The Paper's reporter Wang Yi
Editor's note: On the big screen, a monument to the glorious image of outstanding communists has been erected, along with the development of the new Chinese film industry. Whether it is Jiang Jie, Zhao Yiman, Dong Cunrui, or Jiao Yulu and Kong Fansen in the 90s of the last century, Ren Changxia, Yang Shanzhou, Zheng Peimin, Zou Bihua and so on since the new century... The image of these outstanding Communist Party members on the screen has touched the audience from generation to generation. In particular, in the past two or three decades, the images of Communist Party members who have emerged in the documentary of heroic models and the theme of poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation have been particularly vivid and vivid.
Different from ordinary drama films, adapted from real people and real events, depicting typical environments according to existing historical materials, art imitations and presentations of their own affairs, and the protagonist in the film is to show people with the real name of the master, so that such films that reflect the deeds of outstanding communist party members are collectively gathered into a rich and meaningful communist image genealogy, and actively expand the connotation and extension of domestic character biopics.
Stills of "Kong Fansen", Gao Ming played Kong Fansen
On November 29, 1994, Kong Fansen, secretary of the Ali Prefectural Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region, was killed in a car accident while out on a tour, at the age of 50. When the news came, the whole country mourned. The following year, Kong Fansen was posthumously awarded the titles of "Model Communist Party Member" and "Outstanding Leading Cadre". In 2009, he was elected as one of the "100 Chinese Objects That Have Touched Since the Founding of New China". In 2019, in the "Notice on Solemnly Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China and Extensively Organizing mass Theme Publicity and Education Activities on "My Motherland and Me" issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, he was also awarded the commendation title of "The Most Beautiful Strivers in New China".
On June 17, 1996, with the approval of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China, the film "Kong Fansen", jointly produced by Shandong Film Studio and Beijing Film Studio (according to the opening subtitle), was released nationwide - in 1992, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China established a socialist market economic system, and then the reform of China's film system also began to enter a period of comprehensive reform and adjustment. As a main theme film at the beginning of the establishment of marketization, the advent of the film not only did not have a long interval after the public report of the main deeds of the simultaneous transmission, but also opened the creative paradigm of "new period and new heroic model" that continues to this day, and also achieved both social and economic benefits with its unique narrative style and good artistic texture. At the 16th Golden Rooster Awards (1996), the film won the Special Jury Award, and received five nominations such as Best Feature Film and Best Director, and finally won the best actor and best music awards. The film's male protagonist Gao Ming also won the Best Actor Award again at the 20th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Awards the following year.
Director Chen Guoxing in Tibet close-up. Photos of this article were provided by the interviewee
"Kong Fansen" is also of great significance to director Chen Guoxing. After the reform and opening up, this member of the "78 class" of the acting department of the Beijing Film Academy, starting from the set record and the director's assistant, gradually began to direct films independently in the late 80s, and in the 90s, he was sought after and loved by the audience with a series of urban comedies. "Kong Fansen" is a big-screen main theme film co-directed by him, and it is a great success. Since then, on the one hand, he has expanded his own feature film creation, on the other hand, he has continued to deepen the main theme, and the films directed by him such as "The Wind Rises", "My Left Hand", "The First Secretary", "Guo Mingyi", "Deng Xiaoping Climbing huangshan" and so on have also achieved good responses.
Speaking of the shooting feelings of that year, Chen Guoxing, who has just returned from shooting a new film in Tibet, is still very emotional. He not only accurately said the date of Secretary Kong Fansen's death, but also couldn't help but recite the lines in the clip, "Heaven, where is the lowest place, is Ali; the earth, where is the highest place, is Ali; man, the most sincere place is where, or we Ali." ”
【Dictation】
"It must be filmed, and it must be filmed well", this movie is "fought"
On November 29, 1994, Comrade Kong Fansen, a cadre aiding Tibet, died in a car accident. Subsequently, CCTV and other media reported his exemplary deeds. One night, I happened to see a documentary in front of the TV set reflecting his work and life in the Ali region of Tibet, and the image taken was relatively blurry: Kong Fansen went to the countryside to investigate, he was lying on horseback, because of lack of oxygen, he was breathing heavily, and his whole face was purple... These images touched me very much. In particular, I was very touched to learn that he had adopted three Tibetan orphans and had been taking good care of and teaching them with him.
Director Chen Guoxing in Tibet close-up
I have not been to Tibet before. When I mentioned it, when I mentioned the "roof of the world", I always felt that there was a mysterious color, and I felt that in that special natural and social environment, Kong Fansen's deeds could find a very real basis, which would make those things that were difficult to understand in modern society credible and touching. Therefore, I immediately called Han Sanping, the leader of the Beijing Film Studio at the time, and the two of us hit it off immediately: there were not many movies involving Tibet-related themes in those days, and such a good subject matter must be filmed, and it must be filmed well.
I didn't want to reflect it in the ministry (the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television), only to learn that there were already six film studios in the country reporting this project (laughs). Our biggest "competitor" is the Shandong Film Studio, Kong Fansen is a native of Liaocheng, Shandong, the news of his death in the line of duty has not been reported by the media, the Shandong factory has received the news, and people are the first to start. At that time, our North Film Studio was also arguing on the basis of reason -- not long after Kong Fansen's death, he was posthumously awarded the titles of "Model Communist Party Member" and "Outstanding Leading Cadre", which is no longer a local heroic model, but an object that the whole party of the whole country must study. Such an important figure and a major theme, each family "quarreled" and broke the head, and Minister Tian Mingming of the State Radio, Film and Television Department said, "Let's go to Tibet first to collect the style."
Photographs of Tibetan areas taken by director Chen Guoxing
Han Sanping immediately explained, don't delay for a moment, I took the people and horses into Tibet, don't care about anything else, he is looking for investment in Beijing and doing logistics. As a result, just arrived in Lhasa, coincidentally, met the interview group of the Shandong factory head-on, we are going to Ali, they just returned from Ali, everyone just took a look. Finally, after consultation, the ministry made a decision, and the movie "Kong Fansen" was jointly carried out by the North Film Studio and the Shandong Factory.
"Kong Fansen" is probably the eighth film in my personal director's resume. In the early 1990s, I made several comedies, cooperated with Ge You, Chen Peisi and other filmmakers, and invested 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, all of which achieved good market response. As for me, I regard them as a kind of "practice", on the one hand, to cultivate my execution and adaptability on the set, on the other hand, I also understand that in the tide of marketization, a director can no longer be on the top, and the film should take into account the acceptance and taste of the audience, and really make everyone happy.
Stills from "Kong Fansen"
Our generation has a "hero" complex in their hearts, eager to create a strong, atmospheric and powerful manly image on the big screen. I am from the Beijing Film Academy in the acting department, and Zhang Fengyi, Xie Yuan, Zhang Tielin and Zhou Lijing are classmates. When I read the book, I found that after I got the script, it was okay to conceive and imagine the plot, but the performance was always more rational, not as relaxed as other students, and it was a bit difficult to let go. And at that time, my image, the drama road was too narrow, the role of workers, peasants and soldiers was not very suitable, after a period of bitterness, I thought I should change my position to think about the movie.
Since my sophomore year, I have aspired to change my career to directing. At that time, he mainly relied on self-study to go to Beijing Liulichang to look for old books, and at that time, he read a lot of Soviet filmmakers, especially Pudovkin's directorial works, and he put Gorky's "Mother" on the screen, which can be said to be another major innovation in the world cinema language after "Battleship Potemkin". So before I made "Kong Fansen", I had a thought in my heart that I couldn't always continue in those laughter and jokes. Cinema is ultimately the audiovisual art of the big screen, and its great charm is through light, color, sound and movement... These means are achieved not only by dramatic factors such as plot conflicts. I'm looking forward to making a big-scale film, investing at least $5 million or so, and really putting my ideas to work.
In the past, when making comedies, they were all urban themes. Filming "Kong Fansen" to Tibet to collect wind, suddenly, the high-rise buildings and city life you are familiar with are gone, it is a completely unfamiliar environment, and it is really a sky high and cloudy. The plateau was endless, and I couldn't even see anyone after driving for hours, and it was there that I could sense for the first time that the earth was round. There, you can feel a desolate beauty, a majestic beauty, and then reflect on industrial civilization and urban civilization.
Such an environment, at best, is "in the cage for a long time, back to nature" . At the same time, as a person, an individual, you feel that you are too small, too fragile, you have nowhere to shelter from the wind and rain, and you cannot resist the temperature difference between morning and evening, everything is exposed in nature. I was young at that time, and in my early years, I still picked up iron with Zhang Fengyi (laughs), my body had a foundation, I didn't inhale oxygen three times when I entered Tibet, I completely relied on my body to adapt, and I carried it over. Now go again, back to Beijing for a month can not get rid of altitude sickness, often dizzy, can not remember things.
"Benevolent people love people, etiquette people respect people", script coordinator Zhang Hongsen
Then think of Kong Fansen, where he worked hard for years and months. Ali, which means "the place above" in Tibetan, is the most remote and highest place on the Tibetan plateau and the most difficult place in the country. From the hundreds of thousands of words of diaries and countless photographs left behind after his death, it is not difficult to see that he was moved by the spirit of the Tibetan people who have been breeding for generations, living forever, and the civilization created in that harsh living environment. He said this sentence in Tibet, "The highest state of one's love is to love others; the highest state of love for a communist is to love the people." That's what he said and that's what he did. Not only did he adopt Tibetan orphans, but in the film he went to visit the Tibetan old lady, helped her find medical treatment, and even gave the old man a foot, which was all based on deeds.
Kong Fansen is a good cadre who has typically been trained by the party. At the same time, his words also made me think of "the old man and the old man, the young man and the young man", which undoubtedly carries the accumulation and refraction of Confucian thought. Coincidentally, Kong Fansen is a descendant of Confucius, and we went to his hometown of Liaocheng to collect wind and personally feel the simplicity, kindness and atmosphere of Shandong people. He was deeply influenced by his mother, who was not a bridesmaid, but he knew Dali, and told him many stories of his ancestors since he was a child, and also asked him to recite Zhuge Liang's "Table of Teachers" before and after. In Liaocheng, Shandong, it is a water town, and on the Guangyue Tower built in the Ming Dynasty, the two characters "Xingli (Xingli)" are written on the forehead of the east door, which shows the depth of Confucian culture in the local area. I think all of this is closely related to Kong Fansen's officialdom, his personality, and his charisma. Gradually, in my mind, I had the image of a good person in Shandong.
The magnificent natural features of Tibet have inspired us, and also require us to be down-to-earth in our creation this time, to shoot solemnly and simply, not to engage in flowery frames, such as no longer to construct dramatic bridges, not to artificially create conflicts, but to tightly clasp the emotions and inner worlds of the characters to show. If there is any conflict, it is "conflict with oneself", showing the struggle and continuous sublimation of this character's complex and sublime inner thoughts. Through ordinary small things, he writes about Kong Fansen's relationship with the masses, colleagues, and relatives. Through the moral inspiration of the characters themselves, let the audience resonate and empathize. Generally speaking, the transfer director who studies fine arts must pay attention to color modeling, the transfer director who studies photography has characteristics in lighting and composition, and those who learn to perform will pay more attention to dramatic elements and cooperate with actors. As for me, I pay attention to drama, and every time I change the script, I often have to readjust the drama structure and character development.
It is impossible not to mention Zhang Hongsen, who was still a local writer in Shandong at that time. Before, I had read the literary script "Western Police" written by him, and I felt that his feeling of shaping the character was right, and he was from Shandong, so I asked him to do the script coordinator. Zhang Hongsen came to Beijing, and the first sentence of the meeting was, "I know Kong Fansen, but I have never been to Tibet." "The two of us drank and talked at the guest house of Beiying for a whole day. I said you don't have to go to Tibet, you will help me to catch out such a character, the characteristics of a good person in Shandong. Hongsen didn't use a computer at that time, and I asked for a thick bundle of manuscript paper from the literature department of the factory, four hundred words and one page of green grid manuscript paper. Hongsen was "stuffy" in the guest house for two days, and his small hand was very delicate, and the manuscript handed over to me was still warm. He was very polite and said you can see if it works, no, I will buy a ticket and go back. I read it from beginning to end, if I get the most precious treasure, is it still possible? Sign the contract! Of course, the details had to be revised and perfected later, but he immediately sketched (drawn) the soul of the character.
Later scripts, just two details. One is that when I was collecting wind in Tibet, I was sitting in a car on the plateau, and I met a Tibetan man in no man's land, who was bare-chested and carrying a sword, exactly like the image of the master and apprentice on the way to the journey to the West. The driver and I greeted him, the other party said very little, we spent the night together in a post of the People's Liberation Army, the next morning, before everyone woke up, he left, and did not know where to go... I gave this character to Zhang Hongsen, and together we created this Hanzi art into a rap artist who Kong Fansen met on the way to Ali's appointment. Unwilling to ride, he sings "King Gesar" on foot. In the movie, Kong Fansen's car is speeding all the way in the chant of tibetan epics, and you think about that scene, that boldness. Later, in the sacred mountain full of rocks and prayer flags, Kong Fansen saw the rap artist again, and he wanted to put his military coat on the artist's bare arms, but the latter still refused, "Thank you, I am not cold." King Gesar is my clothes, my food. ”
There is also almost a film in Tibet, but at the beginning I have not thought about it, call Zhang Hongsen. I hope that this beginning will have enlightening significance, but also have a sense of ceremony, and fax the information collected from Tibetan festivals, the Shelton Festival, the Mountain Sacrifice Festival, the Lantern Festival, and so on to the Zibo Propaganda Department. He replied to me immediately after reading it, and wrote about the Lantern Festival, which began with Kong Fansen taking two children to participate in the Lantern Festival. So, how do I go about shooting? Amid the rough and majestic sound of the Dafa trumpet (Tibetan national musical instrument Copper Chin), the three men walked into the smoky temple and lit a butter lamp. The little Tibetan girl adopted by Kong Fansen said to the little boy, "Why did Abba put the lamp there?" "Abba said, whoever puts the lamp there, is illuminated, and everywhere he goes, it's bright." This cleverly integrates the tibetan folk culture, and also shows Kong Fansen's image as a father and the affection between ethnic groups.
The soundtrack "Auspicious" is long and sacred, and the clever acting has a "native teleprompter"
This movie established the image of Kong Fansen on the screen. The creative team behind it can be said to be a "gathering of stars", and everyone works together to create a main theme masterpiece. There are many people to thank, and I would like to mention the artistic director of this film, Director Chen Kaige, who at the beginning had some personal views on the selection of the main actor, and finally respected my choice as a director. In addition, after watching the sample film, he was very excited and insisted on recommending the composer Zhao Jiping for me. Zhao Jiping once composed music for the film "Yellow Land", from which he began to compose film and television music, and then he composed film music for the film "Red Sorghum", which won the Best Music Award at the 8th Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards. He once again won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Music, which was to compose the soundtrack for "Kong Fansen".
At that time, Zhao Jiping was already the director of the Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Theater. We invited him from Xi'an to give him a sample film first, and after watching it all night, he said, "The movie is simple and touching, and you can't let me write it." ""Kong Fansen" may still have such and such deficiencies today, but around 1995, horizontal comparisons in domestic films undoubtedly produced a refreshing artistic texture. As far as the film soundtrack is concerned, during the preparatory period, I sent Chen Xiangyu, who had just graduated from the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, to Tibet to collect materials, and he recorded five tapes of local folk songs and folk songs for me. When filming in Tibet, sitting in the car and listening to nothing, one day I suddenly heard a song called "Auspicious". The song itself has the feeling of Tibetans singing and dancing, but when you listen carefully, there is a hint of sadness behind it.
I recommended this song to Zhao Jiping and told him that all my feelings and emotions about this movie and this character are in this song. Zhao Jiping, as a master of scoring, retained the roots of this piece, but slowed down three or four times, suddenly highlighting the sense of distance and sacredness. When recording, I found the Central Music Orchestra, which was orchestrated on one side and sang in different voices, "You are high snowy mountains, snowy mountains... We are brave eagles, eagles and rani eagles... Let's wish together that there will be a time of encounter..." Oh, I was in tears when I heard it in the audience. This piece, it's done!
Since I came from an acting background, when I choose an actor after becoming a director, I will look more at his true colors and see whether his potential state is in line with the appearance of the character in my heart. I think the most successful way to choose an actor is that his true color and essence are discovered and excavated by the director. There is a kind of roughness and fortitude in the smart nature, which particularly impressed me, in the early years we also cooperated in "Mountain Soul Thunderbolt", so this time I insisted that Kong Fansen was none other than him. Kong Fansen died at the age of fifty. When Gao Ming took over this role, he was also about fifty years old. He was happy to receive my call, and obviously, was looking forward to the role. When he heard that he was going to Tibet to take real photos, he still had a serious meeting with his family, which of course had risks, and the vehicle he took after he arrived in Tibet also had an accident, and he had a flat tire at every turn. Later, I felt that such a big battle, in my acting career, I always had to open up and fight once.
Each actor has his own way of going to the role. I understand this all too well, so I generally fully respect the creative habits of actors, and I don't like the stylized performances with a strong sense of "acting", and I like to find that real state with actors. After Gao Ming arrived in Tibet, we went to the Ali Kong Fansen Cemetery to worship together, and he knelt in front of the tomb and said a lot of pious words. In Tibet for a few days, the altitude sickness was very serious, and it was continuous, basically holding an oxygen bag before and after filming every day, and that state was very close to the character without much makeup. The biggest problem was that the lack of oxygen caused him to be almost completely unable to remember his lines.
It was all film shooting, and how much film was used had to be done according to plan. Shooting a long shot, I don't want to switch in the middle, he said the wrong word, I can only shout stop. And at that time, the sound alignment technology was not yet mature, unlike now, you can stuff it with a few sentences in the later stage, and even the lip-sync on the set can be. I have always believed that in a scene, the actor's first performance is often the performance after the emotions are fully brewed, which is the most precious. After repeated rehearsals, the freshness declined, not to mention, there were more rehearsals in Tibet, and the human body could not stand it, and it may be that he struggled to stand. No way, we came up with an idea called the "Soil Law Teleprompter" - write the lines on a piece of paper, and then paste the note on the reverse side of the camera, and even the ceramic water cup used in the clever film has words on the wall, and he has to look at the words while drinking barley wine (laughs).
The film crew of the movie "Kong Fansen" was more than 80 people, and we entered Tibet three times, which lasted four and a half months, and on the plateau at an altitude of 4000 to 5000 meters, we completed the filming with a spirit of 40000 meters. Behind many touching scenes, all the staff of the film crew selflessly dedicated and paid, and everyone was shooting "Kong Fansen" with the spirit of Kong Fansen. It can be said that Tibet purifies our souls and makes us mentally addicted.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang