From "Red Spider", which is called the shadow of childhood by netizens, to "the landmark work of domestic black-related dramas" "Conquest", to "Mekong Case" and "Icebreaker Action", Chen Yuxin has conquered the audience with one work after another in the past thirty years. Today, the criminal investigation drama "Burning" directed by him is being broadcast on Beijing Satellite TV. In the play, a corpse unveiled the old case, spanning thirty years, involving three families, three generations of grandchildren, the police story, once again triggered a heated discussion among netizens. Recently, Chen Yuxin was interviewed by reporters, in addition to sharing shooting tidbits, he also frankly said that the criminal investigation theme in the drama involved in the case was "hard bones", and "the scale is more difficult to grasp".
Bluntly speaking, criminal investigation themes are the most difficult to write
"A lot of blood and violence is inevitable, and the scale is difficult to grasp"
Brain-burning plot, meticulous reasoning, multiple reversals, and the contest between good and evil, criminal investigation dramas, as a branch of the drama involved in the case, can always have a place in many types of dramas with a sense of suspense and the continuity of exploration and puzzle solving. Chen Yuxin, who has been deeply involved in this theme for a long time, has a rich experience and profound understanding of the creation of criminal investigation dramas: "Dramas involved in cases can be divided into anti-drug, economic investigation, network investigation, anti-terrorism and anti-black crime, of which criminal investigation is the most special and difficult to write." Because other types generally have gangs or organizations, only criminal investigation is mainly individual crimes, and without organizations, there is no division of labor, undercover, and informants. You can only focus the camera on the characters, study the dead, study the psychology of the murderer. "It can be said that criminal investigation dramas involving a large number of social problems are a hard bone, and they must not only consider the scale, but also show new styles, new technologies, and new means and methods of detection with the times." Man's problem is the problem of society, because man is an individual in society, there will be a large number of social problems, and the scale here is more difficult to grasp. There is also the inevitable display of a large amount of blood and violence, coupled with the exposure of police technical investigation methods, which have limitations. Chen Yuxin explained.
From "Fox Hunting" to the popular "Burning" and "Trident", this year's criminal investigation dramas have gradually warmed up on the screen, for which Chen Yuxin believes: "The recovery of criminal investigation dramas is first of all because of the large number of dramas under the category of crime dramas, such as anti-drug and economic investigation themes, and the diversified appearance of these cross-border themes. At the same time, the selfless dedication of a large number of public security police, the weight of the forward, the appearance of heroic models who vowed to sacrifice their lives, let the creators want to pay tribute to the police. ”
Seven years of accumulation to create a "police family"
"I want to reflect the reform process of China's judiciary in the past 30 years through three generations of police"
Although there have been many masterpieces in the past and won several awards in the industry, the creation of "Burning" has not been achieved overnight. As early as 7 years ago, it was just a "propositional composition" about the police family handed to Chen Yuxin by the Press and Propaganda Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, with no real case to rely on, and it was the most difficult criminal investigation theme to create, so Chen Yuxin could not avoid making it difficult. In the 7 years of "Burning", Chen Yuxin has completed the scripts of "The Great Case of the Mekong River" and "Icebreaking Action", accumulated massive interview materials, and long-term contact with public security cadres and police, and finally made "Burning", which had been stranded several times, gradually take shape, and the story, theme, core, and characters were ready to come out in deep consideration. "I want to reflect the reform process of China's judiciary in the past 30 years through three generations of police. Grandpa Gao Feng's case occurred in the 1980s, when it was basically a frank and strict concept of handling the case. By the 1990s, there were various deadlines to solve cases. Now that there is a legal concept of doubt, how to make this case move forward in this case is an expression of the side that we want to try to do through this play. ”
For the audience's perception of the procrastination of the plot, he also said that although "Burning" is relatively slow to enter in terms of perception, as the plot unfolds in a stripped-down manner, the complexity of the case and the complexity of human nature will be slowly revealed. "Compared to more event-oriented plays such as Homeland Security and Narcos, Burning is ultimately more focused on the characters, writing about each character's choices, decisions, and the difficulty of making choices and decisions at each of his life forks. This is the ultimate in humanity that we want. ”
Restore the 30-year time span to the extreme
"In order to shoot the realism of the 80s, Xujia Village was specially transformed"
"Burning" is Chen Yuxin's return to the director's identity after a gap of 12 years. To this end, he pays attention to every detail in the filming process, and strives to restore the time span of "Burning" in detail and in detail. For example, Xujia Village, where all the evils began in the play, involves a large number of scenes in the 80s and 90s, so the crew ran all over Qingdao and Yantai to finally find a relatively close village. Chen Yuxin recalled: "Because of the transformation of the new countryside, the countryside has undergone earth-shaking changes, the village we found was originally cement roads, modern buildings abound, in order to restore the Xu Village, the leaders of all parties assisted us to personally do the work of the villagers, pulled sand to cover all the cement roads in the village, a lot of transformation of the scenic spots, the amount of work is huge." ”
Not only the scene layout, in the art and modeling, Chen Yuxin is also "harsh", he gave the Fuhua Dao group the task requirements of "real" and "personality", only to clarify the different timelines in the play, so that the Fuhua Dao becomes a side display of the character's personality. "Because there is a span of thirty years, there are many actors, which have brought us great difficulties." For example, there are changes in the police uniforms of the 72, 83, 89 and 99 types, covering most of the history of the changes in the uniforms of the Chinese police. Chen Yuxin recalled. To this end, the crew looked around for old-fashioned factories to weave fabrics, dye them, and strictly customize each set of police uniforms.
The director's intentions and the dedication of the crew make every performer of "Burning" very desperate. "Burning" was launched at the end of December 2018, and the four-month shooting went through the coldest season in Qingdao, and even during the filming process, the whole crew was infected with influenza one after another, and some people once had a fever to 41 degrees, but still insisted on working while playing a little drip. Now recalling the days when the bone-chilling sea breeze was blowing, accompanied by a cold and cough, Chen Yuxin was only full of memories and gratitude. "At that time, as long as I stayed outside for half an hour, I would be blown cold by the sea breeze. But all the actors persevered. At that time, Teacher Xi Meijuan had pneumonia, went to the hospital for three days and dripped for three days, and returned to the set to insist on shooting. ”
Successfully formed the strongest "acting team"
"As long as the character portrayal has depth and room to play, they are willing to play"
Xi Meijuan, Wu Junmei, Tan Kai, Zhang Zhijian, Liu Mintao, Feng Lei, Tang Zhenzong, Du Zhiguo... The actors in "Burning" are all recognized hard-core "acting schools" in the industry. Speaking of the reasons for the success of inviting these old drama bones, Chen Yuxin frankly said: "I think all actors hope that they can get a good script, as long as the script is well portrayed with depth and there is room for performance, they will be happy to participate in this project." As for the actors we can invite to the present, they also think that the book and the characters are good. Chen Yuxin recalled that Zhang Zhijian, who played Liu Qingye's grandfather in the play, did not play much, but after reading the script, the other party still chose to join without hesitation. He told me that he read the script, although the characters did not appear much, but they were very touching and very touching, so that he could have full expression and play space, so he was very excited to accept our invitation. ”
As for why these actors were chosen, Chen Yuxin said: "We feel that this play portrays human nature, and its grasp of human nature is relatively subtle and meticulous. So I hope to find some powerful actors. Like Jing Chao and these old drama bones, the performance is very accurate, can explain the heart of each character, which is a consideration when we first selected actors, and it is also our original intention to choose actors. "So, there is The gentle and stoic mother Chen Jie, played by Liu Mintao, and the sleek and spicy family member Zhao Yue'e, played by Xi Meijuan... It is their superb acting skills that have made "Burning".