"Mr. Wang, how to be a good director!"

In the comprehensive teaching building of Yenching Film Academy, the classroom with a capacity of 300 people is full of students, and there are many students standing at the back of the classroom, and the corridors, windows and other places are also full of people, all of whom come to listen to the lectures. 【】

This is the first time since the establishment of the Yenching Film Academy that a non-Soviet director has been invited to give lectures to students at the academy, and he is also the director of "Myth" Wang Xiaohu.

Since the movie was shown in the large screening room, the students of the whole school discussed "Myth" in the gap between classes, and the teachers would also intersperse the introduction of "Myth" during the lecture, and everyone talked about "Myth" during dinner.

"Myth" has become the focus of discussion among the students of Yenching Film Academy, as if you haven't seen "Myth" is different, you can't catch up with the trend, and you don't fit in.

Now, Wang Xiaohu is standing on the podium and looking at the classmate who asked the question with a smile.

If he hadn't recognized the wrong person, this student of the same age as himself should be Chen Kaige.

Chen Kaige was born in an artistic family, and experienced the Cultural Revolution and cutting the queue when he was a teenager. In 1970, Chen Kaige joined the army. In 1974, he was demobilized and transferred to work, and in 1976, he went to work in Yanjing Film Printing Factory. In 1978, Chen Kaige was admitted to the directing department of Yenching Film Academy.

His film "Yellow Earth", with its breakthrough film language, has had a great impact on Chinese cinema and laid the foundation for the fifth generation of Chinese directors to go global. The film critics considered "Farewell My Concubine" to be the most artistically valuable film in China after the Cultural Revolution, interpreting the ups and downs of China for half a century and the fate of the characters. He is also the only Chinese director to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Lifetime Achievement Award at the 47th Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece.

"I don't think there's a distinction between good and bad, qualified and unqualified." Wang Xiaohu stretched out his index finger and gently tapped the podium, and said loudly: "The director is the soul engineer of a movie, and he needs the surnames Ling, Wu and Ren. ”

When all the students heard this, they immediately picked up their pens and quickly wrote them down in their notebooks.

Wang Xiaohu waited for them to finish remembering, and continued: "Many people mistakenly think that as long as they can get a few popular actors, they will be able to start making movies when they get investment, and I can tell you very directly: The movie made by this director must be a bad movie." ”

Many students couldn't help but nod when they heard this, after all, most of the students in this class were baptized by the Cultural Revolution, and they were not a few years different from Wang Xiaohu in terms of age, and such as Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and others, had good skills before, and most of them knew the filming process of a movie.

Especially Zhang Yimou, after experiencing many difficulties in "Myth", he thoroughly understands the hardships of being a director.

As Wang Xiaohu said, not everyone can be a director.

"If all of you here can become students of the film academy, then the art will definitely feel good, and I won't talk about the two surnames of Ling and Wu, but mainly about the surname Ren."

"The so-called tenacity mainly refers to perseverance and perseverance." Wang Xiaohu continued.

"The director's work is a systematic project, and there are many processes from the planning and filming to the final production of a film, and unexpected difficulties and problems are often encountered, some of which seemed almost insurmountable at the time. For example, the script, for example, the actor's schedule, for example, in terms of funds, are tormenting the director's nerves all the time, so most people say that the director has eaten gunpowder and scolds people at every turn, and they are all stinky tempers, which is because of this reason. ”

Wang Xiaohu pointed to his brain: "The director is not only a complex mental worker, you must not only understand the script, but also the photography." At the same time, it is also a manual laborer, because some shots may have to be shot a dozen or even dozens of times, so if you want to become a director, you must have super strong nerves, super physical strength, super patience and tenacity. ”

"Thank you, Mr. Wang."

Chen Kaige stood up and bowed deeply to Wang Xiaohu, and took the lead in applauding, and the applause rang out for a full minute in the whole class before stopping.

As soon as Chen Kaige sat down, a boy next to him raised his hand and asked, "Mr. Wang, can't you be a director if you don't have artistic talent?" ”

This boy is Tian Zhuangzhuang.

After the resumption of the college entrance examination after the Cultural Revolution, Tian Zhuangzhuang originally planned to apply for the Department of Photography, but his age was more than two years old, and he did not persistently seek help from the leaders of the college like Zhang Yimou, but reported to the Department of Directing and became Chen Kaige's classmate.

Different from ordinary students, Tian Zhuangzhuang already had the opportunity to direct the film before he graduated, although he did not participate in the filming of "Myth" when he first entered the school like Zhang Yimou, but this summer, when others like Chen Kaige went to various film studios for internships, Tian Zhuangzhuang and a few people who stayed in school had the opportunity to direct the short film "Our Corner" together, and the film caused a great sensation in the literary and artistic circles.

Tian Zhuangzhuang is the most famous student of Yenching Film Academy except for Zhang Yimou.

It's just that in Wang Xiaohu's impression, Tian Zhuangzhuang's luck seems to be bad, some films have been banned, and his masterpieces have been criticized in various ways, in the early 90s, "Blue Kite" brought Tian Zhuangzhuang a huge reputation, but it also directly led to him having to face a ten-year ban on filming.

Wang Xiaohu shook his head with a smile and said: "No, I never think so, because I was just a dragon and tiger martial artist 7 years ago, and I am the most grassroots member of the film industry, and I personally think that the above three qualities can be cultivated, as long as you observe carefully, as long as you think often, as long as you put in more effort than others." I remember a master of cinema once said, 'Movies can be learned'. ”

"Whoa~~" There was another round of applause in the classroom.

Later, many students from the directing, acting, and photography departments raised their hands to ask questions, and most of the questions were about the movie "Myth", such as what should be paid attention to when shooting large scenes, such as how to play the best state of the character when facing the camera, and even more

In the minds of these heavenly pride, "Mythology" was filmed in this era is a very remarkable thing, and they cannot show that those magical pictures were shot by Chinese.

"Mr. Wang, what do you think is the most important thing in a movie besides the director?" A student standing at the back of the room asked aloud.

Wang Xiaohu took a closer look, and suddenly shook his head with a wry smile, it turned out to be Zhang Fengyi, director of Chen Kaige and Leslie Cheung's collaboration in the movie "Farewell My Concubine". Wang Xiaohu really didn't expect that Zhang Fengyi was also a student of the 78th class of Beiying, and after being a little surprised, he said without hesitation: "Script!" ”

After Wang Xiaohu threw out the two words of the script, the whole classroom immediately discussed it, and some people refuted it on the spot.

"I think the most important thing should be the director and actors, not the script! We have a culture of 5,000 years in China, can't we just pick up a mythical story and write a good script? ”

"The level of the director is directly proportional to the acting skills of the actors, even if there is a good script, it is a bad movie if it is filmed by a director with a low level or an actor with poor acting skills."

In the face of these objections, Wang Xiaohu did not answer immediately, but shrugged helplessly, with a meaningful smile on his face.

As a reborn, Wang Xiaohu deeply understands that the script is not only the biggest obstacle to Hong Kong films, but also the biggest obstacle to Chinese films.

Why?

There just isn't a good script! It is because the Chinese people think that the directors have not interpreted Chinese culture well, and they have all catered to the tastes of Western audiences, and have spoiled the essence.

And this point is very prominent in the later works of the fifth generation of Chinese directors, the quality of the film is more and more dependent on the novel, the great directors are all adapted from the novel, and the original script of the film is equivalent to a blank in China.

Zhang Yimou is very anxious now, he hurriedly ran to the row where the faculty and staff were sitting, and muttered a few words, before the faculty and staff stood up to maintain order, Wang Xiaohu on the stage had already spoken.

"It is true that China has a vast land and a long history of culture, but if you go abroad and go to the United States to inquire, once you mention Oriental culture, what is the first reaction of Americans, do you know?"

Many people shook their heads and said they didn't know.

"They'll say this!" Wang Xiaohu said that his mood was very heavy, and he said solemnly: "Maybe you think this is impossible, but this is the truth!" When we Chinese filmmakers are immersed in their dreams, they have opened the door to Hollywood with their films with their unique culture, so much so that when it comes to the East, people all over the world think of it! ”

"Don't think I'm alarmist, I'm not hitting your self-confidence, if you have the opportunity, you should have more contact with the outside, maybe what I said is not very good, but I hope you can clearly understand China's embarrassing position in the world film position, and I also look forward to everyone here to insist on promoting Chinese culture as their own responsibility, let the world re-understand Chinese films, and snatch back what should belong to us."

"Self-improvement is the only way to make the country strong, and only by insisting on one's own belief that it will not be shaken by the outside world can the film be reflected in the comprehensive value of art and commerce!"

Wang Xiaohu's impassioned words made the proud sons of heaven present fall into silence, they all knew that what Wang Xiaohu said was true, in fact, when they entered the first class of film studies, the lecturers put these truths in front of them.

It's just that what those lecturers said was very subtle, tactful, and even particularly dogmatic, far less true and thought-provoking than what Wang Xiaohu said.

The Yenching Cinema, which resumed enrollment after the Cultural Revolution, basically inherited the former Soviet Union in terms of teaching, except for the traditional Chinese one, and the traditional music teaching and performance teaching of the former Soviet Union have their own system and characteristics, and they are not outdated today.

However, due to the stereotype of dogmatism, these teachings have been canonized, and when they are canonized, they lose their shining vitality.

Therefore, Chinese films seem to lag behind in the competition, because different production creativity of human beings will inevitably lead to different consumption needs.

Art, specifically speaking of performing arts, has become a human being, but also a developing demand for people's spiritual consumption, and it is a commodity after all, because it has been circulating in the form of a commodity, so it cannot be placed on the temple, and it cannot be mythologized.

Both the leaders of the Yenching Film Academy and the students themselves thought that Wang Xiaohu's class was too timely and important.

(To be continued)