Author / Weilan
The cold of winter always makes people particularly call for the power of warmth. This winter, together with the heating, there is also the love movie "About Winter".
directed by Wang Weiming, the chief planner of Qi Qin, starring Huo Jianhua and Ma Sichun, the film "About Winter" adapted from Rao Xueman's novel was released nationwide today. Derived from the classic song of the same name by Qi Qin, the film tells a 30-year love story between An Ran, a girl from Beijing Normal University and Qi Xiao, a photographer from Taipei.
is a film inspired by classic songs. "About Winter" is not the first one. Compared with other films, how does it compare? What kind of emotion does the creator want to convey to the audience through the film? Behind the emotions, what are the more profound meanings of the movie?
"About Winter" director Wang Weiming
Film Information Office recently interviewed director Wang Weiming, and talked with him about the film's creative story, his own director experience and creative insights.
The meaning beyond the emotion of "love but not allowed"
As early as 2015, after Qi Qin and Rao Xueman met, they had the idea of making a film "About Winter", but there was no breakthrough.
Until 2017, Rao Xueman and Wang Weiming met through friends. At that time, Wang Weiming, who had just stopped another film that was being prepared in Taipei due to funding and actor issues, read the synopsis and found that the male protagonist Qi Xiao of the same age in the film and his own growth experience are very similar. Rao Xueman wanted to tell Wang Weiming was deeply moved by the story of exploring the true meaning of love. So in the face of Rao Xueman's invitation and the test brought by the vast mainland film market, Taiwanese director Wang Weiming readily accepted and devoted himself to the preparation of "About Winter".
Wang Weiming, Rao Xueman, and Liu Ruoying were on the shooting site. Although the
storyline was moving, as the director, Wang Weiming felt that it lacked soul. "The two protagonists in the film, one in their 20s came to Beijing from Taiwan with a dream, and the other from Chengdu to Beijing to study and want to stay. They are constructing this kind of emotional level that spans thirty years. (Story The outline) still lacks rigorous integration." Wang Weiming expressed his thoughts on the original outline in the interview.
Under Wang Weiming's suggestion, Rao Xueman returned to her most familiar novel creation. In a month and a half, she completed the unfolding story that made Wang Weiming enjoyable and finally saw the soul of the story.
Ma Sichun, who has been acquainted with Rao Xueman since "Left Ear", showed keen interest and invested a lot of emotions after seeing the novel "About Winter". After learning about it, Wang Weiming was also very excited, "Although the Golden Horse Movie Queen is a title, it proves her accumulation and explosiveness in her performance in "July and Ansheng"."
talked for 15 minutes after meeting. , Wang Weiming knew that Ma Sichun was the most suitable candidate for the heroine An Ran. Not only is she presenting the same naive state and the same role, but what makes Wang Weiming amazing is her dedicated performance style in performance creation. Without the courtesy and temptation that ordinary actors often meet when they meet, Ma Sichun's embrace and fit of the characters during the discussion convinced the director.
is different from Ma Sichun. When Huo Jianhua first came into contact with the character, he had a strong anxiety. The anxiety came from the setting of the character's seemingly scumbag. When
talks about this, the director also expressed his understanding of this role: “For Qi Xiao, how to choose when facing the difficulties of life and the entanglement of love is a very difficult decision. Both are human nature. Qi Xiaobu Exaggerated, very tolerant, and don’t know how to complain about his burdens, but he has step by step to bear the responsibilities that he needs to bear in a culture. These responsibilities prevent him from loving her directly and desperately like Xiao An. Many people are unwilling to look at the difficulties of life and family, and are unwilling to balance the difficulties of love caused by the distance between Taiwan and Beijing in the 1990s. They feel that he loves and cannot afford to be a scumbag. But in fact this is what it is. In our real life, love is easy to be defeated by the trivial troubles and entanglements of life." After
has a deeper understanding of the role, Huo Jianhua, who is relieved of worry, also offered a surprise interpretation of Wang Weiming, and he also gave the director Frankly speaking, fortunately, I did not miss this role.
recalled the biggest difficulty encountered in the filming process, Wang Weiming believed that it was the restoration of the scenes and urban style of the 1990s.
as the main storyIt happened in Beijing, and the appearance of the city changed too much. The filming time of the crew was again in February and March, which coincided with the Spring Festival in the imperial capital, and the filming encountered many restrictions. For example, Gongti was about to close the museum at that time, and then through the help of acquaintances to open special cases, it was able to smoothly enter the museum for shooting. So in fact, a large part of the scenes in the film, such as schools and newspapers, were shot in Tianjin. The appearance of cities such as Hutong and Siheyuan is located in the North Putuo Film and Television Base and has undergone complete transformation by the crew.
In addition to the difficulties, the director also shared some details created by the team carefully, buried in the film waiting for the audience to discover. For example, the letter from Grandpa Qi Yitian, the news and logo design of "Beijing Daily", Yu Feng's resume for An Ran, the logo design of Qi Xiao's Jinsheng Photo Studio, etc. The source of inspiration for the
movie, Qi Qin, the original singer of "About Winter", also participated in the film's artistic direction and supervision as the chief planner, and guest-starred in the film, recreating the 1991 Gongti singing scene . Because of the adaptation of the appearance, the young brother 30 years ago was restored through the later 3D 1:1 construction.
1991 Qi Qin Beijing Hurricane Concert
chief planner Qi Qin, screenwriter Rao Xueman, starring Huo Jianhua, Ma Sichun, Wei Daxun, Wen Qi, photography director Li Pingbin, editing director Kuang Zhiliang, soundtrack Zhong Xingmin, recording director Li Danfeng... The joining of many celebrities and friends in front and behind the scenes, and the dedication of the creative team, made Wang Weiming very lucky and made him look forward to the market performance of the film.
In addition to hoping that the audience really understands and likes the core of this love story-"Although we can’t love it, that true love allows us to regain the touch and power to love others", Wang Weiming also hopes that the audience can see the changing times. How each character faces their true self and their growth. For example, during the seven years of rapid development in Beijing, Xiao An realized her dream and grew into a host who made Beijing call her name. For example, Qi Xiao returned to her father’s hometown with homesickness. On the way to start a business and realize her dream, her family His burden brought him unbearable.
"Many of the bits and pieces outside of love stories, I hope it can also give the audience a richer and deeper experience. Of course I hope to be successful at the box office. For me, our entire team has spent so much effort. Making this film is especially worthwhile."
"Art or business, you don't need to set limits for yourself"
Wang Weiming's film journey began with the ten years of directing Yang Dechang.
went from an unknown assistant to director Yang Dechang in 1990, to assistant director, deputy director, and then participated in script planning in "Yi Yi". Following the ten years of director Yang Dechang, Wang Weiming saw a director’s awe in the art of film. Because of his awe, he can enjoy the best of every detail in the context of limited resources. .
"I think it is a movie feeling, this feeling has led me to keep moving forward, I now understand that the power is confidence and optimism-very confident and optimistic to create some drama for the movie, like feelings and touches of life This is also the biggest influence that Director Yang has brought to me.” Recalling the director Wang Weiming back then, he was confident and optimistic.
Wang Weiming played the role of card five
in the "Guling Street Juvenile Murder Incident". However, after leaving director Yang Dechang, Wang Weiming's film road was not smooth. Not only did the short film I made to participate in the international film festival did not receive any response, but also borrowed money to make independent productions in Taiwan and there was no box office response. "I owe money and don't have confidence", he decided to leave the movie circle after ten years of wasted time.
In the next ten years, Wang Weiming, who switched to a career as an advertising director, did not change the film's thinking mode during his creation. Most of the advertising works he shot are telling stories one after another. From creation to execution, he continued to draw materials and polish from life, and then recall the past ten years, but all became the foreshadowing and accumulation of later film shooting.
, with his unquenched love for the film, the agitation of being guided by Yang's feelings, and perhaps a trace of unwillingness, Wang Weiming, who has left the film circle for ten years, decided to return with the director's debut "Summer That Cannot Be Said".
Stills of "The Summer That Cannot Be Said"
After the reality film "The Summer That Cannot Be Said", Wang Weiming chose the romance film "About Winter" as his second feature film. In his opinion, the creative process of the two is Similar, but with different goals. Realistic movies use events as story structures, And the goal is to refine ideas in the structure, to collide, communicate, and even discuss ideas with all audiences. The goal of romance films is to make the audience feel the same in their lives while being moved by the love story.
"This time I participated in a commercial project like "About Winter", I remind myself not to discuss any ideas or issues too pretentiously, and to vote these subjectively to the audience. Let everyone get sublimated in the enjoyment of watching movies, this The difference in purpose made me learn a lot." Wang Weiming had no doubts about himself when
transformed from a literary film into a commercial film. Until a chat between the crew and the director of photography Li Pingbin, Li Pingbin commented on him, "I see You are just like what you are doing now. You don’t need to limit yourself to art or business. You just need to be brave to find themes that move you." This made Wang Weiming realize that he has a real heart for themes that can move his heart. , He doesn’t care too much about literary or commercial films. "As a director who wants to continue to create in the future, I hope I can find a path of self-confidence." Wang Weiming plans for his film directorship in this way.
The rapid development of the Chinese film market in recent years has allowed the development of genres with real content more and more abundantly. Wang Weiming is also very optimistic about this. But while optimistic, he also hopes that the industry will pay more attention to the cultivation of professional, standardized, and industrialized talents, which in turn will support the film industry. The two are bound to complement each other.
He has always believed, "It is even better, and the younger generation, Mesozoic, and even directors who have established a good reputation (influence) will have another wave of growth. The momentum of the market itself will Bringing higher growth in creation and production technology." The development of the
market not only brings more excellent films, but also allows more and more excellent Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers to develop in the Mainland. As a Taiwanese director who came to the mainland to film, Wang Weiming was never afraid of regional differences, because his performance studies in college taught him that communication in performance has always been from the heart to the role. More importantly, the growing environment of many relatives in the mainland made him feel natural and kind to filming in the mainland. And how to make inspiring works in such a diversified market environment is what he really values. After
"About Winter", Wang Weiming also has two real-themed works in progress. When it comes to genre films that he wants to try in the future, he also hopes to challenge human science fiction films like Gravity, which he likes, to explore the human nature and emotions in the Chinese world in a new environment.
studied under the film masters, and his creative creations full of sentiments encountered the neglect of the market. After disappointment, he turned to be an advertising director, and returned because of his unforgettable feelings and love for movies. Like the movie's protagonist Qi Xiao, in the director Wang Weiming, we also see the epitome of the changes of the times and the development of the industry.
Whether it is realistic themes or romantic love, literary or commercial films, creating inspirational works that are as touching as "About Winter" is Wang Weiming's long-term pursuit of film creation. And his film road in the next ten years, I believe he will be confident and optimistic, just like the sentiment brought to him by director Yang Dechang, whom he respected.
