The wind is blowing on the mountainside and the dream is chasing in the forest. Who would have thought that a TV series adapted from prose would become the most popular TV series this spring. Director Teng Congcong herself did not expect that a few years ago, she was a reader of the writer Li Juan, and she read the essay collection "My Altay" as a bedtime reading. She would also open it casually when she was busy or tired at work as a way to relax. . One day I will turn it into a video, and it will be my first TV series, which seems to be an unexpected fate.
html On May 7, the eight-episode mini-series "My Altay" adapted from Li Juan's essay collection of the same name was broadcast during prime time on CCTV. The ratings reached the top. After iQiyi was simultaneously launched, the number of views soon exceeded 10 million. The opening score on Douban was 8.5, which rose to 8.8 after the finale, making it the highest-scoring drama this year."When I sleep in the open air, I always cover my head and upper body with my coat. So when it rains, most of my trouser legs are wet, and I wake up in a daze. After waking up, I get up and walk forward a few steps. Go and lie down somewhere without rain." Teng Congcong still remembers these sentences. Even just looking at them makes people feel free, and the stress and anxiety seem to be gone.
Based on his initial touch, Teng Congcong and his friend Peng Yining adapted the script to convey the most touching spiritual core of the original work: to love, to live, and to find a peaceful place for the soul.
The following is Teng Congcong’s self-report:
We are all brave people
At the end of 2018, I had just finished filming the movie " Send Me to the Blue Clouds ". In addition to maintaining the living expenses of those years, I also saved a little money. I bought the film and television adaptation rights of "My Altay" and I am very grateful to Teacher Li Juan. She is also a person who is indifferent to fame and fortune and has no concerns about copyright fees. I chatted with my old classmate Qi Kang. He had just joined iQiyi at that time. After reading the book, he said, "The book is really good, but there is no way to change it. There is no main narrative line." I also had some thoughts about the movie at that time. There were a lot of things going on. We just chatted and put this matter aside.
I started staying at home at the beginning of 2020, and suddenly found that my state was very similar to that in the book "My Altay". Many of the clothes and shoes I bought before had no chance to be worn, and there was no point in putting on makeup. Even apart from food and vegetables, what else do I have? I don’t care anymore, I just want to know how to go to the supermarket and where to buy rice. Life suddenly becomes simple. When the things you seek externally are no longer useful, people will naturally seek peace and self-satisfaction inwardly. The desire to make "My Altay" has never been stronger. I talked to Qi Kang again. Since the movie can't be made, I wanted to see the possibility of a series, so I wrote a story outline for him. At the end of 2021, iQi Yi gained some experience in developing mini-series, and the project was finalized.
I went to Altay twice to collect stories, both of which were very unforgettable experiences. We need to find new characters and establish a large relationship network with the heroine mother and daughter. In this network, the relationship between the characters must constantly change and develop. Push them to encounter their own problems. Only in this way can the audience feel involved, empathize with the characters, and care about their fate. This is what the drama needs.
encountered some interesting people and things during the collection, and we included them in the script. For example, in Bagua Town, a Kazakh friend in Beijing introduced me to his high school classmate. The young man was a veterinarian and had received a modern education. He shared many of his stories with me. I found that he was not very close to his local Kazakh friends. Same. Kazakh people are very enthusiastic. As long as you know one person, you can get to know a group of people. He can introduce all his classmates, family and friends to you. I went to visit because I wanted to take photos of the horse race. The friend who hosted me thought that we were interested in horses, so he took out the horses at home and asked each of us to ride a horse for a lap. I had to rush to the next location to collect photos. , explained for a long time, and finally declined after a lot of effort.
is a different veterinarian. He is willing to help others and has a special sense of propriety. He is like a bridge between Han culture and Kazakh culture.We used him as the background color to create the character Batai. He became the communication channel between Zhang Fengxia and her daughter and the extended family on the grassland. Of course, when nomadic culture and modern civilization conflict, he will also be the center of the whirlpool.
Later in Fuyun County, I met a driver named Batai. He had a simple personality but had the appearance of a tough guy. He drives so violently that he goes up a road that we thought we couldn't get up to with a whoosh, and a river that we thought we couldn't cross passed with a "whoosh". Driving in his car was scary every day, but he felt very safe at the same time. We gave his appearance and personality to Batai in the play, and finally combined Yu Shi's childishness and riding and shooting skills to create this character.
We made Batai’s riding and shooting skills come from family inheritance, thus bringing out his father, and designed Token to be Batai’s sister-in-law, so that the death of his brother became a reason for Batai to return home. , weave these characters into a relationship network, and these relationships and plots are established. After the characters were created, we used various interesting details in the original book, such as going to the ball, folding Messila's clothes at the ball... back to our story line to add some texture.
As for the cinematic feel that some viewers say, it may be because we basically use film crews and teams. Regardless of the composition, image, sound, and music, I also use the settings of the film to request it.
I like Li Juan's works very much. I think we have some similarities. I think she is a brave person and so am I. Bravery does not mean what we want to do to the world, but that we are willing to face our true selves. I think this is too important for creators.
"What does it mean to be useful, Li Wenxiu?"
There were many difficulties when filming. For example, the difference between the Altay I saw and the Altay described in Li Juan's book was at least 20 years, which was an earth-shaking change. The Kazakh nation was originally a nomadic herder for thousands of miles, shifting between seasons. Now that the government has built a lot of housing, many people no longer go to winter pastures. The conditions in winter pastures are too difficult. Most of them now only move around in spring, summer and autumn. After all, walking and grazing is called nomadic, so as the routes become shorter and shorter and the time they settle down becomes longer and longer, the ancient living habits of the nomadic culture are actually disappearing little by little.
Wherever there are people, there is urbanization. Fuyun County seems to be much richer than our Shandong county, and no less than the southeastern coastal towns. In terms of urban construction and living convenience, it is not much different from the east. There are buses and couriers. The biggest difference may be that we eat fried potatoes. Silk and rice, they eat large plates of chicken and naan. What we photographed was Xinjiang in 2001. Some empty mirrors of Urumqi are very difficult because you have to constantly check which year the building appeared. It is already very difficult to find places that can show the style of Urumqi in 2001.
There is also a scene in a female bathhouse which is also difficult. In fact, I have never seen a real women's bathhouse in movies and TV dramas. When I read the description in Li Juan's book, I thought that when I was a child, we northerners could not take a bath every day. We also had to go to the bathhouse with our families. There are all kinds of people, some are singing, some are rubbing each other's backs, and some are beating children. It is actually a picture of women's life. I like the picture in my memory very much. When doing this scene, I was like this perspective.
I am very disgusted with appearance anxiety. I think it is a particularly useless thing. Fighting aging is simply the most ridiculous futility in the world. So in the bathroom, you can see fat women, women who have given birth, girls like Wen Xiu, women like Zhang Fengxia who are tanned by wind and sun, and women like grandma.
I deliberately brought a rattle from the store and asked my grandma to shake it while taking a bath. It reminded grandma of her past. Grandma is 70 years old. In her long life, she has been a daughter, a wife, and now a mother and grandmother. But when she saw the rattle, she had shed all her external identities and clothes, and she was just herself.
We want to shoot such a group scene in a bathhouse, but 90% of the crew are men. What should we do? I removed almost all the men, and I became the assistant director and executive director myself, but I couldn’t remove the recording and photography, they were all men. Thanks to them for being so respectful to the female actors filming this scene. As soon as I called the call, all the camera lenses immediately snapped to the ground. All the men in the crew immediately turned around and faced the wall. A few girls and I went in to help the actors clean up. After all the actors entered the water (pool) and all the key parts were covered, I returned to the monitor. The photographer turned around and the camera panned. We adjusted the composition before taking the shot.
The bathroom scene was only cut for one minute, but we shot it for a whole day. I almost fell down from exhaustion. It does not promote the narrative in any way, but it is an expression of my view of the world, and it is still important.
The book "My Altay" has continued to give me strength. Whether its outlook on life is reflected in Zhang Fengxia or the entire series, what I want to convey is the kind of freedom, open-mindedness, and not being judged by others. and a life bound by evaluation. We are born as human beings and have the right to freely choose how to spend our lives in this world. Just like Zhang Fengxia said: "What do you mean by being useful, Li Wenxiu? You were born to serve others? Look at the trees and grass on this grassland. Some people eat and use them, so they are useful. If no one uses them, they are useful." It’s good to stay on the grassland like this.”
Reporter: Li Jing
Editor: Yang Shiyang
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