Does the director want to be "rich"? Do actors want to be "good-looking"? Three questions on Chinese Film creation

how does China's film industry develop? How to make a typed movie? What is the influence of capital on artistic creation? Should young directors be "poor" or "rich"? Do you want to "look at the face" in the movie? In response to these topics, a few days ago in the CCTV film channel "Today Film Review" held a forum, many industry experts expressed their own views.

original title: three questions in Chinese Film creation

if "face" is a window, then through this window, we should see something more profound behind "face". Nowadays, society is eager for quick success and quick profit, whether it is "looking at the face" or "not looking at the face". If the film is regarded as an art product, the role must be more important than the face.

with less than two months left, the war will begin at the end of the Lunar New year, and the box office of Chinese movies in 2016 will enter the final stage. As of October 31, the film's box office reached only 38.8 billion yuan, a far cry from the target of 60 billion yuan predicted at the beginning of the year. How does China's film industry develop? How to make a typed movie? What is the influence of capital on artistic creation? Should young directors be "poor" or "rich"? Do you want to "look at the face" in the movie? In response to these topics, a few days ago in the CCTV film channel "Today Film Review" held a forum, many industry experts expressed their own views.

strong > is there anything wrong with shooting and playing tricks? / strong >

on November 3, at the 12th China-US Film Festival in Los Angeles, the Mekong Action, known as "2016 Film Market boost", won three awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best producer. If this police and bandit giant film produced by Bona Film Group is not written and directed by Lin Chaoxian, but in accordance with the routine of police and bandit action movies, the result may not be optimistic. The complete victory of Operation Mekong can be said to have played the film routine without delaying breakthroughs and innovation.

"routine" is by no means a strange word. Since the development of the film, many creative models have been evolved. While these "routines" are attractive to the audience, they also make the film fall into a stereotyped situation.

in recent years, people have found a lot of movie deja vu in the course of watching the movie. as soon as a certain plot appears, they can immediately guess the direction of the following story. For example, in a love film, the hero and heroine will quarrel when they first meet, followed by a sudden passionate love affair, and finally fall into a heart-wrenching emotional entanglement; in action films, the average protagonist will not die no matter how many shots or knives he takes, and he can make several more.

in this regard, film critic Su Cen put forward the view that you can't "play tricks" in making movies. She believes that what moves people is emotion, and what is impressive is feelings. If the film can grasp the feelings, it can put up with some "routines". The most fear is that only the "routines" have no feelings, the works will lose their vitality.

strong > is there anything wrong with the director's love of "playing tricks"? / strong >

in the view of screenwriter Wang Lifu, "routine" is only a technical standard, what Mandarin speakers say is not necessarily common, and "routine" does not affect the film's own creativity and thinking. Ye Hang, a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy and an expert on Hong Kong film studies, believes that the existence of "routines" is inevitable or even indispensable. Like Hollywood movies and Hong Kong films in the golden age, "routines" are common in countries and regions where the film industry is powerful. But the "routine" is only a technical standard, which is the artistic law and creation mode needed in the process of film standardization production.

in Ye Hang's view, the breakthrough of genre films requires not technology but ideas. A good film should be made into "familiar strangers", "familiar" comes from "routines", while "unfamiliar" comes from the excavation and innovation of ideological connotation.

strong > Actor, does appearance matter? / strong >

at present, the film industry has a bad tendency of "face worship". A group of handsome young actors are active on the big screen, a large number of fans are eager to pursue, and the film featuring "good-looking" also arises at the historic moment. From investors to issuers, they all prefer films with "good looks". They are easy to raise money and make publicity. But it is true that films with "good looks" do not get the corresponding box office in the market. As a result, the topic of whether the film should look at the face or not, whether or not to pay attention to appearance has also become the focus of debate in the industry.

Young director Yao Tingting, who directs whose Youth is not lost, believes that good-looking actors are only a selling point of the film, which can attract audiences to the cinema on the basis of a momentary topic. But the audience will not always pay for works that have only appearance but no connotation. She said that when choosing actors, she would put acting in the first place, IQ and EQ in second place, and appearance in third place.

what can really retain the hearts of the audience is the wonderful storyline and excellent artistic quality. " Among the many actors Yao Tingting has come into contact with, many people do not attach importance to improving their acting ability, but pay special attention to their own image. "this is actually putting the cart before the horse, and it does some damage to the expressiveness of actors."

from the point of view of film critic Fujii, the one-sided view that as long as it is a good-looking little fresh meat, Xiao Hua Dan starring in the film is not accurate. With the exception of some talented people, the acting skills of most actors need a process of improvement from quantity to quality. At the beginning, some powerful actors also attracted the attention of the audience because of their good looks, but after long-term training, the accumulation of life and their own efforts, they achieved the improvement of acting skills.

Zhang Yan, a professor at Beijing normal University, pointed out that the actor's "face" is the carrier of artistic creation and artistic expression, acting skills and "face" cannot be stripped off, and acting skills and "appearance" are well combined. it plays a direct role in promoting the film to the market, to the audience, and to attracting consumption.

Zhou Xing, dean of the School of Arts and Media at Beijing normal University, believes that film is culture and art, while "looking at the face" and the so-called entertainment have greatly reduced the original ideological connotation or the role of rendering people.

strong > should the movie "look at the face"? / strong >

if the "face" is a window, then you should see something deeper behind the "face" through this window. Nowadays, society is eager for quick success and quick profit, whether it is "looking at the face" or "not looking at the face". If the film is regarded as an art product, the role must be more important than the "face".

strong > Director, "poor" or "rich"? / strong >

once upon a time, in order to prepare for an annual meeting of Chinese film directors, famous directors such as Feng Xiaogang, Yin Li and Teng Wenji lobbied everywhere, but now it is different. With the entry of a large amount of capital in various industries, directors, especially young directors, no longer worry about making films. In the case of extremely abundant funds, the topic of whether young directors should be "poor" or "rich" also made headlines.

if a Chinese film is compared to a "mother", the young director is the undergrown child in her arms. In the past, if you wanted to be a director, you had to start slowly from the bottom, such as field notes and chores, and only after years of honing could you be on your own. Now the process of suffering can be reduced, and as long as money can be raised, it is only natural that the director can be named.

Zhou Xing believes that most directors themselves have experienced the process from "poor" to "rich". For young directors, it is more like "hatching" than "enriching". In his view, the director's spiritual creation should always be artistic, no matter rich or poor, can not change the pursuit of art, otherwise, even if there are plenty of funds, still can not make a good film.

as a young director, Yang Zi, director of Shoushan, said that before becoming a director, he felt that the director should go through more beating and training, that is, the so-called "poor upbringing" stage, and after he became a director, he hoped to get more support and provide a better environment for creation, that is, "affluence."

Zeng Nianqun, executive editor of the Young Director's Handbook, believes that "rich" can not necessarily get a good output, but "poor" can achieve the goal of mental exercise. Li Xingwen, a self-media man, also said that what Chinese young directors lack most is "frustration education". Great people are born in adversity, and only by honing their will can they promote their growth.

from the perspective of the country and society, Zhou Xing believes that "affluence" should be a cultural policy, which is in line with the current increasingly rich and strong national conditions, the times are changing, and the needs of film creation are also changing. We should create a good environment for young directors to express their film ideals.

the reality is that no matter "poor" or "rich", we have to admit that young directors' own learning and progress is the decisive factor for their success. Young directors are fledgling, facing many difficulties and need more training and sharpening at the same time. Whether "poor" or "rich", it can only play the role of an external cause, and what is really important is "self-support".

Edit: yvette