones and eggs.
Sending a loving breakfast, visiting the room, and taking pictures as a souvenir, the fans returned with loads of loads. After sending off a group of fans, Zhang welcomed a media interview.
In the morning, there was almost no idleness in the small courtyard.
Nearly two o'clock in the afternoon, Student Zhang sent away a group of guests. Before the meal could be eaten, he could only eat instant noodles in the courtyard to settle lunch.
Songshu Village, Jianyi Town, Dashiqiao City, Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, where Student Zhang is located, is close to the Xiu Water Line. The thin snow and the hillsides in the distance are yellow and white. "Beauty" is the first impression of people walking into this northeastern village.
Like most rural villages, most of the people staying at Songshu Village are elderly people, but in such a small village, with the popularity of classmate Zhang, there are more and more unfamiliar young faces.
The steep-roofed brick house has red tiles on the sunny slopes and unmelted snow on the shade slopes.
The yard of Classmate Zhang’s house was also covered with a layer of white snow, and there was a path that was stepped on to the toilet in the snow.
Curious fans will step on the snow to take photos and even experience a rural dry toilet.
In the face of enthusiastic fans, Zhang said that he couldn’t fail to see him, "If you become a fan, the fans will come to see you. If you don’t see you, others will think you are floating." But in the face of fans, media and collaborators who visit every day, Zhang is also there Find the best way to balance everything.
Talking about the origin of "Student Zhang"
"Worry-free when going to school is the happiest time"
Beijing News: Why is it called "Student Zhang"?
Student Zhang: I’m a relatively nostalgic person, thinking that when I was a child, I was carefree and should be the happiest, so I started "Classmate Zhang", which has no other meaning.
My real name is Zhang Kai. I was born in 1986 and I belong to a tiger.
Beijing News: Everyone says that Zhang is a single older young man, is it true?
Student Zhang: This is not the case. I said during the live broadcast that I was already married. I got married earlier. I got married in 2008. I was 23 years old that year and now I have two children.
Beijing News: Why did you decide to tell everyone who you are?
Student Zhang: I don't think I should pretend to be what kind of person I am. In real life, I will express what I am like, including some things that happen around me in the future.
The first is not pretentious, and the second is not to pretend. Some people say "You didn't say you were single before" or what happened to this house. In fact, I have talked about it during the live broadcast before, and I believe some previous fans also know it. I didn't deliberately conceal it, I really said something.
Beijing News: Netizens are more curious about your experience. Have you ever been a director or producer?
Student Zhang: Actually, it's not so impressive.
When I was studying, the nine-year compulsory education was still a year away.
What questioned me the most was that the editing was smooth and smooth, and the shooting angle was chosen professionally.
I explained in the last video that I did the shooting and editing alone, which is true.
I have photographed some accounts of others before. When I was the most tired last year, I photographed the accounts of six people alone.
At that time, I made two videos about life, a funny short drama, I thought about it every day, and filmed it every day.
From September last year to now, I have been thinking about the content, filming and cutting.
Beijing News: So, did you teach yourself during the filming process?
Student Zhang: No one taught me.
Basically, I can get home at 9 o'clock in the evening, and then my brothers sit and chat for a while, then lie down on the kang and think about the content of tomorrow's filming, including the subject matter, plot, and so on.
You can only go to bed from 12 o'clock in the evening to about one o'clock in the morning.
I will look at the jokes I shot that day over and over again. If a shot was not shot so well, I will make up this shot again tomorrow.
The Beijing News: Are there any pre-scripts for the daily shooting?
Student Zhang: Many content themes and details are summed up during the shooting every day, and there is no perfect script.
For me, what to do today, what to eat, and what to cook are scripts.
The countryside is different from the city. Farming works all year round. In spring, we clean up the land for sowing, we fertilize and cut grass in summer, harvest corn in autumn, go uphill to cut firewood in winter, and there are endless farming work all year round. Theme.
Many people also said that Zhang’s video may be exhausted in the later stage.
I am also worried about these things, but I still have some ideas and ideas for content creation in the later stage.
Beijing News: Some netizens said that your background music is magical bgm. How did you choose?
Student Zhang: The first music I used was Lin Zixiang's "Dare to Love and Dare to Do", which is very dynamic.
But after using three or five works, there was a comment that Zhang, you are imitating other people's music.
I just want to forget, then I'll change to another one.
Later, I found a song, the Chinese name is "Refueling, refueling", which fits my mood at that time, and the foreign name is Aloha Heja He.
I went back to edit that night, and when I ran out of this music, I felt it suits me very well, so I never changed it.
You will also change some music in the later stage. At least you have to give people a sense of freshness, including the content of the shot, there will be some changes in the later stage, because you can't be the same.
Talk popular
"Being popular is not as excited as many people think"
Beijing News: Are Ertao and Qingyun a member of your team?
Student Zhang: This should be my team.
Er Tao was the first to join and shoot the video with me.
At that time, although I was doing jokes for many people, I actually didn't have much money in my hands.
I used to go to work. Although I saved some savings, I did need to invest in making videos. So at that time I also shot some jokes for others, collected some fees, made some pocket money, or I really couldn't live anymore.
Uncle Qingyun didn't have a particularly good job before, so he just loves to have fun when he comes over.
Uncle Qingyun has an account. Because I'm good at shooting, the uncle said that he wanted to make an account by himself, and occasionally asked me to give pointers, so that I can integrate into the shooting together a little bit.
Sometimes I photographed uncle, sometimes I photographed my account, and we photographed each other.
Beijing News: Have you ever had your own account before?
Student Zhang: At the beginning, I didn't have an account. I used to make accounts for others. At that time, I wanted to be a safe behind the scenes. I thought about some topics for them, and then helped them with shooting and editing.
So I didn't have an account before, and I was really helpless in the later stage. No one took pictures, so I could only take pictures of myself.
When I was shooting myself in the early stage, the content was also adapted, and four or five themes were changed.
I've sang songs before, made funny short plays, and made some life-recording videos in the mid-term, and the content is a little bit of a run-in.
Beijing News: Have you ever experienced some twists and turns when you did an account before?
Student Zhang: At that time, many people played with me, but in the later stage, they also have their own ideas. Some may want to do it themselves, some want to bring their own goods, and some want to entertain themselves.
One of the accounts saddened me the most. It took a month and a half to reach 550,000 followers.
There was no disagreement, and suddenly he sent me a message saying that the account belonged to his own, and it had nothing to do with me.
Because all the accounts I made before were not my own real names, that account was forced to leave.
Beijing News: Some people have speculated that you have a company and packaging?
Student Zhang: This does not exist.
Last time I said that I did the work alone, from content to shooting and editing. Netizens still have a lot of doubts.
If I really have a team, then I would say that having a team is not ashamed.
If a team can shoot a work so that everyone likes it, it is also a glorious thing, and there is no need to refute this thing.
I’m like that, I just say whatever I want.
Beijing News: Your popularity seems to be sudden. There are more than 13 million fans on Douyin. What changes has this brought to you?
Student Zhang: Actually, when I first went on a hot search, my fans increased by more than six hundred thousand in one night.
At that time, many friends, including some buddies, called me or texted me and said, "You hurry to live broadcast, take advantage of this heat, and live broadcast may be popular in the live broadcast room, so how much money you can make in one night."
After the fan rose, I personally did not say that I was as excited as many people thought.
Everything is double-sided, and with it, many fans come to check in and visit the class every day, because they all like Classmate Zhang to come, so I have to receive it.
But if there are more people coming every day, including a lot of businesses, the post-production creation will be affected.
Now I still make this paragraph more exciting first. I really need to be quiet during the shooting. Sometimes when you are shooting with a mobile phone, when someone next to you talks, you have to do it all over again.
Some people walking back and forth will also affect the shooting, which is the biggest worry.
I used to write a joke a day, but now I can only shoot one in two days.
Beijing News: Have you ever thought about how to deal with this problem?
Student Zhang: I have also thought about it in the past two days, especially for fans. I can't refuse it hard, but I can't do everything in accordance with the wishes and requirements of the fans, otherwise there is really no way to shoot.
In the past two days, we have also made some measures. Let my brother be at the door of Ertao's house. There are more parking spaces. If anyone comes to find classmate Zhang, let them wait for me there first.
I shoot half of it, and then I will talk to you and take a group photo so that I have some time to shoot.
Beijing News: There are all kinds of people on the Internet imitating you to make videos, what do you think?
Student Zhang: In the future, I will share my experience with more people through live Douyin, including some details of the editing and content creation. I will share it with fans on a regular basis.
This can only be called Zhang’s daily life, or Zhang’s life in the countryside.
Many people, including in the city, also have daily lives, but they say that they have not discovered and dig. In fact, life is the daily joy, anger, sorrow, and sleep, including eating, drinking and sleeping. That's all.
But if you imitate, it will always be someone else's, not yours.
Beijing News: Originally planned to broadcast live on December 3, why did not start?
Student Zhang: I still feel I’m not ready, because I still focus on creation first. The current situation has affected my creation. It turned out that I and Er Tao were shooting a piece of film every day, but now people come every day. There is an endless stream of fans, and the fans are all coming to classmate Zhang, so there must be a reception.
Talk about the future
"Consider helping villagers sell local specialties"
Beijing News: What did the villagers think when they first started shooting videos in the village?
Student Zhang: The neighbors, including some relatives and friends, may also have doubts. A farmer who carries a tripod every day to take pictures of this and that is not doing business in their eyes.
Sometimes the thinking in the countryside is more conservative, unlike in the city.
The Beijing News: How did you conceive and photograph rural life?
Student Zhang: Art really comes from life, because I have lived in this environment since I was a child. After shooting this video, it is grounded and there are so many details.
These are some of the things that happened in my life. What happened around me can be expressed in video.
I especially like shooting. In the first time, I carried a tripod on my own and went up the mountain to take pictures of flowers and mountains and rivers. After the shooting, I took the lens to the sky and the trees were towering trees.
It's like the feeling in movies and TV, it looks very good.
So from that time, I only learned other people's editing and shooting angles bit by bit.
The first mobile phone I bought to shoot video was iPhone 11, and it is also now.
If it is professional equipment, there may be many small lenses that cannot be taken.
The Beijing News: Some netizens said that the villages you photographed were all dirty, messy and poor. What do you think?
Student Zhang: I usually read private messages a lot.
Some people say that new rural areas have been remodeled now, and you are shooting dirty, messy and poor rural life, which discredited rural life.
I have my own opinions on this issue, and I think that as long as it is expressed through video, it is a deduction.
I just took some of the things that happened and experienced around me to show it to everyone. This does not represent the overall appearance of the village.
Beijing News: Why do your videos often focus on single life in rural areas?
Student Zhang: Those friends around me, Uncle Qingyun divorced, Qi Ye was also divorced, Er Tao never married.
I think through the paragraph, what I mean is that it is really not easy to get married in rural areas, because the bride price is more expensive now.
It used to be three golds, but now it is hardware, plus the down payment and the gift, plus some other things, it is estimated that the base will be 500,000.
I can't say too much. In my native dialect, "there are more old bachelors". This is a real situation.
Beijing News: Have you considered going to work?
Student Zhang: There was also an agency operating company before, and I was approached 4 times and asked me to be the head of operations. The price was 30,000 yuan a month. I also went there.
I went there and said, I definitely can't be here with you, I just go out and take a look, and I have to take pictures of my work when I go back.
Beijing News: What was your economic situation before becoming popular?
Student Zhang: I only started picking up some nicknames after June. At that time, I charged 400 yuan for a joke.
But I have to take a joke and stop, because I also need to update.
For example, if I pick up some nicknames today, I have to shoot my own jokes tomorrow, so that I can come alive little by little.
In the jokes, I always go to the Zhoujia Supermarket and always owe money to the wife of the Zhoujia Supermarket. This is true. The most I owe is 982 yuan, because the jokes need some ingredients, including the usual food.
I have also told you some experiences. When I was the poorest, I didn't even have the money to buy a box of cigarettes.
Beijing News: After becoming popular, you will also face the problem of monetization. What are your plans in the future?
Student Zhang: During this section of our village, middle-aged women on both sides of the road sell some hometown specialties, such as beans grown at home and mushrooms picked from the mountains.
When I first came back, I thought that the online traffic was so good. If I could push these things out through Douyin, I felt that the people would not be on both sides of the road every day.
So I wanted to go through this line at that time. My aunt's house has one or two kilograms of apples, and I can sell them even if I sell them for a week.
I am a farmer, so I can do something common people. There may be many people who say when Zhang will start receiving advertisements and when he will start to make money. In fact, I have never thought about it before.
So there is a reason why I haven't broadcast live, but my original intention will definitely not change. If you want me to do more commercial activities, I will definitely not agree, because I am a farmer, so if I can do it for my hometown Something, I feel that this is what I really want, because the money is enough to spend, how much is the profit?
Beijing News reporter Geng Ziye Zhu Qinghua