1905 Movie Network Special Article The movie "Welcome to Me" was released, and this time director Song Haolin seems to be a lot more relaxed. It is true that during the promotion of the previous work "Five Boys Splashing in the Water", he "worked hard" to do his best, and would do live broadcasts until late in order to promote himself, and he would also take the unknown newcomer actors to run one after another, hoping that the audience could support him more.
When I met director Song Haolin this time, he smiled when he talked about the difference between the two experiences, "It's a different challenge, a work will face the audience immediately when it comes to it, and I will always be apprehensive here, and my awe of the market has never changed." In the current situation, how to do better, so that more people know about the movie and like it, this is what we need to do. ”
Director Song Haolin and screenwriter Miao Qian (Photo/Yang Nan)
This is precisely the relationship between director Song Haolin as a filmmaker and the audience, and "relationship" is the origin of the creation of his new work "Welcome to Me".
The starting point of the creation of the very stream of life, why did he open it with this cute and outrageous setting? As he talked about when he was a guest on the "Dialogue" column of 1905 Movie Network, "Emotional relationship is a topic that we have always paid attention to, and this relationship is divided into family, friendship, and love. ”
01. The beginning of the story
Even though there have been many love stories in the past, it does not mean that it is the most accessible form for young audiences.
Just how to solve the problem? The screenwriter of the film, Miao Qian, is not only the long-term working partner of director Song Haolin, but also has each other's figures in every work, and the two are intimate partners in their lives. In the relationship between the two, Miao Qian found that in fact, there are still communication barriers in the long-term traditional emotional relationship. Sometimes she says a lot of things that the other party can't understand, but at some point, she just opened her mouth, and at that time it seems that her heart is connected.
This pattern of life made the two suddenly think, "One day you meet someone who can make you fall in love, and at the moment of love, it seems that everyone else in the world will disappear in an instant." ”
When the concept of sensuality and romance emerges, the whole story slowly has a background. So, in the movie "Welcome to You", people who have nothing to do with love have become ducks who can only "quack".
In fact, a long time before this setting, Song Haolin and Miao Qian did other settings, but they always felt that they were not good enough, "It will be more philosophical, with the shadow of science fiction, and the audience may not understand this emotional point so directly." ”
Although they were still in the script stage, the concept design team for the film had already started to work on the premise at the same time, and it was interesting to note that they would all use the same image for the cover of the book - three cute ducks were drawn on it. The outline team and the choreographer met again and again to discuss, and the entire outline became more and more perfect, but Song Haolin and Miao Qian felt more and more twisted, and even deviated from the original intention.
One day, Song Haolin pulled Miao Qian to discuss again, and suddenly an idea popped up in his mind, and some vague things slowly became clear, close to the concept of the later movie, "It may be a more similar duck." The next day, when the design team discussed the latest version of the outline, Song Haolin was very embarrassed to tell the other party about the changes and adjustments, and what they didn't expect was that they were all excited after listening to the completely new story setting.
The originally relatively abstract emotional setting finally had a more concrete carrier, and the story was slowly plumped up. Although the fantasy element adds interest to the story, the screenwriter insists on "reality".
At the same time, they consulted with a professional in psychology to see if this was possible in reality. The other party provided them with the basis for visual hallucinations, and after this support, the duck world was slowly implemented, and there is now "Welcome to Me".
02. They are none other than them
For a long time, Song Haolin's casting criteria have been very traditional, and they are also very simple, "suitable".
After Song Haolin met Yu Shi and Wang Yinglu for the first time, he was attracted by their qualities. Although the two were still blank slates in the market at the time, he and the screenwriter were already curious about what they looked like in front of the camera.
So, they formed a script killing bureau and brought several actors together to see if there was anything possible. As a result, there was a very oolong thing on the scene, and the host assigned Yu Shi a role in his 60s, "In the process of playing, I found that he has the ability of an actor to improvise comedy." ”
The follow-up director conducted a lot of interviews, and in this process, he found that Yu Shi had a very vivid and vigorous vitality, "he has a positive and lively power to infect the other party"; And Wang Yinglu is very quiet, "When she relaxes, the whole aura can be driven by her to suddenly quiet down." ”
The two characteristics of movement and stillness made Song Haolin unconsciously think, "Is it possible to try to lean the role into this actor." When this idea was born in the creation, "we decided that the two roles of Chen Xiaozhou and Feng Jiannan were none other than Yu Shi and Wang Yinglu." ”
After deciding on these two actors, he will suddenly feel that there will be a lot of new possibilities in this role. For example, Chen Xiaozhou seems to be able to play the guitar and basketball, "It's just a sudden feeling that I have grown up with new possibilities for actors and characters." Even after so long, everyone reunited because of the movie's publicity, Song Haolin would subconsciously call them "Chen Xiaozhou" and "Feng Jianan".
Now that the film is complete, everyone looks back and reviews the casting this time, and there seems to be no better choice, "I can't imagine who else will play Chen Xiaozhou and who will play Feng Jianan, which I am very fortunate for." ”
03. The end is also the beginning
The story of the movie "Welcome to Me" is more than fantasy, after being light-hearted and cheerful, the director and screenwriter use a secret to bring the audience back to everyday reality.
In the process of creation, they have left enough attention to detail.
Chen Xiaozhou and Feng Jiannan met after graduating from college, and they used to break up after graduation, but they started to fall in love after graduation, "What is the beginning and what is the end?" When most people think it's time to end, we want to tell the story to begin. ”
It's like the beginning of the whole story, the breakup script should be the end of the relationship, but in this movie, it is the starting point.
In life, many stories do not have a clear beginning and end, it is never something that is as clear as the answer, people come and go, and even without a reason, the relationship changes.
We seem to have become accustomed to all this around us, but the emotions that fit the aura, as Song Haolin wants to say, "We should treat everyone around us with a heart of welcome, cherishment, rejoicing and gratitude." ”