Li Miao, art director.
The first crew to enter the march is Zhang Yimou 's " House of Flying Daggers ", with the teacher Huo Tingxiao , who is one of the most powerful art directors in China.
has participated in many projects since then, such as "The Left Ear", " The Dedication of Suspect X ", " Detective Chinatown ", " Manslaughter ", " Assassination of the Novelist ", and two films of Wen Muye , " I am not a medicine god ", "Miracle · Stupid Child" - these resumes are blessed, Li Miao can be regarded as the hottest art director of Chinese movies at the moment.
's "Moon Alone", which is worth 3 billion this summer, is also his work.
is also the stall where "Lone on the Moon" broke the 3 billion mark. "Hou Lang Film" interviewed Li Miao and asked him to talk about the development and changes of Chinese films over the years from the perspective of art director.
From "House of Flying Daggers" to "Lone on the Moon"
POST WAVE FILM
Post Wave Movie: You entered the line through "House of Daggers", and the starting point is high.
Li Miao: was still in college at that time, and several teachers in the school were very kind to me. One of the teachers thought that I might be more suitable for making movies, and recommended me to Mr. Huo Tingxiao. Mr. Huo Tingxiao was the general art director of "House of Flying Daggers" at the time, so I was his assistant. The experience of
has benefited me a lot. Basically, all my art direction knowledge is based on this stage.
"House of Flying Daggers" (2004)
In my memory, Mr. Huo Tingxiao is very gentle and doesn't criticize others. Of course, he must be angry when, for example, he did not achieve the desired effect.
Looking back now, maybe my designs often fail to meet his requirements, but he has never criticized them, they are all based on encouragement, and few teachers can be as kind and good to students as he is, after all Large projects with heavy workloads.
As for the high starting point, I think I am lucky. Not only did I meet a good teacher, but also a good opportunity.
Houlang Movies: Later, you have participated in many projects, such as "The Left Ear" and "The Devotion of Suspect X", as well as "Detective Chinatown", "Manslaughter", "Assassination of the Novelist" and two films by Wen Muye. In the course of this career, do you think that the work of art direction has changed from when you first entered the industry?
Li Miao: has changed a lot, mainly because it is directly related to our film market and the industrial capacity of our country. For example, when I first entered the industry, that is, around 2003, was mostly low-cost movies at that time, and "House of Flying Daggers" was already the highest-cost movie . But in the current movie cost, "House of Flying Daggers" is not a big-budget movie.
This is one of them. The second of is that with the increasing investment, our film themes are also more and more rich, which means more and more opportunities - this is good for all film and television practitionersera.
In the past, we had to go to Hollywood or Hong Kong to have the opportunity to get in touch with such a large-scale movie. At that time, the job was very unstable, unless he was at the level of Mr. Huo Tingxiao, who had a stable job opportunity; but for many young people In other words, there is no such opportunity.
is different now, there are many opportunities for everyone.
"House of Flying Daggers" (2004)
Houlang Movie: Your experience with Zhang Yimou, Lu Yang, Wen Muye, Chen Sicheng , and Zhang Chiyu, how have you worked with such directors as Su Youpeng? Can we better realize the creative intentions of different directors?
Li Miao: Speaking of , I don't think I have worked with director Zhang Yimou, because I'm just a small assistant and an apprentice. Among the later collaborations, Wen Muye and Chen Sicheng were the ones who I collaborated more with at . Each of them has their own style characteristics.
But there is one thing in common, that is, we have a very equal creative relationship in cooperation, and we are willing to listen to each other's ideas, which is very good for creation.
Houlang Film: What do you think is the biggest problem facing art directors in the current film industry environment?
Li Miao: The biggest problem we encounter now is not only a problem encountered by art, but a problem encountered by the entire industry, that is: mature, leading Hollywood movies under the industrial system, release When you go to a Chinese cinema, the ticket price is the same as the current film in the Chinese film industry, which is lagging behind Hollywood Which will you choose? Hollywood sells 30 yuan, we sell 10 yuan, so the audience will definitely not have a gap, but I am sorry that it is impossible to set the ticket price like this, the theater does not agree, and the management does not agree, so we just use the same price to fight It's very hard to have a Hollywood movie that grosses at the box office all over the world.
But you said that the Chinese make science fiction films, how dare they go head-to-head with Hollywood? Their approach is too expensive, we can't do it - that's the biggest problem we have.
Everyone may think that 200 to 300 million yuan to make a Chinese movie is very expensive, but once you subdivide it into various types of work, there are not many.
For example, "Walking on the Moon" built a shed of more than 40,000 square meters. You spend 100 yuan to spread it. How big do you think it can be spread? And it can't rely on the venue alone, what about the visual effects? There is still a long shooting cycle, and so many people are involved?
So you look at Japan, because there is no protection, so Japan does not have that kind of visual effects blockbuster, because Hollywood has already impacted its film industry system into that, so the excellent Japanese movies are all medium and low-cost. South Korea is relatively better, because there is protection, so they are also constantly trying to make big productions.
China also has film protection, so we still have a chance and can barely shoot. However, sometimes people feel that the investment of hundreds of millions has been taken away by the actors. I don’t know about TV dramas, but I know that the money that actors get is not a lot. is especially compared with variety shows and TV series. All the real money is spent on the production.
Houlang Movie: In this process, have we formed our own characteristics?
Li Miao: Our industrial system is gradually taking shape, the whole society is making continuous progress, and the corresponding processes and assembly lines are gradually improving, such as independent intellectual property rights and independent assembly lines.
So now we can also produce some things that could not be realized before. Now we can rely on a complete industrial chain to manufacture them and use them directly, and most of them are domestically produced, which is very good.
Houlang Movie: Looking at the past project experience, which work do you think is more important to you?
Li Miao: "Detective Chinatown" series. Not that its art work is challenging, no. Rather, during the course of this project, our crew filmed in many countries around the world, and we had the opportunity to cooperate and learn with so many excellent teams around the world. very important.
For example, in Hollywood, I keep visiting their various studios and processing plants. On the one hand, is learning their art production experience, and on the other hand, I am learning the workflow of other people's productions.
During that time, I learned things very fast. After all, it is a movie powerhouse, and it has a high-standard production process. There is also Thailand. When I arrived in Thailand, I found that the team in Thailand is cheap and fast. I also learned a lot of work experience from them. And then there's Japan, and their work is really rigorous.
In short, the "Tang Detective" series is a collaboration that has a great influence on me. Different from before, we were like Whampoa Military Academy that time, learning from each other: led the way, asked teams from various countries, and asked them to help us realize; on the other hand, we could see how they did it. Take notes to learn.
《唐人街探案》（2015）
《独行月球》 不计成本
POST WAVE FILM
后浪电影：在您目前的工作经验里，哪个项目让您觉得压力比较大？
Li Miao: "Walking on the Moon Alone".
Houlang movie: The pressure of "Assassination of the Novelist" is actually less than that of "Lone on the Moon"?
Li Miao: Yes, because I have never done science fiction movies. Not only I have not done it, but most of my colleagues in China have not done it, and there is very little experience to learn from - except for "The Wandering Earth", we have no successful works to do, right?
And when I saw the script, I found that it was still a "science fiction + comedy" , which is even more difficult, it means that you have to take care of both types of styles at the same time: if it is only science fiction, I will do it according to science fiction; if If it's comedy alone, I'll do it like a comedy --
But "Moon Lonely" is a combination that needs both the cool mystery of science fiction and the kind of comedy that can see every expression on your face and body. If you can't see the details of a body movement clearly, the burden of comedy is likely to not shake.
That's why Lone Moon is more stressful, it's both far and near.
"Lonely Moon" space capsule
Houlang movie: "It is both far and near", this is the way to create a mourning hall in a space capsule, right?
Li Miao: hahaha, yes. "It must be both far and near", to put it bluntly, it is abrupt, and it is to use that kind of abruptness to create a sense of joy and conflict.
At that time, we thought about a lot of details. For example, the pictures of Ma Lanxing had to put candles on both sides, but we felt that this was a bit too far, so we might as well replace the runway lights with a slightly technological sense - this is a sci-fi film after all, there are Runway lights are normal, right.
Houlang Movie: In comparison, why is "Assassination of the Novelist" less stressful?
Li Miao: I don't have much pressure on "The Novelist", after all, it is a fantasy movie, and there are many traditional Chinese contents that can be used for reference.
However, as a sci-fi film, "Lonely Walk on the Moon" has a lot of metal to be processed and assembled, which is a big problem. For example, this thing needs to be composed of 500 parts. If there is an error of 0.1 mm in each part, then the final This thing won't hold up - the second difficulty lies in this: the has to overcome a lot of industrial problems.
At that time, many people in "Assassination of Novelists" persuaded me to make it a fairy, elegant or even ink painting, saying that it was Chinese. Of course, I didn't accept this statement, that is, I think it doesn't matter whether this thing is immortal, elegant, ink-wash, or Chinese, what matters for is whether it matches the temperament of the movie.
is like the world of "Assassination of Novelist", it is dark, aggrieved, oppressive, with evil and heavy, which means that the relevant art design must be developed around this texture. That is to say:
When doing film art, we must create the character's character, create the character's living environment, and create the atmosphere for the plot to take place - this is what we want to serve.
In a word: Your own aesthetic style is not important, it is important whether you can return to the movie itself, return to the original intention of the story , rather than take a style and apply it to this movie - makes a movie Don't take it for granted.
is not afraid of difficulty, but is afraid of whether a script can stimulate the imagination: the script that can stimulate the imagination is not difficult; however, those too ordinary and realistic themes, without any waves, are not easy to use the imagination.
like "I'm Not a Medicine God", "Assassination of a Novelist" and "Walking on the Moon Alone" are scripts that can stimulate people's imagination.
Houlang movie: That is, the better the script, the more it can stimulate the imagination of the art director.
Li Miao: is like this. I think there are two driving forces for movies: is a literary driving force, , which is about film stories; is an audio-visual driving force, , which is about art, photography, music, sound effects, editing and so on.
For many audiences, they still hope to understand this movie from the story level, which means to us that we have to do our best to tell the story well. way to get the pleasure of watching movies.
So when I get a project, I also read the script first. If the script is good enough, the audiovisual can keep up.
"Assassination of the Novelist", photo courtesy of Li Miao
Houlang Movie: Do you have any scientific consultants for the design in "Lonely Walk on the Moon"?
Li Miao: 's scientific consultants will not give us too many practical and specific solutions, because they will think that these are the needs of the plot. If it was really done according to pure science, then this movie would not exist.
A sci-fi movie should actually be called a "science fiction movie" - it's pure fantasy, but there's a bit of science in it, so it's not really science.
So if you watch "Lone on the Moon", the warheads are all nuclear fusion , but the lunar rover is still a solar cell . The sense of technology in
"Moon Alone" is not high, even a little low. For example, the mobile phones in our hands are all touch screens, the cars are all driverless, and even food delivery is starting to drive automatically - all of them are artificial intelligence , then in this stage of the moon, can Shen Teng with The shouldn't be talking about a kangaroo, it should be an AI, but if that's the case it's not "Lone On the Moon", it's "2001: A Space Odyssey". There are countless people who are against
, saying that these designs are not sci-fi at all. We all have touch screens, curved screens, smart glasses, and even holographic projection in our homes. Your movie is still the kind of button keyboard, which is not in line with our current situation. development of technology.
So at that time we thought of a bifurcation point: in the 1990s, a parallel world was created, which is in the movie. Their technology is not as developed as ours, and the keyboards are still keys, so that Kangaroo King Kong can appear. It seems more reasonable, and it also makes it possible for it to press the keyboard and create comedy jokes.
Houlang Movie: Is the model you brought with 3D printed ? How much does this usually cost?
Li Miao: The cost of will be relatively high. This is nylon printing, and it is calculated by grams. If you weigh the weight, you will know that the price will be very high. But I really haven't calculated the exact amount, because when we make movie props, we often don't evaluate them according to the ordinary market price system.
For example, in the market, you can buy a luxury car for two or three million yuan, but in the movie, you can only make a lunar rover, which is still the kind without power.
But for this rover, every part of it is unique, it's like a car built by hand, and its price is sure to get high.
For example, the door of the moon rover in "Lone on the Moon" can be opened just like the Tesla , because it is a mechanical transmission structure. Although
looks very simple, it is actually more difficult than Tesla, because it is heavy and bigger than the door of Tesla, it is not easy to lift such a big and heavy door. It still wobbles when it rises - the took us three months to fix that wobble problem.
Whether in terms of time or money cost, making movies is not estimated according to the market price, but regardless of the cost.
Houlang movie: If it is like this model, you have finished this project, do you want to consider mass production?
Li Miao: probably won't. Many people think that this derivative can becomeCommodities, which is also a good idea for many film practitioners. But until now, we have not had a successful case, and even the album has not become a very tight derivative, it cannot form a profitable point.
This is first of all a question of audience base , such as Marvel, has hundreds of millions of audiences around the world, and people in this group will consume these things. Similar to the Disney audience. But you said that it is impossible to support such a large-scale movie derivatives market by relying on "Lone on the Moon" or "Tang Detective" alone.
There is another problem: Our current film production and survival cycle is too short, and is over after filming, which leaves too little space and time for derivatives fermentation, dissemination and consumption. ——The movie is released before the product is developed; the movie is offline before the product is sold, and the continuous popularity of a movie is amazing for two months.
But once the popularity passes, no matter how good the derivatives are, they will not be able to sell. So, unless it's a big series, doing three at a time, this kind of thing may also have a chance to survive around.
Houlang Movie: Who owns these models and surrounding intellectual property?
Li Miao: The situation of . For example, "Lone on the Moon", some things are in the original comics, and the intellectual property must be the author's; but if it is independently developed, it can be discussed.
But the problem is, if you find that this thing can't be sold as a derivative after talking, then everyone may not have the motivation to talk about it. Who owns the intellectual property rights of mainly depends on whether it can be profitable.
How can I be an art director?
POST WAVE FILM
Houlang Movie: What is the core work of art director?
Li Miao: One of the most important tasks of the art director is to create the temperament of a movie. Of course, this is not done by the art director himself, but by the art director and the director of photography, including music, editing, etc. - But initially, it must have been the art director as the starting point.
Houlang Film: What kind of professional qualities does a film art director need?
Li Miao: has two aspects: 20% artistic talent, and 80% technical accumulation - technical accumulation can be obtained through practice.
But the 20% of artistic talent requires your personal life, study and experience, as well as your family background, and even part of it is born - that is to say, this 20% is possible. Unexpected.
But there is no way to make up for it, that is, read a lot of films and exercise your camera and film thinking skills.
Houlang movie: "art director", "executive art", "costume designer", "artist", "props engineer" and other positions and types of work, what are the similarities and differences?
Li Miao: We may still come from the film system of the former Soviet Union, so we use the name of art director more; below him are the artist and executive art - both of which are executive positions;
Further down is the art assistant. Mr. Huo Tingxiao has been promoting the concept of "big art", which is to cover all fields of art in this concept, and I hope to do so one day. However, now the workload of each film is not one line, and the division of labor will be very different.
Houlang Movies: As the industrialization of movies is getting higher and higher, will the division of labor in film art be more and more refined?
Li Miao: will be more and more thin. I remember when I was with Mr. Huo Tingxiao, there were only five or six people in a team, seven or eight at most. But if you look at it first, there are seventy to eighty people in the art group alone. The division of labor is very detailed, and each person is responsible for different things, so all kinds of talents are needed.
This is very necessary. For example, when I went to Hollywood for the filming of "Tang Detective", their standardized process is like this: everyone is responsible for things in their own field, and everyone does the smallest and best, take this thing The effect will be very different after it comes out.
Houlang Film: In your opinion, what are the prospects and opportunities of this industry of film art?
Li Miao: The entire film industry of is actually a very idealistic industry. It's not like civil servants, or entering a big factory. Many things are visible to the naked eye, but the movie is not, there are many unforeseen things. At this time, you have to rely on idealism and feelings to support yourself - if you like movies very much, you can come, , but the uncertainty of movies is too strong, if you have no talent, it is actually very sad.
I have seen too many people who can't get a promotion after a few years of work, and their income can't go up, and then they leave, wasting years of time and youth. This is the kind of industry that tests endurance, talent, and feelings—sometimes it’s not hard work or hard work. Of course, they can make up a lot, but it’s talent and feelings that play a decisive role.
So there are a lot of people in this circle, and they will switch to the game industry after a long time, because the income of the game industry is high. movies really need talent and feelings, otherwise you won't be able to stay.
So not everyone can become an art director, most of them may become artists, and they will never be promoted. Therefore, Hollywood is divided into two parts: art directors and art workers. The former is to have strong talent and talent, and the latter is to implement it in a specific way, honestly doing its own thing, and it will not be affected too much.
art direction is different, if your talent is not enough, once you get a bad movie, you may never get on again. This is why it is said that art direction needs talent, and artists or executive art, as long as they rely on diligence and hard work to accumulate, can do very well, because he does not rely on talent, but on technology.
Houlang Movie: Interested newcomers, how can they enter the field of "art direction"?
Li Miao: two ways: The first one is the college , when you take the entrance exam, you should take the corresponding major, such as Film School , Media University or go to drama, Chinese drama , or Academy of Fine Arts, this kind of college-like possibility is a shortcut;
The second is social practice, such as the traditional "help and guide" model , or some film and television training institutions, can provide some opportunities, the benefits of this It is you who can quickly judge whether you are up to the job.
Houlang Movies: What advice would you give to juniors who want to pursue this career?
Li Miao: The first is to watch more movies, increase their reserves, and enrich their minds;
the first The second is interest, you must have enough interest to appreciate the charm of this job, so that you will not lose interest when you start work;
The third is feelings, before entering this line of work, you must Ask yourself: what was your original intention? If you are thinking about making more money, then I don’t think you should enter this industry, because the film industry has a little output value every year, and the annual box office is not as good as a real estate in Beijing, and it cannot bring you high income.
So, if you don't have feelings, chances are you won't be able to do it for long.
采访、撰稿 | 毛头
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