Zhang Yimou enjoys "Man Jianghong", Cheng Er's "No Name" tunes Wang Yibo, Guo Fan said that the theme of "The Wandering Earth 2" is companionship, and "Bear Infested" tells mothers and babies
Seven styles achieve the most diverse movie Spring Festival file
The 2023 Spring Festival file should be the most diverse genre in recent years. The seven films released are of different types and each has its own success.
A reporter from the Beijing News interviewed the main creators of the Spring Festival film and asked them to tell the story behind the wonderful creation of the film.
The comedy suspense film "Manjianghong" is based on the big history, but the story cuts are very small. Zhang Yimou broke into the Spring Festival file for the second time after "Sniper". This time he added comedy elements to the suspense film genre and completed a classic. Closed space narrative; Guo Fan's domestic sci-fi masterpiece "The Wandering Earth 2", which has been sharpened for four years, once again represents the highest level of Chinese sci-fi films; Cheng Er's suspenseful spy film "No Name" still takes Shanghai as the background , through the director's unique personal style, the authorship and commerciality are perfectly integrated; the sports-themed movie "Chinese Table Tennis: The Jedi Counterattack" directed by Deng Chao and Yu Baimei tells the true story of the 1995 Tianjin World Championships. The passionate and inspirational story of China's ping-pong Jedi counterattack; the fantasy romantic comedy "Exchanging Life" directed by Su Lun is very suitable for the lively atmosphere of the Spring Festival. After Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage, director Tian Xiaopeng prepared for seven years and pioneered particle ink technology, bringing the animated film "Deep Sea" to the audience; the "Nail House" and "Bear Infested" series of films in the Spring Festival file will continue to launch "Bear Bear" this year. "Haunted·Accompany me "Bear Core"" returns to the theme of family affection, using sci-fi imagination to call for realistic companionship.
"Man Jianghong"
Zhang Yimou was very happy at the shooting scene
The movie "Manjianghong" tells the story of the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty, four years after Yue Fei's death, the envoy of the Kingdom of Jin died at the residence of the Southern Song Prime Minister Qin Hui (played by Lei Jiayin), and his secret letter disappeared. Sun Jun (played by Yi Yanqianxi), the deputy commander of the barracks, was involved in a huge conspiracy by chance. Can they uncover the mystery step by step and find the murderer and the truth?
"Man Jianghong" directed by Zhang Yimou provided the audience with an extremely wonderful movie-watching experience this time. The story told only happened in a house with limited scenes but unlimited creativity.
The whole film starts with a murder case, with many conspiracies as the background, the plot is ups and downs, and the layers are reversed. When the audience tenses up, they will be moved by dense laughter.
As the poster said: "Enough suspense, have the last laugh".
This is the first time that Shen Teng and Yi Yanqianxi have cooperated with Zhang Yimou. They both think this is an opportunity to "dream come true". I have very strong expectations for the cooperation with Zhang Yimou: "During the actual creation process, director Zhang Yimou gave me a lot of creative space. This time, the script of "Man Jianghong" is very strong. Based on the script, I can unscrupulously play my desired performance. But no matter what we do, we will not be separated from the characters. That is to say, we can have different performances, but the 'line' is always in the hands of the director." Yi Yang Qianxi, who played the role of the deputy commander in the play this time, recalled " The overall shooting experience of "Man Jianghong", "Everything is very efficient, with a very powerful director. We are a very relaxed and happy crew, which is a very precious and rare experience for me." Zhang Yimou described the atmosphere on the set with a smile : "During filming, the actors in this crew gave each other ideas and advice. Everyone was sincere and made progress together. Of course they didn't know that I was listening on the monitor. Every time I listened to them talking, I just laughed and had fun, and I thought they were so funny and smart and wise."
Zhang Yimou was delighted by the cooperation of "Man Jianghong". He said that he also benefited a lot from this cooperation: "When I was a director when I was young, I was always very serious, focused and unsmiling. Now that I think about it, such an approach may not be appropriate. What is The first productive force of the film? (Now) I think it is an actor, because he plays the character, the character is the biggest, any comedy, feature film, short film, short video, etc., as long as it is a feature film, the character is the first. This time I have a class Very good actors, the ease and happiness of each other let me understand a lot, enjoy the set, and benefit a lot.”
"nameless"
Director Cheng Er suggested that Wang Yibo learn to be alone
Cheng Er is not a prolific director, and it has been more than 6 years since his last work "The History of Romantic Disappearance" was released.
The story background of "No Name" directed by him still focuses on Shanghai during the Republic of China. It tells the story of underground workers risking their lives to send intelligence and defend the motherland with their lives and blood in the treacherous and treacherous hidden front.
Cheng Er's films have his own unique film style, and he does not deliberately please the audience. He cares more about the expression and aesthetics of the film.
For movie fans, Cheng Er's films are very "accented". Characters speak Shanghai dialect, use image space to create atmosphere, and non-linear narrative structure, these have become important labels in Cheng Er's films.
In addition to the author's strong style, the cast of "No Name" is also very strong. Actors such as Tony Leung, Wang Yibo, and Zhou Xun fully meet the elements of a commercial film.
Director Cheng Er's method of selecting actors is very simple, usually by making appointments, meeting and chatting, including when talking with Wang Yibo, he didn't say what he was going to do.
In order to allow Wang Yibo to enter the role faster, Cheng Er did not arrange any announcements for a long time after he joined the group.
Wang Yibo was asked to stay alone in the hotel room, not to play games, watch mobile phones, let alone leave the film crew to shoot commercials, and not even contact friends and family every day.
It wasn't until a week later that Cheng Er spent a lot of time talking to him about the characters in the script.
Until the filming was completed, Cheng Er still often advised him to learn to be alone and keep a little distance from the hustle and bustle of life.
For Cheng Er, the selection of Wang Yibo was not for the sake of traffic, but the most important thing was suitability. He said that the cooperation between the two was very pleasant, "It's even a little better than happy. Wang Yibo's performance will definitely surprise the audience in the future."
"The Wandering Earth 2"
The theme I most want to convey is "companionship"
Four years have passed since "The Wandering Earth" was released in 2019. Although it is a sequel, "The Wandering Earth 2" revolves around the prequel of "The Wandering Earth". Advent.
The fate of human beings amid doubts, conflicts and differences has been rewritten again and again, and more severe crises and conflicts have gradually emerged.
Director Guo Fan revealed that "The Wandering Earth 2" will have more sci-fi ideas on the story level. It increases diversity on the surface, has a variety of shapes and scene designs, and uses details to increase the richness of the world.
At the production level, more advanced technology was adopted. Two months before the official shooting of the film, the production team shot the entire film in a virtual way, turning the script into a complete and visualized animation. In the normal shooting method, the viewfinder is set up and the camera position is set up. The staff first simulates the actors to complete the movement and captures the dynamics. more acurrate.
In terms of lineup, Guo Fan said with a smile that he is a very lucky director who has the perfect lineup he dreamed of. He was deeply impressed by the dedication and professionalism of each actor on the set. The wonderful performance is full of confidence: "Not only Wu Jing and Andy Lau, but also the famous performing artist Mr. Li Xuejian, how to express every detail, how to achieve the ultimate in every look, and the actors' grasp of the accuracy of the performance , with astonishing accuracy."
In addition to the technical aspect, what makes the audience more concerned is what is the theme of this new work?
What exactly does Guo Fan want to convey to the audience with this story in his new work?
Guo Fan told the Beijing News reporter four words - more company: "This is what I want to express most in the movie. The actors in the movie have a line that is 'I am, I have always been'. What is this company? ? When we are experiencing depression, confusion, uncertainty, and insecurity, if the catastrophe in "The Wandering Earth" really happens, what can you do? As an individual, I think the best thing you can do is to return Go to the people closest to you, comfort each other, and they will also bring you courage. This is the power of companionship, and it is also the core of the movie. In the movie, we can feel the perseverance and courage of human beings. In the current life , each of us will also face ups and downs, embrace life, and flow forever."
"deep sea"
Attempt to combine traditional Chinese ink painting with three-dimensional
After finishing Journey to the West: The Great Sage Returns (2015), director Tian Xiaopeng wanted to make an anti-hero story, a character that is more civilian and closer to life.
Thus, there is "Deep Sea", a modern girl (Sansuke) strays into the dreamy deep sea world, but encounters a unique journey of life because of it.
This time, Tian Xiaopeng wanted to combine traditional Chinese ink and 3D. However, traditional Chinese ink is freehand, while 3D is realistic. Combining the two will naturally have contradictions. It is conceivable that this technology is making on the difficulty.
For this reason, the animation team of "Deep Sea" pioneered the particle ink technology. It took two years to animate a concept map in the early stage. The number of particles in each frame reaches billions, and the rendering time of a single frame takes 1 hour. You have to wait for the computer to calculate.
In fact, in the opening title of "Journey to the West: The Return of the Great Sage", there is also a short section that combines traditional Chinese ink painting with three-dimensionality, but the film has been made in this style for more than 100 minutes, which is unprecedented.
"Once you have established this style, you will know how difficult it will be," Yi Qiao, the chief producer, said in an interview. If you choose such a presentation method, you must be slow.
In order to restore the performance of the role of the sea otter in the film, the team members often go to battle in person to "beautiful" and record performance references.
Behind the ultimate pursuit of innovation, the "Deep Sea" team is facing the hardship of "reversing again and again" because they have no reference. In the arduous road of exploration, the "tenacity and optimism" of Chinese animators can be seen.
"Bear Infested·Stay with me "Bear Core""
Mothers with babies can find resonance
"Bear Infested: Bear with Me" is the sixth major movie in the "Bear Infested" series released during the Spring Festival. Director Lin Yongchang said in an interview that the "Bear Infested" series has been trying to explore and dig out the hidden truths behind the protagonists. The story, in "Bear Infested: Metamorphosis" (2018), the main creator explored the relationship between Bald Qiang and his father, allowing the audience to get to know Bald Qiang's father.
"Bear Infested Primitive Era" (2019) expresses the theme of courage through Xiong Da.
In this year's "Bear Infested: Stay with Me "Bear Core", the main creator continued to dig out the stories behind the characters, and solved the doubts left by the audience before, including why Mama Bear left Xiong Da Xiong Er, where did she go, and where did she come from? How leaving will affect Xiong Da, these are the things that this movie needs to solve.
"This year's theme is also more realistic, and the whole picture, including the content, will be more inclined to the expression of family affection," Lin Yongchang said. The film borrowed the form of artificial intelligence to make a package, using sci-fi imagination to call for realistic companionship.
In the film, the scene where Mother Xiong takes care of Xiong Da and Xiong Er when they were young is particularly touching, full of warmth and humor.
In fact, at the beginning, director Lin Yongchang didn’t know where to find such creative themes. Later, he found inspiration materials from colleagues around him, including how novice mothers feed their children and how to take care of them. It was discussed with my mother's colleagues. I believe that many mothers and viewers can find resonance when they see this part of bringing a baby.
"Exchanging Life"
"Anshan Love" by Lei Jiayin and Zhang Xiaofei
The movie "Exchanging Lives" is a fantasy family comedy, telling the story of Zhong Da (played by Lei Jiayin) and Jin Hao (played by Zhang Xiaofei), who accidentally exchanged bodies with the boy Lu Xiaogu (played by Zhang Youhao), who has a crush on Zhang Xiaofei, after their blind date. They exchanged family members by mistake, and thus embarked on a strange "exchange" journey full of laughter and tears.
This is Lei Jiayin's second collaboration with director Su Lun after "Cohabitation Beyond Time and Space" in 2018. The actor Zhong Da in the film was written by Su Lun after Lei Jiayin.
In order to show the youthful side in the performance without pretending to be tender or hypocritical, Lei Jiayin often communicates with the director. He tries to find the feeling of being young in his heart, and try to find some behaviors when he was young.
This is also Zhang Xiaofei's return to the Spring Festival file after the well-known word-of-mouth work "Hello, Li Huanying" in the 2021 Spring Festival file.
Director Su Lun was particularly impressed by the day he met Zhang Xiaofei. At that time, the director was still writing the script of "Exchanging Lives", and he got stuck when writing the heroine Jin Hao.
But when she met Zhang Xiaofei and chatted with her for an afternoon, the character in the story instantly became three-dimensional and enriched, "I think this girl is so beautiful, she is Jin Hao in my mind."
Both Lei Jiayin and Zhang Xiaofei are from Anshan, and they often joked that this time they acted a "Anshan Love Story".
"The Jedi Counterattack of Chinese Ping Pong"
Make sure every ball is real and powerful
Directed by Deng Chao and Yu Baimei, and starring Deng Chao, Sun Li, Xu Weizhou, Duan Bowen, etc., the new sports-themed film "Chinese Ping Pong: Jedi Counterattack" (hereinafter referred to as "Chinese Ping Pong") will be released on the third day of the Lunar New Year.
Inspired by the history of national table tennis, the film tells how the Chinese men's table tennis in the trough period of the early 1990s firmly "rushed to the light" from the "muddest" years, and finally won five hard battles in the Tianjin World Table Tennis Championships. The game regained the long-lost men's team championship from the old enemy Sweden men's team.
The entire production period of "Chinese Ping Pong" lasted almost five years. All the actors have been trained for nearly a year. From physical fitness, technology to inner quality, they must be as close as possible to the characters.
Yu Baimei, who loves sports and table tennis, said that there are a lot of competitive scenes in the movie, "I have seen some sports movies in other countries, which use a lot of human half-lengths, and I said 'this is absolutely impossible'. I understand that it is absolutely forbidden to just look at the athletes' swing movements. We must be real, we must practice hard, and do targeted hard training. We have also found many ways to shoot sports movies in it to ensure that every ball is real. , Vigorous, I am very grateful to all the actors who came to participate in the film and the athletes who gave me advice outside the film. They are willing to shoot this movie really well, and they have practiced for so long. take a photo of."
Deng Chao and Yu Baimei made a lot of attempts, trying their best to shoot table tennis with different equipment and photography methods.
"In the past, foreign sports movies, such as "Lore Munich" and "Wrestling! Dad", these sports focused on collisions, but table tennis was played across the net, without any physical contact between people, and the speed of the ball was the same. It has become something that all onlookers care about nervously. We hope that the audience can feel that table tennis is a more enjoyable sport from the movie, because the ball flies very fast when playing. We invented a way to install the camera on the air pump I shot it out like a bullet. For example, in the shooting shot shot by Duan Bowen, I also had to make sure that the speed of the camera could keep up with him. In addition, to reflect the power of the ball, we selected past The most exciting and exciting games in the video, because these will definitely make the audience sweat for the game, and highly restore the most exciting competitive moments in history.” According to Deng Chao and Yu Baimei, "Chinese Table Tennis "is indeed not a movie about how people succeed, but a story about how people face failure before the next success comes.
And such a story is the spiritual strength most needed by all those who strive for their dreams.
Written by Teng Chao, Zhou Huixiaowan, reporter of Beijing News