Reporter | Duan Zhifei, Dong Zhao, L
Title picture | "Adapted Script"
Director Liang Ming:
Literary adaptation cannot follow the trend,
take shortcuts and play tricks
Whether it is visualizing the novel or literaryizing the movie, they They all support each other and help each other.
Novels and movies, movies and novels are actually the same - I don’t know since when, every time I talk about movies with novelists, or literature with movie directors, I end up with such a conclusion.
This conclusion always reminds me unconsciously of "The Novelist's Movie" directed by Hong Sang-soo, which is a story about "a novelist encountering a film director by chance".
There seems to be a wonderful attraction between them. Whether they are visualizing novels or turning movies into literature, they all support and complete each other.
(Picture/Stills from "The Three-Body Problem")
The topic of adapting literature into film and television is actually not new, but if we discuss it in 2023, we can see some trends, such as: Liu Cixin's science fiction novel " "The Three-Body Problem" was adapted into a drama of the same name; the popular film and television drama "Kurst" was also adapted from the novel of the same name; film and television dramas such as "Moses on the Plains" and "The Long Season" triggered a boom in literary adaptations of the "Northeast Renaissance" . Even the 7th Pingyao International Film Festival also featured many novelists and topics, such as the venture capital of "Migration Plan·From Literature to Film and Television", as well as Yu Hua's "The Mistake by the River", Ban Yu's " "Escape", etc.
(Picture/Still from the movie "Moses on the Plain")
For a long time, in the eyes of most people, the reason why film and television works "ask for help" from literature is because the film industry lacks good stories. Looking back at novels, it seems It is a good choice, as it has an intriguing plot and a strong literary quality. This kind of inertial thinking has led to many "use-ism" adaptations.
In October this year, the film "Xiaoyao·You" directed by Liang Ming was adapted from Ban Yu's short story of the same name and was shortlisted for the "Hidden Dragon" section of the 7th Pingyao International Film Festival. Another film he adapted from Ban Yu's work A script "Gun Tomb" was also shortlisted for venture capital at this year's Pingyao International Film Festival.
As a member of the "New Weekly" 2023 Video List Recommendation Committee, Liang Ming talked with us about his views on adapting literature into film and television.
From literature to movies, huge choices need to be made
"All excellent adaptations are original. The difficulty of literary adaptation is 'how to get out of literature' - after being nourished by literature, film creators can Whether to abandon the original work in a timely manner."
Liang Ming said in an interview with reporters that literary adaptation does not mean copying. There is a very important link between the original literary work and the film image, and that is the film script.
(Picture/Still from the movie "Happy Journey")
In Liang Ming's view, many cultural discussions often go beyond movie scripts to talk about literature and movies, as if movies adapted from literature are all based on the original novels.
In fact, from the original literary work to the movie script, it already involves a huge workload and makes huge choices. And from the movie script to film shooting, and even to film editing, it has always been a process of constant choices.
Before "Xiaoyao·you" came to the screen, Liang Ming read the novel by chance and was moved by the realism of the characters in the novel, which gave rise to a strong impulse to "shoot". Later, he chatted with Ban Yu about many details of the adaptation of the novel, during which he also went through countless attempts.
From the perspective of the film's script, there is no clear main story line in the original story of "Xiaoyao·you". "Ban Yu's attention to people is very accurate, and he deeply explores people's desires for survival." This is the reason why Liang Ming was deeply hit by Ban Yu's novel. During the adaptation process of
, Liang Ming also tried to build the main line and enhance the drama. However, he found that no matter how he added plots, it would eventually destroy the original literary temperament, and the softest parts of the characters would be destroyed. Destroyed.
So he decided to retain the core atmosphere of the original work that could wrap him up no matter what. "I feel like I'm inside, I'm with them." Liang Ming said.
(Picture/stills from the movie "Xiaoyao·You")
Finally, in the movie "Xiaoyao·You", we can feel that Liang Ming has successfully adapted the original work. In fact, this is because he used many real-life stories The details of life are used to create exquisite audio and video to present the psychology of Xu Lingling, the first-person character in the original work.
The tofu that I wanted to keep, the mysterious medicine bottle in my father’s bag, the headphones with an unknown sender, the hearse that was not my first ride, etc. The real drama is densely packed in the details of life, so similar. The way life itself is, everything is undercurrent.
Movies are also adaptations of real life
According to Liang Ming's standards, there are many kinds of successful adaptations, and adaptations that can retain the core spirit of the original work can also be considered a success, such as the adaptation of "Lust, Caution" directed by Ang Lee From Eileen Chang's "Lust, Caution", "Brokeback Mountain" is adapted from Anne Prue's "Brokeback Mountain".
"The creativity and imagination of novelists are different from those of filmmakers. It is a good thing to be nourished by literature." Liang Ming said.
Of course, we also have to identify what is good "literature". Based on these premises, to carry out film and television literary adaptation and complete "original" is actually a test of the filmmaker's ability, which is not a simple matter, especially when the soil of contemporary culture becomes deeper.
(Picture/"Lust, Caution")
"Looking at the creations in the film and television industry in 2023, most of them spanned time, telling about our parents and us, the 20th century and the new century. The rise of adaptations of this type of theme, in addition to Burning a tiny fire of 'nostalgia' is also a kind of memory that goes from collectivism to individualism and back to the collective again."
In Liang Ming's view, in recent years we have experienced many changes in reality, and people's feelings , viewing angles and expectations have also changed. These are all derived from our desires. Movies are actually adaptations of real life.
In Liang Ming's eyes, whether it is a novel or a film or television, a good work may need to present people's emotions, situations, and life conditions. And good literary works adapted into film and television works can avoid following trends and not following trends. Taking shortcuts and not being clever is actually the most sincere expression.
Writer and director Hong Ying:
The abyss-like charm of the movie is so exciting
When Hong Ying attended the 2023 Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival as a director, she was asked a very familiar question in recent years - Why did you switch from writer to film director?
In 2015, Hongying met the director who bought the film adaptation rights of her novel "Roma" at a workplace. When she asked him if he had found a suitable Italian director, she got a rhetorical question: "You will direct it. You can definitely do it. You know China and have lived in Italy for ten years. I will invest part of it here and you can find the other funds. Do you dare?"
Although he is well aware of the huge challenge of becoming a director, since there is someone who believes in himself, And she is also willing to try new things and "never play by the rules", so Hongying decided to give it a try. She also wanted to see what it would be like to make her own novel: "Is it different from them? Is my whole thought running through it?"
Use her own royalties to make a movie
From that day on From then on, Hongying began to absorb a lot of knowledge about film shooting. Through reading books, visiting the crew, and observing on-site filming, she clarified the director's workflow and practical details.
Just when she felt she was ready and put it into practice, the realistic and cruel film industry taught her a heavy lesson, and the filming plan was shelved. She returned to her familiar writing field and regained her lightness and freedom.
At the beginning of 2019, Hongying visited the Chongqing studio of the movie "The Sky of the Wind Dog". After learning that her filming in Italy was not going well, she said: "Your first movie should be shot in Chongqing. Here you have everything." If you are familiar with it, just make a Chongqing movie, you can do it.”
Hongying’s dream of directing was rekindled by a friend’s words. She returned home, picked out a short story about Chongqing, and started writing the script immediately. After the script was completed, she was supposed to move forward with filming. Unexpectedly, the new crown epidemic broke out and she had to return to the UK due to visa issues.
The quarantine life in the UK reminded Hongying of her hometown of Chongqing countless times, prompting her to expand the shelved script into a novel, which resulted in "Moonlight Samurai" published in 2021. Based on this, she reconstructed the script of the movie of the same name and returned from the UK to prepare for filming.
Hongying reconstructed the script of the movie of the same name, and returned from the UK to prepare for the filming of the movie "Moonlight Samurai". (Photo/"Moonlight Samurai")
Funding is the first and biggest problem Hongying encounters. As a writer and screenwriter, she is already quite valuable, but her resume as a director is blank. Therefore, many producers and investors think, "You are a good writer, but not necessarily a good director. We think it is very risky, so for the time being Can’t vote”.
In the end, Hongying used the royalties she had accumulated as her main investment. She wanted to prove that she could be a film director, and at the same time, she also "showed off" to investors who had concerns.
Next, Hongying began to "form a team." Because she understood the limitations of such a new director's work, she considered "right or not" more when choosing the role. With the help of her friends, she "killed" the actor Zuo Hang who plays the young Dou Xiaoming, and then combined everyone's recommendations and nationwide auditions to finalize other actors, including Feng Jiamei, Cai Heng, Bai En, Lu Xingchen and other young actors. She chose the most professional
production team, while also considering price and schedule issues. In the end, recording director Zhang Jinyan, editing director Xiao Ruguan, sound designer and editor Mo Huijia and many other senior behind-the-scenes staff joined in.
In order to prepare for this cooperation, Hongying herself has also made a lot of additional preparations, the two most important of which are undergoing laser surgery for myopia and training herself to fall asleep quickly. During the filming period, they will help her save a lot of time and energy, thereby increasing work efficiency.
(Picture/"Moonlight Samurai")
At the end of October 2021, "Moonlight Samurai" will be launched in Chongqing. Hongying must not only be a good director, but also take into account art, costumes, props, finance, scenery production, scene management, etc. A multifaceted job. During the filming process, some actors' attitude towards her changed from being slightly skeptical at the beginning to being completely convinced, and colleagues in other departments were also infected by her creative passion.
"In this way, you will become a very comprehensive director instead of asking the people around you to do it." Hongying said, "And we are a small-cost film, so I have to do everything myself."
At that moment Come alive
In order to maintain physical strength, Hongying insists on doing a set of running in place every night before going to bed. However, even so, the energy of being a director is still scattered by multiple tasks, but she must persist.
What supports Hongying along the way is her movie dream and the real people behind this non-physical concept.
The situation of each crew is different. Experience tells Hongying that it is the most efficient to work with people who have a tacit understanding with them - not only in terms of time, but also in terms of cost. Therefore, she got to know everyone in her group well enough to complete the shooting in a harmonious and enthusiastic atmosphere.
After the Spring Festival in 2022, the film will enter post-production. Not long after, due to the constraints of various factors, Hongying and her colleagues tried every means to advance the work, even going out in a Lalamovan van, and finally completed the post-production in the autumn.
Most directors don't have to do this, let alone those well-known directors. In fact, as a writer, Hongying wouldn't have to worry so much. For example, at a new book promotion event, the publishing house would help her arrange everything, and she would just have to attend.But she doesn't have a psychological gap, because it's a good director to do this, and she can exercise her abilities in other aspects.
(Picture/"Moonlight Samurai")
In mid-November 2023, "Moonlight Samurai" received a public release license. It was officially announced that the premiere would be held in Chongqing on December 9 and released nationwide on December 15. When she decided to let her company lead the announcement, Hongying heard some doubts. She didn't care much about it because she would be well prepared no matter what she did.
Hongying studied for Xuanfa for a whole year. At first, she worked alone and was responsible for various related work. Before the release was finalized, she invited some like-minded friends and hired full-time publicity personnel to move forward according to a professional model. Hongying like
makes people feel that she always has endless energy and endless things to do. If you ask her where her confidence comes from, she will tell you that every department, organization, and organization that supports and helps her Companies and friends are the source of her confidence. Of course, she also has the strong support of her family - her husband is one of the chief planners of "Moonlight Samurai", and her daughter helped her draw the paintings that appear in the film.
Previously, Hongying was invited to attend the "Hollywood Next Generation Independent Film Awards" award ceremony, and "Moonlight Samurai" was nominated for the Best Screenplay Award. When her name "flyed" from the stage, Hongying's nervousness was finally interrupted: "I felt as if I woke up at that moment and came back to life. It just lifted me out of the abyss."
This achievement seems to echo what she told reporters last year: "How to solve difficulties amidst difficulties, how to stick to one's position during compromises, and how to be more artistic when making breakthroughs is a kind of challenge for every film. Test. It depends on your tenacity and your determination to persevere, just like the indestructible golden color of a rainbow."
's various experiences in filming "Moonlight Samurai" did not shake Hongying's belief in continuing to be a director. She feels that movies have a unique charm, "It's like an abyss, attracting you to jump down, so so many people can't stop and jump in even though they know it's an abyss."
writer Han Songluo:
film critics are also part of the movie. The first article published by
writer Han Songluo was a film and television review. It was 1995. After watching "Red Roses and White Roses" directed by Kwan Kam Peng, he was inspired. Han Songluo started writing film reviews on a large scale around 2004. At that time, online forums were in the ascendant. He often visits "Peking University New Youth" and "Xici Hutong", the film and television section of which gathers a large number of people who love movies.
(Picture/"Red Rose and White Rose")
In forums such as "Movie Night Cruise" and "Love You Like Bonnie", Han Songluo can see many excellent film review posts. "Everyone was not deeply involved in the film industry at that time, and there were no rules and regulations. When evaluating movies, they paid more attention to the literary nature of the image, and they preferred to explore people's fate, relationships between characters, and how to shape them."
has an article analyzing the visual style of Hu Jinquan's films. Han Songluo was deeply impressed by the movie reviews. That was a translation, and the translator was "magasa" and "murder TV". If translated literally, the title of the article would be "less is better than more", but in the forum, what people saw was Another word - "deficiency is better than abundance".
's emphasis on literary expression is evident from this example. Han Songluo said: "Many people regard movies as a starting mechanism or a driving force for expression, but at that time, when we wrote film reviews, we not only treated it as a functional literary style, it was the same as writing poetry and prose. , it’s all literature.”
In Han Songluo’s eyes, excellent film reviews should have structural characteristics. Those powerful film critics often use movies to build a structure for understanding and discussion during the process of watching movies. Han Songluo said: "Film reviews should not just be attached to and target the text of a certain movie. It should not repeat the plot in different ways. Film reviews need to be creative."
Han Songluo has been writing for many years towards this goal. Film and TV review column. In 2010, these articles were collected and published in the book "Watching Movies for Revenge".He rarely defines those articles as film reviews. He prefers to call them film essays, because in his heart, "it is more important to let movies and real life reflect each other."
"Watching Movies for Revenge"
Han Songluo
Baihuazhou Literature and Art Publishing House
The idea originated from a conversation. He was chatting with a friend and talked about the Korean movie "August Photo Studio".
The other party brought up a novel angle: "After the heroine starts dating the hero, the clothes she wears every time she appears are more beautiful and more appropriate than the last time. Human growth is hidden in subtle changes." After listening, Han Songluo felt that this touched him more than previous film reviews.
While creators tend to write technical film reviews, Han Songluo instead goes back to life to find the connection between movies and life. He wrote "A Tree Full of White Flowers" and found all the trees with white flowers in the movies he had watched.
Although looking back many years later, he felt that his ideas at the time were a little immature, this way of commenting was something he would continue to do in the future.
Han Songluo also made some adjustments. For example, in the era of self-media, when he writes public account articles, he will fine-tune the form and make each paragraph shorter to make the reading rhythm more in line with people's current habits. But these changes are all external, and the real core part has never been shaken.
He said: "What I always want to explore is how the director and screenwriter created this character, what the relationship between people is like, and how it is related to our reality. In the final analysis, my final The starting point is to analyze people."
In Han Songluo's view, to a certain extent, film critics have become part of the movie: "Movie scripts rely on the actors' bodies to complete the interpretation. From a creative perspective, I He is also an actor, but I am using my film reviews to act it out again."
February 28, 2022, Zhengzhou. A "nostalgic TV tree" appeared on the streets of the business district, and the classic movies and TV series being played attracted many citizens to stop. (Photo/IC)
But in recent years, Han Songluo’s “acting” times have gradually become less and less. A very important reason is time. In order to write a good movie review, he often has to watch many movies. "You may need to watch 20 movies to find a good movie. This process is quite time-consuming." During the period when
was most intensively writing movie reviews, he had to go to the cinema to watch three or four movies a week. Plus, he was looking for information, so he really didn't have enough energy.
In addition, because he has participated in the production of movies, Han Songluo knows very well the worries and anxieties of creators in every link. When he sees those things that he wants to complain about, he will not be able to do it. On the contrary, I understand their situation better.
Now, some of his film critic friends have also entered the film industry. When they had dinner together, everyone joked with each other and said: "Can you write a film review for your own movie the same way you used to write film reviews?"
However, Han Songluo did not leave literature, but placed his past accumulation in In the "container" of the novel. There is an article in his novel collection "Spring Mountain Night Walk" called "Five Eccentric Lecture Group". When writing, he used the method of creating a TV series summary. He felt that "there should be no problem if it is changed into a short drama."
Han Songluo has never been shy about the transformation between texts. He will be happy when someone says that his novels are suitable for film adaptation. Regarding the relationship between literature and film and television, he does not want to favor one over the other. In his latest novella "Fish Tank and Sunlight" published in "Harvest" magazine, his description of the scene draws on the processing of movie scenes. At the beginning of
's novel, Han Songluo wrote about how David Lynch should start a story. Then, Han Songluo narrated in the same way, and the small town, buildings, balconies, windows, and the man holding the letter and reading gradually appeared. At the end of the novel, the scenery between people, the earth, and the universe slowly becomes distant, and all of them leave the scene one by one.
Whether it is a film review or a novel, Han Songluo is always exploring multiple ways of expression. He believes that all kinds of creations can learn from and penetrate each other.Maybe they will change in the process of development, but what is always stable is that literature is always there, just like this novel he wrote recently. Everyone can choose for themselves whether to move closer or farther away.
For more exciting content
Please pay attention to the 648th issue of the new weekly
2023 China Video List Special Issue
Operation: Lu Zirui
Typesetting: Yang Fang
