Zhang Yimou: I really want to make three movies a year, but a good script can't keep up with my filming speed.

199 1 The movie "Raise the Red Lantern" is adapted from Su Tong's novel "Wives and Concubines".

After Zhang Yimou got the novel, it was supposed to be filmed in the south, because the story of the novel took place in the south.

But because he filmed "Old Well" in Shanxi, he is quite familiar with Shanxi. Later, when I saw the jstars courtyard, I felt very shocked and felt it was a pity not to shoot it.

If he doesn't shoot, someone else will.

Su Tong obviously complained about changing the background, but Zhang Yimou was attracted by the beauty of Shanxi's ancient buildings, and it was useless to say anything, just changing "Wives and Concubines" to the Qiao Family Courtyard in Shanxi. I filmed it for more than three months.

At that time, there were not many tourists in the Qiao family compound, so there was no closed compound to shoot. Occasionally, tourists can see Zhang Yimou's team filming.

At that time, Zhang Yimou was sitting on the platform on the second floor, thinking about how to compose a picture and how to take pictures.

Suddenly I saw the perspective of the whole compound and thought it was a rule. Without rules, there would be no Fiona Fang, so I just take rules as the core of this movie. So I started writing plays again.

Lighting, sealing and extinguishing the lights are a ritual cycle every night, which is the main part of visual modeling.

At that time, Zhang Yimou was very bold and changed the story completely according to his meaning.

Zhang Yimou told his classmate, photographer Zhao Fei, don't move the camera, just shoot according to the perspective line.

Have you seen the last supper of Jesus? Just shoot like this.

Producer Hou Xiaoxian often visits classes, saying that there is no one in your hospital, where to eat, where to fetch water, and who will do the cleaning. A yard is empty, and there is no breath of life. If I were you, I wouldn't shoot like this.

Hou Hsiao-hsien implicitly expressed his incomprehension, but what Zhang Yimou thought in his mind was to shoot completely by painting, to create a symbolic atmosphere, and to unconsciously look for a unified visual modeling style.

Today, it seems that this is in contrast with Zhang Yimou's first novel Red Sorghum.

If red sorghum is a free, wild and eclectic nature.

Then "Hanging the Red Lantern High" is a regular, depressed and unchanging sense of struggle.

Very extreme, but also very valuable, this desperate pursuit, to the extreme, perhaps only in Zhang Yimou at that time.

1992, Zhang Yimou took a fancy to Chen Yuanbin's novel "lawsuit of ten thousand families".

The story "The Story of Qiu Ju" is adapted from "Wanjiafu". At that time, Liu Heng was a screenwriter, and he was a writer with profound realistic skills.

Liu Heng wrote for several months, almost finished, and Zhang Yimou's unruly character played a role again. He thinks the script is not bad, but it is similar to those works at that time, with no special features, just an ordinary rural film.

It is so boring. If you want to innovate, you can't shoot like before.

Seeing that the boot is just around the corner, Zhang Yimou is still discussing with several main creators. It suddenly occurred to him that it was better to make this film into a documentary, and everyone got excited and said, otherwise, let's change the lens.

Zhang Yimou immediately called Mr. Ma of Hongkong Yindu, the investor, and asked if it was possible to change it to a super 16mm camera. Teacher Ma is also very supportive of this warm-blooded young man and rents equipment immediately.

The photographer was late and excited. According to his own experience in watching movies, he thinks about how to make a recording style, such as taking pictures.

However, the screenwriter Liu Heng didn't say a word for several hours.

It was a long time before he said, then I wrote this script for nothing.

Zhang Yimou sympathized with him, but he still didn't use his script.

Thus, The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum has completely turned into another kind of movie.

The crew began to shoot in Baoji countryside, writing an outline and several main lines every day, and arranging photographers to sneak shots.

Everyone has become a "paparazzi", hiding from various cameras. One roll of film can take 1 1 minute, and both sets of photos are hidden.

They made a paper box, squatted in it before dawn, put on diapers, took water and steamed bread, punched two holes and blocked them with black cloth.

The actor came at eight or nine in the morning, and the assistant director started filming while hanging.

What about the recording? Just hang Xiao Mike on all kinds of illegal construction in advance, and use your quick wits.

Before the official shooting, Zhang Yimou asked Gong Li to put on a fake belly and go to the village to experience life. No one in the village knew that he was pregnant, so he walked around the village every day.

Photographers, too, turn around every day, eight hours a day, just like going to work. They don't load films, they just aim their cameras at anything.

As a result, after a week, no one took care of them, not even the dog.

Only then did the villagers' vigilance drop.

In this difficult shooting environment, Zhang Yimou took the walkie-talkie in the car in the distance, and the photographer spent a day in the box, wondering what they could shoot.

But everyone has a * * * knowledge, that is, to capture an "oncoming" breath of life.

Because there is no monitor, Zhang Yimou asks every day, how is it today? Are you washing your face?

The photographer said, absolutely! How many? At least two or three are blowing! Great, let's call it a day!

When the material was shot almost, the photographer rented a 16 mm projector late, and the whole crew came to see the demonstration.

At that time, it was a very sacred thing to look at the samples, hoping for the stars and the moon, just to wait for this moment.

However, before the screening ended, everyone left, leaving Zhang Yimou and watching it night after night. Because of what?

So at that time, the cast was filled with an atmosphere of failure, feeling that Zhang Yimou had screwed up this time, and it was over. What's going on here?

However, under the control of Zhang Yimou, The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum still turns decay into magic.

Today, it seems that the aesthetics of The Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum can be rationally classified as a documentary, but it was very avant-garde at that time, and no one has done so yet.

If it is now, such a large-scale sneak shot is impossible, nor can it just infringe on the portrait rights of ordinary people.

Because movies are commodities, after all, they are not newsreels.

At that time, an elder sister who ate marshmallows sued the Zhang Yimou crew because the film gave her a close-up shot. Within a few seconds, the elder sister said that she was caught by the camera because she skipped work, which caused her a great psychological burden.

Zhang Yimou is neither a writer nor a screenwriter and director. He is actually a professional director.

Professional directors are people who tell stories with pictures, rhythm and film language. They are good at creating with image thinking, but not good at creating words.

So a professional director doesn't write or direct most of the time, so the pace will become very slow.

In a sense, we should give full play to the advantages and strengths of directors and give more "good scripts" to "good directors", so as to make more "good movies".

As Zhang Yimou said, what China lacks most is actually a good screenwriter. Many problems in our movies are inherent problems in the script.

In the drama department of the Film Academy, fresh graduates became gunmen during their school days, but even after graduation, they were signed away by the company in advance. No matter which project it is, I wrote two drafts and left, so I didn't have time to accompany it. Sometimes it is difficult to write a good script.

Because there is no shortcut to film script creation, it is also very hard to train people. Although there are many candidates who apply for the Department of Literature of Nortel every year, few of them can be successfully admitted, not to mention many people who make a living by writing online dramas. The cinema film has a long cycle and high requirements, and it is difficult to be competent without qualification.

Many directors are full of energy, endless energy, countless impulses and wishes, and only hope to meet a good script.

Even like visiting Taobao, the director doesn't necessarily have a clear purpose. He just keeps browsing and meets a good thing, and makes his emotional love float in the first place through perceptual purchase, instead of deliberately arranging himself to take the "politically correct" route.

If a director always thinks about what to shoot next and what to shoot at what age, then he loses his artistic inspiration and creativity.

Zhang Yimou College is called "National Teacher" because it won 133 awards and 102 nominations such as Venice Golden Lion Award, Berlin Golden Bear Award and Cannes Jury Award.

I hope that Zhang Dao can always maintain exuberant creativity and health.

Let's look forward to the upcoming three new films directed by Zhang: Above the Cliff and Breaking the Rock!