丨Muhu Circle
wrote an article丨Momo
Tencent Entertainment teamed up with New Entertainment Partners to launch the "People in the Play" column, focusing on the behind-the-scenes of popular movies and TV shows. In this issue, we have an exclusive conversation with director Yao Xiaofeng, the director of the hit drama " Gloomy Fire", and tell the behind-the-scenes story.
"Dark Fire" is a work without benchmark. It is wrapped in the shell of a suspense drama, telling a story of complex human nature and full of poetic beauty.
It not only directly addresses heart-breaking social issues such as "domestic violence", "verbal violence in acquaintance society" and "female prejudice", but also makes the audience feel that ""Dark Fire" is so dare to be filmed". The picture quality and lens language of the series, It even made the audience praise the words, "The director's aesthetic has reached nexl level", "The director really knows how to shoot, I really like the lens aesthetics of this drama, every small detail contains profound meaning"...
In fact, " If Life Deceived You ", " The Real Man ", "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad", "Mr. Love"... these famous works are all produced by director Yao Xiaofeng. What is different from the past is that in the spring of 2024, "Storm Chaser" and "Gloomy Fire", two dramas that are both ideological, artistic and unique in style, finally made his name stand out from behind the works to the front. Many viewers said they "have a filter for director Yao Xiaofeng."
Regarding this, Yao Xiaofeng laughed heartily and said, "You can have this." He regards the audience's affirmation as a encouragement to himself, "If others say that my stuff is not good, I will feel very uncomfortable. I feel that I should do a good job and should not be denied."
The following is Director Yao Xiaofeng's self-report:
It was shot using the Rashomon structure and took two years to edit.
What initially impressed me about "Gloomy Fire" was the emotional story of Nanya and Zhou Luo, but this story is a bit literary. Since it is a TV series, it must have a type.
I chatted with the screenwriter and wanted to give it a suspenseful shell. How to fit this shell? After countless explorations, I wanted to make a Rashomon structure. Because in addition to the emotional story of two people, it is more about a small town where everyone has their own secrets. Using the structure of Rashomon is the best way to tell the secrets behind everyone.
The script took two years to write, and it’s great. Starting from the murder that happened on the night of Millennium Night, we enter that night from everyone's perspective, because everyone's narrative has their own subjectivity and motivations, with concealments and distortions. These concealments and distortions pass through After the narratives of different parties, flaws were discovered, and we got closer to the truth step by step.
The Rashomon structure was difficult to shoot at the time because its time clues jumped back and forth. The actors had to keep jumping back and forth in time without revealing too much or not showing enough. This sense of proportion was very important to me and the actors. It’s difficult, we have to be very careful. Among them, Millennium Night was the most difficult to shoot. We entered from 6 different perspectives and shot what happened on that night 6 times. It was freezing cold by the waterside in the winter, and it took nine whole nights of filming. All the actors were exhausted. They were all trying to complete their own part, but they didn’t know what would be shown in the final play. I was the only one. The mind is the clearest, so at that time there was mutual trust between the actor and the director, and they gave all of themselves to the director.
After filming according to the script, the editing was good, but it seemed that there was still room for three-dimensional creation, so it took nearly two years to edit, sorting out the fate of the hero and heroine from the beginning, and sorting out the fate line first. Set up so that the audience is most concerned with the stories behind each person, rather than the case itself. Because this play is more about human nature. But this is also an experiment that can only be done based on a very good script and finished film.
Now is the time that calls for poetry and beauty, which is another release of human beauty.
There are many things about the flow of life in "Gloomy Fire", as well as many plots of reading poetry. Because I have filmed a lot of reality-themed dramas, I have a relatively good understanding of people’s current living conditions.In this changing era of information explosion, I think what everyone needs more is spiritual comfort. When financial prosperity no longer satisfies you, you need to find a spiritually pure land.
This concept appeared in the 1980s and 1990s. At that time, the poetry of Haizi, Bei Dao and others was popular. Although everyone was not rich, because of poetry, their spiritual life was extremely rich.
I feel that now is an era that calls for poetry and beauty, which is another return and release of human beauty. is a drama that reveals the darkness in human nature, calls out the beauty of human nature, and awakens the beauty of the human soul through art and poetry.
After Zhou Luo truly entered Nanya's inner world through poetry, he discovered that she was a beautiful and kind-hearted person, and realized how ignorant he was. As a mathematical genius, he felt that art and poetry were indispensable things in human life, and he became obsessed with poetry. From then on, he had a new understanding of Nanya. Only then did the two save each other.
In addition to poetry, there are a lot of metaphorical scenes in the play, such as butterflies in bottles, ants crawling on Nanya's hands, etc. Because I hope this drama is stylized and multi-interpretable, rather than a simple suspense drama, love drama, or life drama. The inclusion of poetry this time has indeed raised the bar for watching the drama. But I must raise this threshold.
I believe that now the audience's taste has improved and they have more requirements for TV dramas, so I have to give them more interpretability to improve the style of the whole drama. The same goes for editing, which will make the audience feel that there will be some jumps and some brain-burning, but the relationship between the several groups of characters will not be chaotic at all, and the audience will eventually understand everyone's fate.
At the same time, because this drama is a praise and celebration of beauty, if the camera is not beautiful, everything will not be established. How to express the inner beauty of the characters through the lens is very, very important. Photographer Wenjie and I have known each other for a long time. We tried to collaborate several times but failed to do so. After "The Age of Awakening" came out, I saw that Wenjie was still great, so I approached him. I am also a photographer myself. During the cooperation process, the two people really gave each other and achieved each other, which was seamless, giving "Dark Fire" a unique poetic beauty.
Making "Dark Fire" actually broke through my comfort zone. Because what I have done in the past, whether it is genre dramas or urban emotional dramas, is quite familiar to me. But "Dark Fire" not only has a different temperament from my previous dramas, but it is also different from the suspense dramas that everyone is familiar with. Although
also has some familiar parts before, most of them are unfamiliar areas. has entered an unfamiliar area for the first time, and has the ambition to make something good. Although I am satisfied with this breakthrough, But I was a little nervous inside, not knowing what would be tested by the audience. Fortunately, the feedback from several viewings before the screening gave me a lot of confidence.
Tong Yao was photographed wanting to run away Zhang Xincheng is very clean and smart
Choosing Tong Yao and Zhang Xincheng to play Nanya and Zhou Luo is just intuition. I think they both have a kind of inner purity and purity that belongs to their characters.
Tong Yao, I have only watched her " Thirty Only ", and I feel that her mature charm is good. After she confirmed to take the role, I told her, you are very brave to take on such a role. Because roles like Nanya are very torturous for actresses, and they can easily break down if their hearts are not strong. Tong Yao is very strong. Even though she joked that she wanted to escape from the scene during the movie, she still completed the role very well.
I haven’t seen Zhang Xincheng’s dramas, I’ve only seen his photos, met and chatted with him, and I think he’s a good guy and he’s very clean. I made a lot of adjustments when styling him, so his image was different from before, and he accepted them all, and his cooperation was very good. During the filming, I found that he is really a smart and talented actor who can quickly bring himself into the situation.Just like in the first episode when he saw Nanya through the window for the first time, he was so excited and told him what he wanted. As soon as the camera panned there, as soon as Nanya's camera appeared, he quickly found the feeling of a young boy. The sense of immersion is very strong. There is also the scene in the pond in the fourth episode. I asked him to blame himself and dive into the water, but roaring, taking off his clothes, and throwing the water were all things he found on his own. He also has the fastest understanding of characters. Because we shot in Rashomon style, many actors didn't understand why we acted like this at the time. I might have to explain it many times, but he was very smart and understood it as soon as he explained it.
In fact, in this drama, Tong Yao and Zhang Xincheng have something that breaks them, and also breaks some of the audience's inherent perceptions of them. Everyone may think they don't match well at first, but in the end what we present here should be a good match. This is because we have reshaped the character relationships. Just like in "The Storm Chaser", Wang Yibo and Li Qin were not compatible at first. We filmed their relationship well, and as long as it is consistent, it will be very comfortable. The same goes for Tong Yao and Zhang Xincheng. As long as there are no problems with character creation, we can help them solve the CP problem through character relationships.
Not only Tong Yao and Zhang Xincheng, but also all the other actors in this drama, I have to praise. No one showed the slightest bit of timidity, and the acting skills of all the actors were outstanding. Everyone is often very sad. These people are so good, these people are so pitiful, and there are some bitter things behind every family; these teenagers are so touching, and each one of them makes me moved, because their bravery is something that even adults today don’t have. of.
Talking about inspiring young actors such as Wang Yibo and Zhang Xincheng: When you pry open the shell, he is "delicious"
From Wang Yibo to Zhang Xincheng, everyone said that in my drama, they seemed to be suddenly different. In terms of discovering the potential of young actors, I actually have no secret. I just need to match them with suitable roles and then inspire them. I think inspiration is important. Because children cannot pretend without pretending, but when they get a little older, they will have a shell. As long as you pry open that shell, they will be very delicious.
So I used inspiration to capture their truest feelings. Respect is also very important. Trust each other and respect each other. Young actors are particularly afraid of meeting a director who lectures them every day, and then he will never succeed. Because I have a child, my way of educating my child is to talk like a friend, convince him, and let him know what to do through equal communication, rather than ordering him what to do.
Again, there are no bad actors in , only bad directors. actors can all be discovered. I have this confidence now, and everyone has seen it, from Zhang Tianyang in "Wind Chaser" to Ye Zuxin in "Dark Fire". Including the scenes I filmed before, all the actors' performances in my scenes were their best. Lu Yi was also a young "niche" when he acted in "If Life Deceived You". I insisted on using him. After the filming was completed, everyone couldn't believe that Lu Yi could be so good. Lu Yi's degree of completion is higher among all actors. Others may have completed 100%, but Lu Yi gave me 120%.
Foreign TV dramas are all about the director's art, but in China, because the TV dramas had a large capacity and took too long, the director's control was not so good, and some relied on actors. Therefore, it was said in the past that TV dramas are the art of performance, the art of text, and the director is third. But now that the audience's aesthetics have improved and they have higher requirements for audio-visual language, the director's role will become greater and greater. Now I think the text is still very important, but it is difficult to do well without a good director. The greater the director's role, the more the film will highlight the director's style. Otherwise, many dramas will look the same, then Very boring.
Lying in the comfort zone to make money, with no peace of mind and no energy
"Storm Chaser" has ignited a group of patriotic young people, and "Gloomy Fire", I hope to arouse everyone's love for poetry. As a practitioner of TV series, this It's time to do something like this.In fact, every stage of my filming is my own mental journey, that is, when I reach a certain stage, I need to think about what issues, "Storm Chaser" is the same as the previous "If Life Deceived You", " How Far Is Happiness " "Big Husband" and "Tiger Mom and Cat Dad" are also propositions given to myself in the process of self-growth. After thinking and summarizing, they are presented in the works. It's like completing self-cultivation first, and then seeing if it can influence some people.
Anyone who is familiar with me knows that the themes and styles of my works at different stages are very different. Especially in the past two years, I have been doing various types of exploration, and I just want to be able to break through myself and leave some good things for everyone.
has been working in this industry for decades. It’s not interesting to keep shooting the same thing. I don’t want to be labeled. I just want to challenge and don’t want to lie down. The tossing in life is interesting. If you think is about making money anyway, just stay in your comfort zone. I don’t feel comfortable earning that money, nor am I motivated. Because I love this industry, there must be challenges to have fun. Nowadays, American dramas, British dramas, including Korean dramas, Japanese dramas, and even our Taiwanese dramas are doing very well. I feel ashamed if we are still stuck in the past, so we should try our best to do better and better under the existing conditions.
Because of this, it becomes easier for people to be a director, but I have higher and higher demands on myself, and it becomes more and more tiring for me to be a director. But the hard work is worth it. The audience's love is the biggest reward for me and my biggest motivation. It's really not hypocritical. It's really hard and tiring, but if you really do it well, everyone will be happy when you praise it. Now I really care about making a good thing.
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