Wen Yi Yi Jun
During the years of the Republic of China, there was a chaotic world. On a rainy night with a dark wind and a high wind for a month, in an isolated ruined temple, criminals, officers, blind storytellers, women and children, actors and other people with different intentions talked about the legend of "the fox wife in the mountain village". Through the different versions of "Rashomon" style, the mystery of a period of 15 years ago was uncovered layer by layer, and a terrible conspiracy was quietly staged …
Recently, based on folk legends, online movies have incorporated many elements such as thriller, suspense and love.Fox wife in mountain villageBecome a new explosion. This part consists ofStrange trees have fish.、Pingzhi movie and television、Beixia picturesThe works produced not only have a good reputation, but also have a high score in Douban.6.5, set a record for the highest score of the online movie thriller Douban, and the cumulative box office will soon break through the 20 million mark. The film’sScreenwriter and script plannerCui Zouzhao, once again attracted the attention of the industry.
The pen is to the heart, and the core of the story is always people.
As a screenwriter of a series of folk legends such as The Legend of the Hunter in Xing ‘an Mountains, Cui Zouzhao said frankly that the creative process of The Fox Wife in the Mountain Village is a brand-new challenge. Although the word "fox wife in mountain village" is full of curiosity and dramatic tension, it is easy to fall into the stereotype of rural tales of mystery. How to solve the problem is often the first and most difficult challenge for a work.
"Every time there is a new project, we must strive to innovate and break through. This process is both painful and exciting. "Cui Zouzhao didn’t want to write easily, but kept thinking and refining the core of the story. He read a lot of folk information, studied fox fairy stories around the country, and gradually sorted out a set of folk story logic related to "fox".
Screenwriter and screenplay planner Cui Zouzhao
"In fact, whether it’s Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio or folk stories from all over the world, the legend about’ fox’ is often based on people’s desire and expression for morality and human relations. Curious and strange stories are just appearances. In the final analysis, everything still lies in people themselves." In terms of narrative techniques, he firmly believes that we should respect the classic drama logic, not deliberately be unconventional and violate the narrative logic, and at the same time, we should constantly innovate, combine local folk customs and audience expectations, and create a paradigm that conforms to contemporary aesthetics and has profound expression. "In story creation, although we can look back on some classic structures, we can’t copy them mechanically. Creating new expressions from classic content may be a part that every creator is challenging himself. "Cui Zouzhao said.
Based on these thoughts and studies, Cui Zouzhao began to try to outline the embryonic form of such a story: starting with the mysterious spiritual characteristics of the fox and putting these characteristics on the human body, what kind of identity would such a person be? Assuming that "the fox wife in the mountain village" is a rumor, what kind of secret is hidden behind it? If it is in such an extreme environment as "Blizzard Mountain Villa Mode", what kind of suspense situation will it cause if someone tells the story of the fox demon like a storyteller in the past …
The train of thought opened like a spring, and Cui Zouzhao began to create vivid characters, taking their inner motives and ups and downs as the story engine of The Fox Wife in the Mountain Village. With the construction of word by word, a subtle narrative maze has sprung up. On the surface, it is the story of "the fox wife in the mountain village" told by several people, but the real protagonist of the story is Li Shouting, a criminal who is full of crimes and treacherous, and Xie Jin, a squire who has never really appeared in the story.
The multiple narratives of virtual reality and virtual reality are very enjoyable, and the story is reversed layer by layer, which is unexpected and reasonable. Talking about how to integrate such a high-density group drama, multiple clues and diverse styles into the limited creative time, Cui Zouzhao said frankly that there is no secret, and it is nothing more than "pen power to people’s hearts".
"The core of the story is always people, exploring human nature, and there are the brightest, most frightening and most complicated things in it. For example, at the beginning, my setting for each character actually echoed the setting of the seven deadly sins. When I was creating, I also consciously put the camps on both sides in different light, one side was cold and the other side was warm, which actually showed the change of people’s state. The conflict is in the minds of the characters as well as the audience. The barrier inside and outside the story is broken by creation, and the attraction of the story naturally arises. But in any case, we still convey the light of human nature. "Cui Zouzhao said.
Create with awe, and the audience has a steelyard in their hearts.
After the launch of The Fox Wife in the Mountain Village, Cui Zouzhao gained a sense of satisfaction and value as a practitioner and creator after watching the heated discussions and various wonderful analyses and conjectures of many audiences on platforms such as Douban. "For the creators, it is undoubtedly a recognition and a kind of luck to attract the audience to participate inside and outside the story. "It has been Cui Zouzhao’s" careful thought "for many years to attract the audience into the thinking and re-creation of the story through his works.
As many people know, more than ten years ago, Cui Zouzhao was already a popular online novel writer. Cui Zouzhao said that his years of writing experience made him understand more and more that he must understand the thoughts of readers and audiences, and respect them and let them integrate into the story, so as to achieve creative resonance.
"The more in-depth creation this line, in fact, the more I panic, the more awe. Our readers and viewers are excellent and know what they want. We must write step by step and make better and better works. " In Cui Zouzhao’s view, fast-paced, high-density and overwhelmed content must return to the story itself. "A good story is always the first. If the story can’t impress people, there is almost no value in redevelopment."
In order to ensure that his stories are getting better and better, Cui Zouzhao can be described as "trying his best". For example, as long as there is an opportunity, Cui Zouzhao must follow the set all the time, which is not only to revise the script in time to improve, but also to make concerted efforts with the creative team to seize every opportunity to make the shooting more perfect. "It’s like the last egg in the film. In fact, shortly before the boot, I chatted with director Liu Xuandi and actor Guo Donghai. How to make the story look better and make the film more colorful, we have to work harder whenever possible."
Cui Zouzhao knew very well that folk culture is a very large system, and the north and the south are different from each other, so it is absolutely impossible to make it up. To be a good storyteller, we must implement folk customs. Therefore, he personally went deep into the countryside, forests and even scenic spots, and personally inspected and accumulated relevant materials. "On one occasion, we went deep into the tomb of a scenic spot and felt the true original appearance of the tomb. The feeling of terror and pressure was particularly shocking. I knew what it felt like to write such a theme." Cui Zouzhao firmly believes that texture comes from real life, and it can only be reached if it is understood in place.
For Cui Zouzhao, it is a "walking on thin ice" to turn his own words into movies. "I feel really lucky to be able to take what I like as a career, so I cherish and fear it all the more. I know that writing a novel is a matter for one person, and making a movie is a battle for a group of people. This process is very happy and serious. You should be responsible for your team and the audience who come to see your work. The audience has a steelyard in mind, and they can clearly distinguish between good and bad, and they can’t be careless in all aspects. “
In order to make stories look better, Cui Zouzhao’s stories often have multiple meanings and multiple interpretations. "There may be more unexpected hidden endings. For example, there are other mysteries about the identity of blind storytellers … anything is possible." Cui Zouzhao extended a meaningful invitation to the audience, expecting everyone to participate in more interesting exploration of the story. "The ideological core of the film must not be imposed on the audience, but guide everyone to go deep into it with plots and emotions. This subtle communication is effective."
Take a new road, do multiplication and addition well, and then talk about subtraction.
The fox wife in the mountain villagedirectorLiu xuandi, and Cui Zouzhao are not only staunch comrades-in-arms who have cooperated for many years, but also like-minded creative friends. When talking about their views on the online film industry, the two people have the same view: "Do multiplication and addition well first, and then consider subtraction."
"It must be admitted that many viewers have inherent prejudice against online movies and some stories that are bloody and shoddy. Our team is very lucky. Companies like Wonder Tree and Fish, Pingzhi Film and Television give us full trust and support, so that we can create freely on the track in the same field to the greatest extent. Then we should do story multiplication and production addition in creation. Of course, subject to many factors such as the viewing experience of small screen and big screen, production expenses and admission methods, the sub-items have always existed, but we must do what we can to the extreme. " Cui Zouzhao said.
When it comes to the breakthrough of this film, Cui Zouzhao thinks that he and his team are trying to find a new way about domestic thriller movies. "At the moment, there are already many different roads. At this time, we have to think about whether to change the road and have a new scenery. The number of modeled roads is always only a temporary scenery. Our audience is not simple, so we must always keep fresh and interesting when the audience has figured out the creator’s routine, without losing profound expression."
In order to achieve the expected effect, Cui Zouzhao not only skillfully used the "Chekhov’s Gun" in the script, but also set the gun hit the floor by villagers and adopted sons from story suggestion to reality. At the same time, we will strengthen the imaginative scene design that can be realized in actual shooting, and fully consider the production cycle and the difficulty of special effects, and do our best to make the story play its greatest role. For example, in the scene of Fox Fairy’s Cave House in the film, Cui Zouzhao and the director designed several schemes together, and finally chose a giant fox head wrapped in vines to show the mysterious visual impact, which impressed the audience deeply. For the expression of thriller scenes, he also tries to use the sense of scene to create psychological feelings. "My definition of terror stems from people’s awe of the unknown, so I will design something that resonates with everyone in life."
When talking about thinking about the future of online film creation, Cui Zouzhao said that we must always push ourselves to a dead end and not stay in the same place for a moment. "After years of running-in, our team has been thinking about how to present the story to the best effect in a limited budget, and I have become more and more efficient and pragmatic in the process of understanding the whole process. This is our advantage, and we should continue to walk out of a newer and better way on the premise of maintaining it. “
It is not difficult to find that the current online movies have gradually changed from winning by novelty-seeking commercial selling points to the stage of relying on high-quality content for long-term development. Cui Zouzhao said that he hoped that when he was getting old, he would not feel remorse when he looked at today’s works. "Creators have to give themselves an explanation. As long as they can write better, they can’t lie flat."
For the future creative planning, Cui Zouzhao said frankly that he was also preparing the content related to the network short play, and called on more outstanding creators and teams to walk side by side. "We also expect more people to see us. Whether it is online movies or online short plays, the support of each platform on each track is getting bigger and bigger. Those who do a good story with their heart will eventually have a better tomorrow."
Editor | Weiss