I hope that the contemporary soldiers I write must first tighten the war string from the bottom of their hearts, have the idea of keeping a zero distance from the local war in an unknown environment, and cultivate excellent military skills. Only in this way can they prevent vain attempts Enemies who ignited wars on Chinese soil.
- Military Writer: Yang Wensen
With the TV series "Zero Distance" on CCTV's eight prime episodes and iQiyi , the proposition about how to train troops in peacetime becomes more and more thought-provoking.
In the play, Ding Haifeng, played by , said Lei Gongming, the brigade commander of the special operations brigade, when his team members accidentally encountered armed gangsters during the exercise. It will be thrown to the viewers in front of the TV. With
discussing the original intention of the show and the idea of chasing the answer, we found Yang Wensen, the producer and screenwriter of the show, and listened to him tell about the sonorous experience of the beginning and end of "Zero Zero".
Originated from
This TV series formerly known as "War Zero" began to brew and create as early as the summer of 2014.
At that time, Yang Wensen was still the director of the TV Art Center of the Political Department of the Lanzhou Military Region. He was very concerned about a military exercise "Span-2014DI·Zhu Rihe" being held by the six major military regions including Lanzhou. The report found that the innovation of this exercise highlighted the spirit of "real fighting and real preparation".
In "Zero Distance", the story of one side of the exercise suddenly being hit by the other side originated from this military exercise. That is to say, the exercise is completely set according to the real battlefield, and there is no clear starting time for all parties involved in the exercise.
Yang Wensen was shocked when he read this news, and he had the idea to create a TV drama that reflected the transformation of military training. He reported the idea to Colonel Gan Zuoyu, then the cultural director of the Propaganda Department of the Political Department of Lanzhou Military Region, and immediately got support.
In order to find more materials, Yang Wensen found Gao Siyuan, a reporter from the CCTV Military Channel who just returned from the exercise, and obtained more valuable information from his communication, such as inter-secret secrecy and makeup reconnaissance work.
Yang Wensen, who was a treasure, then locked himself in the Kunlun Hotel for 28 days, completed a story outline of more than 100,000 words, and constructed the basic story line and characters of "Zero Victory".
Yang Wensen, who held the outline of the story, once talked to Wu Suo, the deputy minister of the propaganda department at the time, about his creative ideas. He said:
I hope that the contemporary soldiers I write should first tighten the war string from the bottom of their hearts, and save them. Having the idea of keeping a zero distance from local wars in unknown environments, and developing strong military skills, can stop the enemy who is trying to ignite wars on Chinese soil. It was in this report that
blurted out the name of "War Zero Distance" (original name).
When the autumn wind began to blow the leaves in front of the Kunlun Hotel window, Yang Wensen met Director Gan Zuoyu again with the outline of the story, and gained the support of Zhao Weiguo, the former director of the General Political Arts Bureau in charge of film and television. At that time, the three people restrained their inner excitement and excitement, looking forward to the progress of the project.scene.
So, Yang Wensen began to have initial contact with some film and television companies, and things went surprisingly smoothly. After seeing the outline, Zheng Jun, the head of a film and television company in Haining, flew directly to Lanzhou. When he saw Yang Wensen, he said: The project is done, we must move forward.
With the project work, Zhao Weiguo organized a script seminar. An excellent team started with an excellent project as the origin.
Yang Wensen is still unforgettable. After the script seminar, Tian Jun found him with the script and thick notes, and the two had a lot of in-depth exchanges on the project. It can be said that it is precisely from "Zero Distance" as the starting point that the two have had a zero-distance intersection on multiple projects since then.
At this point, everything is ready, except for the director!
After communication, everyone and Yang Wensen reached an agreement to invite an army director. He must not only be familiar with the life of the grassroots army, but also have a macro theoretical framework, so as to accurately grasp and understand the character behavior and plot trend of the show. Hearing this standard, Ma Weigan, the former deputy director of the Bayi Film Studio , said, isn't this director Xu Yongchang?
Xu Yongchang was admitted to the military academy from a soldier and took the path of literature and art, and even served as a cadre in the grass-roots army. When I didn't wait for me, Yang Wensen and Zheng Jun rushed to Nanjing to visit Xu Yongchang, who was shooting the army propaganda film there.
Unfortunately, Xu Yongchang didn't finish work until the early morning that day. In the hotel room, a few sleepy and tired people were sitting on the carpet against the wall and drowsy, but after talking about the project, the more they chatted, the more they hit it off, and it was dawn before they knew it. From that night, Xu Yongchang became the soul of the play.
Yang Wensen said:
comrades-in-arms are like brothers, and those who have been soldiers have a nature, no matter which military region or branch, as long as it is the People's Liberation Army, everyone can seamlessly conduct in-depth discussions without in-depth understanding or communication. Director Xu has more than 30 years of experience in the military. He has both talent and the qualities of a soldier. He is an old squad leader that I will always respect and rely on.
Yang Wensen's feeling is right, his emotional point in this drama, his high song, long howl, meditation and silence, Xu Yongchang who is also a soldier can always understand and understand, he brings the unique tenacity of a soldier He Zhongcheng, with the mysterious tacit understanding with Yang Wensen, spared no effort to start the promotion of "Zero Distance" from the script to the video.
With the addition of another talented young screenwriter Wang Sifeng, the main creative team of "Zero" is formed.
turned on
Although progress was smooth in the early stage, good things still took a while. The project was subsequently stalled for various reasons.
Until July 1, 2018, Yang Wensen, who had been discharged from the army for half a year, suddenly received a notice from the Army of the Western Theater. Entered the group as a person, continued to serve as a producer, and completed the shooting.
"All battles must be called back"!
August 1, 2018 Army Day , "Zero Distance" at Ningxia BronzeThe Xia was officially turned on, and Yang Wensen put on his backpack and joined the battle sequence of the old army again.
coincides with the scorching heat of August in the Gobi, and there are as many mosquitoes as the hair of a cow.
caught up with the hot summer to shoot the winter movie, and the cold winter and the summer movie. The crew suffered a lot. The trouble was the logistical food in the Gobi Desert. The vegetables here lacked moisture, and the Chinese cabbage could not be chewed, and it was even more difficult to swallow.
But these hardships are nothing to Yang Wensen, who was a soldier...
What is more bitter than natural weather conditions is the various difficulties during the shooting process...
The classic Chinese drama " Journey to the West " "It took five years to complete due to financial difficulties, Wu Jing invested in real estate when filming " Wolf " and "Wandering Planet", and "Get Out, Tumor King" had several miscarriages before the launch...
However, in this world, there are both the helplessness and grief of "bad luck and bad fate. Feng Tang is easy to be old, Li Guang is difficult to seal", and there is also the indomitable indulgence of "Xi Bo was restrained and performed "Zhouyi", and Zhong Nie was "Spring and Autumn". with legend.
Yang Wensen, who has both the heroic spirit of a soldier and the sensitive mind of a literati, bears the brunt of the pressure. In just a few months, his temples turned white. One day, inspired by the stagnation in his chest, he blurted out a heroic song. poetry.
But at the moment when the TV series was on the screen, when talking about the specific circumstances of the filming at that time, Yang Wensen said with a frank smile:
"No film crew is easy to shoot."
The past tense just adds another richer and more moving stroke to his life experience.
Character
In traditional Chinese culture, literati are the most important character and integrity, and soldiers are most praised for their loyalty and dedication. The combination of
constitutes the unique temperament of Yang Wensen, who is known as "Bronze Horse in the Literary Circle" . He is very quiet and low-key in his daily actions, but he shows a passionate soul in his works.
He is a Northwestern man with natural talent and tenacity in his genes, coupled with acquired hard work and constantly honed talents, he started writing from a young age, and has successively authored the novels "The Big Bell is Silent" and "Defense Line". The former won the People's Liberation Army Kunlun Literature and Art Award and the People's Armed Police Literature and Art Award, and has entered the ranks of the best-selling military novels in recent years.
He completed a 230,000-word novel "Fifteen Days" with pure Chinese elements in 43 days. This work is not only known as a "Chinese-style aristocratic" verdict, a Chinese epic, but also sought after in the Tianya community, with 100,000 copies issued upon its first print. His reportages "Awakening the Silent Plateau", "The Shield Caster in the Northwest", "Pretty Smile e Space", "Captain Yang and His Soldiers" were serialized in "Liberation Army Daily" and received attention.
His works are full of sympathy and worry about the fate of small people in the context of the big era, and full of hard pursuit and deep reflection on moral values, which are thought-provoking and unbearable.
has been a soldier for 25 years, and has been in the grassroots army for more than ten years, from soldiers to military schools, from platoon leaders, deputy company commanders, company instructors, deputy battalion commanders, to instructors,He also engaged in propaganda work in the Political Work Department of Lanzhou Military Region Command.
The responsibility, responsibility and character of a soldier has long been engraved into his soul, forming the unique appearance of a soldier in his gestures. He always thinks about what the army is and what the responsibilities of a soldier are, and integrates these into his literary and artistic creations.
His works have both the basic life of the army and the high-level decision-making pattern, bringing out the unique temperament of the military. In Yang Wensen's view, the army is a melting pot of training collective consciousness, learning to overcome difficulties, shaping the honor of soldiers and the spirit of sacrifice and dedication, and finally integrating the unique temperament of soldiers and young people in society.
Therefore, the characters in "Zero Zero" will speak and act in a way that soldiers can understand and accept, which is difficult for people who have never been soldiers to understand.
"Zero Distance" is not an idol drama, nor a love drama wrapped in military uniforms. It tells the true story of a soldier's roots being "ready for war".
Yang Wensen upholds the sense of mission as a cultural worker, interprets his expectation of "being able to fight and win battles", and also an artistic interpretation of "being a soldier to fight, train a soldier to fight, and lead a soldier to fight." In his mind, the show was never a "cultural commodity".
Zhao Wentao, chairman of the Western Film Group , once said:
The root of this play ("Zero Distance") is right, and it plays an important role in propaganda for military reform. Soldiers and wars must always maintain zero distance.
But Yang Wensen still has regrets, in his opinion: the confrontation of the events in the play, the contradictions of the characters, and the richness of the characters' personalities are relatively weak, which is the original injury of his creation. With such regrets,
thought about that year, that incident, that person, that Gobi, that green vegetable that he cooked by himself but often forgot to eat... Unconsciously, he let out a long sigh.
Postscript:
It is reported that the military drama "The End of War" (tentative name), written by Yang Wensen and directed by Xu Yongchang, has now started. This work takes the birth to the withdrawal of a mysterious army as the core of the story, telling the story of a group of heroes who made the Chinese nation finally get out of the haze of war and come to the end of the war. Stay tuned.
Reprinted from: Amethyst Chi
Text: Amethyst
