The Paper reporter Yang Xiting
Liu Yan was born in a military family. He joined the army in his teens and began to work as a director in the army.
In 2010, Liu Yan found Zhou Zhifang, a screenwriter who was also a soldier, and started a creative incubation project.
In 2013, this military emotional story named "Love in August" won the first Excellent Screenplay Support Award of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
In 2014, during the Spring Festival, Ji Daoqing, then the deputy head of the Nanjing Military Region Cultural and Art Troupe, was touched by this script and became the chief producer of the play.
Afterwards, centering on the theme of forging the "trump card", the whole plot was changed from "the emotions of soldiers in peacetime" to the general pattern of "the emotions of soldiers under the mission of soldiers in the face of war and peace", and established the "two heroes". The story structure of "side by side" rewrites the turning point and structural climax of the entire play, the border war. In 2014, the project was suspended due to institutional changes.
In 2019, when the project started again, Liu Yan had already retired from active service.
This ten-year project is today's "Ace Trooper".
"True" is the soul of the ace army
Liu Yan, a former soldier, described her "ace spirit" in this way: there is love in the heart, pursuit of excellence, winning with every shot, higher than life and death, and loyalty to the motherland.
"We don't desire war, but we are always ready. If war comes, our army is an army that can be called to fight and can be won, and that the people can trust."
The creation of "Ace Troopers" is the infiltration of the main creators' sense of mission and military emotion for many years.
The chief producer Ji Daoqing is the former deputy head of the Nanjing Military Region Cultural and Art Troupe, with 42 years of military service this year; the screenwriter Zhou Zhifang is the former director of the creative office of the Political Department of the Navy, with 31 years of military service; the director Liu Yan is the former director of the Guangzhou Military Region Television Art Center, with 34 years of military service.
"The people in the play are almost the same age as us, and we wrote about our military youth."
During the interview, Liu Yan talked about various details from real soldiers and military life in the play.
The slogan of the opening battle of "Ace Troops", "I would rather die one step forward than half a step back," is what Major General Yang, a recruit in the border war and currently serving in a certain army department, told her.
The designation of the 234th Division in the play is also derived from the designation of the prototype unit.
"Life and death are connected together" in the play is the soul of a certain company.
Axiu's story has real life prototypes.
This is what Major General Cui, who participated in the border war at that time, and later served as the deputy commander of a certain army, told Liu Yan: When the troops triumphed, a comrade-in-arms died, and on the way back, all the comrades were hiding from the new wife of the comrade-in-arms. , afraid to face her, not knowing how to tell her the news.
Liu Yan said: "I was in tears when I heard it."
As a director with real military experience and military theme creation experience, Liu Yan believes that for military theme creation, special attention should be paid to "realism".
Liu Yan said that in the real army training exercise, the sense of honor and the desire to win or lose are particularly strong.
For example, Wang Jusheng, the "Commander of the Blue Army", is now the Brigade Commander of the Blue Army, Man Guangzhi.
They face training and exercises are "real".
"This kind of real fighting between soldiers is not based on imagination. It comes from the life of the army." Liu Yan said that when he was in the army before, he saw four big characters hanging on the door of the army: "Real soldiers come."
"My hair stood up at the time. The word 'true' is the soul of the ace army."
It is reported that the exercises, training, war battles and other action scenes of "Ace Troop" add up to a large proportion, accounting for one-fifth of the whole play.
Liu Yan emphasized that the growth of an ace army is not only about speaking out, but also about practicing, fighting, and playing.
During the preparation, Liu Yan and Ji Daoqing and other main creators reached a consensus. She told the main creators that all exercises and trainings were filmed according to the combat state of the real atmosphere: come true.
"The growth of characters is forged by real training; the important part is the war part, and the fear, tremor and despair of the characters in the war must be photographed. The transformation and growth of the characters in such a situation shows their strength."
According to Liu Yan, the action filming of the show was almost entirely carried out on the scene of the cliffs of the mountains, lakes, and cliffs. The rain fell from the mountains, the sea was high tide, the tent was opened by the strong wind, and the on-site personnel were bitten by mosquitoes all over the place. something.
Also for the sake of real quality, chief producer Ji Daoqing led the production team to collect and prepare various military weapons and equipment, transport vehicles, and firearms a few years in advance.
Even one year before the start of shooting, aiming at the age texture of the "old barracks" and "military training grounds", a scene selection survey was conducted across three provinces and three military regions, and four major shooting scenes were determined.
The art designer of the show, Zheng Xiaofeng, was a naval veteran and was familiar with the army and that era, so he started preparations very early.
Military instructor Hu Zhengchun is the former director of the Guangzhou Military Region Electric Classroom. He is very professional in the details and procedures of exercises, combat training, etc., and has made elaborate and demanding requirements for military maps, sand tables, and military weapons.
The visual effects supervisor is solemn and experienced. He has already modeled special effects for some weapons and equipment that cannot be found, and prepared according to the needs of the year.
Stylist Chen Minzheng has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Modeling Design, and he has also served in the Jinan Military Region, so he is familiar with the times in the play.
"The military uniforms in the play include 65-type, 78-type, 85-type, 87-type, 97-type, 99-type, 07-type and other military uniforms of various periods, almost including the chronicle of the evolution of our military uniform. Symbols, training uniforms, uniforms, formal dresses, summer, spring, autumn and winter wear requirements and changing time must comply with military dress-up regulations, and there is no mistake." This is a big challenge for the styling department.
Liu Yan said that the elements of the background of "Ace Troopers" are as solid as possible.
What were the pop songs of 1983 and 1984?
What was the movie that came out that year?
What influence did the characters in the movie have on the people of that era?
"For example, in the movie "Zorro", Sorghum ran on the train to imitate Zorro's movements, and the boys at that time grew up watching these movies; there is also 'Eighteen Palms of the Black Dragon', which is the most primitive version of military boxing; That era was the era of poetry, such as Whitman's "Song of Myself"; the troop chorus "My Motherland and Me", the song was created in 1983, which matched the era of the story in our play; such as the seagull camera of Jiangnanzheng , is the brand object of that era, such as the source of the era image of 'I am Haiyan', such as the watch section of brother Sorghum; I found that a lot of audiences are very willing to learn about this.”
There is a very difficult scene in the play: the military wife Axiu chases the train.
"This scene has high requirements for the scene. In order to restore the texture of the age, it is necessary to bring the relationship between the steam locomotive, the rail tank car, and the road. This scene has been searched all over the country, and only Diaobingshan has it." Chief Producer Ji Daoqing Knowing that the cost is expensive, but he made up his mind to lead hundreds of people to the northeast.
"Every time I take a picture, we have to wait for the train to go to the station and turn around and come back. We can continue to take pictures after about 40 minutes. We took more than 30 pictures back and forth. The sun in the northeast in August is very poisonous. When the train comes back, Actors have to stand in a moving stuffy tank to open the door and perform, and they must always be vigilant not to fall. The speed of filming the trailer must match the speed of the train, neither fast nor slow, and the best distance for filming is less than two Kilometers, all aspects need tacit cooperation... After filming that scene, director of photography Ma Xiaobo fell ill directly."
"They have the right to be confused and the ability to break free"
In "Ace Troopers", the character setting of "two heroes side by side" is one of the highlights of the drama structure.
"Without opponents and enemies, it is difficult to do military themes. How can the antagonism and enthusiasm of soldiers come out?" Therefore, it is necessary to establish and shape "opponents".
Gao Liang and Gu Yinye are the two representatives of the play.
An ordinary peasant, a son of a soldier.
Sorghum represents the grassroots commanders and fighters who form the foundation of the army, while Gu Yinye represents the part of the people's army that symbolizes professionalism and professional inheritance.
"The two are hot and cold, complex and simple, forming a strong contrast."
Liu Yan believes that Huang Jingyu's portrayal of the character of Sorghum is a self-breakthrough, one of which is reflected in his emotional expression.
Gao Liang's characters have a lot of crying scenes, "Jing Yu always took the initiative to communicate with me before filming, to discuss the character's psychological basis and motivation, and did his homework before the performance. It will infect us at the scene with tears in our eyes, looking for tissues everywhere and sucking."
There was a scene where Sorghum was injured and his leg could not be obeyed. The doctor wanted to do acupuncture for him. For the sake of truth, Liu Yan asked to come.
Huang Jingyu, who was lying on the bed, did not speak, and the acupuncturist put more than 30 needles in his leg.
"After it was over, he came down from the bed tremblingly, with two leg prints soaked in cold sweat on the sheet. I knew that he was actually faint, but he gritted his teeth and didn't say anything. It turned out that he broke through himself and did Very well, the sorghum he creates will make the audience love and distress."
When choosing Gu Yinye's actor, Liu Yan thought: Xiao Zhan has a gentleman's bearing in his bones, and his eyes are clean, which is in line with the taste of the 1980s.
In order to shape his role, Xiao Zhan joined the group in advance to participate in military training to experience life. He went out to exercise at 5:30 every day, ate, practiced and lived with the soldiers, and trained with high intensity under the scorching sun.
In the play, the emotional direction of Gu Yinye and the military widow Axiu, initially the script team had two plans, one is the direction of "responsibility" and the other is the direction of "true love".
Liu Yan also hopes, "A character like Gu Yinye can convincingly bow his head to 'love'." Therefore, the text reserves room for revision, "We think, if Gu Yinye's actors can complete this kind of love," 'Responsibility' to 'true love', then lucky."
After confirming that Xiao Zhan will play Gu Yinye, Liu Yan was relieved that Xiao Zhan, who had read the script, directly raised the question of "responsibility" and "love" with her.
"I thought at the time that the actor saw the core of the character. Then I asked him, do you think Gu Yinye can fall in love with Axiu? He said firmly, yes. After that day, we texted about Gu Yinye. The emotions with Ah Xiu have been completely adjusted. This is a tacit understanding between the actors and the creative team."
Regarding the expression of the soldiers' emotions in "Ace Army", Liu Yan believes that the personal emotions of the soldiers are closely related to the feelings of the family and the country, and there is a natural collision and game, "This kind of collision and game is presented as intense, bloody, and soul-stirring. Things are a kind of sublimated emotion. Soldiers are a special profession. They have a very rich emotional level from small to home and large to the country. In terms of duties, soldiers usually connect themselves with the country, sovereignty, people, and the masses. Together. The mission of a soldier is to protect the family and the country, and it is to make sacrifices." Personal feelings and feelings of family and country echo each other.
"Emotions are an important thing that must be faced in the growth of a young soldier." Liu Yan believes that the youthful emotions in the play are basically "on the basis of common progress and camaraderie under the premise of abiding by discipline. expanded".
"The character Gaoliang was born in poverty and was an orphan. By loving a female soldier, he gradually fell in love with himself who was struggling, and fell in love with the fighting army collective. In the end, he became a respectable retrograde and bearer. Jiangnanzheng's emotions are in the same line as his feelings for the army, how much he loves Jiangnanzheng, the more he loves the army and the people."
The character Gu Yinye was deeply influenced by his father in the process of growing up, and he set an ambition to make contributions in the army since he was a child.
"He has abundant knowledge, different styles, and is very charismatic. But how to let the arrogant Gu Yinye land, integrate into the group, and grow into a bearer in the team?"
"In terms of Gu Yinye's emotional growth, we have also made the transition from small love to big love. For example, Gu Yinye chose Axiu's emotion, which to a large extent is a mixture of soldiers and their relatives, soldiers and common people. Beyond love, there are multiple emotions like dependence, attachment, responsibility, trust, and family."
In addition to the two male protagonists Gao Liang and Gu Yinye, the female role of Jiang Nanzheng played by Zhong Chuxi in "Ace Troop" is also very important in Liu Yan's view.
"Jiang Nanzheng In this drama, many viewers look at this girl from the standard of emotional drama. In fact, Jiang Nanzheng has more dimensions to interpret. She is very self-reliant and self-improvement. She is the female soldier who has been forging ahead, and has not stopped. Steps, Jiangnan Expedition is a representative figure of our army's informatization construction, a vivid embodiment of our army's concept of informatization, high-tech development, and technology-strengthening the army, and she is also a representative of outstanding women in the army."
At the end of the interview, Director Liu summed up the growth of the young soldiers in the play, and a few words impressed the reporter: "They are simple and flawed, they have the right to be confused, and they have the ability to break the cocoon, they are not born with Ace soldiers, they have to face loss, face life and death, go through the baptism of war, experience real growth and tempering, and go through a desperate situation before they can overcome themselves."