is produced by Yin Hong and directed by Sun Hong. The currently being screened movie "Fireworks World" is a special movie: first of all, its format is very special. It is the first vertical screen cinema movie in China - watch vertical screen on the big screen. The short video image of the model; and the number of "directors" of this film is particularly large, as high as 509. They include Brother Yang who grows rice, the lady who drives the crane, Xiao Wei who moves bricks, Da Chengzi who drives the boat, etc. These people are neither celebrities nor "Internet celebrities", but just the most ordinary life recorders; in addition, the story of the film is very special. It does not tell a person or present the story from beginning to end like a genre film, but it is about planting rice, planting rice, Fishing, food delivery, handicrafts and other ordinary life moments are presented with warmth...
China's first vertical screen cinema movie "Fireworks World" was released in China on January 13.
It is precisely because of these special features that "Fireworks" is known as the "most down-to-earth" documentary film. It conforms to the trend of short videos having an increasingly wider scope. In an era where everyone can record and post short videos In the era of fragmentation, it is still possible to explore the compatibility of the movie screen and fragmented expression, which not only allows ordinary people to board the screen, but also can conform to the current trend and promote the meaning of image production that is co-created and empathized by the whole people. According to director Sun Hong, the idea of making this movie came about at the end of 2018. At the beginning of the creation, the creative team discovered that short videos were rapidly changing people’s lives and were in a high-frequency popular period. They not only changed people’s entertainment It has also changed everyone’s consumption and production methods. From another perspective, it has changed the production model of documentaries.
[Dialogue]
I was very nervous at first, but I was very happy to make it.
It is a brand new attempt to edit millions of short videos into a feature film for theaters. Sun Hong and his team know very well that the audience may be on the big screen in the cinema. It takes a process of adaptation, and they were very nervous when they first decided to make this movie. Sun Hong told the Beijing News reporter: "There was almost no reference during production. How to combine these fragments with their own expressions into a complete film was very painful for us, but we felt very happy as we continued to understand the production process, because We know that what we do is meaningful. These rich audio-visual languages can make people feel the diligence and persistence in life and the true expression of individual emotions. Life is never just about vigorous and vigorous work, and more valuable things come from countless unknown efforts. In an instant, they deserve to be looked up to."
The materials are too complicated. How to choose?
Connecting the movie content with basic necessities, food, housing and transportation
Beijing News: It took six years to polish the movie, and we were faced with countless short video materials, but the movie is only 80 minutes long. How to select such a huge amount of material?
Sun Hong: we have a dedicated team responsible for material collection. Although the amount of short videos is large, the production is similar to traditional documentaries. For example, traditional documentaries observe life or several characters, shoot and extract some content from their experiences. The short video itself is also a diverse and realistic mirror, so this time it is equivalent to us collecting stories in a cloud field. We don’t need to visit on the spot. We can just sit in the quilt and watch the short video, whether we are eating or sleeping, and then share it internally every day. What impresses you, and you gradually understand the ecology and characteristics of short videos better.
Beijing News: Faced with a dazzling amount of materials, how do you form a story line and set up the structure of the current feature film?
Sun Hong: In , we originally imagined that we would use individual people’s lives to connect videos, including childhood, youth, middle age, old age and other stages. However, the reality of short videos is too rich, and they have certain characteristics and shooting. Logic, for example, parents like to take pictures of their children, but as they get older and older, the photographer's willingness and motivation are not as strong. The material in the later stages is quite scarce and it is difficult to sustain it. After reading a lot of materials, we found that many short videos tell you how a piece of clothing, a house, a grain of rice, etc. came to be, so we wanted to connect the movie content with food, clothing, housing and transportation.
"Fireworks in the World" presents "how a grain of rice comes" through different short video clips.
Beijing News: The use of vertical screen viewing mode on the big screen is undoubtedly an innovation in perception. There are several split-screen switches and a separate vertical screen expression. What is the purpose of these different presentation methods?
Sun Hong: The horizontal screen of displays a vertical screen, which does cause conflicts in viewing. If the whole process is presented in a vertical screen on the big screen, it will also cause a huge lack of information. We hope to make up for the lack of information in short videos. I drew on some experiences from art exhibitions and tried to use multiple split screens to present images. But we will also make some choices. We only use one vertical screen to express important content, because this is more conducive to conveying true emotions and will not disturb the audience's attention. When advancing the narrative or process, we will use multiple split screens to present it together. . In the process of collecting a large amount of materials, we will find that people in different time and space will do similar things at the same time, and many pictures are very complete. This is also a magical place.
Beijing News: This is a new attempt. There are no ready-made works to refer to. What kind of pressure did you face when creating? What was the biggest difficulty in the production process?
Sun Hong: There will definitely be challenges in narrative. Whether these materials can be combined into a movie that can be watched for a long time, this unknown scares us. Later, we came up with a way to turn each short video into a ten-minute segment, such as the session with the construction workers, the construction guy, and the tower girl. They are all magical characters. They recorded the construction of tall buildings from the ground. The process is particularly interesting and touching, and it reveals common features bit by bit. Of course, there are difficult technical problems that need to be overcome in this process. For example, these videos are shot by the author without any problems, but many times they have their own background music. This is part of the original material and is very difficult to remove, resulting in extremely inconsistent sound in the video. , some music also masks the author's voice, so all these background sounds need to be removed and then adjusted. The workload and repair difficulty are very large.
Why did you create this video?
It makes the relationship between people warmer and more intimate
Beijing News: There are 509 creators involved in the film. Have you met these authors?
Sun Hong: During the production process of , there was an authorized team that communicated copyrights one by one. As a creative team, we had several opportunities to meet these protagonists. We were particularly excited because we are also their fans and have learned a lot about them through their works. When it comes to their lives, after all, when creating, you have to start from their first work and go to the last one. It seems that you are already familiar with them. In the end, they don’t know us. This is really a strange gap (laughing) .
Beijing News: There are many impressive scenes in the film. For example, during the Chinese New Year dinner, the elders in the family use stainless steel basins to collect the mobile phones "hand in" by all the young people. These real shots are actually very precious, right?
Sun Hong: Yes, these creators are really admirable. They are very professional, good at shooting, and good at capturing details that are easily overlooked in life. It can be said that their shooting skills are no worse than professional directors (laughs). The materials of these records come from life, and authenticity and delicacy are their greatest advantages. For example, when a girl goes home for the Chinese New Year and puts her mobile phone there, the elderly person in her family realizes that it is herself in the camera and sighs; another example is that every time you leave home, your parents insist on filling the trunk full, it seems that There’s a “don’t leave until it’s full” mentality. Everyone will have such an experience, which also embodies love and sustenance. These true feelings may not even be captured by professional documentary photographers.
Beijing News: In today’s short video era, it seems that everyone can become a “director.” What insights do these images created by ordinary people bring to us?
Sun Hong: is in the era of short videos. These videos have strong recording attributes, and some of them are even better and more vivid than those deliberately shot.They capture the first-hand information on the spot, which will also make filmmakers reflect. The production methods of documentaries will definitely change a lot. They have characteristics and attractions that traditional documentaries do not have. Fundamentally speaking, this is something that everyone recorded proactively and voluntarily, and it has irreplaceable value to the times. You pass by different people every day. What kind of lives do they live? What kind of work are you doing? In fact, for Chinese people, the most important plot in life is struggle. Working hard for your hometown and family, although ordinary, is worth seeing.
"Fireworks in the World" tells the life stories of ordinary people.
Beijing News: So letting ordinary people be seen is the biggest motivation for making this co-creation documentary?
Sun Hong: Yes, for example, for the construction workers in the movie, you will find that the sea of clouds over the city captured on their mobile phones is so beautiful that it will shock you. We may have never seen the world from their perspective, but they The most important thing around us is that everyone's work and life are actually connected, and the fruits of their labor are our food, clothing, housing and transportation. Behind everything in life there are the contributions of people from all walks of life. We hope that "Fireworks in the World" will give ordinary people the opportunity to be looked up to, care about different groups, and make the relationship between people warmer and closer.
Why do we go to the theater to watch short videos?
The fragmented expression form is also compatible with the big screen.
Beijing News: A large number of short video materials and characters are presented in this movie. Are you worried that the audience's attention will not be able to concentrate? How do you think about the audience's response to this form? Adaptation process?
Sun Hong: Indeed, the short video mode determines that this movie is unlikely to have a traditional drama structure. The traditional dramatic structure is that there are one or two characters in the film that you can empathize with, and the audience will be automatically drawn into it based on their stories. But "Fireworks World" does not specify a specific character, so you may not be able to remember particularly specific people or things. But you can feel a group of people. These images record their lives, and you can feel the optimism, open-mindedness and tenacity of ordinary people. This is what we pay special attention to when choosing materials. Of course, the fragmented, panoramic, and vertical screen senses will bring greater viewing challenges to the audience. This film needs to find a trial process for the audience. After all, screen expression requires continuous exploration. Although we are not perfect in some areas, we are very sincere and it is enough to be able to show you the "smoke of fireworks" of these ordinary people.
Beijing News: After learning about the presentation format of this movie, some comments were very pleasantly surprised, but also had the most intuitive question, which is why do we go to the cinema to watch such short videos? What do you think of this?
Sun Hong: We very much understand everyone’s questions and concerns, but we also believe that when viewing short videos, you are likely to enter an information cocoon and only see what you care about, which is quite limiting; But movies can allow you to see a different world, and it is an important place for communication. Moreover, ordinary people are worthy of being put on the big screen and seen by more people. Ordinary people also have a great side. In addition, short videos are an instant experience and will give you a short emotional experience, but it is difficult to bring you real emotions or leave you with deep memories; movies can bring many touching moments to you. Combined together, as an image, it becomes a historical memory and image preservation. This function cannot be replaced.
"Fireworks World" focuses on the daily lives of ordinary people, which is actually very meaningful. The era also needs such images.
Beijing News: So this time the short video is presented on the big screen, is it actually exploring the integration of these two forms?
Sun Hong: can be said to be so.In the era of fragmentation, short videos and the big screen can actually be integrated. They are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic, because now we are in an era of diversity and inclusiveness, and movies and short videos have different functions and missions. , but what is more obvious is the complementarity between them.
Beijing News: As you said, the material library of short videos is huge, and some precious images are not fully displayed. Will you still insist on creating this new form?
Sun Hong: From the perspective of creators, we will regularly salvage these documentary images in the "short video ocean" and compile and create them. For example, let the image data form a chronology. This is very precious and lasts a period of time. This is a historical image record left by the people of our country. We may face very real problems, whether this film will be seen by the audience, and we are very much looking forward to everyone's feedback. If the response is good, it will definitely inspire more people to invest in making the next film like this. Documentaries will always be It has real power and pays attention to the daily lives of ordinary people. It is actually very meaningful. The times also need such images.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan
editor Huang Jialing
proofreader Liu Yue
